Privacy Act of 1974; Report of New Routine Use

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Social Security Administration

Privacy Act of 1974; Report of New Routine Use

AGENCY: Social Security Administration (SSA), Department of Health and

Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: New Routine Use.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4) and

(11)), we are issuing public notice of our intent to establish a new

routine use applicable to the system of records entitled Master Files

of Social Security Number (SSN) Holders and SSN Applications, HHS/SSA/

OSR, 09-60-0058. Under agreement with participating States, the

proposed routine use will allow SSA to disclose Social Security numbers

assigned to newborn children to the State in which the births are

registered.

We invite public comment on this publication.

DATES: We filed a report of a new routine use with the Chairman,

Committee on Government Reform and Oversight of the House of

Representatives, the Chairman, Committee on Governmental Affairs of the

Senate, and the Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory

Affairs, Office of Management and Budget on February 28, 1995. The

routine use will become effective as proposed, without further notice,

on April 18, 1995, unless we receive comments on or before that date

which would warrant preventing the routine use from taking effect.

ADDRESSES: Interested individuals may comment on this publication by

writing to the SSA Privacy Officer, Social Security Administration,

Room 3-A-6 Operations Building, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore,

Maryland 21235. (FAX number: 410/966-0869). All comments received will

be available for public inspection at that address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas E. Price, Social Insurance

Specialist, Confidentiality and Disclosure Branch, Office of Disclosure

Policy, Social Security Administration, 3-A-6 Operations Building, 6401

Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21235, telephone 410-965-6011.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Discussion of Proposed Routine Use

More than four million children are born each year in the United

States. The Social Security Administration (SSA) has encouraged

application for, and assignment of, Social Security account numbers

(SSN) to children at birth since 1989. To that end, SSA's Enumeration

at Birth (EAB) program allows parents of newborn infants in most States

to request an SSN as part of the State's birth registration process.

When the EAB program is not used, parents can apply for a child's SSN

for income tax purposes at a local SSA field office. State bureaus of

vital statistics (BVS) accumulate the birth registration information

received from hospitals and periodically send SSA an electronic file

with the data needed to assign SSNs to the individuals in the file. SSA

processes the file, assigns the SSNs, and sends an SSN card for each

newborn to the child's parents.

Under the EAB program, SSA does not send the child's SSN to the

State BVS unless the parents have agreed. Seven States now ask for

parental consent to allow the child's SSN to become part of the birth

record.

The proposed routine use would permit SSA to send the SSNs of

newborns, and as a one time disclosure, the SSNs of children born since

December 31, 1990, to the State BVS in which a birth is recorded

without having to secure parental consent. The SSN would become part of

the confidential portion of the birth record. Parents would also be

given the option of requesting that their child's SSN not be included

in the birth record.

States could use these SSNs as the primary identifying numbers in

administering public health and income maintenance programs and in

statistical research and evaluation projects. Public health program

uses of the SSNs would include, but are not limited to, establishing

public immunization registries, ensuring complete birth record

registration by matching vital records with neonatal test results,

conducting studies of factors contributing to infant mortality by

linking birth and death records, and evaluating the efficacy of

intervention programs such as the Women, Infants and Children (WIC)

nutrition program, ``Healthy Start'' or other health maintenance

programs. Income maintenance program purposes for which the States

could use the SSNs include verifying the identity of applicants for

services to families and children.

In all research and statistical studies involving record linkages

with other data bases, the SSNs provided under this routine use would

serve as the primary matching key, but would not be released for public

use. Once the records are linked and a data set created, the personal

identifying information (including SSNs) is usually removed. The

resulting data set is used for aggregate analysis. Personal identifiers

are retained in the data set only when they are determined to be

necessary to the outcome of the study by an Institutional Review Board

(IRB). Internal IRBs review all proposals for health research on human

subjects in institutions conducting such research. IRBs also examine

proposed protocols of investigations to determine if any unwarranted

harm to individuals would result from the use of identifying data.

One benefit of the proposed new routine use is the potential value

of the SSN to statewide Childhood Immunization Registries. Ensuring

that all children complete the recommended series of immunizations (14

to 15 doses of vaccines by the second birthday) is the main goal of

immunization programs. Although approximately 95% of all children in

the United States begin the recommended series of immunizations, only

about half complete the series by two years of age, a critical period

for childhood disease prevention.

