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HRS §324-43

Use of collected information

This section says the health department and researchers can use birth defect information only for approved medical or public health research and education. It keeps people's identities confidential. If researchers want more information from a patient or family, they must get the doctor's approval first, unless the doctor is unknown.

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The statute, as written — Use of collected information

(a) The information collected under this part shall be used by the department of health or researchers only for the purpose of advancing medical and public health research, medical education, or education of the public and health care providers in the interest of reducing morbidity or mortality or increasing physicians' knowledge of resources available for families of persons with birth defects, and only as approved or exempted by an institutional review board. (b) The identity of, or any information which alone or in combination with other reasonably available information that may be used to identify, any person whose condition or treatment has been studied under this part shall be confidential. (c) If the birth defects program or researchers intend to collect additional information directly from a patient or patient's relative for research studies approved by an institutional review board, the researcher shall first obtain approval for the request from the patient's primary care provider. If the patient's current physician is not known, the patient may be contacted directly using a method approved by an institutional review board. The use of the additional information obtained by researchers shall be governed by subsection (a).
Read the official text at capitol.hawaii.gov ↗as published Jan 6, 2026our copy taken Aug 20, 2026

LawTrove is not legal advice. The summary above is a computer-generated restatement — the authoritative text is the official version linked above.