Public Health - Local Suicide Fatality Review Teams - Authorization

New section 5-1102 adds a non-supersession clause stating the subtitle does not affect the authority or duties of local child fatality review teams under Subtitle 7.

The purpose of a local team is expanded from reviewing suicide deaths that occur within the county to also include suicide deaths of residents of the county, regardless of where the death occurred.

Local teams must now coordinate with local child fatality review teams and local drug overdose fatality review teams in addition to the state committee. For suicide deaths involving individuals under 18, the child fatality review team retains primary authority but may conduct a joint review.

New section 5-1106 authorizes local teams to request and receive records under the authority of the state team. Health care providers and local government agencies must immediately provide hospital records, outpatient clinic records, police investigative data, medical examiner data, cause of death information, social services records, and other relevant records upon request.

Local teams are now required to meet at least quarterly, collect and maintain data as required by the state team, ensure safe and secure storage of protected information, and provide specific reports to the state team including individual case reports, coordination steps, implementation steps, and policy recommendations.

Local teams may now share information with other public health authorities or their designees as determined necessary to carry out the purposes of the subtitle.

New section 5-1107 establishes that a local team is a public health authority as defined in 45 C.F.R. Section 164.501, conducting public health activities in accordance with HIPAA.

The public records exception for statistical compilations is narrowed from data that does not contain 'personally identifiable information' to data that does not contain 'personally identifiable information that would allow the identification of any person to be ascertained,' making it harder for data to qualify as a public record.

New section 5-1105 provides immunity from liability under Section 5-637 of the Courts Article for any action taken by a person as a member of a local team for giving information to, participating in, or contributing to the function of the team.

New section 5-1110 authorizes the Department to adopt regulations covering protocols and procedures for investigations and reviews, data storage and security, and dissemination of information based on department-provided data.

Confidentiality protections are strengthened: information acquired by a local team is now explicitly not subject to discovery and may not be introduced as evidence in any proceeding, in addition to the existing public information act exemption.

Team membership item (3) changed from 'Director of the Local Health Authority' to 'Director of the Local Behavioral Health Authority,' narrowing that specific seat to behavioral health leadership.