Privacy Act of 1974; Amendment of System of Records

SUMMARY: As required by the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4)), notice is hereby given that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending the system of records entitled "Ethics Consultation Web-based Database (ECWeb)-VA" (152VA10E) as set forth in 76 FR 43386. VA is amending the system of records by revising the System Number, Categories of Individuals Covered by the System, Category of Records in the System, Purpose, Routine Uses of Records Maintained in the System, Safeguards, Retention and Disposal, and System Manager and Address. VA is republishing the system notice in its entirety.

DATES: Comments on this new system of records must be received no later than February 29, 2016. If no public comment is received during the period allowed for comment or unless otherwise published in the Federal Register by VA, the new system will become effective February 29, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Written comments concerning the amended system of records may be submitted through www.regulations.gov; by mail or hand-delivery to Director, Regulations Management (02REG), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW., Room 1068, Washington, DC 20420; or by fax to (202) 273-9026. All comments received will be available for public inspection in the Office of Regulation Policy and Management, Room 1063B, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday (except holidays). Please call (202) 461-4902 for an appointment. In addition, during the comment period, comments may be viewed online through the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) at www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kenneth Berkowitz, MD, Acting Executive Director, National Center for Ethics in Health Care (10P6), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20420; telephone (202) 501-0364.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The system number is changed from 152VA10E to 152VA10P6 to reflect the current organizational alignment.

The Category of Individuals Covered by the System is being amended to remove beneficiaries of other Federal agencies and replace it with other requesters or participants from outside VA for whom personal information will be collected.

The Category of Records in the System is being amended to add that the ECWeb record documents the consultation request, relevant consultation specific information, a summary of the information including the ethical analysis and moral deliberation, the explanation of the findings to relevant parties and support of the consultation process. The ECWeb record also includes related notes and attachments.

The Purpose in this system of records is being amended to include education, but will remove law enforcement investigations.

Routine Uses of Records Maintained in the System being deleted are:

2. Disclosure of health care information furnished and the period of care, as deemed necessary and proper, to accredited service organization representatives and other approved agents, attorneys, and insurance companies to aid claimants whom they represent in the preparation, presentation and prosecution of claims under laws administered by VA, state or local agencies.

3. VA may disclose on its own initiative any information in this system, except the names and home addresses of Veterans and their dependents, which is relevant to a suspected or reasonably imminent violation of law, whether civil, criminal or regulatory in nature, and whether arising by general or program statute or by regulation, rule or order issued pursuant thereto, to a Federal, state, local, tribal, or foreign agency charged with the responsibility of investigating or prosecuting such violation, or charged with enforcing or implementing the statute, regulation, rule or order. On its own initiative, VA may also disclose the names and addresses of Veterans and their dependents to a Federal agency charged with the responsibility of investigating or prosecuting civil, criminal or regulatory violations of law, or charged with enforcing or implementing the statute, regulation, rule or order issued pursuant thereto.

5. Relevant information may be disclosed in the course of presenting evidence to a court, magistrate or administrative tribunal, in matters of guardianship, inquests and commitments; to private attorneys representing Veterans rated incompetent in conjunction with issuance of Certificates of Incompetency; and to probation and parole officers in connection with Court required duties.

15. For program review purposes and the seeking of accreditation and/or certification, health care information may be disclosed to survey teams of The Joint Commission (TJC), and similar national accrediting agencies or boards with whom VA has a contract or agreement to conduct such reviews, but only to the extent that the information is necessary and relevant to the review.

18. Patient identifying information may be disclosed to Federal agencies and VA and government-wide third party insurers responsible for payment of the cost of medical care for the identified patients, in order for VA to seek recovery of the medical care costs. These records may also be disclosed as part of a computer matching program to accomplish these purposes.

19. Relevant health care information may be disclosed to health and welfare agencies, housing resources and utility companies, possibly to be combined with disclosures to other agencies, in situations where VA needs to act quickly in order to provide basic and/or emergency needs for the Veteran and Veteran's family where the family resides with the Veteran or serves as a caregiver.

All of the Routine Uses of Records Maintained in the System are renumbered due to the deletions to allow for sequential numbers. Routine use 29 which stated: Assist in quality improvement efforts with respect to ethics consultation practices as part of approved research or ongoing quality improvement projects is now routine use 21 which is being clarified to state that disclosure of ethics consultation records to groups (e.g., American Society for Bioethics and the Humanities) performing improvement or quality assessments as part of approved research or ongoing quality improvement projects with respect to ethics consultation practices.

Safeguards number 3 is being amended to remove access to the Austin VA Data Processing Center is generally restricted to Center employees, custodial personnel, Federal Protective Service and other security personnel.

The Retention and Disposal is being amended to remove in accordance with the records is deposition authority approved by the Archivist of the United States, paper records and information stored on electronic storage media are maintained for 75 years after the last episode of patient care then destroyed/deleted. This section will now state that records that are stored within Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) and Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) will be maintained in accordance with Record Control Schedule (RCS) 10-1 Item # XLIII-2, Electronic Health Records, NARA job# N1-15-02-3. All other records maintained outside the Electronic Health Record will be maintained in accordance with General Records Schedule (GRS) 25 Ethics Program Records Item 1.a and 1.b (N1-GRS-01-1 item 1a & 1b).

The System Manager and Address is amending the official responsible for policies and procedures from the Chief Ethics in Health Care to the Executive Director.

The notice of amendment and an advance copy of the system notice have been sent to the appropriate Congressional committees and to the Director of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(r) (Privacy Act) and guidelines issued by OMB (65 FR 77677), December 12, 2000.

Signing Authority

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or designee, approved this document and authorized the undersigned to sign and submit the document to the Office of the Federal Register for publication electronically as an official document of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Robert L. Nabors II, Chief of Staff, approved this document on January 12, 2016, for publication.

Dated: January 13, 2016.

Kathleen M. Manwell,

Program Analyst, VA Privacy Service, Office of Privacy and Records Management, Department of Veterans Affairs.

152VA10P6

SYSTEM NAME:

Ethics Consultation Web-based Database (ECWeb)-VA

SYSTEM LOCATION:

Automated records within the Ethics Consultation Web-based Database (ECWeb) may be maintained on a VA-owned server administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW., Washington, DC.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:

The records include information concerning.

1. Veterans who have applied for health care services under Title 38, U.S.C., Chapter 17, and members of their immediate families.

2. Spouse, surviving spouse, and children of Veterans who have applied for health care services under Title 38, U.S.C., Chapter 17.

3. Other requesters or participants from outside VA for whom personal information will be collected.

4. Individuals examined or treated under contract or resource sharing agreements.

5. Individuals examined or treated for research or donor purposes.

6. Individuals who have applied for Title 38 benefits, but who do not meet the requirements under Title 38 to receive such benefits.

7. Individuals who were provided medical care under emergency conditions for humanitarian reasons.

8. Pensioned members of allied forces provided health care services under Title 38, U.S.C., Chapter I.

9. Current and former employees.

10. Contractors employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:

--This is a summary of a Federal Register article originally published on the page number listed below--

Notice of amendment of system of records.

Citation: "81 FR 5033"

Federal Register Page Number: "5033"

"Notices"