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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 1306. Disclosure of information in possession of Social Security Administration or Department of Health and Human Services
(a) Disclosure prohibited; exceptions
(1) No disclosure of any return or portion of a return (including
information returns and other written statements) filed with the
Commissioner of Internal Revenue under title VIII of the Social
Security Act or under subchapter E of chapter 1 or subchapter A of
chapter 9 of the Internal Revenue Code [of 1939], or under
regulations made under authority thereof, which has been
transmitted to the head of the applicable agency by the
Commissioner of Internal Revenue, or of any file, record, report,
or other paper, or any information, obtained at any time by the
head of the applicable agency or by any officer or employee of the
applicable agency in the course of discharging the duties of the
head of the applicable agency under this chapter, and no disclosure
of any such file, record, report, or other paper, or information,
obtained at any time by any person from the head of the applicable
agency or from any officer or employee of the applicable agency,
shall be made except as the head of the applicable agency may by
regulations prescribe and except as otherwise provided by Federal
law. Any person who shall violate any provision of this section
shall be deemed guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $10,000 for each
occurrence of a violation, or by imprisonment not exceeding 5
years, or both.
(2) For purposes of this subsection and subsection (b) of this
section, the term "applicable agency" means -
(A) the Social Security Administration, with respect to matter
transmitted to or obtained by such Administration or matter
disclosed by such Administration, or
(B) the Department of Health and Human Services, with respect
to matter transmitted to or obtained by such Department or matter
disclosed by such Department.
(b) Requests for information and services
Requests for information, disclosure of which is authorized by
regulations prescribed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section,
and requests for services, may, subject to such limitations as may
be prescribed by the head of the applicable agency to avoid undue
interference with his functions under this chapter, be complied
with if the agency, person, or organization making the request
agrees to pay for the information or services requested in such
amount, if any (not exceeding the cost of furnishing the
information or services), as may be determined by the head of the
applicable agency. Payments for information or services furnished
pursuant to this section shall be made in advance or by way of
reimbursement, as may be requested by the head of the applicable
agency, and shall be deposited in the Treasury as a special deposit
to be used to reimburse the appropriations (including
authorizations to make expenditures from the Federal Old-Age and
Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Disability Insurance
Trust Fund, the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, and the
Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund) for the unit or
units of the applicable agency which furnished the information or
services. Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this
subsection, requests for information made pursuant to the
provisions of part D of subchapter IV of this chapter for the
purpose of using Federal records for locating parents shall be
complied with and the cost incurred in providing such information
shall be paid for as provided in such part D of subchapter IV of
this chapter.
(c) Cost reimbursement
Notwithstanding sections 552 and 552a of title 5 or any other
provision of law, whenever the Commissioner of Social Security or
the Secretary determines that a request for information is made in
order to assist a party in interest (as defined in section 1002 of
title 29) with respect to the administration of an employee benefit
plan (as so defined), or is made for any other purpose not directly
related to the administration of the program or programs under this
chapter to which such information relates, such Commissioner or
Secretary may require the requester to pay the full cost, as
determined by such Commissioner or Secretary, of providing such
information.
(d) Compliance with requests
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, in any case
in which -
(1) information regarding whether an individual is shown on the
records of the Commissioner of Social Security as being alive or
deceased is requested from the Commissioner for purposes of
epidemiological or similar research which the Commissioner in
consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services
finds may reasonably be expected to contribute to a national
health interest, and
(2) the requester agrees to reimburse the Commissioner for
providing such information and to comply with limitations on
safeguarding and rerelease or redisclosure of such information as
may be specified by the Commissioner,
the Commissioner shall comply with such request, except to the
extent that compliance with such request would constitute a
violation of the terms of any contract entered into under section
405(r) of this title.
(e) Public inspection
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section the Secretary
shall make available to each State agency operating a program under
subchapter XIX of this chapter and shall, subject to the
limitations contained in subsection (e) (!1) of this section, make
available for public inspection in readily accessible form and
fashion, the following official reports (not including, however,
references to any internal tolerance rules and practices that may
be contained therein, internal working papers or other informal
memoranda) dealing with the operation of the health programs
established by subchapters XVIII and XIX of this chapter -
(1) individual contractor performance reviews and other formal
evaluations of the performance of carriers, intermediaries, and
State agencies, including the reports of follow-up reviews;
(2) comparative evaluations of the performance of such
contractors, including comparisons of either overall performance
or of any particular aspect of contractor operation; and
(3) program validation survey reports and other formal
evaluations of the performance of providers of services,
including the reports of follow-up reviews, except that such
reports shall not identify individual patients, individual health
care practitioners, or other individuals.
(f) Opportunity for review
No report described in subsection (e) of this section shall be
made public by the Secretary or the State subchapter XIX agency
until the contractor or provider of services whose performance is
being evaluated has had a reasonable opportunity (not exceeding 60
days) to review such report and to offer comments pertinent parts
of which may be incorporated in the public report; nor shall the
Secretary be required to include in any such report information
with respect to any deficiency (or improper practice or procedures)
which is known by the Secretary to have been fully corrected,
within 60 days of the date such deficiency was first brought to the
attention of such contractor or provider of services, as the case
may be.
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