(1) Agency records, public records under Florida Statutes Chapter 119, (Florida’s Public Records Law), are available for public inspection during normal business hours. Copies of such records may be obtained upon request and upon payment of the cost of copying.

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    (2) Patient-specific records collected by the Agency pursuant to Rules 59B-9.030 through 59B-9.039. F.A.C., are exempt from disclosure pursuant to Florida Statutes § 408.061(7), and shall not be released unless modified to protect patient confidentiality as described in paragraph (2)(a), below, and released in the manner described in paragraphs (2)(c) and (2)(d).
    (a) The patient-specific record shall be modified to protect patient confidentiality as follows:
1. Patient Control Number
Delete
2. Patient Social Security Number
Delete
3. Patient Birth Date
Substitute Age in years and an indicator of Age <29 Days except for persons 100 and older, substitute Age > 100 years
4. Visit Date
Substitute Quarter Indicator (1-4) (visit month cannot be substituted)
5. Medical or Health Record Number
Delete
    (b) A record linkage number shall be assigned which does not identify an individual patient and cannot reasonably be used to identify individual patients through use of data available through the Agency, but which can be used for confidential data output for bonafide research purposes.
    (c) The modified data records described in paragraph (2)(a), shall be released as a set of all records occurring in one calendar quarterly period based on date of visit.
    (d) The modified data described in paragraph (2)(a), shall be released in accordance with the Limited Data Set requirements of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and shall be made available on or after quarterly data has been certified as accurate by the facility as required by Section 408.061(1)(a), F.S.
    (3) Aggregate reports derived from patient-specific records collected pursuant to Rules 59B-9.030 through 59B-9.038, F.A.C., are public records and shall be released as described in subsection (1), of this rule, provided the aggregate reports do not include patient control number, patient birth date, visit date, patient social security number, medical or health record number or provided the aggregate reports contain the combination of five or more records for any data disclosed.
Rulemaking Authority Florida Statutes § 408.15(8). Law Implemented Florida Statutes § 408.061. History-New 1-1-10, Formerly 59B-9.023, Amended 1-1-18.