Northlake Med. Ctr. LLC v. Queen

Linda Queen brought a medical malpractice action against Northlake Medical Center, LLC and others. Northlake moved to dismiss the complaint for Queen’s failure to comply with the medical record release requirement of OCGA § 9-11-9.2. The trial court denied the motion, concluding that Section 9-11-9.2 was preempted by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-191 “HIPAA”, and thus Queen was not required to file a medical record release authorization in compliance with the Georgia statute. We granted Northlake’s application for interlocutory appeal, as the issue of whether HIPAA preempts OCGA § 9-11-9.2 is one of first impression. On appeal, Northlake argues that 1 the authorization form filed with Queen’s complaint did not comply with OCGA § 9-11-9.2; and 2 HIPAA does not preempt compliance with that statute. We conduct a de novo review of the trial court’s ruling on a legal question.1

1. First, we address whether the authorization Queen filed with her complaint satisfies Georgia’s statutory requirements. OCGA § 9-11-9.2 a provides that a medical record release authorization form must be filed with the complaint in a medical malpractice action. The statute describes the content of the authorization as follows: b the authorization shall provide that the attorney representing the defendant is authorized to obtain and disclose protected health information contained in medical records to facilitate the investigation, evaluation and defense of the claims and allegations set forth in the complaint which pertain to the plaintiff or, where applicable, the plaintiff’s decedent whose treatment is at issue in the complaint. This authorization includes the defendant’s attorney’s right to discuss the care and treatment of the plaintiff or, where applicable, the plaintiff’s decedent with all of the plaintiff’s or decedent’s treating physicians. c The authorization shall provide for the release of all protected health information except information that is considered privileged and authorize the release of such information by any physician or health facility by which health care records of the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s decedent would be maintained.2 A medical malpractice complaint unaccompanied by such an authorization is subject to dismissal.3