Montana Title 50. Health and Safety § 50-5-106. Records and reports required of health care facilities--confidentiality

(1) Health care facilities shall keep records and provide the records at the request of the department.

(2) Every licensed health care facility shall submit an annual report for the preceding calendar year to the department.

(3) Every hospital, critical access hospital, or rural emergency hospital that is operating as a nonprofit health care facility under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3), shall submit to the department:

(4) Reports required under this section must be provided to the department within 30 days of filing the required forms with the internal revenue service annually.

(5) Information received by the department through reports, inspections, or provisions of parts 1 and 2 may not be disclosed in a way that would identify patients. A department employee who discloses information that would identify a patient must be dismissed from employment and subject to the provisions of 45-7-401 and 50-16-551, if applicable, unless the disclosure was authorized as permitted by law.

(6) Information and statistical reports from health care facilities that are considered necessary by the department for health planning and resource development activities must be made available to the public and the health planning agencies within the state. Applications by health care facilities for certificates of need and any information relevant to review of these applications, pursuant to part 3, must be accessible to the public.