Lawmakers Seek to Protect Injured Workers' Mental Health Records

Monday, April 4, 2022 | 0

Colorado lawmakers could consider legislation that would require workers’ compensation insurers and self-insured employers to protect injured workers' mental health records.

HB 1354, introduced Thursday, defines "mental health records" as psychological or psychiatric intake evaluation or progress notes provided to an insurer as necessary for payment, adjustment and adjudication of claims involving psychiatric issues.

The bill, by Rep. Mandy Lindsay, D-Arapahoe, would prohibit the disclosure of mental health records “to any person who is not directly involved in adjusting or adjudicating claims involving psychiatric issues without the consent of the mental health provider or claimant.”

It would prohibit an insurer from releasing a claimant's mental health records to the claimant's employer. And the bill would limit the insurer’s disclosure of an injured worker’s mental health records to an employer, supervisor or manager “to only information from the mental health records pertaining to work restrictions placed on the claimant.”

The bill would require that self-insured employers keep mental health records separate from personnel files and disclose to a supervisor or manager only those records that pertain to work restrictions.

The bill was assigned to the Public & Behavioral Health & Human Services Committee in the state House of Representatives.

The Colorado General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn May 11.

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