An Act to Amend the Laws Regarding Consent for HIV Testing and Disclosure of Related Medical Information for Insurance Purposes

Page 1 - 132LR1898(06)
STATE OF MAINE
_____
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-SIX
_____
H.P. 1314 - L.D. 1970
An Act to Amend the Laws Regarding Consent for HIV Testing and
Disclosure of Related Medical Information for Insurance Purposes
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 5 MRSA §19203, sub-§2, as amended by PL 1999, c. 512, Pt. B, §1 and
affected by §§5 and 6, is further amended to read:
2. Designated health care provider. To a health care provider designated by the
subject of the test in writing. When a patient has authorized disclosure of HIV test results
to a person or organization providing health care, the patient's health care provider may
make these results available only to other health care providers working directly with the
patient and only for the purpose of providing direct medical or dental patient care. Any
health care provider who discloses HIV test results in good faith pursuant to this subsection
is immune from any criminal or civil liability for the act of disclosing HIV test results to
other health care providers;
Sec. 2. 5 MRSA §19203-A, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2007, c. 93, §1, is further
amended to read:
1. Individual Patient tested; informed consent. Except as provided in this section
and section 19203, subsections 4 and 5, an HIV test must be voluntary and undertaken only
with a patient's knowledge and understanding that an HIV test is planned informed consent.
A patient must be informed orally or in writing that an HIV test will be performed unless
the patient declines. Oral or written information required to be given to a patient under this
subsection must include an explanation of what an HIV infection involves and the meaning
of positive and negative test results. A patient must be provided the opportunity to ask
questions, either orally or in writing. Informed consent is not required for repeated HIV
testing by health care providers to monitor the course of established infection.
A. Information on the meaning of a positive and negative HIV test result must be made
available to the patient. A patient must be provided the opportunity to ask questions,
either orally or in writing.
B. The consent of a minor's parent or legal guardian is not required to perform an HIV
test on the minor under this subsection.
APPROVED
MARCH 19, 2026
BY GOVERNOR
CHAPTER
559
PUBLIC LAW
Page 2 - 132LR1898(06)
C. A patient has the right to decline an HIV test and, if the patient declines an HIV
test, the health care provider shall document that decision in the patient's medical
record.
Results of an HIV test performed pursuant to this subsection must be provided to the health
care provider that ordered the test.
Sec. 3. 5 MRSA §19203-D, sub-§7 is enacted to read:
7. Insurance reimbursement. This section does not preclude disclosure of
information in a medical record for the purpose of seeking insurance reimbursement for
HIV testing.