62938 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 208 / Thursday, October 28, 2004 / Notices 

register those resources that they 

provide, and to locate potential 

resources for veteran entrepreneurs. 

COMPATIBILITY OF THE PROPOSED ROUTINE USES: 

The Privacy Act permits disclosure of 

information about individuals without 

their consent for a routine use when the 

information will be used for a purpose 

that is compatible with the purpose for 

which the information is collected. In 

all of the routine use disclosures 

described above, the recipient of the 

information will use the information in 

connection with a matter relating to one 

of VA’s programs. 

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, 

RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, AND

DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM: 

STORAGE: 

The VetBiz APP will be stored in an 

automated, computerized database. The 

system will operate on servers located at 

VA’s Information Services Center, 1335 

East West Highway, Silver Spring, 

Maryland 20910. Data backups will 

reside on appropriate media according 

to normal system backup plans. The 

system will be managed by the Center 

for Veterans Enterprise in VA 

Headquarters, Washington, DC. 

RETRIEVABILITY: 

Automated records may be retrieved 

by: 

1. Organization Name. 

2. Contact Name.

3. E-mail Address. 

4. Web Address. 

5. Area Code and Phone Number. 

6. Zip Code. 

7. County Code (NaCO). 

8. State(s). 

9. Type of Organization: Government 

(Federal; State; County; Municipal; 

Other); Nongovernmental Organization; 

Commercial. 

10. Type of Assistance: (paperwork 

packaging; grants/loans; procurement 

assistance; management/technical 

assistance; mentoring/incubator; 

contract opportunities; other). 

11. Service Area Limits (if any). 

12. Service limited to Veterans. 

13. Fees. 

14. Organization Funding Limits: 

(none; term—funding expires on a 

specific date). 

15. Year Established. 

16. Full-time/part-time. 

17. Days and Hours of Service. 

18. Other Professional Staff Available. 

SAFEGUARDS: 

Read access to the system is via 

Internet access. VA Information Service 

Center and CVE personnel will have 

access to the system via VA Intranet and 

local connections for management and 

maintenance purposes and tasks. 

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL: 

Records will be maintained and 

disposed of in accordance with the 

records disposal authority approved by 

the Archivist of the United States, the 

National Archives and Records 

Administration, and published in 

Agency Records Control Schedule No. 

20, Electronic Records. 

SYSTEM MANAGER: 

Deputy Director, Center for Veterans 

Enterprise (00VE), 810 Vermont 

Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20420. 

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES: 

Individuals wishing to inquire 

whether this system of records contains 

information about themselves should 

contact the Deputy Director, Center for 

Veterans Enterprise (00VE), 810 

Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 

20420. 

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURE: 

Individuals seeking access to records 

about themselves contained in this 

system of records may access the 

records via the Internet, or submit a 

written request to the system manager. 

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES: 

An individual who wishes to contest 

records maintained under his or her 

name or other personal identifier may 

write or call the system manager. VA’s 

rules for accessing records and 

contesting contents and appealing 

initial agency determinations are 

published in regulations set forth in the 

Code of Federal Regulations. See 38 CFR 

1.577, 1.578. 

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES: 

The information in this system of 

records is obtained from the following 

sources: 

a. Information voluntarily submitted 

by Federal, State, and local 

governments; 

b. Information voluntarily submitted 

by the private sector; and 

c. Information extracted from other 

business and resource databases.

[FR Doc. 04–24078 Filed 10–27–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8320–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS 

Privacy Act of 1974; System of 

Records

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs 

(VA).

ACTION: Notice of amendment to system 

of records. 

SUMMARY: The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 

U.S.C. 552a(e) (4)) requires that all 

agencies publish in the Federal Register

a notice of the existence and character 

of their systems of records. Notice is 

hereby given that the Department of 

Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending the 

system of records entitled ‘‘Blood Donor 

Information—VA’’ (04VA115) as set 

forth in the Federal Register, 40 FR 

38095, and last amended in the Federal 

Register, 66 FR 20860 (Apr. 25, 2001). 

