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HOUSE BILL NO. 61

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H0061........................................................by MR. SPEAKER
               Requested by Department of Health and Welfare
HIV/HEPATITIS B - EXPOSURE - Amends existing law to remove a requirement
that the Department of Health and Welfare inform emergency or medical
service providers of exposure to HIV or Hepatitis B if they have had a
significant exposure.

01/11    House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
01/11    Rpt prt - to Health/Wel

Bill Text

H0061

                                                                        
 ||||              LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO             ||||
Fifty-fifth Legislature                 First Regular Session - 1999
                                                                        

                             IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                                    HOUSE BILL NO. 61

                                      BY MR. SPEAKER
                      Requested by: Department of Health and Welfare

 1                                        AN ACT
 2    RELATING TO DISCLOSURE OF HIV AND HBV REPORTING INFORMATION; AMENDING  SECTION
 3        39-610,  IDAHO CODE, TO STRIKE A REQUIREMENT FOR NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCY
 4        AND MEDICAL PERSONNEL.

 5    Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:

 6        SECTION 1.  That Section 39-610, Idaho Code, be, and the  same  is  hereby
 7    amended to read as follows:

 8        39-610.  DISCLOSURE OF HIV AND HBV REPORTING INFORMATION. (1) Confidential
 9    public health record as described in section 39-606, Idaho Code, shall be sub-
10    ject  to  disclosure according to chapter 3, title 9, Idaho Code, shall not be
11    discoverable, and shall not be compelled to be produced in any civil or admin-
12    istrative hearing.
13        (2)  State or local health authorities may contact and advise  those  per-
14    sons  who, in the judgment of health authorities, have been exposed to the HIV
15    (human immunodeficiency virus) or hepatitis B (HBV) infections.
16        (3)   The department of health and welfare shall, in a manner  estab-
17    lished  by  rules  and  regulations, accept from persons involved in providing
18    emergency or medical services reports of significant exposures to the blood or
19    body fluids of a patient or deceased person. The department of health and wel-
20    fare shall promulgate rules and regulations  defining  the  term  "significant
21    exposure"  as  used in this section. Upon receipt of a report made pursuant to
22    section 39-602, Idaho Code, confirming the presence of HIV or HBV virus  in  a
23    patient  or  a  deceased  person, the director of the department of health and
24    welfare, or his designee, shall immediately contact and  advise  any  and  all
25    persons  who,  on  the basis of information then or thereafter reported to the
26    department, have had a significant exposure to the blood  or  body  fluids  of
27    that  infected  patient  or  deceased person. The significantly exposed person
28    shall be informed only that he may have been exposed to HIV  or  HBV,  as  the
29    case  may be, and thereafter advised of whatever prophylactic and testing pro-
30    cedures are  appropriate.  The  significantly  exposed  person  shall  not  be
31    informed of the name of the infected patient or deceased person. Additionally,
32    the  department of health and welfare shall, to the greatest extent consistent
33    with public health requirements, maintain the confidentiality of the  identity
34    of the significantly exposed person.
35        (4)    Public health authorities may disclose personally identifying
36    information in public health records, as described in  section  39-606,  Idaho
37    Code,  to  other  local  or state public health agencies when the confidential
38    information is necessary to carry out the duties of the agency in the investi-
39    gation, control and surveillance of disease, as determined by the state  board
40    of health and welfare, or as otherwise authorized by law.
41        (  5  4 )  Nothing in this chapter imposes liability
42    or criminal sanction for disclosure or nondisclosure of the results of a blood
43    test to detect HIV or HBV virus in accordance with any reporting  requirements


                                          2

 1    of the department of health and welfare.

Statement of Purpose / Fiscal Impact

                      STATEMENT  OF  PURPOSE
RS08460
The repeal of 39-610(3), Idaho Code will remove a requirement that
the Department of Health and Welfare inform emergency or medical
service providers of exposure to HIV or Hepatitis B if they had a
significant exposure in responding to an infected patient.  Current
recommendations for prophylactic treatment suggest initiating
treatment within 2 hours of exposure. 

The process the Department must use to verify exposure, assure
confidentiality, and provide information to the potentially exposed
individual may extend beyond the 2-hour time frame.  Additionally,
the lack of information on Hepatitis or HIV status of a patient is
not a basis for withholding prophylactic treatment.  Thus,
information the Department can provide only verifies the need for
prophylaxis, but adds nothing to the decision-making process
regarding exposure to a patient on which there is no record.


FISCAL  IMPACT
Staff time associated with verifying the claimed exposure,
researching the records and reporting results (15 minutes - 2
hours, depending on circumstances) would be saved.  From 1991 to
1998 there have been between 27 and 116 requests, of which 13 to 33
were actually reviewed; others were excluded because they didn't
meet criteria.  Conservatively, 3.25 to 66 man hours per year would
be saved by eliminating this requirement.

CONTACT   
Name:          Dick Schultz
Agency:   Department of Health and Welfare
Phone:         334-5945

Statement of Purpose/Fiscal Impact                           H 6