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The auditor shall be auditor of public accounts, and shall have such powers and perform such duties in connection therewith as may be prescribed by law.
In the discharge of any duty herein imposed, the auditor and any of the auditor's employees shall have the authority to examine and inspect all properties, equipment, facilities, files, records, and accounts of any state office, department, institution, board, committee, commission, agency, or local government.
The authority in this section extends to access any confidential records needed to discharge the auditor's audit duties. However, access to confidential records for the purpose of conducting audits does not change their confidential nature, and any existing confidentiality requirements shall remain in force and be similarly respected by the auditor and the auditor's employees.
All information submitted to the prescription monitoring program is confidential, exempt from public inspection, copying, and disclosure under chapter 42.56 RCW, not subject to subpoena or discovery in any civil action, and protected under federal health care information privacy requirements, except as provided in subsections (3) through (6) of this section. Such confidentiality and exemption from disclosure continues whenever information from the prescription monitoring program is provided to a requestor under subsection (3), (4), (5), or (6) of this section except when used in proceedings specifically authorized in subsection (3), (4), or (5) of this section.
The department must maintain procedures to ensure that the privacy and confidentiality of all information collected, recorded, transmitted, and maintained including, but not limited to, the prescriber, requestor, dispenser, patient, and persons who received prescriptions from dispensers, is not disclosed to persons except as in subsections (3) through (6) of this section.
The department may provide data in the prescription monitoring program to the following persons:
Persons authorized to prescribe or dispense controlled substances or legend drugs, for the purpose of providing medical or pharmaceutical care for their patients;
An individual who requests the individual's own prescription monitoring information;
A health professional licensing, certification, or regulatory agency or entity in this or another jurisdiction. Consistent with current practice, the data provided may be used in legal proceedings concerning the license;
Appropriate law enforcement or prosecutorial officials, including local, state, and federal officials and officials of federally recognized tribes, who are engaged in a bona fide specific investigation involving a designated person;
The director or the director's designee within the health care authority regarding medicaid recipients and members of the health care authority self-funded or self-insured health plans;
The director or director's designee within the department of labor and industries regarding workers' compensation claimants;
The director or the director's designee within the department of corrections regarding offenders committed to the department of corrections;
Other entities under grand jury subpoena or court order;
Personnel of the department for purposes of:
Assessing prescribing and treatment practices and morbidity and mortality related to use of controlled substances and developing and implementing initiatives to protect the public health including, but not limited to, initiatives to address opioid use disorder;
Providing quality improvement feedback to prescribers, including comparison of their respective data to aggregate data for prescribers with the same type of license and same specialty; and
Administration and enforcement of this chapter or chapter 69.50 RCW;
Personnel of a test site that meet the standards under RCW 70.225.070 pursuant to an agreement between the test site and a person identified in (a) of this subsection to provide assistance in determining which medications are being used by an identified patient who is under the care of that person;
A health care facility or entity for the purpose of providing medical or pharmaceutical care to the patients of the facility or entity, or for quality improvement purposes if the facility or entity is licensed by the department or is licensed or certified under chapter 71.24, 71.34, or 71.05 RCW or is an entity deemed for purposes of chapter 71.24 RCW to meet state minimum standards as a result of accreditation by a recognized behavioral health accrediting body, or is operated by the federal government or a federally recognized Indian tribe;
A health care provider group of five or more prescribers or dispensers for purposes of providing medical or pharmaceutical care to the patients of the provider group, or for quality improvement purposes if all the prescribers or dispensers in the provider group are licensed by the department or the provider group is operated by the federal government or a federally recognized Indian tribe;
The local health officer of a local health jurisdiction for the purposes of patient follow-up and care coordination following a controlled substance overdose event. For the purposes of this subsection "local health officer" has the same meaning as in RCW 70.05.010;
The coordinated care electronic tracking program developed in response to section 213, chapter 7, Laws of 2012 2nd sp. sess., commonly referred to as the seven best practices in emergency medicine, for the purposes of providing:
Prescription monitoring program data to emergency department personnel when the patient registers in the emergency department; and
Notice to local health officers who have made opioid-related overdose a notifiable condition under RCW 70.05.070 as authorized by rules adopted under RCW 43.20.050, providers, appropriate care coordination staff, and prescribers listed in the patient's prescription monitoring program record that the patient has experienced a controlled substance overdose event. The department shall determine the content and format of the notice in consultation with the Washington state hospital association, Washington state medical association, and Washington state health care authority, and the notice may be modified as necessary to reflect current needs and best practices;
The office of the Washington state auditor for the purposes of discharging its statutory and constitutional duties; and
The joint legislative audit and review committee for the purposes of discharging its statutory duties.
