[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 46 (Thursday, March 9, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12964-12965]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-5632]



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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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