Section 138.7 Of Chapter 5. Division Of Workers’ Compensation From California Labor Code >> Division 1. >> Chapter 5.
138.7
. (a) Except as expressly permitted in subdivision (b), a
person or public or private entity not a party to a claim for workers'
compensation benefits may not obtain individually identifiable
information obtained or maintained by the division on that claim. For
purposes of this section, "individually identifiable information"
means any data concerning an injury or claim that is linked to a
uniquely identifiable employee, employer, claims administrator, or
any other person or entity.
(b) (1) (A) The administrative director, or a statistical agent
designated by the administrative director, may use individually
identifiable information for purposes of creating and maintaining the
workers' compensation information system as specified in Section
138.6.
(B) The administrative director may publish the identity of claims
administrators in the annual report disclosing the compliance rates
of claims administrators pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section
138.6.
(2) (A) The State Department of Public Health may use individually
identifiable information for purposes of establishing and
maintaining a program on occupational health and occupational disease
prevention as specified in Section 105175 of the Health and Safety
Code.
(B) (i) The State Department of Health Care Services may use
individually identifiable information for purposes of seeking
recovery of Medi-Cal costs incurred by the state for treatment
provided to injured workers that should have been incurred by
employers and insurance carriers pursuant to Article 3.5 (commencing
with Section 14124.70) of Chapter 7 of Part 3 of Division 9 of the
Welfare and Institutions Code.
(ii) The Department of Industrial Relations shall furnish
individually identifiable information to the State Department of
Health Care Services, and the State Department of Health Care
Services may furnish the information to its designated agent,
provided that the individually identifiable information shall not be
disclosed for use other than the purposes described in clause (i).
The administrative director may adopt regulations solely for the
purpose of governing access by the State Department of Health Care
Services or its designated agents to the individually identifiable
information as defined in subdivision (a).
(3) (A) Individually identifiable information may be used by the
Division of Workers' Compensation and the Division of Occupational
Safety and Health as necessary to carry out their duties. The
administrative director shall adopt regulations governing the access
to the information described in this subdivision by these divisions.
Any regulations adopted pursuant to this subdivision shall set forth
the specific uses for which this information may be obtained.
(B) Individually identifiable information maintained in the
workers' compensation information system and the Division of Workers'
Compensation may be used by researchers employed by or under
contract to the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers'
Compensation as necessary to carry out the commission's research. The
administrative director shall adopt regulations governing the access
to the information described in this subdivision by commission
researchers. These regulations shall set forth the specific uses for
which this information may be obtained and include provisions
guaranteeing the confidentiality of individually identifiable
information. Individually identifiable information obtained under
this subdivision shall not be disclosed to commission members. No
individually identifiable information obtained by researchers under
contract to the commission pursuant to this subparagraph may be
disclosed to any other person or entity, public or private, for a use
other than that research project for which the information was
obtained. Within a reasonable period of time after the research for
which the information was obtained has been completed, the data
collected shall be modified in a manner so that the subjects cannot
be identified, directly or through identifiers linked to the
subjects.
(4) The administrative director shall adopt regulations allowing
reasonable access to individually identifiable information by other
persons or public or private entities for the purpose of bona fide
statistical research. This research shall not divulge individually
identifiable information concerning a particular employee, employer,
claims administrator, or any other person or entity. The regulations
adopted pursuant to this paragraph shall include provisions
guaranteeing the confidentiality of individually identifiable
information. Within a reasonable period of time after the research
for which the information was obtained has been completed, the data
collected shall be modified in a manner so that the subjects cannot
be identified, directly or through identifiers linked to the
subjects.
(5) (A) This section shall not operate to exempt from disclosure
any information that is considered to be a public record pursuant to
the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code)
contained in an individual's file once an application for
adjudication has been filed pursuant to Section 5501.5.
(B) However, individually identifiable information shall not be
provided to any person or public or private entity who is not a party
to the claim unless that person identifies himself or herself or
that public or private entity identifies itself and states the reason
for making the request. The administrative director may require the
person or public or private entity making the request to produce
information to verify that the name and address of the requester is
valid and correct. If the purpose of the request is related to
preemployment screening, the administrative director shall notify the
person about whom the information is requested that the information
was provided and shall include the following in 12-point type: