Public Health Law Map - Beta 5 - Medical and Public Health Law Site

employee’s health status.” In the absence of specific authorization by the patient,
however, this provision does not give medical care providers the right to discuss
the patient’s medical condition with third parties.
A demand to examine the original record should not disrupt office routines in the
individual case, but it can become a problem when a designated representative
requests access to the records of all the employees of a company. The physician or
clinic is required to provide proper facilities for reviewing the records, which can
take weeks or months, or to loan the records to the requesting organization. In
either case, the physician or clinic may find it necessary to make and retain a copy
of the records to provide ongoing care for the employees during the period when
the records are unavailable. This can be very expensive and should be addressed in
the contract between a company and a contract provider of occupational medical
services.
Whenever an employee or designated representative requests a copy of a record,
the employer (or contracting occupational medicine provider) must provide a copy
of the record without charge, provide free access to a copying machine, or loan the
record to the requesting employee or representative for a reasonable period of time
to allow copying. “In the case of an original X-ray, the employer may restrict
access to on-site examination or make other suitable arrangements for the
temporary loan of the X- ray.” If the record has been previously provided without
cost to an employee or designated representative, the employer may charge
reasonable, nondiscriminatory administrative costs (search and copying expenses
but not including overhead expenses) for additional copies of the record. The
employer shall not charge for an initial request for a copy of information that has
been added to a record since it was previously provided.
c) Limitations on Access to Medical Records
When an employee requests access to his or her medical records, the physician may
recommend that the employee discuss the records with the physician, accept a
summary of material facts and opinions in lieu of the records requested, or accept
release of the requested records only to a physician or other designated
representative. If the employee persists in his or her request to see the complete
record, the rules provide that release may be made to a designated representative
rather than to the employee:
Whenever an employee requests access to his or her employee medical
records, and a physician representing the employer believes that direct
employee access to information contained in the records regarding a
specific diagnosis of a terminal illness or a psychiatric condition could be
detrimental to the employee’s health, the employer may inform the
employee that access will only be provided to a designated representative
of the employee having specific written consent, and deny the employee’s
request for direct access to this information only. Where a designated
representative with specific written consent requests access to information
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