Chapter 173-13 | Accessing Confidential Personal Information

Rule 173-13-01 | Introduction and definitions.

• Effective: October 1, 2020
• Promulgated Under: 119.03

(A) Introduction: This chapter regulates ODA employee access to the confidential personal information that ODA maintains.

(B) Definitions for this chapter:

"Access" as a noun means an instance of copying, viewing, or otherwise perceiving, whereas "access" as a verb means to copy, view, or otherwise perceive.

"Acquisition of a new computer system" means the purchase of a "computer system," as defined in this rule, that is not a computer system that is currently in place nor one for which the acquisition process was initiated on or before August 30, 2010.

"Computer system" means a "system," as defined in section 1347.01 of the Revised Code, that stores, maintains, or retrieves personal information using electronic data processing equipment.

"Confidential personal information" (CPI) has the meaning as in section 1347.15 of the Revised Code.

"Employee" means any ODA employee regardless of whether the employee holds an elected or appointed office or position within ODA.

"Incidental contact" means contact with the information that is secondary or tangential to the primary purpose of the activity that resulted in the contact.

"Individual" means a natural person or the natural person's authorized representative, legal counsel, legal custodian, or legal guardian.

"Information owner" means the employee section 1347.05 of the Revised Code requires ODA to make directly responsible for a system.

"ODA" means "the Ohio department of aging."

"Person" means a natural person.

"Personal information" has the same meaning as in section 1347.01 of the Revised Code.

"Personal information system" means a "system" that "maintains" "personal information," as those terms are defined in section 1347.01 of the Revised Code. "System" includes manual and computer systems.

"Research" means a methodical investigation into a subject.

"Routine" means commonplace, regular, habitual, or ordinary.

"System" has the same meaning as in section 1347.01 of the Revised Code.

"Upgrade" means a substantial redesign of an existing computer system for the purpose of providing a substantial amount of new application functionality, or application modifications that would involve substantial administrative or fiscal resources to implement, but would not include maintenance, minor updates and patches, or modifications that entail a limited addition of functionality due to changes in business or legal requirements.

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 121.07, 173.01, 173.02, 1347.15
Amplifies: 1347.15
Five Year Review Date: 10/1/2025
Prior Effective Dates: 8/30/2010

Rule 173-13-02 | Confidential personal information: procedures for accessing CPI.

• Effective: October 1, 2020
• Promulgated Under: 119.03

For personal information systems containing CPI, whether manual or computer systems, ODA shall do the following:

(A) Requirements to access CPI: ODA manages its personal information systems on a "need-to-know" basis whereby the information owner determines the level of access required for an employee to fulfill his or her job duties. The employee's supervisor and the information owner shall approve the employee's access to CPI before providing the employee with access to CPI within a personal information system. ODA shall establish procedures for determining a revision to an employee's access to CPI upon a change to that employee's job duties including, but not limited to, transfer or termination. Whenever an employee's job duties no longer require access to CPI in a personal information system, the employee's access to CPI shall be removed.

(B) Request for a list of CPI: If ODA receives a signed, written request from any person for a list of CPI that ODA maintains about the person, ODA shall do all of the following:

(1) Verify the person's identity by a method that provides safeguards commensurate with the risk associated with the CPI.

(2) Provide the person with a list of CPI that does not relate to an investigation about the person or is otherwise not excluded from the scope of Chapter 1347. of the Revised Code.

(3) If all CPI relates to an investigation about that person, inform the person that ODA has no CPI about the person that is responsive to the person's request.

(C) Notice of invalid access:

(1) Upon discovery or notification that an employee accessed a person's CPI for an invalid reason, ODA shall notify the person whose information was invalidly accessed as soon as practical and to the extent known at the time. However, ODA shall delay notification for a period of time necessary to ensure that the notification would not delay or impede an investigation or jeopardize homeland or national security. Additionally, ODA may delay the notification consistent with any measures necessary to determine the scope of the invalid access, including which individuals' CPI was invalidly accessed, and to restore the reasonable integrity of the system. As used in this paragraph, "investigation" means the investigation of the circumstances and involvement of an employee surrounding the invalid access of the CPI. Once ODA determines that notification would not delay or impede an investigation, ODA shall disclose the access to CPI made for an invalid reason to the person.

(2) The notification ODA provides shall inform the person of the type of CPI accessed and the date(s) of the invalid access.

(3) ODA may notify the person of the invalid access by any method reasonably designed to accurately inform, including a written, electronic, or telephone notice.

(D) Appointment of a data privacy point of contact: ODA's director shall designate an employee to serve as the data privacy point of contact. The data privacy point of contact shall work with the chief privacy officer within the office of information technology in the department of administrative services to assist ODA with both the implementation of privacy protections for the CPI that ODA maintains and compliance with section 1347.15 of the Revised Code and this chapter.

(E) Completion of a privacy impact assessment: The data privacy point of contact shall timely complete the privacy impact assessment form developed by the office of information technology.

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 121.07, 173.01, 173.02, 1347.15
Amplifies: 1347.15
Five Year Review Date: 10/1/2025
Prior Effective Dates: 7/1/2015

Rule 173-13-03 | Valid reasons for accessing confidential personal information.

• Effective: October 1, 2020
• Promulgated Under: 119.03

An authorized employee may access CPI for any one or more of the following reasons:

(A) Responding to a public records request.

