[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 59 (Tuesday, March 27, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16705-16707]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-7492]


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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

ACTION: Notice of amendment to system of records.

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SUMMARY: The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552(e)(4)) requires that all 
agencies publish in the Federal Register a notice of the existence and 
character of their systems of records. Notice is hereby given that the 
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending the system of records 
entitled ``Veteran, Patient, Employee, and Volunteer Research and 
Development Project Records-VA'' (34VA11) as set forth in the Federal 
Register 40 FR 38095, dated 8/26/75 and last amended in 58 FR 40852, 
dated 7/30/93. VA is amending the system by revising the System Number 
and the paragraphs on Authority to Maintain the System, Purposes, 
Categories of Records in the System, Routine Uses of Records Maintained 
in the System, and System Manager. VA is republishing the system notice 
in its entirety.

DATES: Comments on the amendment of this system of records must be 
received no later than April 26, 2001. If no public comment is 
received, the amended system will become effective April 26, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Written comments concerning the proposed new system of 
records may be submitted to the Office of Regulations Management (02D), 
Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20420. Comments will be available for public inspection at the above 
address in the Office of Regulations Management, Room 1158, between the 
hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday (except 
holidays).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Veterans Health Administration (VHA) 
Privacy Act Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont 
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20420; telephone (727) 320-1839.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: VA is renumbering the system of records from 
34VA11 to 34VA12 to reflect organizational changes in the Department. 
The authority to maintain the records in the system has been amended to 
reflect current codification of the statute.
    Two new routine use disclosure statements are being added to the 
system. One new routine use is being added to the system to allow for 
disclosure of information to the Department of Justice (DOJ), including 
U.S. Attorneys, upon its official request in order for VA to respond to 
pleadings, interrogatories, orders or inquiries from DOJ, and to supply 
DOJ with information to enable DOJ to represent the U.S. Government in 
any phase of litigation or in any case or controversy involving the VA. 
The second routine use is being added to the system to allow for 
disclosure of invention information with affiliated intellectual 
property partners to aid in the possible use, interest in, or ownership 
rights in VA intellectual property. Routine use number 4 is being 
amended to remove the Title 44 United States Code Section numbers.
    The Privacy Act permits VA to disclose information about 
individuals without their consent for a Routine Use when the 
information will be used for a purpose that is compatible with the 
purpose for which we collected the information. In all of the Routine 
Use disclosures described above, the recipient of the information will 
use the information in connection with a matter relating to one of VA's 
programs, to provide a benefit to VA, or to provide disclosure as 
required by law.
    The notice of intent to publish and an advance copy of the system 
notice have been sent to the appropriate Congressional committees and 
to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as 
required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(r) (Privacy Act) and guidelines issued by OMB 
(61 FR 6428), February 20, 1996.

    Approved: March 1, 2001.
Anthony J. Principi,
Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
34VA12

SYSTEM NAME:
    Veteran, Patient, Employee, and Volunteer Research and Development 
Project Records--VA.

System Location:
    Records are maintained at each VA health care facility where the 
research project was conducted and at VA Central Office (VACO). Address 
locations are listed in VA Appendix 1 of the biennial Privacy Act 
Issuance publication. In addition, records are maintained at contractor 
and fieldwork sites as studies are developed, data collected and 
reports written. A list of locations where individually identifiable 
data are currently located is available from the System Manager.

Categories of Individuals Covered by the System:
    The following categories of individuals will be covered by this 
system: (1) Veterans; (2) patients; (3) employees; or, (4) volunteers 
who have indicated their willingness to be a participant in medical 
research projects being performed by VA, by a VA contractor or by 
another Federal agency in conjunction with VA; and (5) research and 
development investigators.

[[Page 16706]]

Categories of Records in the System:
    Records, or information contained in records, vary according to the 
specific medical research involved and may include: (1) Research on 
biomedical, prosthetic and health care services; (2) research stressing 
spinal cord injuries and diseases and other disabilities that tend to 
result in paralysis of the lower extremities; and (3) morbidity and 
mortality studies on former prisoners of war. VACO records contain (4) 
a merit review of the project; and (5) a review and evaluation of the 
research and development investigators and of the participants in the 
program. The review and evaluation information concerning the research 
and development investigators may include personal and educational 
background information as well as specific information concerning the 
type of research conducted. Invention records contain: a certification 
page, describing the place, time, research support related to the 
invention and co-inventors; Technology Transfer Program Invention 
Evaluation Sheet Internal or External Invention Assessment reports; 
Research and Development Information System (RDIS) reports on research 
support related to the invention; Correspondence; and the Office of 
General Counsel Letter of Determination.

