August 2016 Maryland Attorney General opinion on a health care provider giving information to the parents or custodian of a person over the age of 18 who is having a mental health crisis.

Please consult the following resources:

Maryland Health Care Commission’s HIPAA Resources, including:

• State vs. Federal Comparison
• Security Guidance
• Accounting of Disclosures

Maryland Medical Records Act–Duty to Hold Confidential and Duty to Disclose a Medical Record, including:

• Confidentiality
• Disclosure of mental health records
• Copies of records

To look up the medical records statue, click here and select Health-General from the Article dropdown box; then select the Section number from the list below. Or copy and paste the section number from the list into the Search Statutes box.

SUBTITLE 3. CONFIDENTIALITY OF MEDICAL RECORDS

• 4-301. Definitions
• 4-302. Confidentiality and disclosure generally
• 4-302.1. Medical care electronic claims clearinghouses
• 4-302.2. Health information exchanges — Regulations
• 4-302.3. Health information exchanges — State designated exchange
• 4-302.4. New cause of action not created
• 4-303. Disclosure upon authorization of a person in interest
• 4-304. Copies of records; changes in records
• 4-305. Disclosures without authorization of person in interest — In general
• 4-306. Disclosures without authorization of person in interest — Investigations
• 4-307. Disclosure of mental health records
• 4-308. Liability for good faith actions
• 4-309. Refusal to disclose records; violations of subtitle; penalties

Maryland law (Health General Sec. 4-304) allows physicians to charge patients (or the patient’s “personal representative”) a fee for copying medical records, to be adjusted annually for inflation.  The fees are available here.