(a) Right-to-Know Law inapplicable.--Any contract or agreement between participating payers and participant rural hospitals or any data, including patient data, provided by a participating payer, a participant rural hospital, including a participant rural hospital's insurer or administrator, a rural hospital or the department to the authority and maintained by the authority for the purposes of carrying out the requirements of this article shall be confidential and shall not be subject to the act of February 14, 2008 (P.L. 6, No. 3),¹ known as the Right-to-Know Law, or discoverable or admissible as evidence in any civil, criminal or administrative action or proceeding.

(b) Authority access to data.--Nothing in this section shall prohibit the authority from accessing the data to carry out its responsibilities in accordance with law.

(c) Release of data.--Data provided to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or any other entity, by the authority shall be provided consistent with applicable laws and regulations, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-191, 110 Stat. 1936), the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (Public Law 111-5, 123 Stat. 226-279 and 467-496)² and implementing regulations, to the extent allowed by law and written agreements between the authority and each participating payer and participant rural hospital.