Citation

Nordin JD, Kasimow S, Levitt MJ, Goodman MJ. Am. J. Public Health 2008; 98(5): 802-807.

Affiliation

HealthPartners.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, American Public Health Association)

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2007.113332

PMID

18382006

PMCID

PMC2374817

Abstract

The threat of bioterrorism in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks cannot be ignored. Syndromic surveillance, the practice of electronically monitoring and reporting real-time medical data to proactively identify unusual disease patterns, highlights the conflict between safeguarding public health while protecting individual privacy. Both the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Common Rule (which promulgates protections for individuals in federally sponsored medical research programs) safeguard individuals. Public health law protects the entire populace; uneven state-level implementation lacks adequate privacy protections. We propose 3 models for a nationwide bioterrorism surveillance review process: a nationally coordinated systems approach to using protected health information, creating public health information privacy boards, expanding institutional review boards, or some combination of these.

Language: en