Law / United States / 
Pennsylvania
Confidentiality of HIV-Related Information Act: informed consent to testing, limits on disclosure and civil cause of action
35 P.S. §§ 7601 to 7612 (Act 148 of 1990)
In force since .
A sensitive categories rule binding public and private bodies.
- Criminal exposure
- No
- Private right of action
- Yes
- Obligation class
- Consent, Disclosure
- Audit expectation
- none
As of .
What it requires
- Do not perform an HIV-related test without first obtaining the subject's informed documented consent, preceded by an explanation of the test including its purpose, potential uses, limitations and the meaning of its results, except as section 6 provides for the involuntary testing of a source patient. A health care provider may offer opt-out testing if the subject is informed that the subject will be tested unless the subject refuses, and must document the informed consent and whether the subject declined.
- If you provide a health or social service, or obtain confidential HIV-related information under a release, do not disclose it, and do not be compelled to disclose it, except to the persons section 7(a) lists, such as the subject, the physician who ordered the test, a person named in the subject's written consent, and an insurer to the extent necessary to reimburse providers or pay a claim.
- If you receive confidential HIV-related information under the act, do not disclose it to another person except as the act authorizes.
- Make a written consent to disclosure contain the nine required elements, including the signature of the subject, the date, a statement that the consent is subject to revocation, and its expiration; do not disclose on an expired, deficient, revoked or materially false consent; and accompany each consented disclosure with the written statement section 7(e) requires.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Any person aggrieved by a violation, who has a cause of action against the person who committed it and may recover compensatory damages under section 10.
What this law does
Section 5(a) of the Confidentiality of HIV-Related Information Act provides that, except as section 6 provides with respect to the involuntary testing of a source patient, no HIV-related test shall be performed without first obtaining the informed documented consent of the subject. Section 5(a), as amended , lets a health care provider offer opt-out HIV testing, where the subject is informed that the subject will be tested for HIV unless the subject refuses.
Section 3 defines confidential HIV-related information as information in the possession of a person who provides one or more health or social services, or who obtains it under a release, that concerns whether an individual has been the subject of an HIV-related test or has HIV, HIV-related illness or AIDS.
Section 3 defines an institutional health care provider to include a hospital, nursing home, hospice, clinic, blood bank, clinical laboratory and any health care institution required to be licensed in this Commonwealth, whether privately or publicly operated.
Section 7(a) bars a person or employee, or agent of such person, who obtains confidential HIV-related information in the course of providing any health or social service, or under a release, from disclosing or being compelled to disclose it except to the persons the subsection lists, among them the subject and any person specifically designated in a written consent.
Section 7(b) bars a person to whom confidential HIV-related information has been disclosed under the act from disclosing it to another person except as the act authorizes. Section 7(c) lists nine required elements of a written consent to disclosure, from the name of the person permitted to make the disclosure to the date, event or condition on which the consent expires.
Section 10 gives any person aggrieved by a violation of the act a cause of action against the person who committed the violation and the right to recover compensatory damages. Section 10 also lets an aggrieved person recover reasonable attorney fees and costs for a violation of section 6 by a source patient's physician or an employee of the physician.
Section 11 makes each disclosure of confidential HIV-related information in violation of the act, and each HIV-related test conducted in contravention of the act, separate for purposes of civil liability. Section 13 provides that the act takes effect in 90 days. Act 148 of 1990 is dated .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app handles health records.