1. (a) Except as otherwise allowed or required by law, medical, financial, and personal information about a viator and insured, including the viator's or insured's identity or the identity of a family member or spousal equivalent, may not be disclosed to another person unless the disclosure is

   1. (1) necessary to effectuate a viatical settlement contract between a viator and a viatical settlement provider and the viator and insured have provided prior written consent to the disclosure; or
   2. (2) provided in response to an investigation or examination by the director.

2. (b) Contacts with an insured for the purpose of determining the health status of the insured after the effective date of the viatical settlement contract may be made only by a viatical settlement provider, viatical settlement broker, or viatical settlement representative licensed in this state. The insured may be contacted no more than

   1. (1) once every three months, if the insured has a life expectancy of more than one year; and
   2. (2) once a month, if the insured has a life expectancy of one year or less.
3. (c) A viatical settlement provider, viatical settlement broker, or viatical settlement representative shall obtain from a person that is provided with information that may not be disclosed under this section a signed affirmation that the person will not further divulge the information without first obtaining the express written consent of the viator and the insured for the disclosure. If a viatical settlement provider, viatical settlement broker, or viatical settlement representative is served with a subpoena and compelled to produce records containing patient identifying information, the viatical settlement provider, viatical settlement broker, or viatical settlement representative shall notify the viator and the insured in writing at their last known addresses within five working days after receiving the subpoena.

(Eff. 8/25/2002, Register 163)