VA is amending the system by revising 

the Routine Uses of Records Maintained 

in the System, including Categories of 

Users and the Purposes of Such Uses. 

VA is republishing the system notice in 

its entirety.

DATES: Comments on the amendment of 

this system of records must be received 

no later than November 29, 2004. If no 

public comment is received, the 

amended system will become effective 

November 29, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Written comments 

concerning the proposed amended 

system of records may be submitted by: 

mail or hand-delivery to Director, 

Regulations Management (00REG1), 

Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 

Vermont Avenue, NW., Room 1068, 

Washington, DC 20420; fax to (202) 

273–9026; or e-mail to 

VAregulations@mail.va.gov. All 

comments received will be available for 

public inspection in the Office of 

Regulation Policy and Management, 

Room 1063B, between the hours of 8 

a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through 

Friday (except holidays). Please call 

(202) 273–9515 for an appointment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Veterans Health Administration (VHA) 

Privacy Act Officer, Department of 

Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue, 

NW., Washington, DC 20420, telephone 

(727) 320–1839.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

purpose for the system of records is to 

maintain vital blood donor information 

of individuals who have donated blood 

to a VHA health care facility, blood 

bank, government or to private agencies 

for blood that is to be issued for patient 

care under routine or emergency 

conditions. Information such as donor 

name, social security number, date of 

donation, type of donation, type of 

components produced by the donation, 

mandated tests results, and disposition 

of the blood or blood component is 

gathered in order to track the donor 

medical history, donation interval(s), 

results of donor testing, report positive 

or abnormal test results, and blood or 

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 208 / Thursday, October 28, 2004 / Notices 62939

blood components from registration 

through the final disposition of blood or 

blood components produced from the 

donation. 

A record of the individual to whom 

the blood or blood component was 

transfused and the medical facility 

where the product was transfused and/

or stored is also maintained. 

The Routine Uses of Records 

Maintained in the System, Including 

Categories of Users and the Purposes of 

Such Uses are amended as described 

below. 

Æ Routine use number three (3) has 

been amended in its entirety. VA must 

be able to disclose information within 

its possession on its own initiative that 

pertains to a violation of law to the 

appropriate authorities in order for them 

to investigate and enforce those laws. 

VA may disclose the names and home 

addresses of veterans and their 

dependents only to Federal entities with 

law enforcement responsibilities under 

38 U.S.C. 5701(a) and (f). Accordingly, 

VA has so limited this routine use as 

follows: 

VA may disclose on its own initiative 

any information in this system, except 

the names and home addresses of 

veterans and their dependents, which is 

relevant to a suspected or reasonably 

imminent violation of law, whether 

civil, criminal or regulatory in nature 

and whether arising by general or 

program statute or by regulation, rule or 

order issued pursuant thereto, to a 

Federal, State, local, tribal or foreign 

agency charged with the responsibility 

of investigating or prosecuting such 

violations, or charged with enforcing or 

implementing the statute, regulation, 

rule or order. On its own initiative, VA 

may also disclose the names and 

addresses of veterans and their 

dependents to a Federal agency charged 

with the responsibility of investigating 

or prosecuting civil, criminal or 

regulatory violations of law, or charged 

with enforcing or implementing the 

statute, regulation, rule or order issued 

pursuant thereto.

• Former routine use four (4) has 

been deleted from this system of 

records. Upon review, it has been 

determined that this routine use is no 

longer applicable to this system and, as 

such, is no longer required. 

• Former routine uses five (5) through 

eight (8) have been renumbered as 

routine uses four (4) through seven (7). 

The Privacy Act permits VA to 

disclose information about individuals 

without their consent for a routine use 

when the information will be used for 

a purpose that is compatible with the 

purpose for which we collected the 

information. In all of the routine use 

disclosures described above, the 

recipient of the information will use the 

information in connection with a matter 

relating to one of VA’s programs or will 

use the information to provide a benefit 

to VA, or disclosure is required by law 

or would permit VA to notify 

appropriate entities about conduct of 

individuals in this system of records. 

