MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2010


KLMNO


EZ SU THE FED PAGE


“Now we need the Obama administration to actually make [the appointment] mean something.” —Kassie Siegel, attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, on protections for the bear


Concern raised over health record database


Information would


include federal workers’ insurance claims


BY AIMEEMILES Kaiser Health News


An Office of Personnel Man-


agement plan to launch a com- prehensive database of federal workers’ health-care records has raised the ire of some privacy advocates, employee unions and consumer groups. The OPM is organizing a re-


SUBHANKAR BANERJEE/ASSOCIATED PRESS


Apolar bear roams the tundra in the ArcticNational Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Federal officials must now consider how proposed actions within a set-aside area of Alaska could adversely affect the animal.


Polar bear gets ‘critical habitat’


with oil, gas industries BY MATTHEW DALY


Protections in Alaska could spark conflict


The Obama administration is


setting aside 187,000 squaremiles inAlaska as a “criticalhabitat” for polar bears, an action that could addrestrictions to future offshore drilling for oil and gas. The total, which includes large


areas of sea ice off the Alaska coast, is about 13,000 square miles, or 8.3 million acres, less than an amount planned in a preliminary plan released last year. Tom Strickland, assistant sec-


retary for fish, wildlife and parks at the Interior Department, said the designation would help polar bears stave off extinction, recog- nizing that the greatest threat is the melting of Arctic sea ice caused by climate change. “This critical-habitat designa-


tion enables us to work with fed- eral partners to ensure their ac- tionswithinits boundaries donot harm polar bear populations,” Stricklandsaid. “Wewill continue to work toward comprehensive strategies for the long-term sur- vival of this iconic species.”Desig- nation of critical habitat does not initselfblockeconomicactivityor other development, but it re- quires federal officials to consider whether a proposed actionwould adversely affect the polar bear's habitat and interfere with its re- covery. Nearly 95 percent of the desig-


nated habitat is sea ice in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off


Alaska’s northern coast. Polar bears spendmost of their lives on frozen ocean where they hunt seals, breed and travel. Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell (R)


and the state’s oil and gas indus- tries had said that the prelimi- nary plan released last year was too large and that it dramatically underestimatedthepotential eco- nomic impact. The designation could result in hundreds of mil- lions of dollars in lost economic activity and tax revenue, they said. In response to the Obama ad-


ministration’s action, Parnell said recently that the state is pleased that existing man-made struc- tureswill be exempted fromcriti- calhabitat considerations.But,he said in a statement, the state is disappointed itwasnot consulted onmanyother recommendations. “This additional layer of regu-


latory burden will not only slow job creation and economic growth here and for our nation but will also slow oil and gas exploration efforts,” Parnell said. The U.S. Fish andWildlife Ser-


vice said reductions included in the final rule were mostly the result of corrections that more accurately reflect the U.S. border in the Arctic Ocean. Five U.S. Air Force radar sites were exempted fromthe final rule, aswereNative Alaskan communities in Barrow andKaktovik. The Interior Department has declared polar bears “threat- ened,” or likely to become endan- gered, citing adramatic loss of sea ice. Officials face a Dec. 23 dead- line to explainwhy the bearswere listed as threatened instead of the more protective “endangered.” Kassie Siegel, an attorney for the Center for BiologicalDiversity, an


environmental group that has filed a lawsuit to increase protec- tions for the polar bear, hailed the designation of critical habitat. “Now we need the Obama ad-


ministration to actually make it mean something so we can write the bear's recovery plan—not its obituary,” she said. Siegel called for the adminis-


tration to impose a moratorium on oil and gas drilling in bear habitat areas. “An oil spill there would be a catastrophe,” she said. “That seems like an understate- ment.” The Arctic Slope Regional Corp.,which advocates forAlaska Native business interests, said in a statement that the decision has a disproportionate impact on Alaska natives and called the des- ignation the “wrong tool” for con- serving the polar bear because it does nothing to address climate change. “Theburdenof the impactswill


be felt by the people of the Arctic Slope,” said Tara Sweeney, vice president of external affairs for ASRC, which is based in Barrow. “This is a quality-of-life issue for our people.” KaraMoriarty, depu- ty director of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, said the action would hurt oil and gas explora- tion in Alaska by creating more delays andaddedcosts toprojects in what already is a high-cost environment, she said. “The companies and the indus-


trywill be required to go through more permitting and create miti- gation measures without a direct benefit to thepolarbear or oil and gas development,” Moriarty said. “TheFishandWildlifeServicehas found, over and over again, our activities pose no threat to the polar bear.”


