§ 3006-a. Patient privacy. 1. As used in this section:

(a) "Individual identifying information" means information identifying
or tending to identify a patient.

(b) "Marketing" means advertising, detailing, marketing, promotion, or
any other activity that is intended to be used to influence business
volume, sales or market share or evaluate the effectiveness of marketing
practices or marketing personnel, regardless of whether the beneficiary
of the marketing is a governmental, for-profit, or not-for-profit
entity.

2. No ambulance service, advanced life support first response service,
or employee, member or agent thereof shall disclose, sell, transfer,
exchange, provide or use any individual identifying information to any
person or entity for the purpose of marketing.

3. Notwithstanding subdivision two of this section, and subject to
otherwise applicable law, individual identifying information may be:

(a) disclosed, sold, transferred or exchanged to:

(i) the patient who is the subject of the information, or a person
authorized to make health care decisions for the patient;

(ii) a health care provider providing care or treatment to the
patient, for the purpose of such care or treatment; or a health
information system subject to regulations of the department, for the
purpose of such care or treatment;

(iii) an officer, inspector or investigator for a government health,
licensing or law enforcement agency acting under appropriate legal
authority;

(iv) a person authorized by a court order or a subpoena to receive
such information;

(v) the patient's health plan, insurer, or third party payer, or an
agent thereof, for the purpose of payment or reimbursement for health
care services, including determining compliance with the terms of
coverage or medical necessity, or utilization review;

(vi) a person or entity to whom, and for a purpose for which,
disclosure or transfer is otherwise explicitly authorized or required by
law;

(vii) a person or entity, for the purpose of conducting quality
assurance or evaluating the performance of an ambulance service,
advanced life support first response service, or any employee, member or
agent thereof;

(viii) a person or entity acting as an employee or agent of a person
or entity under any preceding paragraph of this subdivision, for the
purpose of and consistent with that paragraph; or

(ix) a government entity as provided by law; and

(b) used by such ambulance service, advanced life support first
responder service, or employee, member or agent thereof, for training,
promotion, staff recognition or recruitment purposes, consistent with
applicable law, provided the patient or a qualified person as defined by
paragraph (G) of subdivision one of section eighteen of this chapter has
provided consent to such use in a separate, stand-alone document. Such
consent shall be limited to the particular type or types of use and
specific transaction or transactions for which such consent is given.

4. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the collection, use,
transfer, or sale of patient data by zip code, geographic region, or
medical specialty for marketing purposes, providing it does not contain
individual identifying information.

5. This section shall not prevent a person from disclosing, selling,
transferring, or exchanging for value his or her own individual
identifying information, for any purpose; provided that the information
does not include individual identifying information pertaining to any
other person.

6. This section does not prohibit a not-for-profit or governmental
ambulance service or advanced life support first response service, or
agent thereof, from using a patient's name and address in order to
contact such patient or a family member at such address with requests
for donations to such service; providing that such use shall not include
disclosing any individual identifying information.

7. No person or entity to whom or which individual identifying
information is disclosed, sold, transferred or exchanged shall disclose,
sell, transfer or exchange it to any person or entity other than for the
lawful purpose for which it was disclosed, sold, transferred or
exchanged to the person or entity, and without satisfactory assurance
that the recipient will safeguard the records from being disclosed or
used for marketing purposes.

8. This section does not authorize any disclosure, sale, transfer, or
exchange of individual identifying information that is not otherwise
authorized or required by law.

9. In addition to the commissioner's authority to enforce this section
under section three thousand twelve of this article, the attorney
general shall have the authority to bring an action to enforce
compliance with this section without referral by the commissioner.