A Shortcut for Getting Directives Into the Registry
The standard path for registering healthcare directives involves individual submissions under A.R.S. 36-3292. This statute creates an alternative: health information exchange organizations that already collect and manage healthcare documents can transmit them directly to the registry.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the qualifying health information exchange organization may establish a process for transmitting to the health care directives registry documents described in section 36-3292 from a health information organization as defined in section 36-3801.
A.R.S. § 36-3292.01This matters because many healthcare directives already exist in digital health records managed by hospitals, physician groups, and health information exchanges. Without this statute, those organizations would have no clear authority to forward those documents to the central registry. Now they do.
Making the Registry More Complete
A registry is only useful if it contains the documents providers need to find. If the registry depends entirely on individuals submitting their own directives, many valid documents will never make it in. People forget. They do not know the registry exists. They assume their doctor already has their wishes on file.
By allowing health information organizations to transmit records directly, this statute helps fill those gaps. A directive that was created years ago and stored in a hospital's electronic health record system can make its way into the statewide registry, where it becomes accessible to any provider who needs it during an emergency.
The qualifying health information exchange organization still controls the process and sets the rules for how transmissions work. This is not an automatic upload. It is a structured pathway that the organization can implement as resources and technology allow.