The department shall, on at least a quarterly basis, and pursuant to a schedule determined by the department, provide a facility or entity identified under subsection (3)(k) of this section or a provider group identified under subsection (3)(l) of this section with facility or entity and individual prescriber information if the facility, entity, or provider group:
Uses the information only for internal quality improvement and individual prescriber quality improvement feedback purposes and does not use the information as the sole basis for any medical staff sanction or adverse employment action; and
Provides to the department a standardized list of current prescribers of the facility, entity, or provider group. The specific facility, entity, or provider group information provided pursuant to this subsection and the requirements under this subsection must be determined by the department in consultation with the Washington state hospital association, Washington state medical association, and Washington state health care authority, and may be modified as necessary to reflect current needs and best practices.
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The department may publish or provide data to public or private entities for statistical, research, or educational purposes after removing information that could be used directly or indirectly to identify individual patients, requestors, dispensers, prescribers, and persons who received prescriptions from dispensers. Direct and indirect patient identifiers may be provided for research that has been approved by the Washington state institutional review board and by the department through a data-sharing agreement.
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The department may provide dispenser and prescriber data and data that includes indirect patient identifiers to the Washington state hospital association for use solely in connection with its coordinated quality improvement program maintained under RCW 43.70.510 after entering into a data use agreement as specified in RCW 43.70.052(10) with the association. The department may provide dispenser and prescriber data and data that includes indirect patient identifiers to the Washington state medical association for use solely in connection with its coordinated quality improvement program maintained under RCW 43.70.510 after entering into a data use agreement with the association.
The department may provide data including direct and indirect patient identifiers to the department of social and health services office of research and data analysis, the department of labor and industries, and the health care authority for research that has been approved by the Washington state institutional review board and, with a data-sharing agreement approved by the department, for public health purposes to improve the prevention or treatment of substance use disorders.
The department may provide a prescriber feedback report to the largest health professional association representing each of the prescribing professions. The health professional associations must distribute the feedback report to prescribers engaged in the professions represented by the associations for quality improvement purposes, so long as the reports contain no direct patient identifiers that could be used to identify individual patients, dispensers, and persons who received prescriptions from dispensers, and the association enters into a written data-sharing agreement with the department. However, reports may include indirect patient identifiers as agreed to by the department and the association in a written data-sharing agreement.
For the purposes of this subsection:
"Indirect patient identifiers" means data that may include: Hospital or provider identifiers, a five-digit zip code, county, state, and country of resident; dates that include month and year; age in years; and race and ethnicity; but does not include the patient's first name; middle name; last name; social security number; control or medical record number; zip code plus four digits; dates that include day, month, and year; or admission and discharge date in combination; and
"Prescribing professions" include:
(A) Allopathic physicians and physician assistants;
(B) Osteopathic physicians;
(C) Podiatric physicians;
(D) Dentists; and
(E) Advanced registered nurse practitioners.
The department may enter into agreements to exchange prescription monitoring program data with established prescription monitoring programs in other jurisdictions. Under these agreements, the department may share prescription monitoring system data containing direct and indirect patient identifiers with other jurisdictions through a clearinghouse or prescription monitoring program data exchange that meets federal health care information privacy requirements. Data the department receives from other jurisdictions must be retained, used, protected, and destroyed as provided by the agreements to the extent consistent with the laws in this state.
Persons authorized in subsections (3) through (6) of this section to receive data in the prescription monitoring program from the department, acting in good faith, are immune from any civil, criminal, disciplinary, or administrative liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed for acting under this chapter.
