(A) The identities of patients, emergency and critical care medical services personnel, and emergency and critical care medical services facilities mentioned, referenced, or otherwise appearing in information or data collected or prepared by or in connection with the EMSC Program must be treated as strictly confidential. The identities of these persons or entities are not available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act or discoverable or admissible in any administrative, civil, or criminal proceeding. An individual in attendance at any such proceeding may not be required to testify as to the identity of any such person or entity. No person, medical facility, or other organization providing or releasing information in accordance with this article may be held liable in a civil or criminal action for divulging confidential information unless the individual or organization acted in bad faith or with malicious purpose.
(B) The identity of a patient, physician, or hospital is confidential and may not be released except that the identity of a patient may be released upon informed written consent of the patient or the patient's legal guardian or legal representative; the identity of a physician may be released upon written consent of the physician; and the identity of a hospital may be released upon written consent of the hospital.
(C) Information must not be released except to:
(1) appropriate staff of the Division of Emergency Medical Services within the Department of Health and Environmental Control, South Carolina Data Oversight Council, and State Budget and Control Board, Office of Research and Statistics;
(2) submitting hospitals or their designees;
(3) a person engaged in an approved research project, except that no information identifying a subject of a report or a reporter may be made available to a researcher unless consent is obtained pursuant to this section.
(D) For purposes of maintaining the data base collected pursuant to this article, the department and the Office of Research and Statistics may both access and provide access to appropriate confidential data reported in accordance with Section 44-6-170.
(E) A person subject to this article who intentionally fails to comply with reporting, confidentiality, or disclosure requirements of this article is subject to a civil penalty of not more than one hundred dollars for a violation the first time a person fails to comply and not more than five thousand dollars for a subsequent violation.