BasicMed doc needed--Monterey/Santa Cruz CA area

captainbobwalsh said:
Who actually puts that information into the system. The FAA. They must avoid violating any HIPAA laws, they do not post any records that would violate them.
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Maybe some of the lawyers can chime in, but not sure HIPPA applies to the FAA. From the Code of Federal Regulations, copied below, it doesn't appear that HIPPA applies to the FAA. And, HIPPA has exclusions for public health and safety. Knowing whether a pilot has a valid medical is indeed a question of public safety and I don't think you can ask the FAA to not release that info.

164.104 Applicability.​

(a) Except as otherwise provided, the standards, requirements, and implementation specifications adopted under this part apply to the following entities:

(1) A health plan.
(2) A health care clearinghouse.
(3) A health care provider who transmits any health information in electronic form in connection with a transaction covered by this subchapter.
(b) Where provided, the standards, requirements, and implementation specifications adopted under this part apply to a business associate.
 
Mark K said:
Maybe some of the lawyers can chime in, but not sure HIPPA applies to the FAA. From the Code of Federal Regulations, copied below, it doesn't appear that HIPPA applies to the FAA. And, HIPPA has exclusions for public health and safety. Knowing whether a pilot has a valid medical is indeed a question of public safety and I don't think you can ask the FAA to not release that info.

164.104 Applicability.​

(a) Except as otherwise provided, the standards, requirements, and implementation specifications adopted under this part apply to the following entities:

(1) A health plan.
(2) A health care clearinghouse.
(3) A health care provider who transmits any health information in electronic form in connection with a transaction covered by this subchapter.
(b) Where provided, the standards, requirements, and implementation specifications adopted under this part apply to a business associate.
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Generally speaking, the fact that a person does or doesn't have a medical certificate is not a HIPAA issue. As you say, it's a public-facing document about pilot qualifications, just like a pilot certificate or being able to look up whether your physician or lawyer is licensed to practice in your state. It doesn't say anything about medical conditions or treatment; just that you either have or don't have one, which can be for reasons unrelated to medical issues.

The details - the disclosures, the evaluations, the SI - are subject to Federal privacy laws, althugh there has been quite a bit of litigation about agencies - particularly the VA and the FAA - sharing that information.
 
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bbchien said:
It's automated Bob. You may have a doc's signoff but it doesn't get to the system until you take the course and upload the doc's credentials, and print the graduation certificate. Heck you've published everything else- wnat to publsih your Basic Med Graduation certificate- (that's what you have to have to claim you have (of record) a BASIC med).

But none of that matters. They did indeed withdraw your authorization. No basic is any good, even if you had one. whether obtained before or after such a withdrawal.
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midlifeflyer said:
Generally speaking, the fact that a person does or doesn't have a medical certificate is not a HIPAAA issue. As you say, it's a public-facing document about pilot qualifications, just like a pilot certificate or being able to look up whether your physician or lawyer is licensed to practice in your state. It doesn't say anything about medical conditions or treatment; just that you either have or don't have one, which can be for reasons unrelated to medical issues.

The details - the disclosures, the evaluations, the SI - are subject to Federal privacy laws, althugh there has been quite a bit of litigation about agencies - particularly the VA and the FAA - sharing that information.
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EXACTLY! That’s why mine says what it does. Not because my SI was withdrawn.
 
Palmpilot said:
BasicMed is not a medical certificate.

By the way, we're not the ones who need to be convinced that you're right; the FAA is. And if they were convinced, your medical field on the FAA web site would not be blank.
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My MEDICAL CERTIFICATE HAS NEVER BEEN WITHDRAWN.
 
captainbobwalsh said:
EXACTLY! That’s why mine says what it does. Not because my SI was withdrawn.
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They explicitly site the February 10 false allegation. So let’s deal with the month of February 2022.
Palmpilot said:
He claims he did the course, so I was wondering if the unresolved withdrawal of his SI would be sufficient by itself to cause his BasicMed information to not show up.
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EXACTLY!
 
You're just trying to live and die by arguing that "withdrawal of your SI for a medical certificate," as noted on the letter you posted is somehow markedly different from "withdrawal of your medical certificate." Good luck convincing anyone at the FAA or a judge of that. Not much more to talk about at this point. You get crushed by the FAA if you are still alive to argue it when the time comes. You are clearly not legal to fly and have been told so by the FAA, and, everyone else here. In the meantime, if you are involved in an accident your insurance company may try to hold it against you that do did not have a valid medical and continued to fly, knowingly.

