House Bill 2915 amends Oregon’s confidentiality statute for health care written accounts, ORS 179.505, to add an explicit exception allowing disclosure to the Psychiatric Security Review Board for an individual who is under the board’s jurisdiction and conditionally released to the Department of Corrections, as provided in ORS 161.336 and the conditional release order. The bill also reorganizes and restates the statute’s definitions and disclosure rules governing written accounts, individually identifiable health information, personal representatives, and psychotherapy notes.
More broadly, the measure preserves the general rule that written accounts maintained by public health care providers are confidential and not subject to access or disclosure except as specifically authorized. It continues existing exceptions for patient authorization, medical emergencies, research, compensation, litigation, treatment-related sharing among providers and corrections/health agencies, and limited access by individuals or their personal representatives, while maintaining special protections for psychotherapy notes. The bill therefore narrows confidentiality only in the specific PSRB/conditional release context rather than broadly expanding disclosure of medical records.
The bill’s impact on state law is to amend ORS 179.505 so that health care providers and related public entities may disclose relevant written accounts to the Psychiatric Security Review Board when the statutory conditions are met. That change affects Oregon State Hospital, Department of Corrections facilities and contractors, community mental health and developmental disability programs, and other public providers covered by the statute, as well as individuals under PSRB jurisdiction and their treatment records. It also reinforces the procedural framework for access, denial, and documentation of disclosures already embedded in the statute.
The overall sentiment around the bill appears strongly supportive and noncontroversial. It passed the House committee 8-0, the House floor 54-0, the Senate committee 6-0, and the Senate floor 26-0, indicating unanimous or near-unanimous backing at each stage. The bill was introduced at the request of Governor Tina Kotek for the Psychiatric Security Review Board, which suggests executive and agency support.
There is little evidence of substantive contention in the available record. The main policy issue is the balance between patient confidentiality and the PSRB’s need for access to records for supervision of conditionally released individuals. Any concern would likely center on privacy protections for mental health and psychotherapy information, but the bill preserves the statute’s existing confidentiality structure and limits the new disclosure authority to a narrow, defined circumstance.
HB 2915 amends ORS 179.505, Oregon’s statute governing confidentiality and disclosure of written health care accounts, by adding a specific disclosure pathway to the Psychiatric Security Review Board for individuals under PSRB jurisdiction who are conditionally released to the Department of Corrections. The bill leaves the broader confidentiality framework intact, including rules on patient authorization, emergency disclosure, treatment-related sharing, litigation-related disclosure, and special protections for psychotherapy notes. Its practical effect is to permit limited sharing of health records with the PSRB in a narrow supervision context involving mentally ill offenders or other persons under the board’s authority.
The bill appears to have had very strong bipartisan support and no recorded opposition. It passed every recorded vote unanimously or essentially unanimously, including committee votes and floor votes in both chambers. The lack of dissent, combined with the fact that it was requested by the Governor for the Psychiatric Security Review Board, indicates that lawmakers and stakeholders generally viewed the measure as a routine or technical clarification supporting PSRB supervision and treatment coordination.
No major contention is reflected in the available transcripts or votes. The only likely point of debate is the privacy implication of allowing disclosure of otherwise confidential written accounts to the Psychiatric Security Review Board, especially where mental health and psychotherapy information is involved. However, the bill is narrowly tailored to individuals already under PSRB jurisdiction and conditionally released to the Department of Corrections, and it preserves existing confidentiality protections elsewhere in the statute, which likely reduced opposition.