(a) The Commissioner may enter into agreements to exchange confidential information with other cancer registries in order to obtain complete reports of Vermont residents diagnosed or treated in other states and to provide information to other states regarding their residents diagnosed or treated in Vermont.

(b) The Commissioner may furnish confidential information to the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, other states' cancer registries, federal cancer control agencies, or health researchers in order to collaborate in a national cancer registry or to collaborate in cancer control and prevention research studies. However, before releasing confidential information, the Commissioner shall first obtain from such state registries, agencies, or researchers an agreement in writing to keep the identifying information confidential and privileged. In the case of researchers, the Commissioner shall also first obtain evidence of the approval of their academic committee for the protection of human subjects established in accordance with 45 C.F.R. part 46. (Added 1993, No. 90, § 2; amended 2015, No. 37, § 1.)