Friday, May 9, 2025
5/9/2025
Center of Excellence for Protected Health Information (CoE-PHI) - Cicatelli Associates, Inc. (CAI), a national non-profit organization, in partnership with the Legal Action Center (LAC), proposes to serve as the Center of Excellence for Protected Health Information (CoE-PHI) Related to Mental and Substance Use Disorders in response to the funding opportunity (No. TI-18-021) issued by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The CoE-PHI will develop and disseminate training, technical assistance (TA), and educational resources for states, healthcare practitioners, families, individuals, communities, schools and educators on various federal privacy laws and regulations as they relate to information about mental and substance use disorders. Together, CAI and LAC bring nearly four decades of work providing legal interpretation on HIPPA, 42 CFR Part 2, FERPA, and other related federal privacy laws, as well as demonstrated expertise in working with legal experts to translate complex information for real-life application and implementation within health, education, and community settings and for individual consumers. The CoE-PHI proposes to fill the gaps in knowledge and information regarding effective strategies to interpret and implement privacy regulations through the development of basic resources on HIPAA, 42 CFR Part 2, and FERPA, customized to the target audience, that focus on practical interpretation and implementation. Focused outreach and consultation with organizations representing the target audiences, in combination with TA requests and questions received, will be utilized to prioritize the development of new training/TA, and educational resources to ensure the meet the audiences’ needs. Further, the CoE-PHI will facilitate virtual learning collaboratives with sub-sets of our target audience (e.g. state health departments, public hospitals, etc.) that will identify, share and document successful strategies for implementation within the designated environments. This information will be published via the CoE-PHI website, and integrated into key resources for national dissemination. As a result of the work of the CoE-PHI, we anticipate training at least 500 individuals annually, with at least 85% of those demonstrating an increase in knowledge related to federal privacy laws and regulations. The CoE-PHI will deliver up to three learning collaboratives annually in years 2-5, for up to ten organizations each, and anticipates at least 80% of participating organizations will demonstrate improved systems and practices related to the interpretation and implementation of federal privacy laws and regulations.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).