1. Subject to the provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Public Law 104-191, or any other federal law or regulation:

(a) A custodian of health care records having custody of any health care records of a provider of health care pursuant to this chapter shall not prevent the provider of health care from physically inspecting the health care records or receiving copies of those records upon request by the provider of health care in the manner specified in NRS 629.061.

(b) If a custodian of health care records specified in paragraph (a) ceases to do business in this State, the custodian of health care records shall, within 10 days after ceasing to do business in this State, deliver the health care records created by the provider of health care, or copies thereof, to the provider of health care.

2. A custodian of health care records who is not otherwise licensed pursuant to title 54 of NRS and violates a provision of this section is guilty of a gross misdemeanor and shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 364 days, or by a fine of not more than $25,000 for each violation, or by both fine and imprisonment.

3. In addition to any criminal penalties imposed pursuant to subsection 2, a custodian of health care records who violates a provision of this section is subject to a civil penalty of not more than $5,000 for each violation as applied to a patient’s entire health care record, to be recovered in a civil action brought in the district court in the county in which the provider of health care’s principal place of business is located or in the district court of Carson City.

4. As used in this section, “custodian of health care records” does not include:

(a) A facility for hospice care, as defined in NRS 449.0033;

(b) A facility for intermediate care, as defined in NRS 449.0038;

(c) A facility for skilled nursing, as defined in NRS 449.0039;

(d) A hospital, as defined in NRS 449.012; or

(e) A psychiatric hospital, as defined in NRS 449.0165.

(Added to NRS by 2015, 1709; A 2017, 2760)