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The Massachusetts Medical Society

Balancing Your Practice:
Protecting the Public Health and Preserving Your Patients' Privacy

Sponsored by the Massachusetts Medical Society and its Volunteer Surveillance Corps in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health

This course was developed from a live program, Balancing Your Practice: Protecting the Public Health and Preserving Your Patient's Privacy, held on March 7, 2007 at the MMS Headquarters in Waltham, MA.  Utilizing slides and audio you will experience the presentations on The Need for Public Health Information and Surveillance and Privacy Principles and Bioethics of Medical Practice.

DESCRIPTION

This program focuses on balancing the competing interests of patient privacy and the need for public health information and surveillance. Maintaining the public health often requires the disclosure of sensitive health information in order to implement control measures and treatment. Physicians need to know which health information they should disclose and what they are required to reveal under the law. Information will center on complying with those requests while still maintaining confidentiality and fostering a trusting doctor-patient relationship. This dynamic becomes increasingly complex in an emergent public health or disaster situation when standards of care may be altered. Participants will gain a greater understanding of how to preserve patient privacy rights in everyday practice and in the face of a public health emergency.

AUDIENCE

All physicians need to balance their patients’ privacy rights with the need for health information. Understanding these competing interests enhances communication among providers, patients, and public health workers. This topic is of importance to physicians, nurses, and those who work in the public health field.

FACULTY

AlFRED DEMARIA, JR., MD, is the chief medical officer and the state epidemiologist at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. He also serves as the director of the Center for Laboratories and Disease Control, the director of the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control, and is the acting director of the Massachusetts State Laboratory Institute and the Bureau of Laboratory Sciences. He is a graduate of Boston University and Harvard Medical School. He trained in internal medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, and in infectious diseases at Boston City Hospital and the Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. DeMaria is a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and is a member of many other professional associations. He serves on the boards of the Massachusetts Public Health Association and the Public Health Museum. He is currently lead consultant for blood safety and for nosocomial infections for the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) and sits on the Transfusion Transmitted Disease Committee of the AABB. He served on the federal Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee from 1997 to 2003.

WENDY E. PARMET, Esq., is the George J. and Kathleen Waters Matthews Distinguished Professor of Law at Northeastern University School of Law and program director of the law school’s dual degree (JD-MPH) program with Tufts University School of Medicine. She teaches public health law, health law, disability law, bioethics, torts, and constitutional law. Professor Parmet has published numerous articles in medical journals and law reviews on public health law, disability law, constitutional law, and health care access. She coauthored Ethical Health Care, published by Prentice Hall in 2005, with Professor Patricia Illingworth. Professor Parmet is president of the board of directors of Health Law Advocates and is on the board of directors of the Public Health Law Association. She is also on the ABA’s Commission for Mental and Physical Disability Law. She received her JD from Harvard Law School in 1982 and her BA from Cornell University in 1979.

ABOUT THE VOLUNTEER SURVEILLANCE CORPS

The Volunteer Surveillance Corps is a database of active and retired physicians who promote disease reporting and vigilance among their colleagues in order to enhance emergency preparedness. Participation is completely voluntary and there is no minimum time commitment.

The types of activities volunteers may be asked to assist with include calling clinicians in the event of a suspected outbreak or an emergent situation, disseminating critical information from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, assisting with vaccine promotion or distribution, and providing support to their local board of health.

No credentialing is required. Free CME training and support is provided. For more information about the VSC, contact Vanessa Kenealy at vkenealy@mms.org or (781) 434-7319.

Helpful Hints

• This course and all associated materials are available free of charge. To complete exam and receive AMA PRA Category 1 Credit^TM, a nominal fee is applied at the end of the course. Course Fees located under "Course Information".  
• If you need to stop in the middle of a course, you may return to the course at anytime to complete.
• The content of this course was specifically developed for the Internet in August 2007. The expiration date for this course is October 31, 2008.
• Disclosure and Commercial Support information is located under Course Information.
• This course requires Flash 8. To receive your free copy, go to Begin Course and click Get Flash Player.  
• This course is optimized for Internet Explorer 5.1 and above, and Netscape 4 and above.