Public Health

Sep 15 2021

WPF urges HHS National Vaccine Advisory Committee to extend privacy protections of vaccination information

In public testimony September 15, 2021, WPF’s Executive Director urged the Department of Health and Human Services National Vaccine Advisory Committee Committee to establish broadened protections for covid-19 vaccination data, including extending the existing CDC Guidance (from May 2021) prohibiting commercial marketing use of vaccination registration information or other vaccination data. The intersection between HIPAA privacy regulations

Apr 20 2021

WPF Statement to the Civil Society Consultation on Sustainable Health Security Preparedness and Response, C20, 2021

The World Privacy Forum participated in the C20 Civil Society Consultation on Sustainable Health Security Preparedness 20 April, 2021, part of the preparatory work for the G20 health-related declaration. (Rome Declaration.) In our attached statement to the C20 / G20, we outline three key requirements to allow safe and sustainable health data ecosystem knowledge utilization, including privacy and effective data governance, interoperability, and robust inclusion of LMICs and vulnerable or
marginalized populations in standards development.

Jul 15 2020

HHS makes significant changes to COVID-19 reporting process

The Department of Health and Human services has announced major changes for hospitals’ COVID-19 data reporting processes. HHS has also made changes to the types of data that hospitals must report, expanding the data collection. This includes new information requests for disaggregated information about adult and pediatric patients, to name a few of the changes. The reporting requirements do contain patient flows, but there are still unknown aspects to the new COVID-19 reporting requirements regarding individual-level data and certain privacy considerations.

May 04 2020

Identity Week: WPF webinar on global contact tracing apps

Executive Director Pam Dixon gave a one hour webinar 4 May 2020 on global contact tracing apps and technology focusing on case studies in the US, UK, India, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, and other jurisdictions. Recommendations and lessons learned are included, as well as audience questions. Event: Festival of Identity Free Webinar Series Webinar: Proportionate

National IDs Around the World — Interactive map

About this Data Visualization: This interactive map displays the presence...
Report: From the Filing Cabinet to the Cloud: Updating the Privacy Act of 1974

This comprehensive report and proposed bill text is focused on the Privacy Act of 1974, an important and early Federal privacy law that applies to the government sector and some contractors. The Privacy Act was written for the 1970s information era -- an era that was characterized by the use of mainframe computers and filing cabinets. Today's digital information era looks much different than the '70s: smart phones are smarter than the old mainframes, and documents are now routinely digitized and stored and perhaps even analyzed in the cloud, among many other changes. The report focuses on why the Privacy Act needs an update that will bring it into this century, and how that could look and work. This work was written by Robert Gellman, and informed by a two-year multi-stakeholder process.
COVID-19 and HIPAA: HHS’s Troubled Approach to Waiving Privacy and Security Rules for the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic strained the U.S. health ecosystem in numerous ways, including putting pressure on the HIPAA privacy and security rules. The Department of Health and Human Services adjusted the privacy and security rules for the pandemic through the use of statutory and administrative HIPAA waivers. While some of the adjustments are appropriate for the emergency circumstances, there are also some meaningful and potentially unwelcome privacy and security consequences. At an appropriate time, the use of HIPAA waivers as a response to health care emergencies needs a thorough review. This report sets out the facts, identifies the issues, and proposes a roadmap for change.