§ 2306 — Sexually transmitted diseases; reports and information, confidential

§ 2306. Sexually transmitted diseases; reports and information,\nconfidential. All reports or information secured by a board of health or\nhealth officer under the provisions of this article shall be\nconfidential except in so far as is necessary to carry out the purposes\nof this article. Such report or information may be disclosed by court\norder in a criminal proceeding in which it is otherwise admissible or in\na proceeding pursuant to article ten of the family court act in which it\nis otherwise admissible, to the prosecution and to the defense, or in a\nproceeding pursuant to article ten of the family court act in which it\nis otherwise admissible, to the petitioner, respondent and attorney for\nthe child, provided that the subject of the report or information has\nwaived the confidentiality provided for by this section except insofar\nas is necessary to carry out the purposes of this article. Information\nmay be disclosed to third party reimbursers or their agents to the\nextent necessary to reimburse health care providers for health services;\nprovided that, when necessary, an otherwise appropriate authorization\nfor such disclosure has been secured by the provider. A person waives\nthe confidentiality provided for by this section if such person\nvoluntarily discloses or consents to disclosure of such report or\ninformation or a portion thereof. If such person lacks the capacity to\nconsent to such a waiver, his or her parent, guardian or attorney may so\nconsent. An order directing disclosure pursuant to this section shall\nspecify that no report or information shall be disclosed pursuant to\nsuch order which identifies or relates to any person other than the\nsubject of the report or information. Reports and information may be\nused in the aggregate in programs approved by the commissioner for the\nimprovement of the quality of medical care provided to persons with\nsexually transmitted diseases; or with patient identifiers when used\nwithin the state or local health department by public health disease\nprograms to assess co-morbidity or completeness of reporting and to\ndirect program needs, in which case patient identifiers shall not be\ndisclosed outside the state or local health department except as\notherwise provided for in this section.\n