Again, all of this is not likely to end well for you. You think you're, fine, but then, CFIT. I mean, metaphorically, not literally. Hopefully.
 
captainbobwalsh said:
Who actually puts that information into the system. The FAA. They must avoid violating any HIPAA laws, they do not post any records that would violate them.
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The completion of the online course gets sent to the FAA automatically by whomever you took the course with (either Mayo or AOPA unless it's changed since the last time I did one).
 
Palmpilot said:
The completion of the online course gets sent to the FAA automatically by whomever you took the course with (either Mayo or AOPA unless it's changed since the last time I did one).
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I have been an AOPA member for 59 years. Most of that time I have paid for pilot legal services. They do all my renewals.
 
captainbobwalsh said:
I have been an AOPA member for 59 years. Most of that time I have paid for pilot legal services. They do all my renewals.
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I don't have any experience with AOPA's pilot legal services. I did my BasicMed renewal courses directly on the AOPA web page. Is that different from where you have been accessing it?
 
Mark K said:
Maybe some of the lawyers can chime in, but not sure HIPPA applies to the FAA.
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Not an attorney or a medical person, but I'm 99.9% sure HIPAA applies to Federal Agencies.

Again, no expert, but I'm assuming seeing on the FAA site that someone has some sort of FAA Medical is about the same as going to the hospital reception and asking if Mark K is there. No "medical" information has been give out.
 
M20K said:
Not an attorney or a medical person, but I'm 99.9% sure HIPAA applies to Federal Agencies.

Again, no expert, but I'm assuming seeing on the FAA site that someone has some sort of FAA Medical is about the same as going to the hospital reception and asking if Mark K is there. No "medical" information has been give out.
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I’m 100% sure!
 
I'm 100% sure that it's not a HIPAA violation for the FAA to make public the date of a pilot's last medical certificate and the dates of a pilot's last BasicMed qualification. The public has a right to know whether a pilot is qualified.
 
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captainbobwalsh said:
Yes
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Alright then. Since you don't believe anyone here or the regulation itself, maybe you'll believe AOPA:


"To be eligible for BasicMed, an airman must have held a valid medical certificate at any point after July 14, 2006. The most recent medical certificate may be expired but cannot have been suspended or revoked. Additionally, the most recent application cannot have been submitted and denied. Finally, if on a special issuance medical certificate, the most recent authorization must not have been withdrawn."

pilot-protection-services.aopa.org

Cutting the Strings

pilot-protection-services.aopa.org
 
In case anyone's wondering why I'm continuing to participate in this discussion, I flew under BasicMed rules for about 10 years. In the process, I made sure to carefully read and understand the rules that apply to such operations. As such, I am motivated to try to help clear up misconceptions about what those rules actually require.
 
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Just to follow up on the issue of HIPPA and FAA medicals--

This is a pretty good review of why, more or less, FAA medical information isn't really covered by HIPPA. So trying to shout out "HIPPA violation" won't really perturb the FAA.

Wingman Med link on HIPPA and FAA
 
It's HIPAA, BTW. Means "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act"

Just 'cuz I retired from twenty years of getting technical reports ready for gov't agencies, I can't let this go.
Or maybe that's why I spent twenty years doing that, because I couldn't let it go.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
It's HIPAA, BTW. Means "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act"

Just 'cuz I retired from twenty years of getting technical reports ready for gov't agencies, I can't let this go.
Or maybe that's why I spent twenty years doing that, because I couldn't let it go.
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HIPPA is Spanish for a female HIPPO. Easy mistake.
 
Let me ask one more question in this now-morphed thread...

My understanding: once you have filled out and submitted (and received confirmation on) a Medxpress form, you have applied for a medical certificate and MUST be examined by an AME--no backing out. Correct?

Tim
 
timrb said:
Let me ask one more question in this now-morphed thread...

My understanding: once you have filled out and submitted (and received confirmation on) a Medxpress form, you have applied for a medical certificate and MUST be examined by an AME--no backing out. Correct?

Tim
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I believe that’s incorrect. The AME has to enter your number from the MedExpress form. Until then, the exam hasn’t gone live. The application will eventually expire if not opened by an AME. The airman can’t do it.
 
timrb said:
My understanding: once you have filled out and submitted (and received confirmation on) a Medxpress form, you have applied for a medical certificate and MUST be examined by an AME--no backing out. Correct?
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I believe it is more like filling out the questionnaire online before going to see your Primary Care MD. You do it so you don't have to fill it out on the iPad when you get there.
 
