Sometimes Council Staff Really Bug Me :)-

[perdidochas]

Desertrat,

 

I disagree. The problem is not computers, the problem is that the council staff doesn't care enough about the paperwork to keep it straight. Heck, they don't even respond to my emails asking about my status as Merit Badge Counselor. Honestly, I'm almost at a point where I think we need to go to an all volunteer organization. The "professional" staff is hardly professional to even minimal standards.

[DeanRx]

JoeBob-

 

Terrible, terrible, terrible idea with the health forms !!!

 

As I am in healthcare and my next door neighbor does IT risk management and risk mitigation for several major insurance compaines, I urge you to do the following:

 

1) Have the FAMILY keep the health form.

2) The scout MUST turn it in to the driver of the vehicle they are riding in (along with the permission slip) when you leave on an outing.

3) When you get back from an outing - GIVE THE HEALTH FORM BACK to the SCOUT !!

 

Go ahead and poo-poo me if you wish, but HIPPA does NOT absolve volunteers from unautorized discloser of Private Health Information (PHI). You loose that flash drive, or e-mail it to the wrong e-mail address, etc... God forbid somebody inside or outside the unit gets an e-copy and posts it on the internet... PHI includes not only medical information, but the insurance info, and demographic info too. You let an unauthorized entity know that little Johnny has Blue Cross - you just violated HIPPA. I've seen big time trouble / litigation with MD's e-mailing info to the wrong address, lost laptops with patient data, etc...

 

A missing flash drive with 40-50 scout's personal health info on it is a nightmare.

 

Fines start at 25K and go up from there!

 

Keep it paper, keep it local, and keep it in the hands of the scout and parent(s) as much as possible!

 

Shred any old or outdated health forms you might have... just trouble sitting in a box.

 

Dean

[JoeBob]

Dean,

 

Thanks for your input. Our committee hadn't considered that any of our good Scout parents might sue us if we accidentally let the world know that Little Johnny had the measles when he was 5.

 

We were originally going to post the forms on a password protected page on the troop's website. All ERs have internet access, right? But the net might be down in the case of bad storms, whereas any battery powered laptop could access a flashdrive.

 

Individual forms following just those boys in a car would never work. Too many lost forms, or exceptions made when John's form was still in the other car from the trip last month.

Our solution has been having the trip leader carry a huge binder with the whole troops forms in it. I gotta admit that the binder took some abuse under the rear seat of my Suburban on our last paddling trip.

 

I think we'll stick with the flashdrive idea, but I will bring it up to the lawyers on the committee.

 

Thank you.

 

[desertrat77]

Perdidochas, I'm tracking with you 100 percent. Re my computer/computer people comment--I'll expand a bit on my broad generalization.

 

As computers have become the norm in military, business, the BSA, there is a tendency for staffers to adopt the notion "We [mankind] work for the computer"--

 

- "Well, I hear what you are saying but our system says X"

- "Sorry, the system won't allow us to do Y...you [the human] will have to do/re-do these seven steps...."

- "We would have updated that already by the system was down"

- "The system is down so you'll just have to leave and come back."

 

Etc.

 

Office management has become slack because the ultimate computer--the trained human mind--has often been removed from the equation.

(This message has been edited by desertrat77)

[cbowe]

Dean,

 

HIPAA does not apply to scout volunteers. It applises to health plans, health care providers, health care clearinghouses and business associates (as applied to companies that provide services to the previous three).

 

The only categories that might remotely apply is health care clearing house or

 

business associates(as we gather health information on forms) and that is a weak connection at best. Now if the camp nurse was to lose the forms you might have a case as she is a health care provider. If Joe the ASM who is a plumber in his day job were to lose them it is not a compliance violation.

 

Chris

 

P.S this does not mean one should not take care with indivuduals health forms.(This message has been edited by cbowe)

[Backroads]

As a registrar (who happens to deal with registration only and sees no Eagles, training, etc.) I say to never hand a registration form into anyone put me. I actually have a system I've been complimented multiple times upon. And it works so much better for volunteer and employee when those involved in the exchange can speak face to face rather than going through the rumor mill.

[sbemis1]

Encrypted flashdrives are available for not too much more $.

It IS a lot easier to misplace than a big ole stack of tree pulp.

(This message has been edited by sbemis1)

[OldGreyEagle]

::Warning Hijack in Progress::

 

OK, I have to say this. There is nothing wrong in using paper. Repeat, there is nothing wrong in using paper.

 

Its not like square miles of old growth forest is cut down each year to produce paper. Boise Cascade and Great Northern plant forests, employ foresters to plant, nurture and grow trees. They employee people to cut down the trees and load them on trucks. They employ the people who drive the trucks to the plant to make the paper and then they employ the people at the paper making plants. Then the paper is trucked to warehouses and then taken by other employed truck drives to retail sites where an employed clerk sells you the paper. I think the countries economy could use more jobs, not less and using paper, lots of it, improves the economy

 

Now, if you buy paper from a company that cuts trees that werent planted for pulp, rethink where you buy paper, but don't stop using it

[Twocubdad]

PHI includes not only medical information, but the insurance info, and demographic info too. You let an unauthorized entity know that little Johnny has Blue Cross - you just violated HIPPA. I've seen big time trouble / litigation with MD's e-mailing info to the wrong address, lost laptops with patient data, etc...

 

A missing flash drive with 40-50 scout's personal health info on it is a nightmare.

 

Fines start at 25K and go up from there!

 

 

That's why this country is in the toilet.

 

[Eagle732]

If I could find someone to download all the information and keep it up to date for me I'd go with the flash drive. It would be better then what we're doing now which is not bringing forms with us on outings. I'd hook the drive on my key ring, if it got lost I'd have bigger problems than a lost flash drive!

 

I'm well aware of the HIPAA Privacy Rules and they do not apply to private individuals (your state laws may though).