(a) It is the public policy of the state of Tennessee to promote effective communications between health care providers while rendering care to their patients.
Terms Used In Tennessee Code 68-11-312
Hospital: means any institution, place, building or agency that has been licensed by the board, as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 68-11-302
Patient: includes , but is not limited to, outpatients, inpatients, persons dead on arrival, persons receiving emergency room care, and the newborn. See Tennessee Code 68-11-302
Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b)(1) There is no implied covenant of confidentiality or other restriction that precludes:
(A) Health care providers from communicating with each other in the course of providing care and treatment to a patient; or(B) A health care provider from responding to a request from a hospital regarding entries in the patient’s records of the requesting hospital made or reviewed by that health care provider during the course of providing care and treatment to the patient in the hospital.(2) Notwithstanding subdivision (b)(1), any information received from a health care provider that corrects or modifies a patient’s hospital record shall be made a part of the patient’s hospital record with a notation as to the date the information was supplied and the name or names of the person or persons supplying the information.(c) This section shall not be construed to authorize any disclosure of information that would be prohibited pursuant to the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) (42 U.S.C. § 1320d et seq.).
