Health Care Information Privacy Requirements for Providers Subject to HIPAA (including 2026 electronic health record result release)
MT HIPAA Provider Privacy Law
Health
This part supplements HIPAA for Montana providers covered by it, setting state rules on disclosures (for example to workers' compensation insurers and law enforcement), compulsory process and fees. HB 590 (Ch. 694, L. 2025), effective July 1, 2026, bars information blocking by providers ordering lab tests and requires certain sensitive results, including genetic-marker tests and positive HIV tests, to be released in the patient's electronic health record within 72 hours of finalization unless released earlier.
- Where
- Montana
- Citation
- Mont. Code Ann. 50-16-801 to 50-16-818
- Status
- In force
- In force since
- 2003-10-01
- Last amended
- 2026-07-01
- Enforced by
- Private plaintiffs (50-16-817)
- People can sue
- Yes
- Penalties
- Aggrieved persons recover pecuniary losses plus up to $5,000 for willful or grossly negligent violations, and attorney fees, within 3 years (50-16-817).
- Applies to
- Health care providers subject to HIPAA privacy protections (50-16-802)
- Providers ordering medical laboratory tests, as to information blocking and patient result release (50-16-806)
Rights it gives people
- Malignancy-related pathology and radiology reports, genetic-marker tests, positive HIV tests and hepatitis antigen results must be released to the patient's electronic health record 72 hours after finalization or when the provider directs, whichever is first.Mont. Code Ann. 50-16-806(2) · From 2026-07-01
Practices it requires
- Disclose health information to law enforcement only as required by law or, for patients injured by a possible crime, as to general physical condition.Mont. Code Ann. 50-16-805(2)
- Providers requesting lab tests may not engage in information blocking as defined in 42 U.S.C. 300jj-52.Mont. Code Ann. 50-16-806(1) · From 2026-07-01
Sources
- Official text
- Mont. Code Ann. Title 50, ch. 16, part 8 (Montana Legislature, MCA 2025)
- HB 590 (2025) enrolled bill, Ch. 694, L. 2025 (sec. 5: effective July 1, 2026)
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: Original effective date inferred from history note (En. Ch. 396, L. 2003) and the default October 1 rule. HB 590 sec. 1 also amended 33-19-309 to require health carriers to maintain patient-access APIs; not summarised here.
Research reference, not legal advice.