Health Care Professional's Corner
Every Florida County Health Department (CHD) has the
responsibility to investigate cases of communicable disease. The Florida Bureau
of Epidemiology relies on CHD’s, healthcare providers, laboratories and other
public health personnel to report the occurrence of notifiable diseases. Without
this timely surveillance data, trends cannot be accurately detected or
monitored, and unusual disease occurrences and outbreaks might be missed,
delaying appropriate public health control efforts.
Florida Statute Section 381.0031 (1,2) (161kb;
pdf) states that, “Any
practitioner, licensed in Florida to practice medicine, osteopathic medicine,
chiropractic, naturopathy, or veterinary medicine, who diagnoses or suspects the
existence of a disease of public health significance shall immediately report
the fact to Department of Health.“ Also, it states in Section 381.0031 (5), “The
department may obtain and inspect copies of medical records, records of
laboratory tests, and other medical-related information for reported cases of
diseases of public health significance.”
HIPAA
Often, health care providers are reluctant to divulge patient
information citing the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of
1996, otherwise known as HIPAA. It is important to note that Public Health
Reporting is EXEMPT from HIPAA. According to HIPAA S160.203, “disease
reporting, public health disease surveillance, and disease intervention
activities are among those EXEMPT from federal preemption of state laws.”
Thus, medical providers who allow the health department to obtain patient
information cannot be held liable for the records disclosure. Please share this
information with your staff to ensure timely data collection for the protection
of the public’s health. Below are some helpful websites and numbers in
reference to the above topic.
Resource websites for information about all aspects of HIPAA:
The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
The Florida Medical Association
Reportable Disease List
The list of reportable diseases has recently been updated as a
new Florida Administrative Code 64D-3 (246kb;
pdf)
became effective on November 24th,
2008. These updates represent issues that have come to light since the
adoption of an extensive rewrite in November of 2006. The current changes
further clarify reporting and testing requirements for healthcare providers,
laboratories, hospitals and other entities required to report communicable
diseases or conditions that affect public health. A letter from the Florida
Department of Health to all state healthcare providers was sent out to alert
about the changes made to the Florida Administrative Code 64D-3.
The Epidemiology Program of the Escambia County Health
Department is making the Reportable Diseases/Conditions list available to all
county providers
Reportable Diseases/Conditions List: Reportable
Disease List (76kb;
pdf)
Healthcare providers can report diseases and conditions
listed above to the Epidemiology Program by either faxing a reportable disease form
or calling the following numbers:
Reportable Diseases/Conditions Form:
Single Disease Report Form (143kb;
pdf)
Communicable Disease Report:
Communicable Disease Report (18.6kb;
pdf)
Communicable disease reporting and public health emergency
Phone (850) 595-6683
Fax (850) 595-6268
On-call (after hours, weekends and holidays) (850) 418-5566
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