Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to license and regulate health facilities, including general acute care hospitals, acute psychiatric hospitals, and skilled nursing facilities, and clinics. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions a crime.
The Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) prohibits a provider of health care, a health care service plan, a contractor, or a corporation and its subsidiaries and affiliates from intentionally sharing, selling, using for marketing, or otherwise using any medical information, as defined, for any purpose not necessary to provide health care services to a patient, except as provided. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions that results in economic loss or personal injury to a patient punishable as a misdemeanor.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to protect the privacy of undocumented Californians in hospitals.