§10806 Access to records

Summary

An eligible system that gets confidential mental health records must keep them as private as the mental health provider does. The system must not give the records to the person named in them if the supervising mental health professional gives a written statement saying sharing the information would harm that person’s health. If access is denied, the person, their legal guardian, or an eligible system acting for them can have a mental health professional review the records. The eligible system can choose that reviewer when the State is the person’s guardian, or when the guardian fails to pick a reviewer within a reasonable time. If a State law bars the eligible system from getting these records, the federal access rules do not apply until the ban ends or until the 2-year period that began on May 23, 1986 ends. “Records” here means staff reports about care, agency reports about abuse, neglect, or injury and the steps taken to investigate them, and discharge planning records. The eligible system’s access to those records follows the same rules above.