Mandatory HIPAA Training for All Employees: Training Web Site Now Available

Starting April 14, Johns Hopkins and all healthcare providers nationwide will implement new processes to protect patient privacy under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). All employees, including faculty and staff of all affiliates of Johns Hopkins Medicine and portions of JHU schools are required to complete HIPAA training by April 14 to understand how HIPAA impacts the way we do business at Hopkins, and to learn about the changes that individual employees will need to make on the job. Participation will be monitored.

The majority of the training is available online, which is Hopkins’ preferred method. Employees with access to a computer and the Internet can take the training at their convenience, either on the job or at an otherwise designated location or time (e.g., at home). The training is located at https://secure.lwservers.net/. Some departments with limited access to the Internet have been assigned alternate training methods (e.g., in-person sessions).

If you're having problems or have technical questions about the online module, you can contact a technical support representative at jhct@accelera.com. There is a link to this e-mail address that appears in the footer of the Web pages once you log on to the training program. The message in the footer states: "Technical Problems, click here."

Employees should talk to their manager or supervisor to learn more about HIPAA and how they will be trained. Additional information, including a variety of handouts, is also available at http://www.insidehopkinsmedicine.org/hipaa. Employees are encouraged to log on to the Hopkins HIPAA Web site regularly to check for updated information. Questions can be submitted to the Hopkins HIPAA Office by phone, (410) 502-7983 or e-mail, HIPAA@jhmi.edu.

Adverse Events in the X-SCID Gene Transfer Trial

The NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) has made several recommendations which have been adopted as NIH Policy for investigators on retroviral gene transfer studies. Review the NIH Office of Biotechnology Activities (OBA) notice of 3/20/03 summarizing RAC findings on recent events affecting X-linked SCID gene therapy here.

The Effects of HIPAA

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has convened a consortium to quantify the effects of HIPAA. This group of medical and health research organizations will establish a mechanism to collect evidence demonstrating the effects of HIPAA on research. The AAMC is committed to ensuring that credible data are obtained that will provide an accurate picture of the effects of HIPAA on medical and health research and inform future advocacy efforts. If you wish to provide input to the AAMC, please contact Dr. David Korn at 202/828-0509 (dkorn@aamc.org) or Rina Hakimian at 202/828-0484 (rhakimian@aamc.org) to discuss your ideas.

Responsible Conduct of Research Seminar Series

All NIH-funded pre- and post-doctoral fellows on training grants must complete training in the responsible conduct of research. One way to accomplish this training is via the Dean’s Office Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) seminar series. This spring’s series began in late March. Please check the schedule for the series below and plan to attend if you have not previously received this training. Note that in order to complete this requirement, you must attend at least five of the seven sessions. While these sessions are targeted at trainees, faculty and senior fellows are welcome to attend the series as well.

Please note that all lectures will be held in PCTB’s Mountcastle Auditorium from 4:00 – 6:00 pm. The Department of Medicine C.O.R.E. course coordinated via CME also covers the requirements for RCR training, as does the Graduate Training Program in Clinical Investigation (GTPCI). Please email Jo Ann L.Young (jlyoung@jhmi.edu) with any questions.

Return to top of Human Subjects Research