Issue Brief

Summary of Authority and Actions Regarding Public Health Emergencies: Indiana Public Health Code

Issue BriefEmergency Legal Preparedness and ResponseEmergency ResponseIndiana

May 1, 2020

Indiana’s Public Health Code and Communicable Disease Rules provide an array of actions that state and local health officers can use to respond to a public health emergency. This document is intended to assist health officers and their attorneys by identifying potential actions and linking to the applicable law. Though the details of this document apply only in Indiana, the legal provisions likely have similar counterparts in all other states. Lawyers in other states may have developed, or could develop, comparable summaries for their states.

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Undocumented Immigrants and Patient Privacy Laws

Issue BriefHealth Information and Data Sharing

June 4, 2019
by Kathleen Hoke and Kerri McGowan Lowrey

Concern over immigration enforcement can prevent immigrants from obtaining needed health care. Many immigrants worry that health workers will share their undocumented status with immigration authorities. Removing barriers to immigrants’ utilization of preventative and other health care services is important for public health. This issue brief explores relevant federal and state health privacy laws and how they apply to undocumented immigrants and provides information on health care providers’ rights and responsibilities when providing health care to immigrants.

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