AN ACT Relating to cancer reporting; adding new sections to chapter 70.54 RCW; creating a new section; and making an appropriation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. It is the intent of the legislature to establish a system to accurately monitor the incidence of cancer in the state of Washington for the purposes of understanding, controlling, and reducing the occurrence of cancer in this state. In order to accomplish this, the legislature has determined that cancer cases shall be reported to the department of social and health services or its statutory successor, and that there shall be established a state-wide population-based cancer registry.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. There is created a cancer registry governing board, which shall hereby be referred to as the governing board. Its membership shall be composed of at least seven, but no more than eleven members who shall be appointed by the governor and serve at the governor's pleasure. Members shall have extensive knowledge and experience in the operations of a cancer registry. No less than forty percent of the membership shall be from the eastern part of the state. The governing board shall oversee the development of the state-wide cancer registry program and shall report, from time to time, to the governor and the appropriate committees of the legislature on the efficiency of the program's operation.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The governing board shall contract with either a recognized regional cancer research institution or regional tumor registry, or both, which shall hereinafter be called the contractor, to establish a state-wide cancer registry program to obtain cancer reports as required in section 4 of this act and to make available data for use in cancer research and for purposes of improving the public health.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) The state board of health shall determine which types of cancer shall be reported, who shall report, and the form and timing of the reports. The information collected shall include at least the following:

(a) The name of the person who has cancer;

(b) The address where that person resides;

(d) The person's race;

(e) The person's date of birth;

(f) The person's social security number;

(g) The treating physician's name;

(h) The hospital or outpatient facility where diagnosis was made;

(i) The type of cancer, including site and histology;

(j) The stage and extent of the disease at the time of the initial diagnosis;

(k) The vital status; and

(l) The first course of treatment.

(2) Every health care facility and independent clinical laboratory, and those physicians or others providing health care who diagnose or treat any patient with cancer who is not hospitalized within one month of diagnosis, will provide the contractor with the information required under subsection (1) of this section. The required information may be collected on a regional basis where such a system exists and forwarded to the contractor in a form suitable for the purposes of sections 2 through 7 of this act. Such reporting arrangements shall be reduced to a written agreement between the contractor and any regional reporting agency which shall detail the manner, form, and timeliness of the reporting.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) Data obtained under section 4 of this act shall be used for statistical, scientific, medical research, and public health purposes only.

(2) The names of persons, physicians, and institutions obtained under section 4 of this act shall be confidential except that medical researchers and public health staff may use the names of persons, physicians, and institutions when requesting additional information for investigatory or research studies if those studies have been approved by the institutional review board of the contractor and of any regional reporting agency.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Providing information required under section 4 or 5 of this act shall not create any liability on the part of the provider nor shall it constitute a breach of confidentiality. The contractor shall, at the request of the provider, but not more frequently than once a year, sign an oath of confidentiality, which reads substantially as follows:

"As a condition of conducting research concerning persons who have received services from (name of the health care provider or facility), I ............... , agree not to divulge, publish, or otherwise make known to unauthorized persons or the public any information obtained in the course of such research that could lead to identification of such persons receiving services, or to the identification of their health care providers. I recognize that unauthorized release of confidential information may subject me to civil liability under the provisions of state law."

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. The state board of health shall adopt rules to implement sections 2 through 6 of this act, including but not limited to a definition of cancer.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. Sections 2 through 7 of this act are each added to chapter 70.54 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. The sum of .......... dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1991, from the general fund to the department of social and health services or its statutory successor for the purposes of this act.