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

Abstract #113192

Brian J. Balicki, MHS, Social and Health Services, Ltd., a division of ORC Macro, 11426 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852, 301-770-5800 (396), bbalicki@shs.net and Robin Frazier Kandel, JD, Attorney and Assistant Director for Legal Affairs, Social and Health Services, Ltd., a Division of ORC Macro, 11426 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852.

Public health institutions tend to under-emphasize, if not overlook altogether, numerous ethics requirements of health privacy laws. This oversight poses severe risks for institutions and their staff --- from institution-wide penalties for non-compliance and program sanctions, to ethics violations for individual professional staff

Existing privacy laws generally prohibit use and disclosure of personal health information (PHI). Even when programs are permitted to legally share PHI, statutes technically permit these actions to be challenged on ethical grounds under HIPAA and under confidentiality regulations protecting Federal substance abuse patients. This can occur when public health agencies fail to use logical, current or relevant standards of professional judgment, in cases where sharing was either permitted, mandated, or exceeded “minimally necessary” standards for determining how much information to disclose. This session defines ethics requirements under Federal privacy laws, and a suggested strategy to organizations for development of ethics standards.

Effective, informed and practical strategies for compliance with these privacy issues requires engagement and contributions throughout an organization, from CEOs and boards of directors, to front-line staff. The session concludes by defining a strategy for staff training, organizational development and HIPAA compliance.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize numerous ethics requirements within Federal health privacy laws, and standards within professional codes of ethics and best practices.
• Learn why acheiving HIPAA compliance requires for EVERY public health service agency -- Board and staff education, engagement and contributions to standards development 3)Learn about staff training strategies to achieve HIPAA compliance
• Learn why "cookie-cutter" policies and procedures on ethics pose risks for HIPAA non-compliance and place staff at risk of ethics violations

Keywords: Health Insurance Portability Act, Ethics Training

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