The department may enter into data-sharing contracts and may disclose records and information deemed confidential to state or local government agencies under this chapter only if permitted under subsection (2) of this section and RCW 50A.25.090. A state or local government agency must need the records or information for an official purpose and must also provide:
An application in writing to the department for the records or information containing a statement of the official purposes for which the state or local government agency needs the information or records and specifically identify the records or information sought from the department; and
A written verification of the need for the specific information from the director, commissioner, chief executive, or other official of the requesting state or local government agency either on the application or on a separate document.
The department may disclose information or records deemed confidential under this chapter to the following state or local government agencies:
To the department of social and health services to identify child support obligations as defined in RCW 50A.15.080 and for the purposes of administering the department's responsibilities under Title 50B RCW;
To the department of revenue to determine potential tax liability or employer compliance with registration and licensing requirements;
To the department of labor and industries to compare records or information to detect improper or fraudulent claims;
To the office of financial management for the purpose of conducting periodic salary or fringe benefit studies pursuant to law or for the actuarial services created under chapter 233, Laws of 2022;
To the office of the state treasurer and any financial or banking institutions deemed necessary by the office of the state treasurer and the department for the proper administration of funds;
To the office of the attorney general for purposes of legal representation;
To a county clerk for the purpose of RCW 9.94A.760 if requested by the county clerk's office;
To the office of administrative hearings for the purpose of administering the administrative appeal process;
To Washington technology solutions for the purpose of enterprise technology support;
To the health care authority and the office of the state actuary for the purposes of administering the department's responsibilities under Title 50B RCW;
To the office of the state actuary for the purpose of performing actuarial services to assess the financial stability and solvency of the family and medical leave program, and specifically the family and medical leave insurance account created in RCW 50A.05.070;
To the joint legislative audit and review committee, in accordance with RCW 44.28.110, for the purpose of conducting performance audits; and
To the office of the Washington state auditor for the purposes of discharging its statutory and constitutional obligations.
The department may also enter into data-sharing agreements with other state or local government agencies solely for the purposes of program evaluation under this title or Title 50B RCW.
This section and RCW 13.50.260 and 13.50.270 govern records relating to the commission of juvenile offenses, including records relating to diversions.
The official juvenile court file of any alleged or proven juvenile offender shall be open to public inspection, unless sealed pursuant to RCW 13.50.260.
All records other than the official juvenile court file are confidential and may be released only as provided in this chapterand RCW 13.40.215 and 4.24.550.
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, records retained or produced by any juvenile justice or care agency may be released to other participants in the juvenile justice or care system only when an investigation or case involving the juvenile in question is being pursued by the other participant or when that other participant is assigned the responsibility for supervising the juvenile.
Except as provided in RCW 4.24.550, information not in an official juvenile court file concerning a juvenile or a juvenile's family may be released to the public only when that information could not reasonably be expected to identify the juvenile or the juvenile's family.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the release, to the juvenile or his or her attorney, of law enforcement and prosecuting attorneys' records pertaining to investigation, diversion, and prosecution of juvenile offenses shall be governed by the rules of discovery and other rules of law applicable in adult criminal investigations and prosecutions.
Upon the decision to arrest or the arrest, law enforcement and prosecuting attorneys may cooperate with schools in releasing information to a school pertaining to the investigation, diversion, and prosecution of a juvenile attending the school. Upon the decision to arrest or the arrest, incident reports may be released unless releasing the records would jeopardize the investigation or prosecution or endanger witnesses. If release of incident reports would jeopardize the investigation or prosecution or endanger witnesses, law enforcement and prosecuting attorneys may release information to the maximum extent possible to assist schools in protecting other students, staff, and school property.
The juvenile court and the prosecutor may set up and maintain a central recordkeeping system which may receive information on all alleged juvenile offenders against whom a complaint has been filed pursuant to RCW 13.40.070 whether or not their cases are currently pending before the court. The central recordkeeping system may be computerized. If a complaint has been referred to a diversion unit, the diversion unit shall promptly report to the juvenile court or the prosecuting attorney when the juvenile has agreed to diversion. An offense shall not be reported as criminal history in any central recordkeeping system without notification by the diversion unit of the date on which the offender agreed to diversion.
