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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nothing in this section shall precludedisclosure, upon proper inquiry, of any information relating to a particularpatient and not clearly adverse to the interests of the patient, to thepatient, the patient's family, legal guardian, or relatives, nor, except asprovided above, affect the application of any other rule or statute ofconfidentiality.  The use of the information disclosed shall be limited to thepurpose 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, c87, §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]