(a) All health care payers shall submit data to the commissioner or an entity designated by the commissioner at such times and in a form specified in rule. Any health care payer that the commissioner determines paid or administered the payment of health insurance claims in this state for policies on fewer than 500 covered lives in the previous calendar year is exempt from the requirements of this article.

(b) Data submitted in accordance with this article shall be considered confidential by law and privileged, are exempt from disclosure pursuant to chapter twenty-nine-b of this code, are not open to public inspection, are not subject to subpoena, are not subject to discovery or admissible in evidence in any criminal, private civil or administrative action, are not subject to production pursuant to court order, and shall only be used and disclosed pursuant to law and legislative rules promulgated pursuant to this article.

(c)(1) Data submitted to and retained by the APCD shall be available as a resource for the MOU parties to continuously review health care utilization, expenditures and performance in West Virginia and to enhance the ability of consumers to make informed and cost-effective health care decisions.

(2) Data submitted to and retained by the APCD may, in accordance with this article and the legislative rules promulgated pursuant to this article, also be available as a resource for insurers, researchers, employers, providers, purchasers of health care, consumers, and state agencies.

(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the APCD shall not disclose any data that contain personal identifiers. The MOU parties, in accordance with procedures and standards set forth in legislative rule, may approve access to other data elements not prohibited from disclosure by the APCD, as well as synthetic or created unique identifiers, for use by researchers, including government agencies, with established protocols for safeguarding confidential or privileged information. The MOU parties' use of the data shall not constitute a disclosure.