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HB0246 amends Maryland’s adult protective services laws to make reporting and confidentiality rules more flexible in cases involving alleged abuse, neglect, self-neglect, or exploitation of vulnerable adults. The bill clarifies that certain confidentiality provisions do not bar disclosure of adult protective services information to government officers or employees who are conducting an official investigation, so long as the information is relevant to that investigation. It also allows the identity of a person who makes a report under the adult protective services reporting statute to be disclosed when that disclosure is permitted under the Human Services Article.
The bill also expands the definition of “health practitioner” for adult protective services reporting purposes to include certain emergency medical services providers, while expressly excluding emergency medical dispatchers from that definition. In addition, it authorizes mandated reporters to make required reports by calling the statewide reporting hotline, rather than only by direct communication, telephone, or writing to the local department. One section of the bill takes effect July 1, 2026, while the remainder takes effect October 1, 2025.
The bill amends provisions in the Human Services Article and Family Law Article governing adult protective services, mandatory reporting, and confidentiality of reports and investigations. It broadens who may be considered a reporting health practitioner, adds a hotline reporting option, and creates an explicit exception allowing disclosure of protected information and reporter identities in adult protective services investigations under specified circumstances. These changes affect state and local agencies, health practitioners, emergency medical services providers, and individuals who are required to report suspected abuse or exploitation of vulnerable adults.
The available record shows no committee transcript or recorded votes, so there is no documented floor or committee debate to indicate strong support or opposition. Based on the substance of the bill, the measure appears aimed at improving reporting and investigative access in vulnerable adult cases, which generally suggests a protective and administrative reform purpose rather than a controversial policy shift. The absence of recorded opposition in the provided materials suggests the bill moved without notable publicized conflict in the available record.
The main policy tension in HB0246 is between protecting confidentiality and enabling effective adult protective services investigations. The bill creates new exceptions to confidentiality rules so investigators can access relevant information and, in some cases, learn the identity of a reporter, which may raise privacy concerns for reporters and recipients of social services information. Another point of potential concern is the expansion of mandatory reporting-related definitions to include certain emergency medical services providers, although the bill narrows that expansion by excluding emergency medical dispatchers. No specific opponents or disputed amendments are identified in the provided materials.