Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024
Section 65-34-5 - Data Use and Disclosure5.1. The Department utilizes hospital discharge data for public health surveillance, to inform health care policy, and to evaluate the effectiveness of programs. The Department also recognizes the legitimate needs of citizens, providers, policy makers, researchers, and others to access discharge data. Every effort is made to satisfy legitimate requests for data while protecting patient data.5.2. If a party requests more than a de-identified data set or a de-identified data set with a cell size of less than 30, then the party must submit a complete application for its request to be considered.5.3. Once this application is received, the analyst will determine if the data request has value and utility, whether the data is available from other sources, if the minimum data necessary to accomplish the research project has been requested and whether an IRB with Federal Wide Assurance has approved the request.5.4. A hospital submitting UB data may obtain the full set of UB data that it has submitted without restriction.5.5. The Authority may exchange data available in a limited data set with a public health oversight agency.5.6. If a state agency needs UB data to perform an essential function of that agency, the data may be produced if a data use agreement is obtained and the minimum necessary data is provided.5.7. If an internal source requests data for use before a state agency, the Legislature, or any other public body, the Director of Data and Analysis must determine if the data requested has a public mission, value and utility and supports the greater good of the community.5.8. If a government agency requests data for an articulated public health surveillance purpose and the government agency certifies that its request complies with the minimum necessary restrictions, the data can be produced without a data use agreement and as requested by the government agency once the Director of Data and Analysis approves this disclosure.5.9. If the request is approved and a data use agreement signed, then a limited data set may be provided. In no event may any limited data set include the following: 5.9.2. Postal address information, other than town or city, state, and zip codes;5.9.3. Telephone numbers;5.9.5. Electronic mail addresses;5.9.6. Social security numbers;5.9.7. Medical record numbers;5.9.8. Health plan beneficiary numbers;5.9.10. Certificate/license numbers;5.9.11. VIN and serial numbers, including license plates;5.9.12. Device identifiers and serial numbers;5.9.13. Web universal resource locators (URL);5.9.14. Internet protocols (IP) address numbers;5.9.15. Biometric identifiers, including finger and voice prints; and5.9.16. Full face photographic images and any comparable images.5.10. All requests for UB data from members of the press must be submitted directly to the DHHR Division of Communications.5.11. Requests for data from data vendors who are going to resell the data must be referred to theHealthcare Cost and Utilization Project (H-CUP) sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Data from West Virginia, along with data from several other states, is available for comparison in an interactive query system which is freely available to the public at the following link: https://datatools.ahrq.gov/hcupnet. Alternatively, these requests may be directed to the de-identified data on the web or the facility.5.12. The Department reserves the right not to provide any or all of the data requested in its sole discretion. In addition, the Authority reserves the right not to provide any or all data requested by parties that have previously violated the terms of a data use agreement or otherwise misused any of the Authority's data.