Palmpilot said:
I'm 100% sure that it's not a HIPAA violation for the FAA to make public the date of a pilot's last medical certificate and the dates of a pilot's last BasicMed qualification. The public has a right to know whether a pilot is qualified.
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It's not HIPAA, but the Privacy Act. They're clearly not allowed to do so, but I have gotten nowhere getting the FAA to ever comply with the law.
 
flyingron said:
It's not HIPAA, but the Privacy Act. They're clearly not allowed to do so, but I have gotten nowhere getting the FAA to ever comply with the law.
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Exactly. I have had an incident in the last couple of days that I’m working on and I will be able to revisit this thread soon.
 
Well I must say this thread has been quite a ride and I have learned a lot about BasicMed and SI so thanks for that. I must say that this person has Sovern Citizen vibes with a sprinkling of dementia. I am just a lowly veterinarian but I can only imagine what you AMEs and physicians must go through. I will stick with my animal patients.
 
flyingron said:
It's not HIPAA, but the Privacy Act. They're clearly not allowed to do so, but I have gotten nowhere getting the FAA to ever comply with the law.
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This is a public safety issue, for which there are broad exemptions. Is this included? The FAA thinks so. So do I.
You can bet that I checked the person who bought my plane (though they ended up not flying it until the transfer.)
 
Kenny Phillips said:
This is a public safety issue, for which there are broad exemptions. Is this included? The FAA thinks so. So do I.
You can bet that I checked the person who bought my plane (though they ended up not flying it until the transfer.)
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No, there are no such exemptions, and it's NOT A PUBLIC safety issue. The people who really care have independent access to the data rather than having it publicly disseminated.

The FAA has a limited exemption to the privacy act which they continually violate.
 
flyingron said:
No, there are no such exemptions, and it's NOT A PUBLIC safety issue. The people who really care have independent access to the data rather than having it publicly disseminated.

The FAA has a limited exemption to the privacy act which they continually violate.
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Tell me about the independent access I have, please. And it should be public; it discloses absolutely nothing but useful information. Much should not be public, I agree.
 
The air carriers have access to PRIA which tells them everything they need to know. The average Joe has no compelling interest in other people's personal information even if the guy is an airline pilot, let alone a private pilot. My ratings, medical, medical restrictions, etc. are nobody else's fudging business except the FAA itself.

The Privacy Act specifically covers things like this. It specifically covers any government databases/files kept on INDIVIDUALS and guarantees both that the person referenced has access to find what is in his file, and to avoid having that information disseminated inappropriately.

Back a couple of decades ago, the FAA got caught out on this and had to shutdown the public access. You know who complained? Not anybody with a legitimate safety interest. The exception got issued so John and Martha King could continue to spam pilots for their courses. A tiny exemption was tucked into the FAA authorization act that gave specific things that were allowed to be disseminated (which the FAA ignored) and that pilots could opt out of having ANY information disseminated (which the FAA misinterprets to mean only omitting the mailing address).
 
MauleSkinner said:
I would disagree with that…a pilot who dropped out of company training because he know he wouldn’t pass doesn’t show up in PRIA.
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So, how is the airman certificate database going to help with that?
 
flyingron said:
The air carriers have access to PRIA which tells them everything they need to know. The average Joe has no compelling interest in other people's personal information even if the guy is an airline pilot, let alone a private pilot. My ratings, medical, medical restrictions, etc. are nobody else's fudging business except the FAA itself.

The Privacy Act specifically covers things like this. It specifically covers any government databases/files kept on INDIVIDUALS and guarantees both that the person referenced has access to find what is in his file, and to avoid having that information disseminated inappropriately.

Back a couple of decades ago, the FAA got caught out on this and had to shutdown the public access. You know who complained? Not anybody with a legitimate safety interest. The exception got issued so John and Martha King could continue to spam pilots for their courses. A tiny exemption was tucked into the FAA authorization act that gave specific things that were allowed to be disseminated (which the FAA ignored) and that pilots could opt out of having ANY information disseminated (which the FAA misinterprets to mean only omitting the mailing address).
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Say I want to hire a pilot for a family trust (this was a real thing at one point.)
I want to know the actual status of any pilot flying elderly loved ones around. Faking a medical certificate would be trivial.
Our flight school actual checks the pilot database. I can get vastly more invasive information about anyone using Google.
 
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