Health insurance; claims for payment of psychotherapeutic services; confidentiality.

An insurer must maintain strict confidentiality against unauthorized or inadvertent disclosure of confidential information to persons inside or outside the insurer’s organization regarding claims for payment of psychotherapeutic services provided by psychotherapists licensed under chapter 490 or chapter 491 and psychotherapeutic records and reports related to the claims. A report, in lieu of records, may be submitted by a psychotherapist in support of a claim. Such report must include clear statements summarizing the insured’s presenting symptoms, what transpired in any provided therapy, what progress, if any, was made by the insured and results obtained. However, the insurer may require the records upon which the report is based, if the report does not contain sufficient information for properly processing the claim. A psychotherapist submitting records in support of a claim may obscure portions to conceal the names, identities, or identifying information of people other than the insured if this information is unnecessary to utilization review, quality management, discharge planning, case management, or claims processing conducted by the insurer. An insurer may provide aggregate data which does not disclose subscriber identities or identities of other persons to entities such as payors, sponsors, researchers and accreditation bodies. As used in this section, “insurer” means an individual health insurance policy subject to this chapter, an insurer issuing a group health insurance policy or certificate pursuant to s. 627.651, a plan of self-insurance providing the health coverage benefits to residents of this state pursuant to s. 627.651, an insurer delivering a group health policy issued or delivered outside this state under which a resident of this state is provided coverage pursuant to s. 627.6515, a preferred provider organization as defined in s. 627.6471, an exclusive provider organization as defined in s. 627.6472, and prepaid health service organizations providing mental health services pursuant to chapter 636.