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Can I collect health information from participants in New Jersey? What are the requirements?

Requirements for Collecting Health Information in New Jersey

To collect health information from participants in New Jersey, you must comply with the regulations set forth in the New Jersey Administrative Code (NJAC). The specific requirements depend on the type of health information you are collecting and the purpose of the collection. Below are some relevant regulations from the NJAC:

  • Community Health Assessment: If you are conducting a community health assessment, you must perform a formal countywide or multi-countywide assessment every four years, using standardized methodologies approved by the Office of Local Health. The assessment must include a Community Health Profile, which includes measures of health status indicators and socio-demographic characteristics as specified by the Office of Local Health [1.1].
  • Medical/Health Records Organization: If you are organizing medical/health records, you must develop written objectives, policies and procedures, an organizational plan, and a quality assurance program for medical/health records services. The quality assurance program must include monitoring of medical/health records for accuracy, completeness, legibility, and accessibility. You must also have a system for identifying medical/health records to facilitate their retrieval by patient identifier, and the patient’s medical/health record must be available to the health care practitioners involved in the patient’s care [2.1].
  • Authorized User Access to Information: If you are accessing information on the New Jersey Immunization Information System (NJIIS), you must enroll as an authorized user and complete the enrollment process set forth at 8:57-3.8. You will have access to a registrant’s NJIIS information limited to the level of access for which you were approved by the MCHC pursuant to 8:57-3.8 (b). You may only access information on a registrant contained in the NJIIS under certain circumstances, depending on your role [3.1].
  • Data Collection and Management: If you are collecting health data, you must develop, operate, and ensure a quality data management system that is capable of collecting, analyzing, and monitoring baseline data standardized to a format developed by the Department. You must also ensure electronic linkage with local and statewide databases, as they become available, and ensure safeguards for the confidentiality of all data and information that contains personal identifiers or any other information which could be used to identify an individual with reasonable accuracy, either directly or by reference to other readily available information [1.2].
  • Authorized User Enrollment Requirements: If you are enrolling as an NJIIS authorized user, you must agree to use the NJIIS to further the purposes of promoting public health or providing patient care, submit a completed User Confidentiality Agreement, and complete the mandatory NJIIS training [3.2].
  • Information Systems for Personal Health and Related Services: If you are developing capacities for information systems that share client information with managed care organizations, hospitals, and other health care providers, you must assist the local public health system and the State in doing so [4.1].
  • Community Outreach for Public Health Services: If you are engaging in community outreach activities related to public health services, you must engage in activities that assure the maximum participation of eligible residents in State-and Federally-funded health care programs, assure culturally and linguistically appropriate resources and health informational materials for specific populations, assure technical assistance to employers who conduct health promotion, disease prevention, or injury prevention programs, assure that there is an active referral system between the mental and/or behavioral health delivery system and the personal health care delivery system, and assure that social services are coordinated with health care services [4.2].
  • Mandatory Participation for Health Care Providers: If you are a health care provider administering vaccines to children less than seven years of age, you must register as an NJIIS site and authorized user and commence online reporting of vaccinations prior to December 31, 2011, in compliance with NJAC 8:57-3.16. You must report vaccinations of NJIIS registrants within 30 days of administration and report, update or verify, as applicable, certain required data fields for the registrant within 30 days of vaccine administration [3.3].

In summary, to collect health information from participants in New Jersey, you must comply with the relevant regulations set forth in the NJAC, which depend on the type of health information you are collecting and the purpose of the collection.

Source(s):
Jurisdiction

New Jersey