Statewide immunization information systems are a partial response

to the problem of incomplete immunizations. Evaluating the immunization

status of individuals is difficult because roughly 40% of children

receive their immunizations from two or more providers and many parents

do not [[Page 12965]] maintain accurate records. In a joint effort,

State and Federal agencies are working together to create, in each

State, a statewide childhood immunization registry which contains, for

each individual, not the details of the immunization history, but the

location of the immunization information system that contains the

history.

In such a system, immunization details would be maintained locally

by providers themselves in their own data systems. Subject to

applicable privacy safeguards and requirements, including the consent

of parents or guardians when legally required, a statewide record

system would provide a means for exchanging immunization information

between providers when (and only when) necessary, transferring

immunization histories when individuals move from one State to another,

and assessing the immunization status of the State and nation. Using

the SSN as the primary identifying record number would facilitate the

process and lower the cost of creating and operating a national network

of coordinated statewide immunization registries. To ensure that the

registries contain a complete census of preschool children for the

purposes described in the routine use proposal, SSA will, on a one

time, retroactive basis, provide the participating States' BVSs with

the SSNs of children born after December 31, 1990.

SSA discloses information from its systems of records to certain

entities that use the information for a purpose that is compatible with

the purpose for which SSA collects it. Such disclosures may include

providing an individual's correct SSN to an entity which has either no

record of the individual's SSN or an incorrect one, or verifying only

the fact that an entity has an individual's correct SSN. In the case of

State BVSs, SSA would provide the correct SSN or verify correct SSNs

under the proposed routine use.

The proposed routine use will read as follows:

To State vital records and statistics agencies, the SSNs of newborn

children for administering public health and income maintenance

programs, including conducting statistical studies and evaluation

projects.

We are not publishing in its entirety the notice of the system of

records to which we are adding the new routine use statement. A notice

of that system, the Master Files of Social Security Number (SSN)

Holders and SSN Applications, HHS/SSA/OSR, 09-60-0058, was last

published in the Federal Register at 60 FR 2144, January 6, 1995.

II. Compatibility of Proposed Routine Use

We are proposing the changes discussed above in accordance with the

Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a(a)(7), (b)(3), and (e)(11)) and our

disclosure regulation (20 CFR 401.310).

As discussed above, the Privacy Act permits us to disclose

information about individuals without their consent for a routine use,

i.e., for a purpose that is compatible with the purpose for which we

collected the information. Consistent with the Privacy Act, under 20

CFR 401.310 we may disclose information under a routine use for

administering our programs, for income or health maintenance programs

of other agencies, and for epidemiological and similar research. SSA

assigns SSNs to children as personal identifiers for efficient

administration of the Social Security Act (Act), based in part on

section 205(c)(2)(B)(i)(IV) of the Act, which authorizes SSA to take

affirmative measures to assure that SSNs are assigned to below school

age children at the request of their parents or guardians, and for

helping detect and deter the illegal conduct described in section

208(a)(7) of the Act. States have authority under their own laws to

create and maintain State registries of births. They have a compelling

interest in protecting the integrity of their birth registries and in

preventing birth certificate fraud. The internal use by States of SSNs

for identification purposes, efficient administration of health and

income maintenance programs, and statistical studies is compatible with

the purposes for which SSA assigns and maintains SSNs and, thus, meets

the criteria for the establishment of a routine use under the Privacy

Act and the regulation.

III. Effect of the Proposal on Individual Rights

As discussed above, the proposed new routine use will permit SSA to

send the SSNs of newborns to State BVSs in which the births are

recorded. The SSN would thus become part of the confidential portion of

the birth record and would be available only for State use in health

and income maintenance administration and research. It would not appear

on the public portion of the record, the birth certificate. Strict

protection of the confidentiality of the SSN by the State is required

by Federal law. SSA will follow all statutory and regulatory

requirements for disclosure. Agreements between SSA and the States will

govern access to the SSNs and will incorporate the required statutory

and regulatory safeguards. In addition, the agreements will include a

provision that requires States to notify parents that they may request

that their child's SSN be removed from the birth record. Thus, we do

not anticipate that the proposed disclosure to the States will have any

adverse effect on the privacy or other rights of individuals.

Dated: February 28, 1995.

Shirley S. Chater,

Commissioner of Social Security.

[FR Doc. 95-5632 Filed 3-8-95; 8:45 am]

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