Digital Records

[Zack]

I am a new school nurse to a school that has not had one in a long time. I know that there are requirements to hold onto records for some time and the records they have are all on paper. Am I allowed to set by a digital record keeping thing online? If so does it have to be through a program or could Google drive work?? I know this could be sticky with HIPPA but I am trying to find a better solution.

[aprilmoss]

First off, the law is HIPAA and in most cases schools are not covered entities under HIPAA.   We usually do fall under FERPA.

I'm not aware of either HIPAA or FERPA mandating any specific records retention.    These laws govern how you DO maintain these when you do and how they get disclosed to the student, parents, and other people.

In any event, you're going to have to use electronic storage that meets the requirement.   HIPAA has definite certification requirements, while I believe FERPA would need your school to decide what is required.   I'd be very careful about transferring anything off site.   Using Powerschool or one of the student records systems might be doable, but a plain Google drive seems like it would be fraught with peril.