HB210 Summary

• Requires all hospitals in Alabama to submit quarterly patient discharge data to the Alabama Department of Public Health, with systems operational by January 1, 2022, and reporting commencing April 1, 2022.

• Establishes the Hospital Discharge Data Advisory Council with 14 members including hospital representatives, physicians, insurers, consumers, and state agency officials to advise on rulemaking and data collection practices.

• Protects patient privacy by prohibiting public disclosure of individually identifiable patient information and requiring HIPAA-compliant procedures for limited data sets released to the public.

• Imposes civil penalties of $0.05 per patient discharge record per day for delinquent reports, with a maximum of $10 per record, and allows hospitals to request informal conferences and penalty waivers.

• Provides liability protections for entities reporting discharge data except in cases of knowingly false reports, violations of confidentiality laws, or wanton disclosure.