Shown verbatim: the complete text as captured from the official PDF posted by the Arkansas General Assembly, fetched 2026-07-23. Page and line markers are part of the official record; nothing is edited or removed. The official bill page.
Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
1 State of Arkansas A Bill
2 95th General Assembly
3 Regular Session, 2025 SENATE BILL 137
4
5 By: Senator J. Boyd
6 By: Representative Achor
7
8 For An Act To Be Entitled
9 AN ACT TO PERMIT HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS TO MAINTAIN
10 MEDICAL RECORDS IN AN ELECTRONIC FORMAT; AND FOR
11 OTHER PURPOSES.
12
13
14 Subtitle
15 TO PERMIT HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS TO
16 MAINTAIN MEDICAL RECORDS IN AN
17 ELECTRONIC FORMAT.
18
19 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS:
20
21 SECTION 1. Arkansas Code Title 20, Chapter 9, Subchapter 1, is amended
22 to add an additional section to read as follows:
23 20-9-106. Electronic medical records -- Definitions.
24 (a) As used in this section:
25 (1) "Healthcare provider" means:
26 (A) An individual who is licensed, certified, or otherwise
27 authorized by a licensing authority of this state to administer healthcare
28 services in the ordinary course of his or her business or practice; or
29 (B) A healthcare facility including without limitation a
30 hospital, pharmacy, long-term care facility, office of a healthcare
31 professional, or a hospice facility;
32 (2) "Medical record" means a patient's health record, including
33 without limitation evaluations, diagnoses, prognoses, laboratory reports, X-
34 rays, prescriptions, and other technical information used in assessing the
35 patient's condition, or the pertinent portion of the record relating to a
36 specific condition or a summary of the record; and
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SB137
1 (3) "Patient" means a person who has received healthcare
2 services from a healthcare provider.
3 (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of the law to the contrary, a
4 healthcare provider may, in its sole discretion, create, maintain, transmit,
5 receive, and store medical records in an electronic format and may, in its
6 sole discretion, temporarily or permanently convert records into an
7 electronic format.
8 (c)(1) A healthcare provider is not required to maintain separate
9 tangible copies of electronically stored medical records.
10 (2) However, the healthcare provider shall maintain
11 electronically stored medical records in a legible and retrievable form,
12 including adequate data backup.
13 (d) This section is subject to all applicable federal laws governing
14 the security and confidentiality of a patient's personal health information.
15 (e) A tangible copy of a medical record reproduced from an
16 electronically stored record shall be considered an original for purposes of
17 providing copies to patients or other authorized parties and for introduction
18 of the medical record into evidence in administrative or court proceedings.
19 (f)(1) Except as provided otherwise under federal law, upon receiving
20 a request for a copy of a medical record from a patient or an authorized
21 person, a healthcare provider shall provide copies of the medical record in
22 either tangible or electronically stored form.
23 (2) Except as provided otherwise under federal law, if a
24 healthcare provider is audited by a health benefit plan, a pharmacy benefit
25 manager, or a third-party entity involved in health benefits, the auditor
26 shall accept an electronic version of the medical record in lieu of a
27 physical medical record.
28 (g) This section applies to psychiatric, psychological, or other
29 mental health medical records of a patient.
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2 01/28/2025 8:11:48 AM JMB283Every fact on this page links to its source, starting with the official bill record.