06 HB 912/AP
House
Bill 912 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE)
By:
Representative Fleming of the
117th
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Titles 9 and 31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
civil practice and health, respectively, so as to change certain provisions
relating to civil procedure and discovery; to provide for production of certain
documents including health records; to change certain provisions relating to
applicability to nonparties; to provide that when a nonparty is not served with
an objection and the nonparty produces records, the nonparty shall be immune
from regulatory, civil, or criminal liability for disclosing confidential
information; to change certain provisions relating to confidentiality; to change
certain provisions relating to furnishing a copy of records to patient,
provider, or other authorized person; to provide for compliance with the federal
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996; to provide for a
time period in which records shall be produced in response to a valid request;
to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other
purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Title
9 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to civil practice, is
amended by striking Code Section 9-10-150, relating to continuances for
legislators and legislative staff, and inserting in its place a new Code section
to read as follows:
"9-10-150.
A
member of the General Assembly who is a party to or the attorney for a party to
a case, or any member of the staff of the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of
the House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the
Speaker Pro Tempore of the House of Representatives, or the chairperson of the
Judiciary Committee or Special Judiciary Committee of either the Senate or the
House of Representatives who is the lead counsel for a party to a case pending
in any trial or appellate court or before any administrative agency of this
state, shall be granted a continuance and stay of the case. The continuance and
stay shall apply to all aspects of the case, including, but not limited to, the
filing and serving of an answer to a complaint, the making of any discovery or
motion, or of any response to any subpoena, discovery, or motion, and appearance
at any hearing, trial, or argument. Unless a shorter length of time is
requested by the member, the continuance and stay shall last the length of any
regular or extraordinary session of the General Assembly and during the first
three weeks following any recess or adjournment including an adjournment sine
die of any regular or extraordinary session.
A continuance
and stay shall also be granted for such other times as the member of the General
Assembly or staff member certifies to the court that his or her presence
elsewhere is required by his or her duties with the General
Assembly. Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, rule of court, or administrative rule or regulation, the time
for doing any act in the case which is delayed by the continuance provided by
this Code section shall be automatically extended by the same length of time as
the continuance or stay
covered."
SECTION
2.
Said
Title 9 is further amended in Code Section 9-11-34, relating to production of
documents and things and entry upon land for inspection and other purposes, by
striking subsections (c) and (d) and inserting in lieu thereof the
following:
"(c)
Applicability to
nonparties.
(1)
This Code section shall also be applicable with respect to discovery against
persons, firms, or corporations who are not parties, in which event a copy of
the request shall be served upon all parties of record; or, upon notice, the
party desiring such discovery may proceed by taking the deposition of the
person, firm, or corporation on oral examination or upon written questions under
Code Section 9-11-30 or 9-11-31. The nonparty or any party may file an objection
as provided in subsection (b) of this Code section. If the party desiring such
discovery moves for an order under subsection (a) of Code Section 9-11-37 to
compel discovery, he or she shall make a showing of good cause to support his or
her motion.
The party
making a request under this Code section shall, upon request from any other
party to the action, make all reasonable efforts to cause all information
produced in response to the nonparty request to be made available to all
parties. A reasonable document copying charge may be required.
(2)
This Code section shall also be applicable with respect to discovery against a
nonparty who is a practitioner of the healing arts or a hospital or health care
facility, including those operated by an agency or bureau of the state or other
governmental unit. Where such a request is directed to such a nonparty, a copy
of the request shall be served upon
the person
whose records are sought by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery,
return receipt requested, or, if known, that
persońs
counsel, and upon all
other
parties of
record,
and
in compliance
with Code Section 9-11-5; where such a
request to
such
a nonparty seeks the records of a person who is not a party, a copy of the
request shall be served upon
all parties
of record, the person whose records are
sought,
and,
by certified
mail or statutory overnight delivery, return receipt requested,
or, if known, that
persońs
counsel by
certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, return receipt requested, and
upon all parties of record in compliance with Code Section
9-11-5; or, upon notice, the party
desiring such discovery may proceed by taking the deposition of the person,
firm, or corporation on oral examination or upon written questions under Code
Section 9-11-30 or 9-11-31. The nonparty, any party, or the person whose records
are sought may file an objection with the court in which the action is pending
within 20 days
of service of the request and shall serve
a copy of such objection on the nonparty to whom the request is directed, who
shall not furnish the requested materials until further order of the court, and
on all other parties to the action. Upon the filing of such objection, the party
desiring such discovery may move for an order under subsection (a) of Code
Section 9-11-37 to compel discovery and, if he or she shall make a showing of
good cause to support his or her motion, discovery shall be allowed. If no
objection is filed within
ten
20
days of
service of the request, the nonparty to
whom the request is directed shall promptly comply therewith.
