Requests for information; sources of information protected

(a) Upon written request from the director of health, all providers of health care, social services, and county and state agencies shall provide information, reports, statements, memoranda, death and birth records, or other data or material relating to the condition and treatment of any person to the department of health or its designee, to be used in the course of any study for the purpose of reducing maternal morbidity or mortality. (b) To the extent that this section conflicts with other state confidentiality and disclosure laws, this section shall prevail. (c) The department of health may request information regarding the deceased that is stored in electronic format or in paper copies, or gathered through interviews, subject to certain restrictions, which include but are not limited to: (1) Social, medical, and legal histories; (2) Death and birth certificates; (3) Law enforcement investigative data; (4) Medical examiner or coroner investigative data; (5) Parole and probation information and records; (6) Information and records of social service agencies; (7) Educational records; (8) Medical records; and (9) Interviews with hospital employees that shall be subject to approval from hospital management. Furthermore, all requested disclosures shall comply with state and federal privacy statutes and regulations, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and the department of health shall not request records of any hospital review committee, peer review committee, or quality improvement review process. The department may enter into a memorandum of agreement with hospitals regarding requests for information to be used for maternal mortality reviews. No liability of any kind or character for damages or other relief shall arise or be enforced against any person or organization by reason of having provided the information or material, or by reason of having released or published the findings, conclusions, and summaries of the research or study committees to advance medical research and medical education. (d) Except as otherwise provided in this part, all maternal mortality review information acquired by the department during its review of maternal deaths pursuant to this part is confidential and shall only be disclosed as necessary to carry out the purposes of this part. (e) No individual participating in the review of a maternal death shall be questioned in any civil or criminal proceeding regarding information presented in or opinions formed as a result of a panel meeting. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to prevent a person from testifying to information obtained independently of the department's request for maternal mortality review information or the panel's review of the maternal death, or which is public information, or where disclosure is required by a court of law. (f) Maternal mortality review information held by the department as a result of maternal mortality reviews conducted pursuant to this part shall not be subject to subpoena, discovery, or introduction into evidence in any civil or criminal proceeding, except that maternal mortality review information otherwise available from other sources shall not be immune from subpoena, discovery, or introduction into evidence through those sources solely because they were provided to the department as required by this part.