health professions data

health professions data Sec. 206. Part A of title VII is amended by adding after section 707 (added by section 205) the following new section: “health professions data “Sec. 708. (a) The Secretary shall establish a program, including a uniform health professions data reporting system, to collect, compile, and analyze data on health professions personnel which shall initially include data respecting all physicians and dentists in the United States and its territories and possessions. The Secretary is authorized to expand the program to include, whenever he determines it necessary, the collection, compilation, and analysis of data respecting pharmacists, optometrists, podiatrists, veterinarians, public health personnel, audiologists, speech pathologists, health care administration personnel, nurses, allied health personnel, medical technologists, and any other health personnel in States designated by the Secretary to be included in the program. Such data shall include data respecting the training, licensure status (including permanent, temporary, partial, limited, or institutional), place or places of practice, professional specialty, practice characteristics, place and date of birth, sex, and socioeconomic background of health professions personnel and such other demographic information regarding health professions personnel as the Secretary may require. “(b) (1) In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary shall collect available information from appropriate local, State, and Federal agencies and other appropriate sources. “(2) The Secretary shall conduct or enter into contracts for the conduct of analytic and descriptive studies of the health professions, including evaluations and projections of the supply of, and requirements for, the health professions by specialty and geographic location. “(3) The Secretary is authorized to make grants and to enter into contracts with States (or an appropriate nonprofit private entity in any State) for the purpose of participating in the program established under subsection (a). The Secretary shall determine the amount and scope of any such grant or contract. To be eligible for a grant or contract tinder this paragraph a State or entity shall submit an application in such form and manner and containing such information as the Secretary shall require. Such application shall include reasonable assurances, satisfactory to the Secretary, that— “(A) such State (or nonprofit entity within a State) will establish a program of mandatory annual registration of the health professions personnel described in subsection (a) who reside or90 STAT. 2251 practice in such State and of health institutions licensed by such State, which registration shall include such information as the Secretary shall determine to be appropriate; “(B) such State or entity shall collect such information and report it to the Secretary in such form and manner as the Secretary shall prescribe; and “(C) such State or entity shall comply with the requirements of subsection (e). “(c) For purposes of providing the Secretary with information under this section, each school which receives financial support under section 770 shall annually report to the Secretary information, determined to be appropriate by the Secretary, respecting the students who attend such school. The Secretary may collect such additional data respecting students of the health professions as he determines to be appropriate. “(d) The Secretary shall assemble and submit to the President and Congress not later than September 1 of each year a report on the status of health professions personnel in the United States, which report shall include a description and analysis of the data collected pursuant to this section. Such report may be included as part of the report made under section 308(a)(2)(C). “(e) (1) The Secretary and each program entity shall in securing and maintaining any record of individually identifiable personal data (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as ‘personal data’) for purposes of this section— “(A) inform any individual who is asked to supply personal data whether he is legally required, or may refuse, to supply such data and inform him of any specific consequences, known to the Secretary or program entity, as the case may be, of providing or not providing such data; “(B) upon request, inform any individual if he is the subject of personal data secured or maintained by the Secretary or program entity, as the case may be, and make the data available to him in a form comprehensible, to him; “(C) assure that no use is made of personal data which is not within the purposes of this section unless an informed consent has been obtained from the individual who is the subject of such data; and “(D) upon request, inform any individual of the use being made of personal data respecting such individual and of the identity of the individuals and entities which will use the data and their relationship to the programs under this section. “(2) Any entity which maintains a record of personal data and which receives a request from the Secretary or a program entity for such data for purposes of this section shall not transfer any such data to the Secretary or to a program entity unless the individual whose personal data is to be so transferred gives an informed consent for such transfer. “(3) (A) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, personal data collected by the Secretary or any program entity under this section may not be made available or disclosed by the Secretary or any program entity to any person other than the individual who is the subject of such data unless (i) such person requires such data for purposes of this section, or (ii) in response to a demand for such data made by means of compulsory legal process. Any individual who is the subject of personal data made available or disclosed under clause (ii) shall be notified of the demand for such data. 90 STAT. 2252 “(B) Subject to all applicable laws regarding confidentiality, only the data collected by the Secretary under this section which is not personal data shall be made available to bona fide researchers and policy analysts (including the Congress) for the purposes of assisting in the conduct of studies respecting health professions personnel. “(4) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘program entity’ means any public or private entity which collects, compiles, or analyzes health professions data under a grant, contract, or other arrangement with the Secretary under this section. “(f) In carrying out his responsibilities under this section, the Secretary shall not be subject to the provisions of chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code. “(g) The Secretary shall provide technical assistance to the States and political subdivisions thereof in the development of systems (including model laws) concerning confidentiality and comparability of data collected pursuant to this section.”.