Storage

   Retrievability

   Authorized Users

   Physical Safeguards

   Procedural Safeguards

   Implementation Guidelines

 

System name:  Records of Health Professionals in Disease Prevention and Control Training Programs.  HHS/CDC/NCHSTP.

Security classification:  None.

System location:  National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention, Corporate Square, Bldg. 12, Rm. 3303, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta, GA  30333.

Public Health Practice Program Office, Koger/Yale Bldg. Rm. 2081A, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, NE, Atlanta, GA  30341-3724.

Division of Health Education, Executive Park, Bldg. 4, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta, GA  30333.

National Immunization Program, Corporate Square Bldg. 12, Rm. 5113, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta, GA 30333.

and

Federal Records Center, 1557 St. Joseph Avenue, East Point, GA  30344.

A list of contractor sites where individually identifiable data are currently located is available upon request to the appropriate system manager.

Categories of individuals covered by the system:  Physicians, nurses, physician assistants, clinician trainees, and other health personnel who have participated in training activities, surveys, and studies developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and control group health professionals who have not participated in training activities.

Categories of records in the system:  Responses to questionnaires by physicians, nurses, physician assistants, clinician trainees, and related health personnel, pertaining to knowledge, attitude and practices relating to health problems, diseases and/or other potential preventable conditions of public health significance; health care and related training data; and demographic data of the survey population as well as identification data for follow-up purposes.

Authority for maintenance of the system:  Public Health Service Act, Section 301, "Research and Investigation" (42 U.S.C. 241).

Purpose(s):  This record system enables the CDC officials to maintain training records and access the impact of the agency's training programs on the knowledge, attitudes and practices of clinicians and other health care personnel, in order to develop improved training curricula and programs for disease prevention and control for such health care personnel.

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories of users and the purposes of such uses:  Disclosure may be made to CDC contractors in the conduct of training surveys and studies covered by this system notice and in the preparation of scientific reports, in order to accomplish the stated purposes of the system.  The recipients will be required to maintain Privacy Act safeguards with respect to such records.

CDC is under contract with private firms for the purpose of collating, analyzing, aggregating or otherwise refining records in this system.  Relevant records are disclosed to such contractors.  The contractors are required to maintain Privacy Act safeguards with respect to such records.

Disclosure may be made to a congressional office from the record of an individual in response to a verified inquiry from the congressional office made at the written request of that individual.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may disclose information from this system of records to the Department of Justice, or to a court or other tribunal, when:  (a) HHS, or any component thereof; or (b) any HHS employee in his or her official capacity; or (c) any HHS employee in his or individual capacity where the Department of Justice (or HHS, where it is authorized to do so) has agreed to represent the employee; or (d) the United States or any agency thereof where HHS determines that the litigation is likely to affect HHS or any of its components, is a party to litigation or has an interest in such litigation, and HHS determines that the use of such records by the Department of Justice, the court or other tribunal is relevant and necessary to the litigation and would help in the effective representation of the governmental party, provided, however, that in each case, HHS determines that such disclosure is compatible with the purpose for which the records were collected.

Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, and disposing of records in the system:

Storage:  Computer tapes/disks and printouts and file folders.

Retrievability:  Name of individual respondent, identification number, and type of training received are some of the indices used to retrieve records from this system.

Safeguards:

1. Authorized Users:  Access is granted to only a limited number of personnel, i.e., CDC Project Officer, interviewers and designated support staff of CDC or its contractors, as authorized by the system manager to accomplish the stated purposes for which the data in this system have been collected.

2. Physical Safeguards:  Locked cabinets in locked rooms, 24-hour guard service in buildings, personnel screening of visitors, electronic anti-intrusion devices in operation at the Federal Records Center, fire extinguishers, overhead sprinkler system and card-access control equipment in the computer room, computer terminals and automated records located in secured areas.

3. Procedural Safeguards:  Protection for computerized records both on the mainframe and the CIO Local Area Network (LAN) includes programmed verification of valid user identification code and password prior to logging on to the system, mandatory password changes, limited log-ins, virus protection, and user rights/file attribute restrictions.  Password protection imposes user name and password log-in requirements to prevent unauthorized access.  Each user name is assigned limited access rights to files and directories at varying levels to control file sharing.  There are routine daily backup procedures and Vault Management System for secure off-site storage is available for backup tapes.  To avoid inadvertent data disclosure, “degaussing” is performed to ensure that all data are removed from Privacy Act computer tapes and/or other magnetic media.  Additional safeguards may be built into the program by the system analyst as warranted by the sensitivity of the data.

CDC and contractor employee who maintain records are instructed to check with the system manager prior to making disclosures of data.  When individually identified data are being used in a room, admittance at either CDC or contractor sites is restricted to specifically authorized personnel.  Privacy Act provisions are included in contracts, and the CDC Project Director, contract officers and project officers oversee compliance with these requirements.  Upon completion of the contract, all data will be either returned to CDC or destroyed, as specified by the contract.

4. Implementation Guidelines:  The safeguards outlined above are developed in accordance with Chapter 45-13, "Safeguarding Records Contained in Systems of Records," of the HHS General Administration Manual; and Part 6, "Automated Information System Security," of the HHS Information Resources Management Manual.  FRC safeguards are in compliance with GSA Federal Property Management Regulations, Subchapter B--Archives and Records.  Data maintained in CDC’s Processing Center are in compliance with OMB Circular A-130, Appendix III.  Security is provided for information collection, processing, transmission, storage, and dissemination in general support systems and major applications.  CIO LANs currently operate under Novell Netware v. 4.11 and are in compliance with “CDC & ATSDR Security Standards for Novell File Servers.”

Retention and disposal:  Records are maintained in agency for two years.  Disposal methods include erasing computer tapes, burning or shredding paper materials or transferring records to the Federal Records Center when no longer needed for evaluation and analysis.  Records destroyed by paper recycling process after 12 years, unless needed for further study.

System manager(s) and address:  Director, National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention, Corporate Square, Bldg. 11, Rm. 2106, MS E07, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta, GA  30333.

Director, Public Health Practice Program Office, Koger/Williams Bldg., Rm. 3809 MS K36, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, NE, Atlanta, GA  30341-3724.

Director, Division of Health Education, Executive Park, Bldg. 4, Rm. 2220D, MS E33, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta, GA  30333.

Policy coordination is provided by:  Associate Director for Management and Operations, Bldg. 16, Rm. 5117, MS D15, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta, GA  30333.

Notification procedure:  An individual may learn if a record exists about himself or herself by contacting the appropriate system manager at the address above.  Requesters in person must provide driver's license or other positive identification.  Individuals who do not appear in person must either:  (1) submit a notarized request to verify their identity; or (2) must certify that they are the individuals they claim to be and that they understand that the knowing and willful request for or acquisition of a record pertaining to an individual under false pretenses is a criminal offense under the Privacy Act subject to a $5,000 fine.

The following information must be provided when requesting notification:  (1) full name; (2) name of the clinic organization in which requester was employed at time of training or survey participation; and (3) nature of the training or survey questionnaire in which the requester participated.

Record access procedures:  Same as notification procedures.  Requesters should also reasonably specify the record contents being sought.  An accounting of disclosures that have been made of the record, if any, may be requested.

Contesting record procedures:  Contact the official at the address specified under System Manager above, reasonably identify the record and specify the information being contested, the corrective action sought, and the reasons for requesting the correction, along with supporting information to show how the record is inaccurate, incomplete, untimely, or irrelevant.

Record source categories:  Individuals in the system and selected clinics which employ individuals who are in the system.

Systems exempted from certain provisions of the act:  None.