AVSS and HIPAA

Hospitals and local health departments in California use AVSS to create paper birth certificates and electronic birth certificate records. Both the paper certificate and the electronic record are then transmitted to the State of California Office of Vital Records. It is the opinion of the California State Registrar of Vital Records that AVSS is exempt from the HIPPA Privacy Rule requirements under Section 164.512(b)(1). According to HIPAA Section 164.512(b)(1), a covered entity may disclose protected information for public health activities to a public health authority that is authorized by law to collect or receive such information for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability, including, but not limited to, the reporting of disease, injury, vital events such as birth or death, and the conduct of public health surveillance, public health investigations, and public health interventions... The legal authorization for birth registration is covered under Sections 102425-102475 of the California Health and Safety Code. Although the AVSS is exempt from HIPAA, it contains many features designed to insure the confidentiality of birth certificate information. These include such safeguards as password authentication, user and device based access controls, audit trails of all user interactions, and security reports of failed access attempts.

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