House approves bill requiring hospitals to offer HIPAA‑secure transmission of minor safety plans to schools

The Connecticut House passed legislation aimed at improving communication between hospitals and schools for minors discharged from inpatient behavioral‑health care. Representative Biggins, the bill’s floor proponent, described a strike‑all amendment that requires providers to ask in‑patient minors (or parents for younger children) whether a hospital should transmit a safety plan to the student’s school via a secure health information exchange.

Key features clarified on the floor include: designated school employees who may receive plans (school nurse, nurse supervisor, counselor, social worker, psychologist), confidentiality protections (safety plan stored in a confidential file, not the cumulative file), HIPAA‑compliant transmission using Connie (the Office of Health Strategies’ health information exchange), and procedures for integrating coping strategies with 504/IEP meetings where appropriate.

Members questioned how the system would be funded and whether requiring districts to sign up for Connie creates an unfunded mandate. Sponsors said Connie is being offered free to schools through the Office of Health Strategies within available appropriations; if funding were removed the mechanism would need to be revisited. The bill allows 16‑ and 17‑year‑olds to consent under current state law to transmission of their own records; parents retain consent rights otherwise.

After extended floor discussion and clarification — on training, data security, the chain of disclosure, and how safety plans would be used by teachers or specialists — the House adopted the amendment and passed the bill as amended.