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Several steps are taken to ensure that information about
individual patients and decedents is not misused:
- All DAWN staff—from DAWN Reporters and data processing
staff to analysts—follow strict confidentiality protocols
and receive training on the protection of identifiable health
information.
- All DAWN staff sign confidentiality agreements that
enumerate their responsibilities for protecting sensitive
information.
- DAWN collects only the minimum necessary information
about each case.
- DAWN does not collect direct identifiers (such as names,
birth dates, medical record numbers) for patients or decedents.
- All DAWN Reporters are assigned user IDs and passwords
to access DAWN’s Internet-based reporting systems.
- Data are encrypted for transmission via the Internet,
using industry standard 128-bit secure socket layer (SSL)
encryption.
- In published tables, cells are "suppressed" (i.e., deleted)
if the data might inadvertently lead to identification
of an individual.
- Data for a particular hospital are never released to
the public.
- Data for one hospital are never shared with other hospitals.
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