Model State Public Health Privacy Act (via EPI C)

[Peter Marshall <techdiff@ix.netcom.com>]

Model State Public Health Privacy Act Now Available

> The Model State Public Health Privacy Project (MSPHPP) has completed a
> final draft of its model state law for the protection of public health
> information.
> 
> The MSPHPP brought together the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the
> Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), the
> Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), the
> National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), and the Georgetown
> University Law Center (GULC) for the purpose of developing a model
> state law addressing privacy and confidentiality issues arising from
> the collection, use, and dissemination of health information by public
> health departments with special attention paid to records about
> HIV/AIDS status.  The protection of records about HIV/AIDS status are
> particularly important given that all states require reporting of AIDS
> status and thirty-one require some reporting about HIV status.
> 
> Now that the model state law has been completed, the MSPHPP seeks to
> circulate it among legislators and public health agencies at the
> local, state, and federal levels.
> 
> State medical privacy laws play an increasingly important role given
> recent inability of the federal government to draft federal protection
> for health records.  By missing the self-imposed deadline of August 21
> to draft a medical privacy law, Congress triggered a previously passed
> mandate requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to start
> work on federal regulations -- which do not have the same legal weight
> as legislation.
> 
> More information about MSPHPP and the draft of the model state law are
> available at:
> 
>      http://www.critpath.org/msphpa/privacy.htm
> 
> EPIC's archive on medical privacy can be viewed at:
> 
>      http://www.epic.org/privacy/medical