144.291 MINNESOTA HEALTH RECORDS ACT.
    Subdivision 1. Short title. Sections 144.291 to 144.298 may be cited as the Minnesota
Health Records Act.
    Subd. 2. Definitions. For the purposes of sections 144.291 to 144.298, the following terms
have the meanings given.
    (a) Group purchaser. "Group purchaser" has the meaning given in section 62J.03,
subdivision 6.
    (b) Health information exchange. "Health information exchange" means a legal
arrangement between health care providers and group purchasers to enable and oversee the
business and legal issues involved in the electronic exchange of health records between the
entities for the delivery of patient care.
    (c) Health record. "Health record" means any information, whether oral or recorded in any
form or medium, that relates to the past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition
of a patient; the provision of health care to a patient; or the past, present, or future payment
for the provision of health care to a patient.
    (d) Identifying information. "Identifying information" means the patient's name, address,
date of birth, gender, parent's or guardian's name regardless of the age of the patient, and other
nonclinical data which can be used to uniquely identify a patient.
    (e) Individually identifiable form. "Individually identifiable form" means a form in which
the patient is or can be identified as the subject of the health records.
    (f) Medical emergency. "Medical emergency" means medically necessary care which is
immediately needed to preserve life, prevent serious impairment to bodily functions, organs, or
parts, or prevent placing the physical or mental health of the patient in serious jeopardy.
    (g) Patient. "Patient" means a natural person who has received health care services from
a provider for treatment or examination of a medical, psychiatric, or mental condition, the
surviving spouse and parents of a deceased patient, or a person the patient appoints in writing
as a representative, including a health care agent acting according to chapter 145C, unless the
authority of the agent has been limited by the principal in the principal's health care directive.
Except for minors who have received health care services under sections 144.341 to 144.347,
in the case of a minor, patient includes a parent or guardian, or a person acting as a parent or
guardian in the absence of a parent or guardian.
    (h) Provider. "Provider" means:
    (1) any person who furnishes health care services and is regulated to furnish the services
under chapter 147, 147A, 147B, 147C, 147D, 148, 148B, 148C, 148D, 150A, 151, 153, or 153A;
    (2) a home care provider licensed under section 144A.46;
    (3) a health care facility licensed under this chapter or chapter 144A;
    (4) a physician assistant registered under chapter 147A; and
    (5) an unlicensed mental health practitioner regulated under sections 148B.60 to 148B.71.
    (i) Record locator service. "Record locator service" means an electronic index of patient
identifying information that directs providers in a health information exchange to the location of
patient health records held by providers and group purchasers.
    (j) Related health care entity. "Related health care entity" means an affiliate, as defined in
section 144.6521, subdivision 3, paragraph (b), of the provider releasing the health records.
History: 2007 c 147 art 10 s 2