Thanks for the comments,  seems the NCAA merely asks the student athletes to
exercise their personal option to sign away their rights to privacy on this
matter.  Yes, they would seem to have their lawyers on it.  Bob Hamilton

>>June 30, 2003 NCAA Recommends Authorization Form for Electronic System to
Monitor Student Athletes' Injuries The NCAA is converting its Injury
Surveillance System (ISS) to a Web-based format, linking individual
student-athlete injury data in order to conduct longitudinal studies to aid
in the development and evaluation of appropriate safety rules and policies.
An important aspect of the conversion is the potential application of
federal privacy laws such as HIPAA and the Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act (FERPA).

According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA )'s "Report
of the NCAA Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet," Proposal No.
2003-19 recommends member institutions be required to distribute annually to
student-athletes the "Student-Athlete HIPAA Authorization/Buckley Amendment
Consent for Disclosure of Protected Health Information" form. NCAA general
counsel has assisted in the creation of the form, which is optional for
student-athletes to complete. According to the NCAA, the form ensures its
compliance with federal regulations and allows institutions to continue to
participate in the ISS. <<
Source: http://www.hipaadvisory.com/News/newsarchives/2003/jun03.htm

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeffrey Partnow <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, December 04, 2006 3:12 AM
Subject: Re: illness reporting

>You are correct. The law, referred to as HIPPA (Health Insurance
>Portability and Privacy Act) has had some pretty ludicrous results in
>this area. Injuries are now reduced to generic pabulum: "So-and-so
>will miss 6 weeks with a lower extremity injury", and so forth. Most
>of the time, any accurate information is leaked, unverifiable,  and
>not for attribution.
>
>I suspect that, on the college level, there has been helpful input
>from the greatest legal minds at the NCAA.
>--Jeff Partnow
>--Fairbanks
>
>
>On Dec 3, 2006, at 10:02 PM, J. Michael Neal wrote:
>
>> Clay Satow wrote:
>>> I've always thought that the real reason that some sports (mainly
>>> the NFL) are so anal about
>>> reporting injuries is gambling.
>>>
>>> If I'm a fan, and a particular player isn't playing, I might be
>>> curious, but I don't feel like I
>>> have some right to know.  I recognize that my view on that may be
>>> off the mainstream.
>> Actually, under current health privacy law, these lists are
>> borderline illegal.Health conditions are required to remain
>> private.  I can only assume that sports leagues have received some
>> sort of waiver, though I have never heard that they have.
>
><<snip, hack, chop....>>