1. (A) Patient records received by counties, the department, or other entities involved in the administration of the program created pursuant to Section 44-6-150 are confidential. Patient records gathered pursuant to Section 44-6-170 are also confidential. The Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office shall use patient-identifiable data collected pursuant to Section 44-6-170 for the purpose of linking various data bases to carry out the purposes of Section 44-6-170. Linked data files must be made available to those agencies providing data files for linkage. No agency receiving patient-identifiable data collected pursuant to Section 44-6-170 may release this data in a manner such that an individual patient or provider may be identified except as provided in Section 44-6-170. Nothing in this section may be construed to limit access by a submitting provider or its designee to that provider's information.
2. (B) A person violating this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

HISTORY: 1985 Act No. 201, Part II, Section 19C; 1989 Act No. 189, Part II, Section 35G; 1993 Act No. 130, Section 4; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 1054.

Code Commissioner's Note

At the direction of the Code Commissioner, references in this section to the offices of the former State Budget and Control Board, Office of the Governor, or other agencies, were changed to reflect the transfer of them to the Department of Administration or other entities, pursuant to the directive of the South Carolina Restructuring Act, 2014 Act No. 121, Section 5(D)(1).