Effective Date: January 11, 2006
(71 F.R. 1808)
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
NOTICE OF SYSTEM OF RECORDS REQUIRED BY THE PRIVACY ACT OF 1974
SYSTEM NUMBER: 60-0013
System name:
Records
of Usage of Medical Experts, Vocational Experts, and Other Health Care
Professional and/or Non-Health Care Professional Experts (Medicare), Social
Security Administration, Office of Hearings and Appeals.
Security classification:
None.
System Location:
Records of medical, vocational, and other
health care professional and/or non-health care professional experts for
Medicare are prepared and maintained in the appropriate hearing office. Usage
records are also maintained at the appropriate Social Security Administration
(SSA), Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) regional office (contact the system
manager at the address below or access http://www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/bluebook/app_f.htm for regional
office address information).
Social
Security Administration
Office of Hearings and Appeals
Division of Field Practices and
Procedures
5107 Leesburg Pike
Categories of individuals covered
by the system:
Medical,
vocational, and other health care professional and/or non-health care
professional experts for Medicare employed under the Blanket Purchase Agreement
(BPA) with OHA to provide expert witness services to OHA.
Categories in the system:
Records contain
information about the usage of medical, vocational, and other health care
professional and/or non-health care professional experts for Medicare, such as
the occasions on which each expert supplied services to OHA.
Authority for maintenance of the
system:
Sections 205, 1631(d)(1) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 405 and 1383), Titles XI and XVIII of the Social
Security Act, and Section 413(b) of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety
Act, as amended.
Purpose(s):
The purpose of
this system is to provide information to enable OHA to measure the usage of
expert witnesses and to make its determinations on contract and BPA renewals.
The system provides information for statistical and summary reports.
Routine uses of records maintained
in the system, including categories of users and the purposes of such uses:
Disclosure may
be made for routine uses as indicated below. However, disclosure of any
information defined as ``return or return information'' under 26 U.S.C. 6103 of
the Internal Revenue Code will not be disclosed unless authorized by a statute,
the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS), or IRS regulations.
1. To a congressional office in response to
an inquiry from that office made at the request of the subject of a record.
2. To the Department of Justice (DOJ), a
court or other tribunal, or another party before such tribunal when:
(a) The Social Security Administration
(SSA), or any component thereof; or
(b) Any SSA employee in his/her official
capacity; or
(c) Any SSA employee in his/her individual
capacity where DOJ (or SSA where it is authorized to do so) has agreed to
represent the employee; or
(d) The United States or any agency thereof
where SSA determines that the litigation is likely to affect the operations of
SSA or any of its components, is a party to litigation or has an interest in
such litigation, and SSA determines that the use of such records by DOJ, a
court or other tribunal, or another party before such tribunal, is relevant and
necessary to the litigation, provided, however, that in each case, SSA
determines that such disclosure is compatible with the purpose for which the
records were collected.
3. To contractors and other Federal
agencies, as necessary, for the purpose of assisting the Social Security
Administration (SSA) in the efficient administration of its programs. We will
disclose information under this routine use only in situations in which SSA may
enter into a contractual or similar agreement with a third party to assist in
accomplishing an agency function relating to this system of records.
4. To the General Services Administration
and the National Archives Records Administration (NARA) under 44 U.S.C. 2904
and 2906, as amended by the NARA Act of 1984, information which is not
restricted from disclosure by Federal law for the use of those agencies in
conducting records management studies.
5. To student volunteers, individuals
working under a personal services contract, and other workers who technically
do not have the status of Federal employees, when they are performing work for
the Social Security Administration (SSA), as authorized by law, and they need
access to personally identifiable information in SSA records in order to
perform their assigned Agency functions.
6. To the Secretary of Health and Human
Services or to any State, the Commissioner shall disclose any record or
information requested in writing by the Secretary for the purpose of
administering any program administered by the Secretary, if records or
information of such type were so disclosed under applicable rules, regulations
and procedures in effect before the date of enactment of the Social Security
Independence and Program Improvements Act of 1994.
7. We
may disclose information to appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies,
entities, and persons when (1) we suspect or confirm that the security or
confidentiality of information in this system of records has been compromised;
(2) we determine that as a result of the suspected or confirmed compromise
there is a risk of harm to economic or property interests, identity theft or
fraud, or harm to the security or integrity of this system or other systems or
programs of SSA that rely upon the compromised information; and (3) we
determine that disclosing the information to such agencies, entities, and
persons is necessary to assist in our efforts to respond to the suspected or
confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm. SSA will use
this routine use to respond only to those incidents involving an unintentional
release of its records.
Policies and practices for storing,
retrieving, accessing, retaining, and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
Records are
maintained in paper form (e.g., folders and loose-leaf binders) and/or in
electronic form.
Retrievability:
Records are
retrieved alphabetically by name or by BPA number.
Safeguards:
System security
for automated records has been established in accordance with the Systems
Security Handbook. Access to paper and electronic records is limited to those
persons whose official duties require such access. Paper folders are kept in
file cabinets in secured areas. All employees are instructed in SSA
confidentiality rules as part of their initial training. Access http://www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/bluebook/app_g.htm for additional
information relating to SSA data security measures.
Retention and disposal:
Records of usage
are maintained for two years. Paper records are disposed of by shredding and
automated records are disposed of by erasure when no longer needed.
System manager(s) and address(es):
Social Security Administration
Associate
Commissioner
Office of Hearings and Appeals
5107 Leesburg Pike
Notification procedures:
An individual
can determine if this system contains a record about him/her by writing to the
system manager(s) at the above address and providing his/her name, SSN or other
information that may be in the system of records that will identify him/her. An
individual requesting notification of records in person should provide the same
information, as well as provide an identity document, preferably with a
photograph, such as a driver's license or some other means of identification.
If an individual does not have any identification documents sufficient to
establish his/her identity, the individual must certify in writing that he/she
is the person claimed to be and that he/she understands that the knowing and
willful request for, or acquisition of, a record pertaining to another
individual under false pretenses is a criminal offense.
If notification is requested by telephone,
an individual must verify his/her identity by providing identifying information
that parallels information in the record to which notification is being
requested. If it is determined that the identifying
information provided by telephone is insufficient, the individual will be
required to submit a request in writing or in person. If an individual
is requesting information by telephone on behalf of another individual, the
subject individual must be connected with SSA and the requesting
individual in the same
phone call. SSA will establish the subject individual's identity (his/her name,
SSN, address, date of birth and place of birth, along with one other piece of
information, such as mother's maiden name) and ask for his/her consent in
providing
information to the requesting
individual.
If a request for notification is submitted
by mail, an individual must include a notarized statement to SSA to verify
his/her identity or must certify in the request that he/she is the person
claimed to be and that he/she understands that the knowing and willful request
for, or acquisition of, a record pertaining to another individual under false
pretenses is a criminal offense. These procedures are in accordance with SSA
Regulations (20 CFR 401.40(c)).
Record access procedures:
Same as
Notification procedures. Requesters should also reasonably specify
the record contents being sought. These procedures are in accordance with SSA
Regulations (20 CFR 401.40(c)).
Contesting record procedures:
Same
as Notification procedures. Requesters should also reasonably identify
the record, specify the information they are contesting and the corrective
action sought, and the reasons for the correction, with supporting
justification showing how the record is incomplete, untimely, inaccurate or
irrelevant. These procedures are in accordance with SSA Regulations (20 CFR
401.65(a)).
Record source categories:
The records are
obtained from the medical and vocational experts and from the administrative
law judges and support staffs.
Systems exempted from certain
provisions of the Privacy Act:
None.