Under section 264, subtitle F of title 

II of the Health Insurance Portability 

and Accountability Act of 1996 

(HIPAA), Pub. L. 104–191, 100 Stat. 

1936, 2033–34 (1996), the United States 

Department of Health and Human 

Services (HHS) published a final rule, as 

amended, establishing Standards for 

Privacy of Individually-Identifiable 

Health Information, 45 CFR parts 160 

and 164. VHA may not disclose 

individually-identifiable health 

information (as defined in HIPAA, 42 

U.S.C. 1320(d)(6), and Privacy Rule, 45 

CFR 164.501) pursuant to a routine use 

unless either: (a) the disclosure is 

required by law, or (b) the disclosure is 

also permitted or required by the HHS 

Privacy Rule. The disclosures of 

individually-identifiable health 

information contemplated in the routine 

uses published in this amended system 

of records notice are permitted under 

the Privacy Rule. However, to also have 

authority to make such disclosures 

under the Privacy Act, VA must publish 

these routine uses. Consequently, VA is 

publishing these routine uses and is 

adding a preliminary paragraph to the 

routine uses portion of the system of 

records notice stating that any 

disclosure pursuant to the routine uses 

in this system of records notice must be 

either required by law or permitted by 

the Privacy Rule before VHA may 

disclose the covered information. 

The Report of Intent to Publish an 

Amended System of Record Notice and 

an advance copy of the system notice 

have been sent to the appropriate 

Congressional committees and to the 

Director of Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) as required by 5 U.S.C. 

552a(r) (Privacy Act) and guidelines 

issued by OMB, 61 FR 6428 (Feb. 20, 

1996).

Approved: October 8, 2004. 

Anthony J. Principi, 

Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

04VA115 

SYSTEM NAME: 

Blood Donor Information—VA. 

SYSTEM LOCATION: 

Blood Donor records are maintained 

at each of the Department of Veterans 

Affairs (VA) health care facilities. 

Addresses are listed in VA Appendix I 

of the biennial publication of Privacy 

Act Issuances. 

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE

SYSTEM: 

Individuals who have donated blood 

to a Veterans Health Administration 

(VHA) health care facility, blood bank, 

government or private agencies to be 

issued for patient care under routine or 

emergency conditions. 

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM: 

Blood donor records contain 

sufficient information (i.e., donor name, 

social security number, date of 

donation, type of donation, type of 

components produced by the donation, 

mandated tests results, and disposition 

of the blood or blood component) to 

provide a mechanism to track a donated 

blood product from the time of donor 

registration through the final disposition 

of each component prepared from that 

donation. VA maintains a record of the 

individual to whom the blood or blood 

component was transfused and the 

medical facility where the product was 

transfused and/or stored.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM: 

1. Title 38, United States Code, 

sections 501(a) and 501(b). 

2. Title 21, Code of Federal 

Regulations, parts 200–299 and parts 

600–680. 

3. Title 42, Code of Federal 

Regulations, section 493.1107. 

PURPOSE(S): 

The information and records are used 

to track the donor medical history, 

donation interval(s), results of donor 

testing, report positive or abnormal test 

results, and blood and/or blood 

components produced from the 

donation. 

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE

SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS AND

THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES: 

VA may disclose protected health 

information pursuant to the following 

routine uses where required by law, or 

required or permitted by 45 CFR parts 

160 and 164. 

1. Disclosure may be made to answer 

requests for information from Federal, 

State, local, and tribal medical facilities 

regarding the source from which blood 

was received. Such requests may be 

initiated by a qualified medical 

practitioner in the event that a donor’s 

or patient’s medical condition warrants 

it. 

2. Disclosure may be made of blood 

availability, location, quantity on hand, 

and blood type for use by the area donor 

collection coordinators to answer and 

fill requests from health care facilities in 

need of type-specific blood. 

