Sharing Student Health Information Under the New FERPA Proposed Rules-Audio Conference by Melamedia

To assist healthcare entities, educational institutions and HIPAA covered entities and other healthcare organizations involved in student health issues, Holland & Knight lawyers Steven Winnick, James M. Jacobson and Paul G, Lannon, Jr. will present a seminar on sharing student health information under the new FERPA rules. This 90-minute seminar will analyze the proposal to help health and education organizations and state and local governments get ready for the new rules. Another objective of the seminar is to assist organizations to strategize and clarify their comments to the Department of Education. The comments are due by May 8.

The rules governing the sharing of student health information will change this year with the hope that tragedies like the Virginia Tech calamity can be avoided. Reports commissioned after the tragedy found that there was substantial confusion over what student health information could be shared because of overlapping protections for medical information stemming from the HIPAA privacy rule and other laws. The U.S. Department of Education proposed changes to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) on March 24 that are intended to ease the sharing of student health records with other providers and organizations to help identify those in need of treatment or special considerations.

The 90-minute seminar will brief participants on:

• The specific effects the proposal will have on using, disclosing and redisclosing student health information
• Policies and procedures that you will need or want to consider amending
• Proposed clarifications that will enable the sharing of student health data under FERPA while complying with HIPAA
• How the proposal affects non-educational healthcare organizations' ability to share health information with educational organizations and educators
• How the proposal may interact with state and federal laws governing specific issues, such as mental health, substance abuse and reproductive and abortion records
• The implications for extending FERPA protection to students engaged in distance learning programs
• The effects of sharing more student health information with parents
• Sharing information with law enforcement