Greene commissioners sign new pact with human serivce workers
WAYNESBURG – Greene County Human Services employees represented by the United Mine Workers of America have a new contract that increases their pay 10 percent over the next three years, after the county commissioners signed the new pact at their meeting Thursday. Tracy Zivkovich, county human resources director, said the bargaining unit nearly doubled, to 21 members, after mental health, mental retardation and drug and alcohol caseworkers became part of the unit for the new contract. Those workers were not county employees during the last contract because the county was still part of the Washington-Greene joinder for human services, which was broken three years ago.
The new pact, which expires Dec. 31, 2005, was retroactive to Jan. 1 and provides 3.5-percent raises this year and next year, followed by a 4-percent raise in 2005. Employees worked under terms of the previous contract while the union and the county met to negotiate a new deal, Zivkovich said.
“They also got an extra personal day, and we ironed out a few other issues that were related to the integration of the new department into the bargaining unit,” she said. “All in all, I am very satisfied with the deal. It was a fair and equitable process.”
The UMWA also represents domestic relations and probation officers, along with human services employees. The Service Employees International Union represents the corrections officers at the Greene County Prison and the “master unit” of all county clerical staff.
The commissioners also approved a policy for protection of confidential health information, as required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). According to Zivkovich, the act requires certain entities to put into place privacy standards when dealing with protected health information.
She said a steering committee was formed last year to explore how many departments within the county receive, transmit or are forced to disclose health information, and that committee used the assessment to develop the policy approved Thursday. The assessment uncovered 21 county departments that “have exposure” to personal health information, she said.
The county policy designates a chief policy officer and sets up a format to hear or issue complaints. It also names the human resources department as the custodian of all health information records.
Zivkovich said the county has a policy, but each department that handles personal health information in any way also must develop a policy on how that information is received and how it is transferred to human resources.
“For example, jury commissioners receive requests that people get out of jury duty, and sometimes they submit medical requests,” she said. “They had to develop a policy to determine what to do when such information is received and how it will be handled from that point.”
According to the four-page document, the county may collect, maintain, use, transmit, share and disclose information about individuals and employees as part of its daily administration, but it will safeguard all confidential data defined as personal medical information, as required by HIPAA.
The information is defined as “individually identifiable information” about an individual, including first and last name; home or other physical address; e-mail address, telephone number; Social Security number; any information that is associated with health information, financial information; or employment-related information.
Such information the county uses or receives are client case management and treatment records, veterans’ medical records, prison inmate medical records, personal checks, workers’ compensation claims and personnel-related records, according to the policy.
The policy states that employees must verify the identity, professional affiliation and right to receive information from anyone requesting the release of personal health information. The county has identified certain people who are permitted to handle the information, to ensure that it is not accidentally disclosed.
Zivkovich said the county has seen a slight impact on the budget to date because of the regulations required by HIPAA, but she said other organizations will spend millions of dollars to become compliant.
For the most part, she said, the county department heads who are affected will be required just to add another procedure onto their already-developed practices for handling personal health information.
The policy already is in place, and the county could face a $10,000 fine per breach of privacy if a county employee or representative improperly discloses personal health information as defined by the act, Zivkovich said.