Bus. & Prof. Code 2516 (2006; amended by AB 1308, 2013)

Licensed midwives must report to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development certain information relating to the out-of-hospital births they assisted with in California. The Office must maintain the confidentiality of that information. The Office may not permit any law enforcement or regulatory agency to inspect or have copies made of the contents of any midwives' reports, for any purpose, including investigations for licensing, certification, or regulatory purposes. The Office shall report the aggregate information collected to the Medical Board of California by July 30 of each year; the Medical Board shall include this information in its annual report to the Legislature. The board, with input from the Midwifery Advisory Council, may adjust the data elements required to be reported to better coordinate with other reporting systems (e.g., the reporting system of the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA)), while maintaining the data elements unique to California. To better capture data needed for the report required by this section, the concurrent use of systems (including MANA's) by licensed midwives is encouraged.

Bus. & Prof. Code 4112 (1996; amended 1997, 1999, 2000)

Out-of-state pharmacies doing business in California must keep records of controlled substances or dangerous devices dispensed to patients so that the records are readily retrievable from the records of other drugs dispensed. These pharmacies must comply with requests for information from the appropriate California regulatory agency and the oversight agency in the pharmacy's home state.

Bus. & Prof. Code 805(g), (h), and (i)

Subsection (g) specifies that the required filing of an 805 report (required from peer review bodies for disciplinary actions/investigations of medical practitioner) shall not act as a waiver of confidentiality of medical records and committee reports. The information reported or disclosed shall be kept confidential. Subsection (h) specifies that the Medical Board of California, the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, and the Dental Board of California shall disclose reports to requesting health facilities as required by Section 805.5. Under subsection (i), an 805 report shall be maintained by an agency for dissemination purposes for a period of three years after receipt.

Bus. & Prof. Code 805.01 (Added by SB 700, 2010)

The head of a medical staff, peer review body, or licensed health care facility or clinic shall file a report with the relevant agency within 15 days after a peer review body makes a final decision to sanction a licentiate (e.g., physician and surgeon, podiatrist, clinical psychologist, marriage and family therapist, clinical social worker, professional clinical counselor, dentist, physician assistant, or anyone authorized to practice medicine) based on the peer review body's investigation into any of four possible alleged malpractice actions: (1) incompetence or gross deviation from the standard of care; (2) the use or administration to oneself of controlled substances; (3) excessive furnishing of controlled substances without a lawful prescription and good faith examination/medical reason; (4) sexual misconduct with a patient during treatment or examination. The licentiate shall receive a notice of the proposed action, which shall also include notice of the licentiate’s right to submit additional explanatory or exculpatory statements. The relevant agency is entitled to inspect any statement of charges, documents, medical charts, exhibits, opinions, findings, conclusions, or any certified copy of medical records, as permitted by other applicable law. The information disclosed in the investigation shall be kept confidential and shall not be subject to discovery, though the information may be reviewed in an administrative disciplinary hearing.

Bus. & Prof. Code 805.2(e) and (f)

The Medical Board of California shall contract with an independent entity to conduct a comprehensive study of the peer review process. (e) The case files and other information obtained by the independent entity shall be confidential. The independent entity shall not release the case files or other information it obtains to any individual, agency, or entity, including the board, except as aggregate data, examples, or in the final report submitted to the board and the Legislature, but in no case shall information released under these exemptions be identifiable in any way or associated with, or related to, a specific facility, individual, or peer review body. (f) Information obtained by the independent entity, including raw data, patient information, case files or records, interviews and records of interviews, etc., shall not be subject to discovery/subpoena/subpoena duces tecum and shall not be admissible as evidence in any court of law in this state. The information described in this subdivision shall be subje

Welf. & Inst. 366.24(c) (2009; amended by AB 1712, 2012)

(c) In the case of tribal customary adoption, an evaluation of the prospective adoptive parents shall be conducted, including an evaluation of their biological, psychological, and health information. An adoption agency may not place a child for tribal customary adoption unless a written report on the medical and psychological background of the child and, if available, the medical background on the child's biological parents, has been supplied to the parents.

Welf. & Inst. 366.24(d) (2009; amended by AB 1712, 2012)

(d) In the case of tribal customary adoptions, the department and any licensed adoption agency can disclose: any identifying information requested by the State Department of Social Services for the purpose of record-keeping and evaluating tribal customary adoption services; information about a prospective tribal customary adoptive parent or birth parent (with the subject’s written authorization) to other social service agencies; information relating to a tribal customary adoption petition or the child in custody, to the juvenile court, welfare agency, foster care services, potential adoptive parents, or health care provider, to promote the child's welfare; and tribal customary adoption case records to researchers so long as the research will not disclose their identities to anyone else.

Welf. & Inst. Code 10850.7

An authorized employee of the welfare department may disclose confidential information about a deceased public social services applicant or recipient to any law enforcement agency upon request from such agency.

Welf. & Inst. Code 14015.8 (2013; amended by SB 28, 2013)

The State Department of Social Services or any government agency that is determining eligibility for, or enrollment in, the Medi-Cal program or any other program administered by the department, or collecting protected health information for those purposes, and the California Health Benefit Exchange, shall share information with each other as necessary to enable them to perform their respective statutory and regulatory duties under state and federal law. This information shall include, but not be limited to, personal information and protected health information regarding individual beneficiaries and applicants.

Welf. & Inst. Code 14100.2(a) (1980; amended by AB 2300, 2008)

All personal information (including medical data, diagnoses, past history of disease or disability) made or maintained by any public officer or agency in the administration of basic health care, prepaid health plans, and adult day health care programs and for which grant-in-aid is received from the United States government shall be confidential and shall only be open to examination for purposes directly connected with the administration of the Medi-Cal program. Courts may compel agency personnel to testify regarding the legal mental capacity of a recipient or the recipient's need for a conservatorship in the context of a petition for conservatorship or a criminal prosecution.