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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Weaknesses in state and federal laws — and the often-conflicting motives of students, parents and school officials — have left patient privacy vulnerable when students receive medical treatment on campus, ProPublica’s Charles Ornstein reports.
Under the landmark federal law known as HIPAA, patients can limit who has access to information on their condition or medical care. But students often fall under a different law, the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which allows colleges to share this information with parents and other “appropriate parties” without their consent.
Key takeaways:
- FERPA was intended to govern access to education records such as transcripts and disciplinary files. But increasingly, universities across the country are being accused of misusing their authority under FERPA to access and share information from on-campus medical and mental health services.
- The Virginia Tech shooting, in particular, sparked fierce FERPA debate. Students and professors had raised concerns about Seung-Hui Cho’s behavior, and Cho also had contact with the university’s counseling center and police before the shooting. But a state review board concluded that “the university did not intervene effectively” and a subsequent federal report cited privacy laws as a “substantial obstacle.”
- Disputes have also erupted over whether colleges can consult patient records to defend themselves, such as when they are accused of not properly investigating a sexual assault.
More in the full story here: http://www.propublica.org/
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