Date: 01/06/2015

Final
Government Access to Personal Medical Information Task Force

COMMITTEE ON JOINT HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Votes: View--> Action Taken:
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11:18 AM -- Government Access to Personal Medical Information Task Force

 Kate Kiefert and Ronne Hines, co-chairs of the Government Access to Personal Medical Information Task Force, described the task force and distributed a handout to the committee (Attachment D). Ms. Hines described the key objectives of the task force, which including determining what existing laws governed access to health information, obtaining information on how state agencies implement policies and procedures ensuring the safety and privacy of health information, ensuring agencies have policies in place to mitigate the risk of privacy or security breaches and responding to breaches if they occur, and developing recommendations to ensure state and local governments are able to continue fulfilling their commitments to protect Colorado consumers and their health information. Ms. Hines further described the task force process.

150106 AttachD.pdf150106 AttachD.pdf

11:22 AM

Ms. Kiefert discussed the key findings of the task force, which include that the privacy of personal information has long been an important issue and health information is particularly sensitive subset of information. She described the existing state and federal laws protecting health information. Ms. Hines discussed the state agencies that rely on medical information to determine eligibility for publicly funded benefits. She also discussed the ways in which state agencies use health information for program analysis and research. Ms. Hines continued by discussing the access of health information to promote public health and safety, and Ms. Keifert described the security controls in place for state and local government employees who access personal information.

11:35 AM

Ms. Keifert discussed the task force's recommendations, including continuing to ensure the security and privacy of Coloradan's health information; considering that additional regulations limiting access could inhibit or prevent an agency's ability to fulfill its legal duties, encumber day-to-day operations, or increase costs for Colorado taxpayers; continuing to abide by stringent procedures; targeting any future legislative initiatives primarily at increasing public awareness and education around how their health information is used by state and local government agencies; and informing the public about the uses of health information.

11:38 AM

John Vecchiarelli, Director of Taxpayer Services, Department of Revenue, responded to questions from the committee about the department's procedures for reviewing personal information related to taxation issues. He explained that if the department's audit staff needs information that is contained in a record containing personal health information, the personal medical information is redacted before it is provided to the department. Ms. Keifert responded to questions from the committee about government human resources policies related to communicable diseases.

11:41 AM

The committee recessed for lunch.