Chapter 284 |
2019 -- S 0676 SUBSTITUTE A Enacted 07/15/2019 |
A N A C T |
RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH |
Introduced By: Senator Elizabeth A. Crowley |
Date Introduced: March 21, 2019 |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
SECTION 1. Sections 23-1-18 and 23-1-44 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-1 entitled |
"Department of Health" are hereby amended to read as follows: |
23-1-18. Power to provide rules and regulations in specific areas. |
Without limiting the generality of § 23-1-17, the rules and regulations relating to |
sanitation and health provided for by § 23-1-17 may include: |
(1) Provisions fixing responsibilities of owners, operators, and occupants of land or |
buildings for the sanitary condition, maintenance, use, and occupancy of the land and buildings. |
(2) Minimum standards with respect to the reporting of any disease and the quarantine of |
persons affected by that disease. |
(3) Minimum standards and conditions for the location, construction, and sanitary quality |
of all drinking water supplies. |
(4) Minimum standards for facilities and sanitary conditions for schools and the health |
care for school children. |
(5) Minimum standards with respect to the maintenance and operation of food businesses. |
(6) Minimum standards of air quality consistent with human health. |
(7) Minimum standards consistent with human health for the quality of the waters of the |
state. |
(8) Minimum standards consistent with human health for the quality of public drinking |
water. |
(9) Minimum standards for immunization and testing for communicable diseases, |
including, but not limited to, tuberculosis, of employees, children, and students at any child day- |
care center, family day-care home, private nursery school, any other regular program providing |
educational services to preschool-aged children, public or private school, college, or university. |
(10) Provisions requiring the reporting of immunization status and any other relevant |
information that the director determines appropriate for all persons under the age of eighteen (18) |
years for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a childhood an immunization registry,; |
provided, however, that the information collected by the department for the immunization registry |
will only include data elements nationally endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and |
Prevention to meet standards for immunization information systems, and that all personally |
identifiable information obtained pursuant to this section shall be subject to the provisions of |
chapter 37.3 of title 5 and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Pub. |
L. No. 104-191 (HIPAA), as amended. Any person may opt out of and choose to remove his or |
her information from the immunization registry by contacting the department directly by phone or |
by submitting a form online which that shall be made available on the department's website. |
(11) Provisions requiring the reporting of inventories and sales of drugs, devices, and |
other products potentially related to the outbreak of disease. All information acquired under this |
subsection by the department of health is confidential and not subject to public access pursuant to |
chapter 2 of title 38. |
23-1-44. Routine childhood and adult immunization vaccines. |
(a) The department of health shall include in the department's immunization program |
those vaccines for routine childhood immunization as recommended by the Advisory Committee |
for Immunization Practices (ACIP) and the Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and for routine adult |
influenza immunization as recommended by the ACIP, to the extent permitted by available funds. |
The childhood immunization program includes administrative and quality assurance services and |
KIDSNET the Rhode Island Child and Adult Immunization Registry (RICAIR), a confidential, |
computerized child health information system that is used to manage statewide immunizations, as |
well as other public health preventive services, for all children persons in Rhode Island from birth |
through age 18. |
(b) The director of the department of health shall appoint an advisory committee that will |
be convened after the ACIP makes a recommendation regarding adult immunization. The |
committee will review the ACIP recommendations for the state,; assess the vaccine cost and |
feasibility,; and advise the director of health and the office of the health insurance commissioner |
regarding insurers and providers acting on the ACIP adult immunization recommendation. All |
recommendations will be posted on the department of health website. The advisory committee |
membership shall include, but not be limited to, a primary care provider, pharmacist, |
representatives of the nursing home industry, the home health care healthcare industry and major |
insurers. |
(c) For the purpose of protecting patients' information, all personally-identifiable |
information obtained pursuant to this section shall be subject to the privacy protections of chapter |
37.3 of title 5 and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. |
104-191 (HIPAA), as amended. |
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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LC001604/SUB A/4 |
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