(3)
For any discovery requested from a nonparty pursuant to paragraph (2) of this
subsection or a subpoena requesting records from a nonparty pursuant to Code
Section 9-11-45, when the nonparty to whom the discovery request is made is not
served with an objection and the nonparty produces the requested records, the
nonparty shall be immune from regulatory, civil, or criminal liability or
damages notwithstanding that the produced documents contained confidential or
privileged information.
(d)
Confidentiality.
The provisions of this Code section shall not be deemed to repeal the
confidentiality provided by Code Sections 37-3-166 concerning mental illness
treatment
records, 37-4-125 concerning mental
retardation
treatment
records,
and
37-7-166 concerning alcohol and drug treatment
records,
24-9-40.1 concerning the confidential nature of AIDS information, and 24-9-47
concerning the disclosure of AIDS information; provided, however, that a
persońs
failure to object to the production of documents as set forth in paragraph (2)
of subsection (c) of this Code section shall waive any right of recovery for
damages as to the nonparty for disclosure of the requested
documents."
SECTION
3.
Title
31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to health, is amended by
striking subsections (a) and (b) of Code Section 31-33-2, relating to furnishing
a copy of records to patient, provider, or other authorized person, and
inserting in their place the following:
"(a)(1)(A)
A provider having custody and control of any evaluation, diagnosis, prognosis,
laboratory report, or biopsy slide in a
patient́s
record shall retain such item for a period of not less than ten years from the
date such item was created.
(B)
The requirements of subparagraph (A) of this paragraph shall not apply
to:
(i)
An individual provider who has retired from or sold his or her professional
practice if such provider has notified the patient of such retirement or sale
and offered to provide such items in the
patient́s
record or copies thereof to another provider of the
patient́s
choice and, if the patient so requests, to the patient; or
(ii)
A hospital which is an institution as defined in subparagraph (B) of paragraph
(1) of Code Section 31-7-1, which shall retain patient records in accordance
with rules and regulations for hospitals as issued by the department pursuant to
Code Section 31-7-2.
(2)
Upon written request from the patient or a person authorized to have access to
the
patient́s
record under a health care power of attorney for such patient, the provider
having custody and control of the
patient́s
record shall furnish a complete and current copy of that record, in accordance
with the provisions of this Code section. If the patient is deceased, such
request may be made by
a person
authorized immediately prior to the
decedent́s
death to have access to the
patient́s
record under a health care power of attorney for such patient; the executor,
temporary executor, administrator, or temporary administrator for the
decedent́s
estate; or any survivor, as defined by Code Sections 51-4-2, 51-4-4, and
51-4-5.
the following
persons:
(A)
The executor, administrator, or temporary administrator for the
decedent́s
estate if such person has been appointed;
(B)
If an executor, administrator, or temporary administrator for the
decedent́s
estate has not been appointed, by the surviving spouse;
(C)
If there is no surviving spouse, by any surviving child;
(D)
If there is no surviving child, any parent.
(b)
Any record requested under subsection (a) of this Code section
shall, within
30 days of the receipt of a request for
records be furnished
within a
reasonable period of time to the patient,
any other provider designated by the patient, any person authorized by paragraph
(2) of subsection (a) of this Code section to request a
patient́s
or deceased
patient́s
medical records, or any other person designated by the patient.
Such record
request shall be accompanied by:
(1)
An authorization in compliance with the federal Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act of 1996, 42 U.S.C. Section 1320d-2, et seq., and regulations
implementing such act; and
(2)
A signed written authorization as specified in subsection (d) of this Code
Section."
SECTION
4.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.