—Associated Press


search database of insurance claims filed by the 8 million workers and dependents en- rolled in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, aswell as participants in two other fed- erally administered programs. The claims data, which will be supplied by the private insurers that participate in the FEHBP, will help the OPM figure out ways to lower costs, improve quality and fight fraud, the agen- cy has said. But critics — including the


American Civil Liberties Union, ConsumersUnion and the Amer- ican Federation of Government Employees—argue that the gov- ernment should avoid setting up a repository of sensitive informa- tion that could be vulnerable to privacy breaches. At minimum, they say, the OPM should pro- vide more information about how the database, the Health Claims Data Warehouse, will work andwhowill have access to it.


“We’re talking about a govern-


ment database with health diag- noses, payment information and procedures,” said Harley Geiger, policy counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a public interest firm based in Washington. “Enrollees are al- most certainly unaware that the government plans to compile all that into one big federal data- base.” The OPM has asserted that it


has “a strong track record” of protecting the privacy of sensi- tive employee information. It also extended, until Dec. 15, the comment period for the project and said it’s considering putting out “amore detailed explanation of howthe records in this system will be protected and secured.” The database, approved as


part of the new health-care law, will collect data on health servic- es fromabout 230 private health plans offered to federal workers through the FEHBP. Information also will be com-


piled fromenrollees in two other programs created by the health law. One involves the high-risk pools set up by the Department of Health and Human Services


WikiLeaks site off-limits to federal workers


Administration memo reminds staff of existing restrictions


BY ED O’KEEFE Obama administration officials


reminded rank-and-file federal workers and contractors late Fri- day to steer clear ofWikiLeaks, the controversial document-sharing Website. “Classified information, wheth-


er or not already posted on public Websitesordisclosedtothemedia, remains classified, and must be treated as such by federal employ- ees and contractors, until it is de- classified by an appropriate U.S. government authority,” officials warned. The Office of Management and


Budget sent the message in a memoaddressedtoagencygeneral counsel, asking them to remind workers of existing restrictions on access toclassifieddocuments. OMB Director Jacob Lew had


already instructed departments and agencies to ensure that em- ployees with access to classified


informationnetworksdidnothave more access than necessary and to restrict theuseof removablemedia suchasCDs or flashdrives onsuch networks.Thoseordersprompted- some departments to issue warn- ings toemployees. Friday’smemo states thatwork-


ers and contractorsmust “use gov- ernment information technology systems inaccordancewithagency procedures so that the integrity of suchsystems isnot compromised.” Thememo ismeant tobe adapt-


ed and then sent to each agency’s workers. It does not instruct agencies to


blocktheWikiLeaksWebsite. TheDefenseDepartmenthas is-


suedasimilar reminder tomilitary personnel and contractors, stating that viewing the documents vio- lates military policy even though they may be available on public Websites. Employeesandcontractorswho


inadvertently accessed or down- loaded any classified or sensitive informationwithoutpriorauthori- zation are reminded to contact agency information security offic- es, thememosaid. Inasimilarwarning,collegestu- dents considering careerswith the


federal government received an e-mail this week warning against reviewing classified information posted by the document-sharing Website. Career counselors at Columbia


University’s School of Internation- al and Public Affairs urged stu- dents not to post links to the docu- mentsormakecommentsonsocial media Web sites, including Face- bookorTwitter. “Engaging in these activities


wouldcall intoquestionyour abili- ty to deal with confidential infor- mation,which is part ofmost posi- tionswiththefederalgovernment,” readane-mail theofficesaidit sent to students on the advice of an alumnus who works for the State Department. But the employee’s warning


