Nevada Joins Health Data Privacy Tide

Libbie Canter’s commentary was included in a Global Data Review article on Nevada’s new health data privacy bill.

Preceding Nevada’s new law is Washington’s My Health, My Data Act, which was the first state health data privacy law in the U.S. According to Libbie, Nevada overlaps Washington state’s definition of health data by including vital signs, symptoms, reproductive and gender affirming care, location data used to identify if individuals receive a health service and other data. But Nevada’s consumer health data definition includes a “very subtle difference.”

“I think the difference is the Washington bill categorizes anything linked to a consumer and identifies a consumer's health status.” Nevada, however, only regulates data that is used to infer health status, where Washington state’s law regulates any data that could be used to deduce health status. Libbie added that, “the Nevada law provides a little bit more flexibility so long as [data] is not used to infer health status.”

Further, Libbie said that complying with Nevada's bill, Washington’s My Health, My Data Act and Connecticut’s recently passed health data privacy amendments will require new consent and disclosure protocols not required in the GDPR or comprehensive state data privacy laws.

While Nevada’s bill doesn’t include My Health, My Data Act’s private right of action, Libbie said its third-party disclosure is “an onerous and novel obligation.” She added that Washington state may have set a precedent that other states might follow in their next legislative session.