System Name: Health and Demographic Surveys Conducted in Probability Samples of the U.S. Population, HHS/OASH/NCHS.
Security Classification: None.
System Location(s): National Center for Health Statistics, Presidential Building, rm. 1140, Centers for Disease Control, 6525 Belcrest Road, Hyattsville, Maryland 20782.
Categories of Individuals Covered by the System: Individuals and members of households selected by probability sampling techniques to be representative of the civilian population of the United States.
Categories of Records in the System: Records containing information on: (1) The incidence of illness and accidental injuries, prevalence of diseases and impairments, the extent of disability, the utilization and cost of health care services, and other health characteristics of individuals obtained in household interviews and from their named health care providers and insurers; or (2) the nutritional status, prevalence levels of specially defined chronic diseases, growth and development patterns and distributions of various health related measurements and related data obtained in a survey involving health examinations, tests, and other measurement procedures; or (3) marital and child bearing history and intended future births, the use of prenatal care, and the family planning practices of individual women obtained by interview. Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics such as age, marital status, education, occupation, and family income are also obtained.
Authority for Maintenance of the System: Public Health Service Act, Section 306(b) (42 U.S.C. 242k).
Purpose(s): The data are used for statistical purposes only. Uses within the Department include the preparation of aggregated data in the form of statistical tables for publication, analysis, and interpretation, to meet the legislative mandates of 42 U.S.C. 242k, i.e., to determine levels of illness and disability and their effects on the population, the use of health care facilities, trends in family formation and dissolution, and the like.
Routine Uses of Records Maintained in the System, Including Categories of Users and the Purposes of such Uses: The data are disseminated for purposes of statistical research and analysis outside DHHS in forms which do not permit the identification of individuals, such as publications of statistical tables, specially requested tabulations and public use computer tapes. These are communicated to interested persons outside DHHS, such as members of Congress and their staffs, other executive branch agencies, universities, States, cities, private foundations, etc. The findings are used by demographers, sociologist, health statisticians, epidemiologists, other scholars and concerned citizens, to evaluate health matters, make determinations on needs for legislation, appropriations, new service programs, and the like.
The Department occasionally contracts with a private firm for the purpose of collecting analyzing, aggregating, or otherwise refining records in this system. Relevant records are disclosed to such a contractor. The contractor is required to maintain Privacy Act safeguards with respect to such records.
Records may be disclosed to student volunteers, individuals working under a personal services contract, and other individuals performing functions for PHS who do not technically have the status of agency employees, if they need the records in the performance of their agency functions.
Policies and Practices for Storing, Retrieving, Accessing, Retaining, and Disposing of Records in the System—
Storage: Paper files and magnetic tapes.
Retrievability: A serial number tied to the selection process of successively smaller geographic areas is assigned to each record on magnetic tape. This serial number is cross-indexed to the original, individually identifiable record.
Safeguards: Measures to prevent unauthorized disclosures are implemented as appropriate for the particular records maintained. NCHS and its contractors implement personnel, physical, and procedural safeguards as follows:
1. Authorized users: Persons authorized and needing to use the records, including project directors, contract officers, interviewers, analysts, statisticians, statistical clerks, and data entry personnel on the staffs of the Center and the contractors.
2. Physical safeguards: The manual portions of the records are stored in locked files or offices when not in use. (The automated portions of the records do not contain individually identifiable data. Because they are not subject to the Privacy Act, descriptions of the computer safeguards used are not included in this notice.) Access to the buildings in which the manual records are stored is controlled by special entry devices and 24-hour security guards.
3. Procedural safeguards: All employees of NCHS and contractor personnel with access to NCHS records are required, as a condition of employment, to sign an affidavit binding them to nondisclosure of individually identifiable information; periodic training sessions are conducted to reinforce the confidentiality restrictions.
Contractors who maintain records in the system are instructed to make no further disclosure of the records. Privacy Act requirements are specifically included in contracts for survey and research activities related to this system. The HHS project directors, contract officers, and project officers oversee compliance with these requirements.
These safeguards are in accordance with chapter 45-13, "Safeguarding Records Contained in Systems of Records," of the HHS General Administration Manual; supplementary chapter PHS.hf: 45-13; the National Bureau of Standards Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS Pub. 41 and FIPS Pub. 312); and the NCHS Staff Manual on Confidentiality.
Retention and Disposal: Original survey records are reviewed for accuracy, edited, and data (without personal identifiers such as name or Social Security Number) are transferred to magnetic tape. The original records are retained in office files of NCHS until the process of conversion to magnetic tape and verification of information is completed. This process is completed within approximately nine months. The original records are then sent to the Federal Records Center where they are stored for 5 years for interview survey records and 10 years for examination records. Microfilm copies of examination records are retained at the Federal Records Center for 40 years.
System Manager(s) and Address(es): Director, National Center for Health Statistics, Presidential Building, rm 1140, Centers for Disease Control, 6525 Belcrest Road, Hyattsville, Maryland 20782.
Notification Procedure: To determine if a record exists, write to the System Manager.
Record Access Procedures: Access to record systems which have been granted an exemption from the Privacy Act access requirement may be made at the discretion of the System Manager. Positive identification is required from anyone seeking access. Appeal of access refusal may be made to the Director, Office of Management, Public Health Service. An individual may also request an accounting of disclosures of his/her record, if any.
Contesting Record Procedures: If access has been granted, contact the System Manager and reasonably identify the record, specify the information being contested, and state the corrective action sought, with supporting information to show how the record is inaccurate, incomplete, untimely, or irrelevant.
Record Source Categories: Respondents included in the survey samples.
System Exempted from Certain Provisions of the Act: With respect to this system of records, exemption has been granted from the requirements contained in subsections 552a(c)(3), (d) (1) through (4), and (e)(4) (G) and (H) in accordance with the provisions of subsection 552a(k)(4) of the Privacy Act of 1974. The reason this system has been exempted is that this system contains only records required by statute to be maintained and used solely as statistical records. The exemption was published in the Federal Register, October 8, 1975, page 47413.
