Bill Text: NJ A3955 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Limits patient information behavioral health care providers may disclose to health insurance carriers.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-05-16 - Reported out of Asm. Comm. with Amendments, and Referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee [A3955 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-A3955-Amended.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
Assemblyman CLINTON CALABRESE
District 36 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblywoman ANGELICA M. JIMENEZ
District 32 (Bergen and Hudson)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Jasey, Assemblyman Giblin, Assemblywomen Carter, Tucker, Reynolds-Jackson, Chaparro and Timberlake
SYNOPSIS
Limits patient information behavioral health care providers may disclose to health insurance carriers.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Assembly Human Services Committee on May 16, 2019, with amendments.
An Act concerning disclosure of certain behavioral health care information and supplementing Title 45 of the Revised Statutes and P.L.2005, c.352.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Notwithstanding any other law, rule1,1 or regulation to the contrary, a mental health care professional shall not disclose information concerning a patient to a carrier, except the following information:
(1) The patient's name, age, sex, address, educational status, identifying number within the insurance program, date of onset of difficulty, date of initial consultation, dates of sessions, whether the sessions are individual or group sessions, and fees;
(2) Diagnostic information, defined as therapeutic characterizations of the type found in the current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or in another professionally recognized diagnostic manual;
(3) Status of the patient as voluntary or involuntary; inpatient or outpatient;
(4) The reason for continuing behavioral health care services, limited to an assessment of the client's current level of functioning and level of distress. These aspects shall be described as "none," or by the terms "mild," "moderate," "severe" or "extreme;" and
(5) Prognosis, limited to an estimate of the minimal time during which treatment might continue.
b. The information provided to a carrier pursuant this section shall be marked "Confidential" and, if directed by the patient or an authorized representative, forwarded to the attention of a specific individual.
c. For the purposes of this section:
"Behavioral health care services" means procedures or services 1that are1 rendered by a health care provider for the assessment and treatment of 1a1 mental illness, emotional 1[disorders] disorder1, or substance 1[abuse] use disorder1.
"Carrier" means the same as defined in section 3 of P.L.2005, c.352 (C.17B:30-50).
"Mental health care professional" means an individual 1who is1 licensed or certified by this State to provide or administer behavioral health care services in the ordinary course of business or practice of a profession.
2. Notwithstanding any law, rule1,1 or regulation to the contrary, a 1[payer] carrier1 shall not request, or require in any contract or policy, information to be provided from a mental health care
professional concerning any covered person, except the information that is permitted to be provided by that professional pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
1As used in this section, "mental health care professional" shall mean the same as that term is defined by section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).1
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month next following enactment.