“doesnot represent a formalpolicy position,” State Department spokesmanP.J.CrowleysaidSatur- day. “This sounds like anoverly zeal-


ous employee,” Crowley said in an e-mail. “Our focus is advising cur- rent employees not to download classified documents to an unclas- sifiednetwork. “While we condemn what


WikiLeaks has done, we cannot control what is done through pri- vate Internetaccounts.” ed.okeefe@washingtonpost.com


The green pages. Did you know? TheWashington Post is printed using recycled fiber.


for people who cannot get insur- ance because of medical prob- lems. The other involves private “multi-state plan options” for individuals and small business- es. These plans, to be adminis- tered by the OPM, will be avail- able on state-based exchanges beginning in 2014. The database will be the largest government aggregation of private health plan data compiled in theUnited States, analysts say. Once the OPM database is


functioning, the agency plans to gather monthly updates on such things asmedical diagnoses, sur- gical procedures and prescrip- tion drug use. In theory, the database will allow the OPM to scrutinize a specific group of enrollees — those with diabetes, for example — to identify the most effective treatments. The data, according to an


Oct. 5 Federal Register notice by the OPM, will be used by agency analysts, as well as some other federal agencies, to discern costs and trends. Certain outside re- searchers also could get access to thematerial, almost always in an aggregated form, according to a senior OPM official involved in the project who spoke on the condition of anonymity because details for the database remain under review. Researchers say the database


could be helpful if constructed and used properly; it could, for example, lead to wider adoption of “best practices” as well as lower costs, said KevinO’Brien, a director of the California-based data analytics firm Berkeley Re- search Group. Even modest cost reductions


could produce substantial sav- ings for the government and workers. OPM Director John Berry, in a report on the agency’s 2009 performance, said reduc- ing annual premium growth by 0.1 percent for three consecutive years would save the FEHBP $1.25 billion over 10 years. The agency, on average, picks up 70 percent of the cost of premiums; workers pay the rest. But privacy advocates aren’t assuaged. They note that the


“We’re talking about a . . . database with health


diagnoses, payment information and procedures. ”


—Harley Geiger, Center for Democracy and Technology


data collected by the OPM will include names, birth dates and other personal identifying infor- mation. In addition, they say it is unnecessary for the OPM to set up its own database because insurers already store health in- formation. “One of the big concerns here


is the duplication,” said Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel to the ACLU. Calabrese would rath- er see the OPM use a “pointer system” to locate the informa- tion it needs. “Instead of having all the information in one data- base, if you want info on Patient X . . . go directly to the record source,” he said. OPMofficials counter that the


privacy concerns are overblown. The senior OPM official said researcherswillnot be permitted to see personal identifiers. The agency had said earlier that the health data could be subject to the “routine uses” that apply to most federal databases under the Privacy Act of 1974. That means the records could be pulled by law enforcement offi- cials in a criminal investigation or used in a congressional inqui- ry. Now, the official said, the agency is considering narrowing the list of agencies that would be granted special access to its re- cords.Within the OPM, the data will be made available only to analysts with the proper clear- ances, the official said. In addition, the OPM official


said, asking insurance compa- nies to independently analyze their own data would defeat a key purpose of the database — which is to compare health plans. For example, one plan might chargemore than another for prescription drug programs, and the data could help theOPM decide whether to drop one pharmacy benefits manager in favor of another. About 30 per- cent of the FEHBP’s spending goes for prescription drugs. The OPM’s proposal is not


unprecedented — Tricare, the military’s health-care program, has data on its participants, and the federal Centers forMedicare and Medicaid Services keeps in- formation on Medicare benefi- ciaries. But Tricare, Medicare and Medicaid are public health programs; OPM’s database will be collecting health information from private plans. The Califor- nia Public Employees’ Retire- ment System maintains a data- base on the private health plans it manages. The OPM’s project would be similar.


Kaiser Health News (www.kaiserhealthnews.org) is an editorially independent news service of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health-care policy organization that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.


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