§334-5  Confidentiality of records.  All
certificates, applications, records, and reports made for the purposes of this
chapter and directly or indirectly identifying a person subject hereto shall be
kept confidential and shall not be disclosed by any person except so far as:



(1)  The person identified, or the person's legal
guardian, consents;



(2)  Disclosure may be deemed necessary by the
director of health or by the administrator of a private psychiatric or special
treatment facility to carry out this chapter;



(3)  A court may direct upon its determination that
disclosure is necessary for the conduct of proceedings before it and that
failure to make the disclosure would be contrary to the public interest;



(4)  Disclosure may be deemed necessary under the
federal Protection and Advocacy for Mentally Ill Individuals Act of 1986,
Public Law 99-319, to protect and advocate the rights of persons with mental
illness who reside in facilities providing treatment or care;



(5)  Disclosure of a person's treatment summary from a
previous five-year period from one health care provider to another may be
deemed necessary for the purpose of continued care and treatment of the person,
or for health care operations; provided that the health care provider seeking
disclosure makes reasonable efforts to obtain advance consent from the person;
or



(6)  Disclosures are made between the person's health
care provider and payor to obtain reimbursement for services rendered to the
person; provided that disclosure shall be made only
if the provider informs the person that a reimbursement claim will be made to
the person's payor, the person is afforded an opportunity to pay the
reimbursement directly, and the person does not pay.



Nothing in this section shall preclude the
application of more restrictive rules of confidentiality set forth for records
covered by Title 42, Part 2, Code of Federal Regulations, relating to the
confidentiality of alcohol and drug abuse patient records.  For the purposes of
this section, "facilities" shall include but not be limited to hospitals,
nursing homes, community facilities for mentally ill individuals, boarding
homes, and care homes.



Nothing in this section shall preclude
disclosure, upon proper inquiry, of any information relating to a particular
patient and not clearly adverse to the interests of the patient, to the
patient, the patient's family, legal guardian, or relatives, nor, except as
provided above, affect the application of any other rule or statute of
confidentiality.  The use of the information disclosed shall be limited to the
purpose for which the information was furnished. [L 1967, c 259, pt of §1; HRS
§334-5; am L 1973, c 122, §1; gen ch 1985; am L 1987, c 148, §1; am L 1999, c
87, §3; am L Sp 2000 2d, c 1, §1; am L 2001, c 244, §§3, 6; am L 2003, c 204,
§8; am L 2004, c 22, §1; am L 2008, c 98, §2]