HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4491        FILED ON: 7/18/2012

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 4337

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Jeffrey Sánchez

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to public health data sharing with the Boston Public Health Commission.

_______________

PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4491        FILED ON: 7/18/2012

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 4337

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

In the Year Two Thousand Twelve

_______________

An Act relative to public health data sharing with the Boston Public Health Commission.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.  Subsection (a) of Section 1 of chapter 147 of the acts of 1995 is hereby amended by inserting after the word “prevention,” the following words:-

public health surveillance,

SECTION 2.  Section 2 of chapter 147 of the acts of 1995 is hereby amended by inserting the following definitions:-

“Department”, the Massachusetts department of public health

“Division”, the Massachusetts division of health care finance and policy

“Public health surveillance”, the ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of data for use in planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health programs and practice, to reduce morbidity and mortality and to improve health

SECTION 3.  Section 7 of chapter 147 of the acts of 1995 is hereby amended by inserting after subsection (a)(16), the following subsection:-

(17) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, to receive, in a timely manner, confidential health data pertaining to the residents of the city from the department and the division only for the purposes of public health surveillance and the preparation of the annual assessment of public health needs of the city. In the receipt, use, maintenance and destruction of such health data the commission shall be subject to the same provisions of law providing for confidentiality and security of personal data as is the department or the division, including but not limited to G.L. c. 66A, G.L. c. 93H and G.L. c. 93I, provided however that the commission may not disclose the data received pursuant to this section except in aggregate form.  Any use of the data received for a public health surveillance activity which is also human subject research shall be subject to the requirements for research using human subjects.  Unless specified otherwise, data received shall not include names or social security numbers or be used for direct patient follow-up.  Data received shall include either the zip code or census tract of the individual case, to the extent this is collected by the department or division, and shall include, but not be limited to, the following information about residents of the city:

(A)  Records of births and deaths in the city, including address, for each record, no later than June 1st of the year following the closure of the data set;

(B)  Records of infant deaths linked to birth records, including address for each record, no later than June 1st  of the year following the closure of the data set;

(C)  Records of fetal deaths, no later than June 1st of the year following the closure of the data set;

(D)  Case reports of venereal disease, provided that these reports shall be submitted not more than thirty days after confirmation of the case by the department and that such case reports shall include name, address, demographic, risk factor and treatment information, to the extent this information is available, for the purposes of surveillance, prevention and disease control activities, and direct patient follow-up, provided that follow-up by the commission shall be governed by a written agreement between the commission and the department;

(E)  Data from the Massachusetts behavioral risk factor surveillance system, provided within two months of finalizing data set;

(F) Data from the Massachusetts cancer registry, provided annually;

(G) Data from the pregnancy risk assessment and monitoring system, provided annually;

(H) Data of hospital discharges, provided annually;

(I) Data of hospital observational cases, provided annually; and

(J) Data of hospital emergency room visits, provided annually.