(B) Responding to a request from a person for the list of CPI that ODA maintains on that person.

(C) Administering a constitutional provision or duty.

(D) Administering a statutory provision or duty.

(E) Administering an administrative rule provision or duty.

(F) Complying with any state or federal program requirements.

(G) Processing or payment of claims or otherwise administering a program with individual participants or beneficiaries.

(H) Auditing (or monitoring, reviewing, etc.) purposes.

(I) Licensure (or certification, permit, eligibility, enrollment, filing, etc.) processes.

(J) Investigation or law enforcement purposes.

(K) Administrative hearings.

(L) Litigation, complying with an order of the court, or subpoena.

(M) Human resource matters (e.g., hiring, promotion, demotion, discharge, salary/compensation issues, leave requests/issues, time card approvals/issues).

(N) Complying with an executive order or policy.

(O) Complying with an agency policy or a state administrative policy issued by the department of administrative services, the office of budget and management or other similar state agency.

(P) Complying with a collective-bargaining agreement provision.

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 121.07, 173.01, 173.02, 1347.15
Amplifies: 1347.15
Five Year Review Date: 10/1/2025
Prior Effective Dates: 8/30/2010

Rule 173-13-04 | Confidential personal information: statutes and rules.

• Effective: October 1, 2024
• Promulgated Under: 119.03

The following statutes and rules make personal information maintained by ODA confidential:

Sections 111.41 to 111.47 of the Revised Code for not treating the name, address, and other personally-identifiable information of a person as public records if the person is a certified participant in the safe at home address confidentiality program administered by the secretary of state.

Section 149.43 of the Revised Code for the general statute on public records.

Section 173.061 of the Revised Code for records that identify recipients of golden buckeye cards.

Section 173.22 of the Revised Code; 42 U.S.C. 3027(a)(12)(C), 3058d(a)(6)(C), 3058g(a)(5)(D), 3058g(d), and 3058i(e)(2); and 45 C.F.R. 1321.9(a)(3) and 1324.11(e)(3) for the collection, compilation, analysis, and disclosure of information by the office of the state long-term care ombudsman program.

Sections 173.27, 173.38, and 173.381 of the Revised Code for criminal records.

Division (B) of section 173.393 of the Revised Code for records obtained while monitoring certified providers.

Division (H) of section 1347.15 of the Revised Code for records in personal information systems.

Chapter 3798. of the Revised Code, 42 U.S.C. 1320d et. seq.; and 45 C.F.R. parts 160, 162, and 164 for individually-identifiable health information (HIPAA).

Section 4501.27 of the Revised Code, 18 U.S.C. 2721(c), and rule 45011-12-02 of the Administrative Code for personal information obtained from the bureau of motor vehicles.

42 U.S.C. 1396a(a)(7); 42 C.F.R. 431.300 to 431.307; and rule 5160-1-32 of the Administrative Code for information on medicaid applicants and recipients.

42 C.F.R. 460.112(f) for individually identifiable health information of participants who are enrolled in PACE.

45 C.F.R. 1321.75 for identifying information on older individuals and family caregivers collected in the conduct of the state's responsibilities under the Older Americans Act.

Last updated October 1, 2024 at 8:54 AM

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 121.07, 173.01, 173.02, 1347.15
Amplifies: 1347.15
Five Year Review Date: 10/1/2029
Prior Effective Dates: 10/1/2020, 1/24/2022

Rule 173-13-05 | Confidential personal information: restricting and logging access to CPI in computerized personal information systems.

• Effective: October 1, 2020
• Promulgated Under: 119.03

For personal information systems that are computer systems and contain CPI, ODA shall do the following:

(A) Access restrictions: Require a password or other authentication measure to access CPI that ODA keeps electronically.

(B) Acquisition of a new computer system: When ODA acquires a new computer system that stores, manages, or contains CPI, ODA shall include a mechanism for recording specific access by employees to CPI in the system.

(C) Upgrading existing computer systems: When ODA modifies an existing computer system that stores, manages, or contains CPI, ODA shall make a determination whether the modification constitutes an upgrade. Any upgrades to a computer system shall include a mechanism for recording specific access by employees to CPI in the system.

(D) Logging requirements regarding CPI in existing computer systems:

(1) ODA shall require employees who access CPI within computer systems to maintain a log that records that access.

(2) Employees do not need to record access to CPI under any one or more of the following circumstances:

(a) The employee is accessing CPI for official ODA purposes, including research, and the access is not specifically directed toward a specifically-named person or a group of specifically-named persons.

(b) The employee is accessing CPI for routine office procedures and the access is not specifically directed toward a specifically-named person or a group of specifically-named persons.

(c) The employee comes into incidental contact with CPI and the access of the information is not specifically directed toward a specifically-named person or a group of specifically-named persons.

(d) The employee accesses CPI about a person based upon a request made under either of the following circumstances:

(i) The person requests CPI about himself or herself.

(ii) The person makes a request that ODA take some action on that person's behalf and accessing the CPI is required in order to consider or process that request.

(3) For purposes of paragraph (D) of this rule, ODA may choose the form or forms of logging, whether in electronic or paper formats.

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 121.07, 173.01, 173.02, 1347.15
Amplifies: 1347.15
Five Year Review Date: 10/1/2025
Prior Effective Dates: 7/1/2015