Connecticut General Statutes 19a-215 – Commissioner’s lists of reportable diseases, emergency illnesses and health conditions and reportable laboratory findings. Reporting requirements. Confidentiality. Fines
(a) For the purposes of this section:
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 19a-215
- authorized agent: means a sanitarian licensed under chapter 395 and any individual certified for a specific program of environmental health by the Commissioner of Public Health in accordance with the general statutes and regulations of Connecticut state agencies. See Connecticut General Statutes 19a-200
- month: means a calendar month, and the word "year" means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Connecticut General Statutes 1-1
(1) “Clinical laboratory” has the same meaning as provided in section 19a-490.
(2) “Commissioner’s list of reportable diseases, emergency illnesses and health conditions” and “commissioner’s list of reportable laboratory findings” means the lists developed pursuant to section 19a-2a.
(3) “Confidential” means confidentiality of information pursuant to section 19a-25.
(4) “Health care provider” means a person who has direct or supervisory responsibility for the delivery of health care or medical services, including licensed physicians, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, physician assistants, nurses, dentists, medical examiners and administrators, superintendents and managers of health care facilities.
(5) “Reportable diseases, emergency illnesses and health conditions” means the diseases, illnesses, conditions or syndromes designated by the Commissioner of Public Health on the list required pursuant to section 19a-2a.
(b) A health care provider shall report each case occurring in such provider’s practice, of any disease on the commissioner’s list of reportable diseases, emergency illnesses and health conditions to the director of health of the town, city or borough in which such case resides and to the Department of Public Health, no later than twelve hours after such provider’s recognition of the disease. Such reports shall be in writing, by telephone or in an electronic format approved by the commissioner.
(c) A clinical laboratory shall report each finding identified by such laboratory of any disease identified on the commissioner’s list of reportable laboratory findings to the Department of Public Health not later than forty-eight hours after such laboratory’s finding. A clinical laboratory that reports an average of more than thirty findings per month shall make such reports electronically in a format approved by the commissioner. Any clinical laboratory that reports an average of less than thirty findings per month shall submit such reports, in writing, by telephone or in an electronic format approved by the commissioner. The Department of Public Health shall provide a copy of all such reports to the director of health of the town, city or borough in which the affected person resides or, in the absence of such information, the town where the specimen originated.
(d) When a local director of health, the local director’s authorized agent or the Department of Public Health receives a report of a disease or laboratory finding on the commissioner’s lists of reportable diseases, emergency illnesses and health conditions and laboratory findings, the local director of health, the local director’s authorized agent or the Department of Public Health may contact first the reporting health care provider and then the person with the reportable finding to obtain such information as may be necessary to lead to the effective control of further spread of such disease. In the case of reportable communicable diseases and laboratory findings, this information may include obtaining the identification of persons who may be the source or subsequent contacts of such infection.
(e) A hospital, as defined in section 19a-490 and licensed pursuant to chapter 368v, shall provide the Department of Public Health with access, including remote access, in a manner approved by the Commissioner of Public Health, to the entirety of each electronic medical record that concerns a reportable disease, emergency illness or health condition listed by the commissioner pursuant to subdivision (9) of section 19a-2a that occurs at such hospital. Such remote access shall take place on or before October 1, 2022, if technically feasible.
(f) All personal information obtained from disease prevention and control investigations pursuant to this section including the health care provider’s name and the identity of the reported case of disease and suspected source persons and contacts shall not be divulged to anyone and shall be held strictly confidential pursuant to section 19a-25, by the local director of health and the director’s authorized agent and by the Department of Public Health.
(g) Any person who violates any reporting or confidentiality provision of this section shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars. No provision of this section shall be deemed to supersede section 19a-584.