GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 1999

SESSION LAW 1999-272
HOUSE BILL 958

AN ACT TO CLARIFY THAT CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION OBTAINED BY HEALTH MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATIONS OR PROVIDER SPONSORED ORGANIZATIONS MAY BE DISCLOSED PURSUANT TO COURT ORDER FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 58-67-180 reads as rewritten:
"§ 58-67-180. Confidentiality of medical information.
Any data or information pertaining to the diagnosis, treatment, or health of any enrollee or applicant obtained from such person or from any provider by any health maintenance organization shall be held in confidence and shall not be disclosed to any person except to the extent that it may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Article; or upon the express consent of the enrollee or applicant; or pursuant to statute; or pursuant to court order for the production of evidence or the discovery thereof; or in the event of claim or litigation between such person and the health maintenance organization wherein such data or information is pertinent. A health maintenance organization shall be entitled to claim any statutory privileges against such disclosure which the provider who furnished such information to the health maintenance organization is entitled to claim."
Section 2.  G.S. 131E-310 reads as rewritten:
"§ 131E-310.  Confidentiality of medical information.
Any data or information pertaining to the diagnosis, treatment, or health of any beneficiary or applicant obtained from the person or from any provider by any provider sponsored organization or by any provider acting pursuant to its provider contract with a provider sponsored organization shall be held in confidence and shall not be disclosed to any person except to the extent that it may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Article; or upon the express consent of the beneficiary or applicant; or pursuant to statute; or pursuant to court order for the production of evidence or the discovery thereof; or in the event of claim or litigation between such person and the provider sponsored organization wherein such data or information is pertinent.  A provider sponsored organization shall be entitled to claim any statutory privileges against such disclosure which the provider who furnished such information to the provider sponsored organization is entitled to claim.
Section 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 30th day of June, 1999.

s/	Marc Basnight
President Pro Tempore of the Senate

s/	James B. Black
Speaker of the House of Representatives

s/	James B. Hunt, Jr.
Governor

Approved 10:33 p.m. this 11th day of July, 1999