Delaware Code Title 16 Sec. 1211 – Use of protected health information
(a) Protected health information collected by the Department of Health and Social Services or its agencies, the Maternal and Child Death Review Commission, the Child Protection Accountability Commission, and the Drug Overdose Fatality Review Commission shall be used solely for legitimate public health purposes.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 16 Sec. 1211
- Child: means a person who has not reached the age of 18 years. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
- expunged: means to permanently destroy, delete or make nonidentifiable. See Delaware Code Title 16 Sec. 1210
- Legitimate public health purpose: means a population-based activity or individual effort primarily aimed at the prevention of injury, disease, or premature mortality or the promotion of health in the community, including all of the following:
- Protected health information: means any information, whether oral, written, electronic, visual, pictorial, physical or any other form, that relates to an individual's past, present or future physical or mental health status, condition, treatment, service, products purchased, or provision of care and that reveals the identity of the individual whose healthcare is the subject of the information, or about which there is a reasonable basis to believe such information could be utilized (either alone or with other information that is or should reasonably be known to be available to predictable recipients of such information) to reveal the identity of that individual. See Delaware Code Title 16 Sec. 1210
- State: means the State of Delaware; and when applied to different parts of the United States, it includes the District of Columbia and the several territories and possessions of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
(b) Nonidentifiable health information shall be used by the Department of Health and Social Services and its agencies whenever possible consistent with the accomplishment of legitimate public health purposes.
(c) Any use of protected health information permitted by this subchapter shall be limited to the minimum amount of information which the official using the information reasonably believes is necessary to accomplish the legitimate public health purpose.
(d) Protected health information shall not be used by the State for commercial purposes.
(e) Protected health information whose use no longer furthers the legitimate public health purpose for which it was acquired shall be expunged.
73 Del. Laws, c. 355, § ?12; 75 Del. Laws, c. 361, § ?5; 78 Del. Laws, c. 277, § ?3; 80 Del. Laws, c. 187, § ?11; 81 Del. Laws, c. 94, § ?1; 83 Del. Laws, c. 364, § 2;