[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 20, Volume 2]
[Revised as of April 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 20CFR401.55]

[Page 10-11]
 
                      TITLE 20--EMPLOYEES' BENEFITS
 
               CHAPTER III--SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
 
PART 401_PRIVACY AND DISCLOSURE OF OFFICIAL RECORDS AND INFORMATION--Table 
of Contents
 
                        Subpart B_The Privacy Act
 
Sec. 401.55  Special procedures for notification of or access to medical 
records.

    (a) General. In general, you have a right to notification of or 
access to your medical records, including psychological records, as well 
as to other records pertaining to you that we maintain. In this section, 
we set forth special procedures as permitted by the Privacy Act for 
notification of or access to medical records, including a special 
procedure for notification of or access to medical records of minors.
    (b) Medical records procedures--(1) Notification of or access to 
medical records. (i) You may request notification of or access to a 
medical record pertaining to you. Unless you are a parent or guardian 
requesting notification of or access to a minor's medical record, you 
must make a request for a medical record in accordance with this section 
and the procedures in Sec. Sec. 401.45 through 401.50 of this part.
    (ii) When you request medical information about yourself, you must 
also name a representative in writing. The representative may be a 
physician, other health professional, or other responsible individual 
who would be willing to review the record and inform you of its contents 
at your representative's discretion. If you do not designate a 
representative, we may decline to release the requested information. In 
some cases, it may be possible to release medical information directly 
to you rather than to your representative.
    (2) Utilization of the designated representative. You will be 
granted direct access to your medical record if we can determine that 
direct access is not likely to have an adverse effect on you. If we 
believe that we are not qualified to determine, or if we do determine, 
that direct access to you is likely to have an adverse effect, the 
record will be sent to the designated representative. We will inform you 
in writing that the record has been sent.
    (c) Medical records of minors--(1) Requests by minors; notification 
of or access to medical records to minors. A minor may request 
notification of or access to a medical record pertaining to him or her 
in accordance with paragraph (b) of this section.
    (2) Requests on a minor's behalf; notification of or access to 
medical records to an individual on a minor's behalf. (i) To protect the 
privacy of a minor, we will not give to a parent or guardian direct 
notification of or access to a minor's record, even though the parent or 
guardian who requests such notification or access is authorized to act 
on a minor's behalf as provided in Sec. 401.75 of this part.
    (ii) A parent or guardian must make all requests for notification of 
or access to a minor's medical record in accordance with this paragraph 
and the procedures in Sec. Sec. 401.45 through 401.50 of this part. A 
parent or guardian must at the time he or she makes a request designate 
a family physician or other health professional (other than a family 
member) to whom the record, if any, will be sent. If the parent or 
guardian will not designate a representative, we will decline to release 
the requested information.
    (iii) Where a medical record on the minor exists, we will in all 
cases send it to the physician or health professional designated by the 
parent or guardian. If disclosure of the record would constitute an 
invasion of the minor's privacy, we will bring that fact to the 
attention of the physician or health professional to whom we send the 
record. We will ask the physician or health professional to consider the 
effect that disclosure of the record to

[[Page 11]]

the parent or guardian would have on the minor when the physician or 
health professional determines whether the minor's medical record should 
be made available to the parent or guardian. We will respond in 
substantially the following form to the parent or guardian making the 
request:

We have completed processing your request for notification of or access 
to --------'s (Name of minor) medical records. Please be informed that 
if any medical record was found pertaining to that individual, it has 
been sent to your designated physician or health professional.

    (iv) In each case where we send a minor's medical record to a 
physician or health professional, we will make reasonable efforts to 
inform the minor that we have given the record to the representative.
    (d) Requests on behalf of an incapacitated adult. If you are the 
legal guardian of an adult who has been declared legally incompetent, 
you may receive his or her records directly.