Upon request of the victim of a crime or the victim's immediate family, the identity of an alleged or proven juvenile offender alleged or found to have committed a crime against the victim and the identity of the alleged or proven juvenile offender's parent, guardian, or custodian and the circumstance of the alleged or proven crime shall be released to the victim of the crime or the victim's immediate family.
Subject to the rules of discovery applicable in adult criminal prosecutions, the juvenile offense records of an adult criminal defendant or witness in an adult criminal proceeding shall be released upon request to prosecution and defense counsel after a charge has actually been filed. The juvenile offense records of any adult convicted of a crime and placed under the supervision of the adult corrections system shall be released upon request to the adult corrections system.
Any juvenile to whom the provisions of this section or RCW 13.50.260 or 13.50.270 may apply shall be given written notice of his or her rights under this section at the time of his or her disposition hearing or during the diversion process.
Nothing in this section or RCW 13.50.260 or 13.50.270 may be construed to prevent a crime victim or a member of the victim's family from divulging the identity of the alleged or proven juvenile offender or his or her family when necessary in a civil proceeding.
Except as provided in RCW 13.50.270(2), no identifying information held by the Washington state patrol in accordance with chapter 43.43 RCW is subject to destruction or sealing under this section. For the purposes of this subsection, identifying information includes photographs, fingerprints, palmprints, soleprints, toeprints and any other data that identifies a person by physical characteristics, name, birthdate or address, but does not include information regarding criminal activity, arrest, charging, diversion, conviction or other information about a person's treatment by the criminal justice system or about the person's behavior.
Information identifying child victims under age eighteen who are victims of sexual assaults by juvenile offenders is confidential and not subject to release to the press or public without the permission of the child victim or the child's legal guardian. Identifying information includes the child victim's name, addresses, location, photographs, and in cases in which the child victim is a relative of the alleged perpetrator, identification of the relationship between the child and the alleged perpetrator. Information identifying a child victim of sexual assault may be released to law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys, or private or governmental agencies that provide services to the child victim of sexual assault.
For purposes of fulfilling its statutory and constitutional obligations, the office of the Washington state auditor and any employees of the Washington state auditor shall have the authority to examine and inspect all files, records, and accounts. The authority in this subsection extends to accessing any confidential records needed to discharge the auditor's audit duties. However, access to confidential records for the purpose of conducting audits does not change their confidential nature, and any existing confidentiality requirements shall remain in force and be similarly respected by the auditor and the auditor's employees.
For purposes of fulfilling its statutory obligations, the joint legislative audit and review committee and any employees of the committee shall have the authority to examine and inspect all files, records, and accounts. The authority in this subsection extends to accessing any confidential records needed to discharge the committee's audit duties. However, access to confidential records for the purpose of conducting audits does not change their confidential nature, and any existing confidentiality requirements shall remain in force and be similarly respected by the committee and the committee's employees.
This section governs records not covered by RCW 13.50.050, 13.50.260, and 13.50.270.
Records covered by this section shall be confidential and shall be released only pursuant to this section and RCW 13.50.010.
Records retained or produced by any juvenile justice or care agency may be released to other participants in the juvenile justice or care system only when an investigation or case involving the juvenile in question is being pursued by the other participant or when that other participant is assigned the responsibility of supervising the juvenile. Records covered under this section and maintained by the juvenile courts which relate to the official actions of the agency may be entered in the statewide judicial information system. However, truancy records associated with a juvenile who has no other case history, and records of a juvenile's parents who have no other case history, shall be removed from the judicial information system when the juvenile is no longer subject to the compulsory attendance laws in chapter 28A.225 RCW. A county clerk is not liable for unauthorized release of this data by persons or agencies not in his or her employ or otherwise subject to his or her control, nor is the county clerk liable for inaccurate or incomplete information collected from litigants or other persons required to provide identifying data pursuant to this section.
Subject to (a) of this subsection, the department of children, youth, and families may release information retained in the course of conducting child protective services investigations to a family or juvenile court hearing a petition for custody of a minor under chapter 11.130 RCW.
