(a) All information reported pursuant to this chapter shall be confidential and privileged. The Commissioner shall take strict measures to ensure that all identifying information is kept confidential.

(b) All identifying information regarding an individual patient, health care provider, or health care facility contained in records of interviews, written reports, and statements procured by the Commissioner or by any other person, agency, or organization acting jointly with the Commissioner in connection with cancer morbidity and mortality studies shall be confidential and privileged and shall be used solely for the purposes of the study. Nothing in this section shall prevent the Commissioner from publishing statistical compilations relating to morbidity and mortality studies which do not identify individual cases or sources of information. (Added 1993, No. 90, § 2.)