HB 71: "An Act relating to a registry for advance health care directives."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 71 01 "An Act relating to a registry for advance health care directives." 02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 * Section 1. AS 13.52.080 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 04 (d) A health care facility is not subject to civil or criminal liability for 05 (1) acting in reliance on an advance health care directive obtained from 06 the directive registry established under AS 13.52.310; or 07 (2) not checking the directive registry established under AS 13.52.310 08 to determine if a patient of the health care facility has filed an advance health care 09 directive on the registry. 10 * Sec. 2. AS 13.52.223(a) is amended to read: 11 (a) When a hospital refers an individual at or near death to a procurement 12 organization, the organization may make a reasonable search of the directive 13 registry established under AS 13.52.310 and shall make a reasonable search of the 14 other records of the department and a donor registry. 15 * Sec. 3. AS 13.52.223(b) is amended to read:
01 (b) A procurement organization shall be allowed reasonable access to 02 information in the records of the department, except as provided under 03 AS 13.52.310, to ascertain whether an individual at or near death is a donor. 04 * Sec. 4. AS 13.52 is amended by adding a new section to read: 05 Sec. 13.52.310. Advance health care directive registry. (a) The department 06 shall establish and maintain a registry for advance health care directives. 07 (b) An individual who has made a written directive for the individual may file 08 the directive with the department for placement in the directive registry. 09 (c) Except as provided in this subsection and by (d) of this section, the 10 directive registry is confidential, and the department may not use the information in 11 the directive registry for another purpose. The department may release 12 (1) information on or a copy of a directive in the registry to the 13 (A) individual who made the directive; 14 (B) agent, guardian, or surrogate of the individual who made 15 the directive; or 16 (C) health care facility where the individual who made the 17 directive is a patient; 18 (2) a copy of a directive in the registry to a hospital in another state if 19 requested by the 20 (A) individual who made the directive; or 21 (B) agent, guardian, or surrogate of the individual who made 22 the directive. 23 (d) The department shall make the registry accessible for viewing on the 24 Internet 24 hours a day to a health care facility to obtain information on or a copy of a 25 directive for an individual who is a patient at the health care facility. 26 (e) The department is not required to review a directive for validity or 27 compliance with this chapter or another law before placing the directive in the 28 registry. 29 (f) The department shall remove a directive from the registry and return it to 30 the individual who made the directive if the individual, or the individual's agent, 31 guardian, or surrogate requests that the directive be removed.
01 (g) The department shall review the registry every five years and remove 02 directives of individuals who have been deceased for six months or more. 03 (h) Not filing a directive with the department for placement in the registry 04 does not affect the validity of the directive. Failure to notify the department that a 05 directive in the registry has been revoked does not affect the validity of the revocation. 06 (i) The department may charge a fee to file, return, or provide a copy of or 07 information on a directive filed in the registry, except that the department may not 08 charge a fee for removing a directive from the registry or for answering an inquiry by 09 a health care provider regarding whether an individual has a directive in the registry. 10 The fee may not exceed the department's administrative costs of fulfilling the request. 11 (j) To protect the security of the directives and the information in the 12 directives on the registry, the department shall establish by regulation identification 13 procedures and requirements for an individual, agent, surrogate, guardian, or health 14 care provider to access the registry. 15 (k) In this section, 16 (1) "directive" means a written advance health care directive; 17 (2) "registry" means the registry established by this section.