62940 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 208 / Thursday, October 28, 2004 / Notices 

3. VA may disclose on its own 

initiative any information in this 

system, except the names and home 

addresses of veterans and their 

dependents, which is relevant to a 

suspected or reasonably imminent 

violation of law, whether civil, criminal 

or regulatory in nature and whether 

arising by general or program statute or 

by regulation, rule or order issued 

pursuant thereto, to a Federal, State, 

local, tribal, or foreign agency charged 

with the responsibility of investigating 

or prosecuting such violation, or 

charged with enforcing or implementing 

the statute, regulation, rule or order. On 

its own initiative, VA may also disclose 

the names and addresses of veterans and 

their dependents to a Federal agency 

charged with the responsibility of 

investigating or prosecuting civil, 

criminal or regulatory violations of law, 

or charged with enforcing or 

implementing the statute, regulation, 

rule or order issued pursuant thereto. 

4. Disclosure from a system of records 

maintained by this component may be 

made to a Congressional office from the 

record of an individual in response to 

an inquiry from the Congressional office 

made at the request of that individual. 

5. A record from a system of records 

maintained by this component may be 

disclosed as a routine use to the General 

Services Administration for the purpose 

of records management inspections 

conducted under authority of Title 44 

United States Code. 

6. A record from a system of records 

maintained by this component may be 

disclosed as a routine use to the 

National Archives and Records 

Administration for the purpose of 

records management inspections 

conducted under authority of title 44 

United States Code. 

7. Disclosure of relevant information 

may be made to individuals, 

organizations, private or public 

agencies, etc., with whom VA has a 

contract or agreement to perform such 

services as VA may deem practicable for 

the purposes of laws administered by 

VA, in order for the contractor or 

subcontractor to perform the services of 

the contract or agreement. 

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, 

RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, AND

DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM: 

STORAGE: 

Paper documents, magnetic tape, disk. 

RETRIEVABILITY: 

1. All VA blood donor manual records 

are indexed by name and social security 

number of donor, cross-indexed by 

blood type. 

2. Automated records are indexed by 

name, social security number, blood 

type, antibodies and date of last 

donation. 

SAFEGUARDS: 

1. Access to VA working space and 

medical record storage areas is restricted 

to VA employees on a ‘‘need to know’’

basis. Generally, VA file areas are 

locked after normal duty hours and are 

protected from outside access by the 

Federal Protective Service. Employee 

file records and file records of public 

figures or otherwise sensitive medical 

record files are stored in separate locked 

files. Strict control measures are 

enforced to ensure that disclosure is 

limited to a ‘‘need to know’’ basis.

2. Strict control measures are enforced 

to ensure that access to and disclosure 

from all records including electronic 

files are limited to VA employees whose 

official duties warrant access to those 

files. The system recognizes authorized 

employees by a series of individuallyunique passwords/codes, and the 

employees are limited to only that 

information in the file, which is needed 

in the performance of their official 

duties. 

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL: 

Records are maintained and disposed 

of in accordance with the record 

disposition authority approved by the 

Archivist of the United States, National 

Archives and Records Administration 

under the National Archives Job No. 

N1–15–02–04. 

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS: 

Chief Consultant, Diagnostic Services, 

Strategic Healthcare Group (SHG) (115), 

Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 

Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 

20420. 

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE: 

Individuals seeking information 

concerning the existence and/or content 

of a blood donor information record 

pertaining to themselves must submit a 

written request or apply in person to the 

VA health care facility where the 

donation occurred. All inquiries must 

reasonably identify the portion of the 

blood donor information record desired 

and the approximate date(s) that service 

was provided. Additionally, inquiries 

should include the individual’s full 

name, social security number, and home 

address at the time of medical service, 

if known. 

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES: 

Blood donors, patients of VA medical 

care facilities or duly authorized 

representatives seeking information 

regarding access to or who are 

contesting VA health facility records 

may write, call or visit the VHA facility 

where medical service was provided or 

volunteered. 

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES: 

(See Record Access Procedures 

above.) 

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES: 

1. The blood donor. 

2. Private hospitals and local blood 

banks. 

3. Private physicians. 

4. Non-VA Laboratories.

[FR Doc. 04–24079 Filed 10–27–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8320–01–P