50-16-526. Patient authorization to health care provider for disclosure. (1) A patient may authorize a health care provider to disclose the patient's health care information. A health care provider shall honor an authorization and, if requested, provide a copy of the recorded health care information unless the health care provider denies the patient access to health care information under 50-16-542.
     (2) A health care provider may charge a reasonable fee, not to exceed his actual cost for providing the health care information, and is not required to honor an authorization until the fee is paid.
     (3) To be valid, a disclosure authorization to a health care provider must:
     (a) be in writing, dated, and signed by the patient;
     (b) identify the nature of the information to be disclosed; and
     (c) identify the person to whom the information is to be disclosed.
     (4) Except as provided by this part, the signing of an authorization by a patient is not a waiver of any rights a patient has under other statutes, the Montana Rules of Evidence, or common law.

     History: En. Sec. 6, Ch. 632, L. 1987.