In this chapter:

"Adult" means an individual who has attained 18 years of age.

"Conservator" means a person appointed by the court to administer the property of an adult, including a person appointed under Chapter 20 (§ 64.2-2000 et seq.).

"Conservatorship order" means an order appointing a conservator.

"Court" means a court of competent jurisdiction as determined by otherwise applicable Virginia law to establish, enforce, or modify a guardianship or conservatorship order or an entity authorized under the law of another state to establish, enforce, or modify a guardianship or conservatorship order.

"Guardian" means a person appointed by the court to make decisions regarding the person of an adult, including a person appointed under Chapter 20 (§ 64.2-2000 et seq.).

"Guardianship order" means an order appointing a guardian.

"Guardianship proceeding" means a judicial proceeding in which an order for the appointment of a guardian is sought or has been issued.

"Incapacitated person" means an adult for whom a guardian has been appointed.

"Individually identifiable health information" means health information, including demographic information, collected from an individual that (i) is created or received by a health care provider, health plan, employer, or health care clearinghouse and (ii) identifies the individual, or there is a reasonable basis to believe that the information can be used to identify the individual, and relates to (a) the past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition of the individual, (b) the provision of health care to the individual, or (c) the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to the individual.

"Party" means the respondent, petitioner, guardian, conservator, or any other person allowed by the court to participate in a guardianship or protective proceeding.

"Person," except in the term "incapacitated person" or "protected person," means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity.

"Protected health information" means individually identifiable health information that is (i) transmitted in electronic media, (ii) maintained in electronic media, or (iii) transmitted or maintained in any other form or medium. Protected health information excludes individually identifiable health information in (a) education records covered by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. § 1232g); (b) records of any student who is 18 years of age or older, or is attending a postsecondary school, that are made or maintained by a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, or other recognized professional or paraprofessional acting in his professional or paraprofessional capacity, or assisting in that capacity, and that are made, maintained, or used only in connection with the provision of treatment to the student and are not available to anyone other than persons providing such treatment, except that such records may be personally reviewed by a physician or other appropriate professional of the student's choice; and (c) employment records held, in its role as employer, by a health plan, health care clearinghouse, or health care provider that transmits health information in electronic form.

"Protected person" means an adult for whom a conservatorship order has been issued.

"Protective proceeding" means a judicial proceeding in which a conservatorship order is sought or has been issued.

"Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

"Respondent" means an adult for whom a conservatorship order or the appointment of a guardian is sought.

"State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, a federally recognized Indian tribe, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

2011, c. 518, § 37.2-1032; 2012, c. 614.