Harvey Peeler

Previous Legislation Unintentionally Restricts Access To EMS Records

December 9, 2009 – Columbia, SC – Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler (R-Cherokee) is taking immediate action to fix an unintentional legislative error that restricts public access to EMS records. Legislation was introduced today during Senate pre-filing.

In 2004 Senator Peeler sponsored legislation restricting public access to EMS records at the request of representatives from the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). The purpose of the legislation was to meet federal HIPAA requirements keeping patient medical records private. Unfortunately errors in the bill are keeping all EMS records private, as brought to light by the Beaufort Gazette attempting to analyze ambulance response times.

“I want to make very clear that we never intended to keep EMS out of the view of public scrutiny. We were only trying to meet federal requirements keeping the medical records of South Carolina’s citizens private…exactly what DHEC officials told us we had to do. We are going to fix this problem at the earliest possible opportunity.”

###