Information that may be released shall be limited to information regarding investigations in which: (i) The juvenile was an alleged victim of abandonment or abuse or neglect; or (ii) the petitioner for custody of the juvenile, or any individual aged sixteen or older residing in the petitioner's household, is the subject of a founded or currently pending child protective services investigation made by the department of social and health services or the department of children, youth, and families subsequent to October 1, 1998.
Additional information may only be released with the written consent of the subject of the investigation and the juvenile alleged to be the victim of abandonment or abuse and neglect, or the parent, custodian, guardian, or personal representative of the juvenile, or by court order obtained with notice to all interested parties.
Any disclosure of records or information by the department of social and health services or the department of children, youth, and families, pursuant to this section shall not be deemed a waiver of any confidentiality or privilege attached to the records or information by operation of any state or federal statute or regulation, and any recipient of such records or information shall maintain it in such a manner as to comply with such state and federal statutes and regulations and to protect against unauthorized disclosure.
A contracting agency or service provider of the department of social and health services or the department of children, youth, and families, that provides counseling, psychological, psychiatric, or medical services may release to the office of the family and children's ombuds information or records relating to services provided to a juvenile who is dependent under chapter 13.34 RCW without the consent of the parent or guardian of the juvenile, or of the juvenile if the juvenile is under the age of thirteen years, unless such release is otherwise specifically prohibited by law.
A juvenile, his or her parents, the juvenile's attorney, and the juvenile's parent's attorney, shall, upon request, be given access to all records and information collected or retained by a juvenile justice or care agency which pertain to the juvenile except:
If it is determined by the agency that release of this information is likely to cause severe psychological or physical harm to the juvenile or his or her parents the agency may withhold the information subject to other order of the court: PROVIDED, That if the court determines that limited release of the information is appropriate, the court may specify terms and conditions for the release of the information; or
If the information or record has been obtained by a juvenile justice or care agency in connection with the provision of counseling, psychological, psychiatric, or medical services to the juvenile, when the services have been sought voluntarily by the juvenile, and the juvenile has a legal right to receive those services without the consent of any person or agency, then the information or record may not be disclosed to the juvenile's parents without the informed consent of the juvenile unless otherwise authorized by law; or
That the department of children, youth, and families or the department of social and health services may delete the name and identifying information regarding persons or organizations who have reported alleged child abuse or neglect.
A juvenile or his or her parent denied access to any records following an agency determination under subsection (7) of this section may file a motion in juvenile court requesting access to the records. The court shall grant the motion unless it finds access may not be permitted according to the standards found in subsection (7)(a) and (b) of this section.
The person making a motion under subsection (8) of this section shall give reasonable notice of the motion to all parties to the original action and to any agency whose records will be affected by the motion.
Subject to the rules of discovery in civil cases, any party to a proceeding seeking a declaration of dependency or a termination of the parent-child relationship and any party's counsel and the guardian ad litem of any party, shall have access to the records of any natural or adoptive child of the parent, subject to the limitations in subsection (7) of this section. A party denied access to records may request judicial review of the denial. If the party prevails, he or she shall be awarded attorneys' fees, costs, and an amount not less than five dollars and not more than one hundred dollars for each day the records were wrongfully denied.
No unfounded allegation of child abuse or neglect as defined in RCW 26.44.020(1) may be disclosed to a child-placing agency, private adoption agency, or any other licensed provider.
For purposes of fulfilling its statutory and constitutional obligations, the office of the Washington state auditor and any employees of the Washington state auditor shall have the authority to examine and inspect all files, records, and accounts. The authority in this subsection extends to accessing any confidential records needed to discharge the auditor's audit duties. However, access to confidential records for the purpose of conducting audits does not change their confidential nature, and any existing confidentiality requirements shall remain in force and be similarly respected by the auditor and the auditor's employees.
For purposes of fulfilling its statutory obligations, the joint legislative audit and review committee and any employees of the committee shall have the authority to examine and inspect all files, records, and accounts. The authority in this subsection extends to accessing any confidential records needed to discharge the committee's audit duties. However, access to confidential records for the purpose of conducting audits does not change their confidential nature, and any existing confidentiality requirements shall remain in force and be similarly respected by the committee and the committee's employees.