Law / United States / 
Northern Mariana Islands
Maintenance and Release of Patient Health Care Information Rules: patient access to, and correction of, health care information
NMIAC §§ 140-10.6-125 to 140-10.6-145
In force.
A data subject rights rule binding government bodies.
- Obligation class
- Data subject rights
What it requires
- If you are the Department of Public Health, on a patient's written request to examine or copy recorded health care information, act within fifteen working days: make the information available for examination during regular business hours and provide a copy if requested, tell the patient it does not exist or cannot be found, name the provider who maintains it, give written reasons and a date no later than twenty-one working days if the request is delayed, or deny the request on a ground the rules allow (NMIAC 140-10.6-125(a)).
- On request, explain any code or abbreviation used in the health care information (NMIAC 140-10.6-125(b)).
- Deny a patient access only on a ground the rules list, separate out and release the information that cannot be withheld to the extent possible, and where you deny access on the ground of injury to health or danger to safety, let a licensed health care provider the patient selects examine and copy the record and tell the patient of that right when you deny the request (NMIAC 140-10.6-130).
- Within ten days of a patient's written request to correct or amend the medical record, make the correction or amendment and inform the patient, or take one of the other steps the rule lists (NMIAC 140-10.6-135(b)).
- When you correct or amend a record, add the amending information to the record and mark the challenged entries, and if you refuse, let the patient file a concise statement of the correction requested and the reasons and mark the challenged entry (NMIAC 140-10.6-135(c), (d)).
- Let a person authorized to consent to health care for a patient exercise the patient's rights to the extent needed to carry out the grant of authority, let only a minor who may lawfully consent to care exercise the rights as to information about that care, and let a deceased patient's designated personal representative or, absent one, the next of kin in the order spouse, children over 18, parents, siblings exercise the deceased patient's rights (NMIAC 140-10.6-140(a), 140-10.6-145).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
What this law does
On a patient's written request to examine or copy recorded health care information, the Department of Public Health must, as promptly as the circumstances require and no later than fifteen working days after receiving the request, make the information available for examination and provide a copy if requested, tell the patient the information does not exist or cannot be found, name the provider who maintains it, explain a delay in writing, or deny the request.
On request the Department must provide an explanation of any code or abbreviation used in the health care information, and it is not required to create a new record or reformulate an existing record to make the information available in the requested form. The Department may deny a patient access to health care information if it reasonably concludes that knowledge of the information would be injurious to the health of the patient.
The Department may also deny access to health care information that was compiled and is used solely for litigation, quality assurance, peer review or administrative purposes, and to information to which access is otherwise prohibited by law.
If the Department denies a request because the information would be injurious to the patient's health or would endanger the life or safety of any individual, it must permit examination and copying by a licensed health care provider the patient selects who is not employed by the Department, and must inform the patient of that right when the request is denied.
As promptly as the circumstances require, and no later than ten days after receiving a patient's request to correct or amend its medical record, the Department must make the requested correction or amendment and inform the patient, tell the patient the record no longer exists or cannot be found or is maintained by someone else, or, if handling is delayed, specify in writing the earliest date, not later than twenty-one days after receipt, when it will be made or otherwise disposed of.
If the Department refuses to make the patient's proposed correction or amendment, it must permit the patient to file a concise statement of the correction requested and the reasons, and must mark the challenged entry to indicate that the patient claims it is inaccurate or incomplete.
A person authorized to consent to health care for another may exercise the rights of that person under the subchapter, and if the patient is a minor authorized to consent to health care without parental consent, only the minor may exercise the rights as to information about the health care to which the minor lawfully consented. A designated personal representative of a deceased patient may exercise all of the deceased patient's rights under the subchapter.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app handles health records or processes personal data.
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