Senator Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg) filed SB 804, electronic health records, establishing a mechanism to enable individuals to anonymously donate their health records for the purposes of educating or developing diagnoses, treatment choices, policies, health care system designs, and innovations to improve health outcomes and reduce health care costs.  

“The healthcare industry has moved to electronic medical records and there is now an opportunity to use enhanced analytic tools to study those records,” stated Senator Brandes. “Donating our healthcare data enables large, sophisticated studies of a wide range of health records. This bill will leave a lasting impact for future generations, and Florida will lead the nation in healthcare innovation.”

Under the proposed bill, a person may donate all or part of their electronic health records or qualified electronic health records anonymously. An individual may do so either by signing an electric health records donor card, indicating the intent to donate health records on their driver license or identification card, expressing a wish to donate in a living will or advance directive, expressing a wish to donate in a will, or expressing a wish to donate in a document other than a will that meets certain criteria. The legislation will make a repository of anonymized health records available to researchers to contribute to further innovative advances in health treatments and medicines.