Authority for Maintenance of the System:
    Title 38, United States Code, Section 7301.

Purpose(s):
    The records and information may be used to determine eligibility 
for research funding, to determine handling of intellectual properties, 
and to manage proposed and/or approved research endeavors.

Routine Uses of Records Maintained in the System, Including Categories 
of Users and the Purposes of Such Uses:
    1. Transfer of statistical and other data to Federal, State, and 
local government agencies and national health organizations to assist 
in the development of programs.
    2. In the event that a system of records maintained by this agency 
to carry out its functions indicates a violation or potential violation 
of law, whether civil, criminal or regulatory in nature, and whether 
arising by general statute or particular program statute, or by 
regulation, rule or order issued pursuant thereto, the relevant records 
in the system of records may be referred, as a routine use, to the 
appropriate agency, whether Federal, State, local or foreign, charged 
with the responsibility of investigating or prosecuting such violation 
or charged with enforcing or implementing the statute or rule, 
regulation or order issued pursuant thereto.
    3. Disclosure may be made to a congressional office from the record 
of an individual in response to an inquiry from the congressional 
office made at the request of that individual.
    4. Disclosure may be made to National Archives and Records 
Administration (NARA), General Services Administration (GSA) in records 
management inspections conducted under authority of 44 United States 
Code.
    5. Disclosure of medical record data, excluding name and address 
(unless name and address is furnished by the requester) for research 
purposes determined to be necessary and proper, to epidemiological and 
other research facilities approved by the Under Secretary for Health.
    6. In order to conduct Federal research necessary to accomplish a 
statutory purpose of an agency, at the written request of the head of 
the agency, or designee of the head of that agency, the name(s) and 
address(es) of present or former personnel of the Armed Services and/or 
their dependents may be disclosed (a) to a Federal department or agency 
or (b) directly to a contractor of a Federal department or agency. When 
a disclosure of this information is to be made directly to the 
contractor, VA may impose applicable conditions on the department, 
agency and/or contractor to ensure the appropriateness of the 
disclosure to the contractor.
    7. Upon request for research project data, the following 
information will be released to the general public, including 
governmental and non-governmental agencies and commercial 
organizations: Project title and number; name and educational degree of 
principal investigator; Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical 
center location; type (initial, progress, or final) and date of last 
report; name and educational degree of associate investigators; and 
project summary. In addition, upon specific request, keywords and 
indexing codes will be included for each project.
    8. Upon request for information regarding VA employees conducting 
research, the following information will be released to the general 
public, including governmental agencies and commercial organizations: 
Name and educational degree of investigator; VHA title; academic 
affiliation and title; hospital service; primary and secondary 
specialty areas and subspecialty.
    9. Records from this system of records may be disclosed to a 
Federal agency or to a State or local government licensing board and/or 
to the Federation of State Medical Boards or a similar nongovernment 
entity which maintains records concerning individuals' employment 
histories or concerning the issuance, retention or revocation of 
licenses, certifications, or registration necessary to practice an 
occupation, profession or specialty, in order for the agency to obtain 
information relevant to an agency decision concerning the hiring, 
retention or termination of an employee or to inform a Federal agency 
or licensing boards or the appropriate nongovernment entities about the 
health care practices of a terminated, resigned or retired health care 
employee whose professional health care activity so significantly 
failed to conform to generally accepted standards of professional 
medical practice as to raise reasonable concern for the health and 
safety of patients in the private sector or from another Federal 
agency. These records may also be disclosed as part of an ongoing 
computer matching program to accomplish these purposes.
    10. Identifying information in this system, including name, 
address, social security number and other information as is reasonably 
necessary to identify such individual, may be disclosed to the National 
Practitioner Data Bank at the time of hiring and/or clinical 
privileging/reprivileging of health care practitioners, and other times 
as deemed necessary by VA, in order for VA to obtain information 
relevant to a Department decision concerning the hiring, privileging/
reprivileging, retention or termination of the applicant or employee.
    11. Relevant information from this system of records may be 
disclosed to the National Practitioner Data Bank and/or State Licensing 
Board in the State(s) in which a practitioner is licensed, in which the 
VA facility is located, and/or in which an act or omission occurred 
upon which a medical malpractice claim was based when VA reports 
information concerning: (a) Any payment for the benefit of a physician, 
dentist, or other licensed health care practitioner which was made as 
the result of a settlement or judgment of a claim of medical 
malpractice of an appropriate determination is made in accordance with 
agency policy that payment was related to substandard care, 
professional incompetence or professional misconduct on the part of the 
individual; (b) a final decision which relates to possible incompetence 
or improper professional conduct that adversely affects the clinical 
privileges

