Who Can See Your Registry Documents
The registry holds sensitive information about your most personal medical decisions. Arizona law treats that information as confidential and limits who can access it.
Information maintained by the qualifying health information exchange organization pursuant to this article is confidential and shall not be disclosed except as allowed by state or federal law.
A.R.S. § 36-3295(A)Three categories of people can access your documents in the registry: the person who submitted them, the person the documents are about (which may be the same person), and that person's surrogate. Healthcare providers can also pull your directives when they are treating you. This includes physicians, nurses, and hospital staff you would expect, but the statute goes further.
Emergency Providers Have Access Too
The definition of "health care provider" under this statute includes emergency medical service providers and emergency service technicians. That means paramedics arriving at your home during a crisis can access the registry to check whether you have a POLST, a living will, or other healthcare directives on file.
Notwithstanding subsection A of this section, a health care provider may access the health care directives registry and receive a patient's health care directive documents for the provision of health care services.
A.R.S. § 36-3295(C)The statute also allows the registry to share information through health information organizations as authorized by A.R.S. 36-3805. And if you move to another state, the organization can transmit your registry information to the new state's registry system at your request.
The practical takeaway: your documents are protected from public access, but the people who need them most, the providers making decisions about your care, can reach them when it matters.
