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Privacy and fund-raising

Anne Adams' article about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the spring 2002 issue did an excellent job of outlining the complex issues associated with this new federal legislation regulating privacy of patient information. The regulations also may have a profound impact on fund-raising and the way we do business.

HIPAA does allow some protected health information to be used for fund-raising purposes. Demographic information - name, address, contact information, age, gender, insurance status, and date of service - can be used without obtaining a patient's authorization. According to the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy, an Emory physician, nurse, or other staff can give a patient's name to the Development Office for the purpose of grateful patient fund-raising without a signed authorization.

A major change in our ability to approach and solicit patients involves other data that allows for segmenting fund-raising appeals. Data concerning a patient's diagnosis, nature of services, or treatment cannot be used in connection with fund-raising unless the patient signs an authorization permitting such use. The Development Office is working with the Compliance Office to determine whether such authorization forms should be provided to all patients.

Most organizations and individuals interpreting the regulations agree that these stipulations prohibit revealing the location, such as the Winship Cancer Institute or Division of Cardiology, within the hospitals or sections of The Emory Clinic where the patient received treatment if it would identify the treatment. Accordingly, fund-raising letters from department chairs to their specific patient population are prohibited. However, sending general letters to all patients asking for general support of medical care and providing a targeted response card to specify use of the funds are allowed. The Development Office is working with colleagues across the country and with national organizations to change the regulations to allow a development office to obtain information regarding the admitting physician or the department of service. However, it seems unlikely at this point that these changes will be made.

Over the past two years, the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Development Office has been working to ensure that HIPAA regulations will not slow our progress in increasing the funds available from philanthropic sources to expand education, research, and patient care opportunities. We believe that many of these challenges have been overcome through discussions with Congressional leaders and our colleagues around the country. We will continue to work with our faculty to identify sources for funding ongoing excellence in health sciences at Emory.

Phil Hills
Interim Senior Associate Vice President
for Health Sciences Development

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