[[Page 16707]]

of a physician or dentist for a period longer than 30 days; or, (c) the 
acceptance of the surrender of clinical privileges or any restriction 
of such privileges by a physician or dentist either while under 
investigation by the health care entity relating to possible 
incompetence or improper professional conduct, or in return for not 
conducting such an investigation or proceeding. These records may also 
be disclosed as part of a computer matching program to accomplish these 
purposes.
    12. Information concerning individuals who have submitted research 
program proposals for funding, including the investigator's name, 
social security number, research qualifications and the investigator's 
research proposal, may be disclosed to qualified reviewers for their 
opinion and evaluation of the applicants and their proposals as part of 
the application review process.
    13. Any information in this system may be disclosed to the 
Department of Justice (DOJ), including U.S. Attorneys, upon its 
official request in order for VA to respond to pleadings, 
interrogatories, orders or inquiries from DOJ and to supply DOJ with 
information to enable DOJ to represent the U.S. Government in any phase 
of litigation or in any case or controversy involving VA.
    14. Any invention information in this system may be disclosed to 
affiliated intellectual property partners to aid in the possible use, 
interest in, or ownership rights in VA intellectual property.

Policies and Practices for Storing, Retrieving, Accessing, Retaining, 
and Disposing of Records in the System:
Storage:
    (1) Paper documents. (2) Microscope slides. (3) Magnetic tape or 
disk. (4) Photographs. (5) Microfilm.

Retrievability:
    Records are retrieved by individual identifiers and indexed by a 
specific project site or location, project number, or under the name of 
the research or development investigator.

Safeguards:
    Physical Security: Access to VA working space and medical record 
storage areas is restricted to VA employees on a ``need to know'' 
basis. Generally, VA file areas are locked after normal duty hours and 
protected from outside access by the Federal Protective Service. 
Employee file records and file records of public figures or otherwise 
sensitive medical record files are stored in separate locked files. 
Strict control measures are enforced to ensure that disclosure is 
limited to a ``need to know'' basis. Access to a contractor's records 
and their system of computers used with the particular project are 
available to authorized personnel only. Records on investigators stored 
on automated storage media are accessible by authorized VACO personnel 
via terminals which are dedicated to this research and development 
information system.

Retention and Disposal:
    The project records are held five (5) years after completion of the 
research project and/or publication of a final report unless they 
become part of the patient's individual medical history file in which 
case the record would remain 75 years after the last activity of care. 
At the end of a study, records maintained by a contractor are returned 
to VA for appropriate disposition.

System Manager(s) and Address:
    Director of Operations, Research and Development (12C), Department 
of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Ave, NW., Washington, DC 20420.

Notification Procedure:
    Interested persons should write to: Director of Operations, 
Research and Development (12C), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 
Vermont Ave, NW., Washington, DC 20420. All inquiries must reasonably 
identify the project and site location; date of project and team 
leader.

Record Access Procedures:
    Interested persons desiring access to and contesting of research 
records should write to the address in Notification Procedure above.

Contesting Record Procedures:
    (See Notification Procedure above.)

Record Source Categories:
    (1) Patients and patient records; (2) employees and volunteers; (3) 
other Federal agencies; (4) National Institutes of Health; (5) Centers 
for Disease Control (Atlanta, Georgia); (6) individual veterans; (7) 
other VA systems of records; and, (8) research and development 
investigators.
[FR Doc. 01-7492 Filed 3-26-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8320-01-P