Wash. Rev. Code § 70.02.030

Patient Authorization of Disclosure

Summary of Provision:

A patient may authorize a health care provider or facility to disclose the patient’s health care information.  The provider or facility must honor an authorization, and if requested, provide a copy of the recorded information.  A reasonable fee may be charged for providing the information, and the record is not required to be sent until the fee is paid.  The provider must keep either the original or a copy of the information being disclosed.  To be valid, a disclosure authorization must:

•         Be in writing, dated, and signed by the patient
•         Identify the information to be disclosed
•         Identify the name of the person to whom the information is to be disclosed
•         Identify who is to make the disclosure
•         Contain an expiration date or event for that disclosure

A patient may revoke in writing a disclosure authorization at any time.  Patients may not maintain an action against the provider for disclosures made in good-faith reliance on an authorization if the provider had no actual notice of the revocation.

Related Laws: Wash. Rev. Code § 70.02.020; Wash. Rev. Code § 70.02.040