Report Title:

Patient freedom of information

 

Description:

Requires specified licensed health care professionals to provide profile information to their respective boards for disclosure to the public.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

158

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO PATIENT FREEDOM OF INFORMATION.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that quality health care is a priority issue in the State. A critical factor in obtaining quality health care is ensuring that patients are provided with up-to-date and easily accessible profile information on licensed health care professionals statewide. The legislature believes that a public database of individual profiles on Hawaii's health care professionals will enable residents to make better informed decisions when seeking health care services.

The purpose of this Act is to establish a database on the individual profiles of specified health care professionals that will be accessible to the public.

SECTION 2. The Hawaii Revised Statutes is amended by adding a new chapter to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"CHAPTER

PATIENT FREEDOM OF INFORMATION

§ 1- Definitions. Whenever used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

"Board" means the respective professional licensing boards for the providers named under this chapter.

"Patient" means all past, current, and future consumers of health care services.

"Provider" means the following licensed professional health-care providers:

(1) Chiropractors licensed pursuant to chapter 442;

(2) Dentists licensed pursuant to chapter 448;

(3) Nurses licensed pursuant to chapter 457;

(4) Optometrists licensed pursuant to chapter 459;

(5) Osteopathic physicians and surgeons licensed pursuant to chapter 460;

(6) Physical therapists pursuant to chapter 461J;

(7) Physicians, surgeons, and physician assistants, licensed pursuant to chapter 453;

(8) Podiatrists licensed pursuant to chapter 463E; and

(9) Psychologists licensed pursuant to chapter 465.

§ -2 Patient access to provider information. (a) At the time of application, each person who applies for initial licensure as a provider or applies for license renewal, shall furnish the following profile information to the person's respective board:

(1) The names and addresses of medical or professional schools and other institutions of higher learning that the person attended and the dates of graduation from these schools and institutions;

(2) Specialty certifications that are recognized by the person's board;

(3) Appointments to faculty of medical or professional schools, and indication of whether the person has had a responsibility for graduate education within the most recent ten years;

(4) The location and type of practice for the most recent ten years;

(5) The current location of the person's primary practice setting, and if there is more than one setting, the approximate percentage of time spent at each location;

(6) Hospitals that serve as the person's primary admitting facility and at which the person has active clinical privileges in good standing;

(7) Disclosure of whether the person participates in Medicaid or Medicare programs (but not necessarily accepting new patients), or has ever been barred from participation in either program;

(8) Disclosure of any translating services that may be available at the person's practice location(s);

(9) A description of any criminal convictions for felonies or other crimes involving moral turpitude within the most recent ten years. For purposes of this paragraph, a person shall be deemed convicted of a crime if the person pled guilty or if the person was found or adjudged guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction;

(10) A description of any final board disciplinary action within the most recent ten years that are considered to be public;

(11) A description of any final disciplinary action by a board from any other standing, including but not limited to revocation or suspension of license, within the most recent ten years;

(12) A description of:

(A) Revocation or involuntary restriction of hospital privileges; or

(B) Reduction in credentialing for more than one hundred eighty days;

from any state, for reasons related to competence or character, that have been taken by a hospital's governing body or any other official of a hospital after procedural due process has been afforded within the most recent ten years;

(13) Disclosure of:

(A) Resignation from or nonrenewal of a medical staff membership; or

(B) Restriction of privileges at a hospital;

taken in lieu of or in settlement of a pending disciplinary case related to competence or character in that hospital, within the most recent ten years;

(14) Whether the person carries professional malpractice insurance, and if not, whether the person as ever been denied malpractice insurance;

(15) Disclosure of all malpractice court judgments and all malpractice arbitration awards in which a payment was awarded to a complaining party during the most recent ten years. Pending malpractice claims shall not be disclosed by the board to patients; however, nothing under this chapter shall be construed to prevent the board from investigating and disciplining a person on the basis of pending malpractice claims;

(16) Disclosure of settlements of professional malpractice claims within the most recent five years of continuous practice; provided that:

(A) Persons shall disclose malpractice settlements only if there have been:

(i) Five or more settlements in the most recent five years of continuous practice of $50,000, or more per settlement; or

(ii) More than ten settlements within the most recent five years of continuous practice of any dollar amount;

(B) Settlements that result solely in an adjustment to the fee charged for a person's services shall not be disclosed pursuant to this part;

(C) Information concerning all settlements shall be accompanied by the following statement: "Settlement of a claim may occur for a variety of reasons that do not necessarily reflect negatively on the professional competence or conduct of a provider. A payment in settlement of a malpractice action or claim should not be construed as creating presumption that malpractice has occurred. Malpractice histories tend to vary by specialty. Some specialties are more likely than others to be the subject of litigation."; and

(D) Nothing herein shall be construed to limit or prevent a board from providing further explanatory information regarding settlements;

and

(17) Percentage of ownership interest the person has in other health facilities, laboratories, equipment, or therapy, except for ownership interest in the primary practice business, to which the person's patients are, have been, or may be referred.

(b) Each profile submitted by a person shall include a statement, signed under oath by the person attesting to the correctness and completeness of the information contained in the profile.

(c) The board shall not be held liable for the correctness or completeness of the information contained in the provider profiles, and shall include a disclaimer statement on all released profiles, attesting to the self-reporting nature of the program, and that the information has not been verified by the board.

(d) The board shall, at the time of issuing a new license, or in conjunction with license renewal, collect and maintain the information required in this chapter, as submitted by the provider, to recreate individual profiles on providers that shall be made available to the public as provided in this chapter.

(e) No state law that would otherwise prohibit, limit, or penalize disclosure of information about a provider shall apply to disclosure of information required by this chapter.

(f) If a provider fails to comply with this chapter with full and truthful disclosure of information to the board within the time specified by the board, the board may:

(A) Fine the provider up to $50 for each day that the provider is not in compliance with this chapter; and

(B) Take any other disciplinary action as it deems appropriate, except the board may not revoke, suspend, refuse to issue or refuse to renew a provider's license solely because the provider failed to comply with this chapter.

§ -3 Information and access to provider profile information. (a) The boards and providers subject to this chapter shall inform the public that provider profile information is available and shall make the information available upon request. The boards and providers shall fully implement this chapter not later than .

(b) The boards and providers shall be responsible for promoting public awareness of and access to provider profiles as provided in this chapter, which shall include the creation of printed materials and signs to be available in board and provider offices. Profile information on individual providers shall be available at the offices of the provider and the provider's respective board, in written form, upon request, and electronically where available, and shall be considered public information."

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________