Virginia HB 973: Health records; disclosure of laboratory test results, waiting period.

Bill Text

2026 SESSION

INTRODUCED

26102418D

HOUSE BILL NO. 973

Offered January 14, 2026

Prefiled January 13, 2026

A BILL to amend and reenact § 32.1-127.1:03 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 32.1-127.1:06, relating to health records; disclosure of laboratory test results; waiting period.

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Patron—Price

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Referred to Committee on Health and Human Services

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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 32.1-127.1:03 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted and that the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 32.1-127.1:06 as follows:

§ 32.1-127.1:03. Health records privacy.

A. There is hereby recognized an individual's right of privacy in the content of his health records. Health records are the property of the health care entity maintaining them, and, except when permitted or required by this section or by other provisions of state law, no health care entity, or other person working in a health care setting, may disclose an individual's health records.

Pursuant to this subsection:

1. Health care entities shall disclose health records to the individual who is the subject of the health record, including an audit trail of any additions, deletions, or revisions to the health record, if specifically requested, except as provided in subsections E and F and subsection B of § 8.01-413.

2. Health records shall not be removed from the premises where they are maintained without the approval of the health care entity that maintains such health records, except in accordance with a court order or subpoena consistent with subsection C of § 8.01-413 or with this section or in accordance with the regulations relating to change of ownership of health records promulgated by a health regulatory board established in Title 54.1.

3. No person to whom health records are disclosed shall redisclose or otherwise reveal the health records of an individual, beyond the purpose for which such disclosure was made, without first obtaining the individual's specific authorization to such redisclosure. This redisclosure prohibition shall not, however, prevent (i) any health care entity that receives health records from another health care entity from making subsequent disclosures as permitted under this section and the federal Department of Health and Human Services regulations relating to privacy of the electronic transmission of data and protected health information promulgated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services as required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) (42 U.S.C. § 1320d et seq.) or (ii) any health care entity from furnishing health records and aggregate or other data, from which individually identifying prescription information has been removed, encoded or encrypted, to qualified researchers, including, but not limited to, pharmaceutical manufacturers and their agents or contractors, for purposes of clinical, pharmaco-epidemiological, pharmaco-economic, or other health services research.

4. Health care entities shall, upon the request of the individual who is the subject of the health record, disclose health records to other health care entities, in any available format of the requester's choosing, as provided in subsection E.

B. As used in this section:

"Agent" means a person who has been appointed as an individual's agent under a power of attorney for health care or an advance directive under the Health Care Decisions Act (§ 54.1-2981 et seq.).

"Certification" means a written representation that is delivered by hand, by first-class mail, by overnight delivery service, or by facsimile if the sender obtains a facsimile-machine-generated confirmation reflecting that all facsimile pages were successfully transmitted.

"Guardian" means a court-appointed guardian of the person.

"Health care clearinghouse" means, consistent with the definition set out in 45 C.F.R. § 160.103, a public or private entity, such as a billing service, repricing company, community health management information system or community health information system, and "value-added" networks and switches, that performs either of the following functions: (i) processes or facilitates the processing of health information received from another entity in a nonstandard format or containing nonstandard data content into standard data elements or a standard transaction; or (ii) receives a standard transaction from another entity and processes or facilitates the processing of health information into nonstandard format or nonstandard data content for the receiving entity.

"Health care entity" means any health care provider, health plan or health care clearinghouse.

"Health care provider" means those entities listed in the definition of "health care provider" in § 8.01-581.1, except that state-operated facilities shall also be considered health care providers for the purposes of this section. Health care