Current guidelines for onsite research at Chesney Archives
The Chesney Archives subscribes to professional standards adopted by the Society of American Archivists (SAA), and follows their Code of Ethics for protecting the privacy of all individuals with whom we interact, as well as the privacy of the individuals represented in our collections. Visit SAA’s website to read the Society of American Archivists’ Code of Ethics.
The holdings of the Medical Archives are subject to the Privacy Rule of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Maryland Health Code 4-302, and the Common Rule for Protection of Human Subjects. To apply for access to information protected by these laws, see Privacy Board and Institutional Review Boards.
The HIPAA Privacy Rule (with modifications made in 2013) protects individually identifiable health information of living persons and decedents for a period of 50 years following the death of an individual.
The Maryland Health Code 4-302 (2013) protects medical records created in the course of patient care. It applies to medical records of both living and deceased patients. It protects medical records of deceased patients in perpetuity without provisions for passage of time.
The Common Rule for Protection of Human Subjects regulates how Johns Hopkins obtains, uses, and shares identifiable data about living individuals in connection with federally-funded human subjects research, and requires Institutional Review Board review of some secondary research involving existing identifiable information. As a matter of policy, Johns Hopkins extends these protections to all clinical trial data.
Regulations of both the HIPAA Privacy Rule (2013) and Maryland Health Code 4-302 (2013) contain provisions for obtaining individual authorizations or waivers of authorization for access and use of protected health information and medical records held by the Medical Archives. To apply for authorization, or a waiver of authorization, see our HIPAA Application Forms.
Regulations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule (2013) and Maryland Health Code 4-302 (2013) contain provisions for obtaining authorizations from individuals (or personal representatives) for publication and dissemination of their protected health information or medical records.
The HIPAA Privacy Rule (2013) does not grant covered entities such as Johns Hopkins the right to authorize the publication or dissemination of protected health information of living individuals, or those individuals who have been deceased for less than fifty years. Maryland Health Code 4-302 (2013) does not provide entities holding medical records with the right to authorize publication and dissemination of individually identifiable health information from the medical record.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) restricts access to information contained in student records. While FERPA does not allow access to records of living students and alumni, some information in the student records of deceased individuals may be made available for research. To apply for access to collections that contain individually identifiable information of deceased students, submit the Application for Access to Personnel, Student, or Proprietary Records of Deceased Individuals, Form E.
The Chesney Archives is committed to protecting the privacy of your individual transactions with the staff including those done through the website. Please be aware that in some circumstances government or law enforcement personnel could assert a right to obtain this information.