Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #100632

Martha Dewey Bergren, DNS RN, Public Health, Mental Health, Administrative Nursing, University of Illinois - Chicago, 845 S Damen Ave. (MC 802), Chicago, IL 60657, 312 9961321, bergren@uic.edu

Public health professionals who work with schools are caught in the middle between Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Family Education Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) regarding the privacy and confidentiality of personally identifiable student health information. Since the inception of HIPAA, professionals who straddle both settings have struggled to manage the privacy regulations governing student health information. The Second National Task Force on Confidential Student Health Information, a consortium of education organizations, school health organizations and school attorney groups, has created guidelines for the management of information within the school setting and with health providers and health agencies. This session will describe the interaction between the federal privacy laws and delineate how to determine which federal law regulates specific types of student health information. Restrictions on exchanging information between schools, parents and health care agencies will be addressed as well as the particular dilemmas faced by public health professionals who work both in and with schools.

Case studies will be presented regarding the collection, the maintenance, and the transmission of student health information both within schools and with public health and community agencies. Scenarios will include: school health services provided by public health departments; school based health clinics; school electronic billing requirements, immunization data sharing; height, weight and BMI information; flu vaccines administered in schools; and routine health screenings. Current resources for all disciplines will be shared.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe changes in student health information practices since HIPAA
• Distinguish between situations that are regulated by FERPA, HIPAA or both federal privacy laws
• Identify the interface between public health and education in regard to the privacy of personally identifiable student information

Keywords: Privacy, School Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation