Personal Health Information and HIPAA: An Introduction to the Committee on Privacy and Confidentiality's Website Initiative

• Activity Number: 64
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Sunday, August 3, 2003 : 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): Philip M. Steel*+ and Joyce Weil and Deborah W. Tress and Gerald W. Gates and Kimberly A. McGuigan and Alvan O. Zarate and Robin Smith
• Companies: U.S. Census Bureau and Fordham University and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Census Bureau and Merck-Medco Managed Care, L.L.C. and National Center for Health Statistics and American Statistical Association
• Keywords: privacy ; confidentiality ; HIPAA

Abstract

Privacy, Confidentiality, and Data Security (PCDS) have together become critical national issues. Most visibly, the U.S. Congress recognized this in the health care area as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The complexity of these regulations cannot be overstated: the final rule on HIPAA's Privacy provisions are 31 pages--accompanied by 1,400 pages of explanation and discussion. Now, more than ever before, professionals who work with identifiable data are seeking guidance in understanding PCDS issues, recommendations for best practices in PCDS compliance, and tools and methods to use in their work. In response to this need, the ASA's Committee on Privacy and Confidentiality has created a Privacy, Confidentiality and Data Security Training Website. The site has sections on HIPAA Privacy, Human Subjects Protection and Bioethics, and Data Safeguarding Best Practices. This poster provides a demonstration of the instruction and resources now available on HIPAA and HIPAA compliance, as it relates to statistical data. This project is supported by ASA's Strategic Initiative Funding.