00                             HOUSE BILL NO. 44                                                                          
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 or hospital is not subject to civil or criminal liability                        
05       for                                                                                                               
06                 (1)  acting in reliance on an advance health care directive obtained from                               
07       the directive registry established under AS 13.52.310; or                                                         
08                 (2)  not checking the directive registry established under AS 13.52.310                                 
09       to determine if a patient of the health care facility or hospital has filed an advance                            
10       health care directive in the registry.                                                                          
11    * Sec. 2. AS 13.52 is amended by adding a new section to read:                                                     
12            Sec. 13.52.310. Advance health care directive registry. (a) The department                               
13       shall establish and maintain, or contract with a registry organization to establish and                           
14       maintain, a registry for advance health care directives. The registry must consist of                             
15                 (1)  a list of the names of individuals who have made written directives                                

01       for themselves and who have filed them with the registry under (b) of this section; and                           
02                 (2)  scanned copies of the directives identified in (1) of this subsection.                             
03            (b)  An individual who has made a written directive for the individual may file                              
04       the directive with the registry.                                                                                  
05            (c)  Except as provided in this subsection and by (d) of this section, the registry                          
06       is confidential, and the department or a contractor may not use information in the                                
07       registry for another purpose. The department may release by mail, facsimile, or secure                            
08       Internet access,                                                                                                  
09                 (1)  the name of an individual who filed a directive with the registry                                  
10       under (b) of this section and a copy of a directive in the registry to                                            
11                      (A)  the individual who made the directive;                                                        
12                      (B)  the agent, guardian, or surrogate of the individual who                                       
13            made the directive; or                                                                                       
14                      (C)  a health care facility in this state or hospital in this state if                             
15            the individual who made the directive is a patient of the health care facility or                            
16            hospital;                                                                                                    
17                 (2)  a copy of a directive in the registry to a hospital in another state if                            
18       requested by the                                                                                                  
19                      (A)  individual who made the directive; or                                                         
20                      (B)  agent, guardian, or surrogate of the individual who made                                      
21            the directive.                                                                                               
22            (d)  The department shall make the registry accessible for viewing on the                                    
23       Internet 24 hours a day to a hospital in this state to determine if an individual who is a                        
24       patient at the hospital has a directive or to obtain a copy of a directive for an individual                      
25       who is a patient at the hospital.                                                                                 
26            (e)  The department is not required to review a directive for validity or                                    
27       compliance with this chapter or another law before the directive is placed in the                                 
28       registry.                                                                                                         
29            (f)  The department shall remove a directive from the registry if the individual                             
30       who made the directive requests in writing that the directive be removed.                                         
31            (g)  Not filing a directive with the registry does not affect the validity of the                            

01       directive. Failure to notify the department that a directive in the registry has been                             
02       revoked does not affect the validity of the revocation.                                                           
03            (h)  The department may charge a fee to file a directive in the registry or                                  
04       provide a copy of a directive filed in the registry under this section, except that the                           
05       department may not charge a fee for removing a directive from the registry or for                                 
06       answering an inquiry by a health care facility in this state or hospital in this state                            
07       regarding whether an individual has a directive in the registry. The fee may not exceed                           
08       the department's administrative costs of fulfilling the request.                                                  
09            (i)  To protect the security of the directives and names on the registry, the                                
10       department shall establish by regulation identification procedures and requirements for                           
11       an individual, agent, surrogate, guardian, hospital, or health care facility to access the                        
12       registry.                                                                                                         
13            (j)  The department shall establish by regulation criteria and procedures for the                            
14       collection, storage, access, distribution, removal, and disposal of directives in the                             
15       registry and a schedule for removing directives from the registry.                                                
16            (k)  The department and its employees are not liable for civil damages as a                                  
17       result of an act or omission in the establishment or maintenance of the registry or other                         
18       implementation of this section.                                                                                   
19            (l)  In this section,                                                                                        
20                 (1)  "directive" means a written advance health care directive;                                         
21                 (2)  "registry" means the registry established under this section.