The Ohio House has overwhelmingly passed a bill that would require health care providers to give parents access to a minor’s health records to the fullest extent of the law.
There are some things children can do without parental ok, including donating blood, getting a rape kit, or getting certain medical tests. Those are protected by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, otherwise known as HIPAA.
The sponsor of House Bill 162, known as the “My Child-My Chart Act," is Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery). He said it will require primary doctors to make medical records available to parents even though federal law has limits.
"We had to thread the needle on this bill because much of it applies to HIPAA, and HIPAA is federal law, and we don’t have any control over federal law."
Click said he's heard from constituents whose inability to access their child's online medical profile caused a variety of problems. In one case, the parent was turned over to a collection agency for a medical bill their child incurred without the parents' knowledge, and the parent couldn't access their child's record online. In another case, a parent was unable to schedule their child for a time-sensitive surgery after being denied access to their record in an online app.
“The problem is some parents didn’t know what they didn’t know. And now they will at least know and they will be able to act appropriately and accordingly on that,” Click said.
All House Republicans and most Democrats voted for the bill. But Rep. Anita Somani (D-Dublin), who is a doctor, is opposed it. She stressed that she wants parents involved in the medical care of their children, but she’s worried about the way this bill was written.
“I’m concerned that parts of this bill might unintentionally be asking providers to put themselves in danger of violating HIPAA privacy rules,” Somani said.
Somani and five other Democrats voted against the bill, which now goes on to the Senate.
