Florida Statutes 400.611 – Interdisciplinary records of care; confidentiality; release of records
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(1) A hospice shall maintain an up-to-date, interdisciplinary record of care being given and patient and family status. Records shall contain pertinent past and current medical, nursing, social, and other therapeutic information and such other information that is necessary for the safe and adequate care of the patient. Notations regarding all aspects of care for the patient and family shall be made in the record. When services are terminated, the record shall show the date and reason for termination.
(2) Patient records shall be retained for a period of 6 years after termination of hospice services, unless otherwise provided by law. In the case of a patient who is a minor, the 6-year period shall begin on the date the patient reaches or would have reached the age of majority.
(3) The interdisciplinary record of patient care and billing records are confidential.
(4) A hospice may not release a patient’s interdisciplinary record or any portion thereof, unless the person requesting the information provides to the hospice:
(a) A patient authorization executed by the patient;
Terms Used In Florida Statutes 400.611
- Agency: means the Agency for Health Care Administration. See Florida Statutes 400.601
- Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- Hospice: means a centrally administered corporation or a limited liability company that provides a continuum of palliative and supportive care for the terminally ill patient and his or her family. See Florida Statutes 400.601
- Hospice services: means items and services furnished to a patient and family by a hospice, or by others under arrangements with such a program, in a place of temporary or permanent residence used as the patient's home for the purpose of maintaining the patient at home; or, if the patient needs short-term institutionalization, the services shall be furnished in cooperation with those contracted institutions or in the hospice inpatient facility. See Florida Statutes 400.601
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- minor: includes any person who has not attained the age of 18 years. See Florida Statutes 1.01
- Patient: means the terminally ill individual receiving hospice services. See Florida Statutes 400.601
- person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
- Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
- writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01
(b) In the case of an incapacitated patient, a patient authorization executed prior to the patient’s death by the patient’s then acting legal guardian, health care surrogate as defined in s. 765.101(21), health care proxy as defined in s. 765.101(19), or agent under power of attorney;
(c) A court order appointing the person as the administrator, curator, executor, or personal representative of the patient’s estate with authority to obtain the patient’s medical records;
(d) If a judicial appointment has not been made pursuant to paragraph (c), a last will that is self-proved under s. 732.503 and designates the person to act as the patient’s personal representative; or
(e) An order by a court of competent jurisdiction to release the interdisciplinary record to the person.
(5) For purposes of this section, the term “patient authorization” means an unrevoked written statement by the patient, or an oral statement made by the patient which has been reduced to writing in the patient’s interdisciplinary record of care, or, in the case of an incapacitated patient, by the patient’s then acting legal guardian, health care surrogate, agent under a power of attorney, or health care proxy giving the patient’s permission to release the interdisciplinary record to a person requesting the record.
(6) A hospice must release requested aggregate patient statistical data to a state or federal agency acting under its statutory authority. Any information obtained from patient records by a state agency pursuant to its statutory authority is confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1).