Misunderstandings among healthcare providers and public health authorities over sharing data threaten the nation's ability to respond to public health emergencies. The response after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita revealed that many providers and others still do not understand or fear sharing patient data.
The confusion complicates the response to a wide range of public health threats, including the threatened flu pandemic.
Balancing Privacy with Public Health Surveillance in Public Health Emergencies can help healthcare professionals respond to public health emergencies.
This timely briefing will reduce the uncertainty over sharing patient data with public health authorities in preparing for and addressing emergencies.
Participants will learn:
- Privacy principles that apply in disaster response and emergencies;
- Policies to govern data sharing to prevent or stem public health emergencies;
- HIPAA effects on sharing of patient data in emergency preparation and response;
- How state laws require the sharing of patient data with public health authorities;
- The importance of organizing business associates;
- Ways to balance syndromic surveillance with privacy;
and more
Who Should Attend
- Privacy Officers
- Security Officers
- Public Health Professionals
- Emergency Response Professionals
- Compliance Officers
- Healthcare Administrators
- Healthcare Counsels
- CIOs
- HIM Professionals
- Healthcare Attorneys
- Healthcare Consultants
The Faculty
James G. Hodge, Jr., J.D., LL.M. is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where he teaches Health Information Privacy Law and Policy and Bioethics and the Law. Professor Hodge also is the Executive Director of the Center for Law and the Public's Health at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins Universities.
He has drafted (with others) several public health law reform initiatives, including the Model State Public Health Information Privacy Act, the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act, and the Turning Point Model State Public Health Act.
His diverse, funded projects include current and prior work on: the legal framework underlying the use of volunteer health professionals during emergencies; the compilation, study, and analysis of state genetics laws and policies as part of a multi-year NIH-funded project; legal and ethical distinctions between public health practice and research; and public health law case studies in VA, MI, NH, OR, NE, AK, MT, MI, and DE. He is a national expert on public health information privacy law and ethics, having consulted CDC on its creation of a Health Information Privacy Office and with DHHS, CSTE, APHL, FDA, CMS, and OHRP and others on privacy issues.
Dan Drociuk, MT(ASCP), MSPH is an epidemiologist and the Director, Bioterrorism Surveillance and Response Program, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Previously employed with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the National Immunization Program, Mr. Drociuk conducted research into influenza and pneumococcal vaccination rates among Medicare recipients.
