No. CS/SB 864
Filed under Healthcare.
Public Records/Uterine Fibroid Research Database; Providing an exemption from public records requirements for certain records and personal identifying information submitted to the Department of Health for inclusion in the uterine fibroid research database; providing for future legislative review and repeal; providing a statement of public necessity, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDAny record or personal identifying information about a woman diagnosed with or treated for uterine fibroids, once submitted to the Department of Health for the state's fibroid research database, becomes confidential and off-limits to public records requests.
This protection is not permanent. It expires automatically on October 2, 2031, under Florida's Open Government Sunset Review process, unless the Legislature reviews it and votes to keep it in place.
The Legislature justifies the exemption by pointing to federal patient privacy law: releasing this medical information would violate HIPAA, and the Department of Health says it cannot run the fibroid database's research and tracking work without keeping it confidential.
AIAny record or personal identifying information about a woman diagnosed with or treated for uterine fibroids becomes confidential and exempt from public records law and the state constitution's access clause once it is submitted to the Department of Health for the fibroid database.
AIThe new confidentiality exemption is not permanent. It is subject to the state's Open Government Sunset Review Act and is scheduled to repeal automatically on October 2, 2031, unless the Legislature reviews and reenacts it before then.
AIThe Legislature's required public-necessity statement says the Department of Health cannot carry out the fibroid database's research and tracking purpose without this confidentiality, because disclosing the underlying medical information would violate federal patient-privacy law.