Tennessee Code Title 52. Department of Disability and Aging § 52-3-106

(a) If the head of the federally mandated protection and advocacy agency for persons with an intellectual or developmental disability, or the designated representative of the agency head, requests disclosure of information protected by § 52-3-103 and specifies the personally identifiable person supported information sought and the federally mandated function for which it is required, then the information may be disclosed to the agency without consent.  The disclosure of information must be made solely for use in connection with the federally mandated function.  The disclosures are subject to federal confidentiality laws, including the requirement that there be no further disclosure of the personally identifiable information by the agency without consent of the person supported or, as appropriate, the conservator of the person supported, or the parent's or legal guardian's consent in the case of a child.  The service provider shall notify the person supported or, as appropriate, the conservator of the person supported, or the person supported's parent or legal guardian in the case of a child, of the disclosure.  All public and private service providers shall cooperate with the agency in responding to requests, including, but not limited to, those made under the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. §§ 15001 et seq.);  the Protection and Advocacy for Mentally Ill Individuals (PAMII) Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. § 10801 et seq.);  and the Protection and Advocacy for Individual Rights Act (29 U.S.C. § 794e).

(b) If an organization pays for a service provider's service to a person supported, then the service provider may disclose to the organization without the person supported's consent only such information about the person supported as is reasonably necessary to obtain timely payment.  Disclosures are on the condition that there be no further disclosure of the personally identifiable information by the agency without the person supported's consent.

(c) If the department determines that an emergency substantially impairs a provider's capacity to provide service to its persons supported and the department appoints a receiver for person supported information, then the person supported's information may be transferred to a new service provider without the person supported's consent.