The Department provides services in many different ways and through many different avenues to the people of Alaska. A necessity of providing and paying for appropriate health care and social services requires that we collect, examine, process and maintain considerable amounts of personal health care information.
While the health care information that we maintain is necessary for us to perform the responsibilities of our jobs as employees of the Department, other individuals and organizations outside of the Department may have valid needs to have specific types of health care information on Alaskans receiving services from this Department. They may ask us to provide them with health care information in order to facilitate professional or personal research, conduct surveys, complete grant or waiver applications, develop reports for legislative, public or private entities, or for a multitude of other information collection activities and needs.
We all recognize the importance of maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of health care information. You may know that new federal privacy laws (HIPAA) strictly regulate the use and disclosure of health information and require that this Department employ much stronger guidelines regarding information disclosure than ever before. It is particularly important that we closely evaluate health care information requests from individuals or organizations that are not part of this Department.
As a measure to make certain that we are complying with all health care information privacy laws and to ensure that we are appropriately tracking and evaluating health care information requests, we are requiring all employees to report to your Division or Department Privacy Official any requests for health care information that are from individuals or organizations that are outside of the Department and that:
· Do not have a documented business relationship with the Department; or
· Is not an individual requesting access to his/her own information; or
· Is not a verified personal representative of the individual whose information is being requested (such as parent of an unemancipated minor, legal guardian of the individual, etc.)
Employees must report requests even if they are for “aggregated” or “de-identified” data. Additionally, employees are encouraged to report any unusual or questionable requests for information or any requests from individuals or organizations that you cannot immediately verify.
All reports should be made, and approval granted prior to fulfilling any requests! If your Division or Department Privacy Official cannot be contacted, requests must be reported to your immediate supervisor or Division Director.
Your Privacy Officials are:
Department Privacy Official &
Division of Administrative Services
Kathleen White 465-4722 Kathleen_White@health.state.ak.us
Division of Public Health
Bruce Scandling 465-3486 Bruce_Scandling@health.state.ak.us
Or
Diane Ingle 269-3444 Diane_Ingle@health.state.ak.us
Division of Behavioral Health
Karen Pearson 465-5811 Karen_Pearson@health.state.ak.us
Alaska Psychiatric Institute
Doreen Booth 269-7132 Doreen_Booth@health.state.ak.us
Division of Public Assistance
Julie Morris 465-1754 Julie_Morris@health.state.ak.us
Division of Juvenile Justice
Tony Newman 465-1382 Tony_Newman@health.state.ak.us
Division of Health Care Services
Anita Halterman 334-2431 Anita_Halterman@health.state.ak.us
Division of Senior & Disability Services
Tom Watson 334-3477 Tom_Watson@health.state.ak.us
Office of Children’s Services
David Strouth 465-2795 David_Strouth@health.state.ak.us
Division of Alaska Longevity Programs
Lee Peterson 465-2160 Lee_Peterson@health.state.ak.us