College Sports Information Directors of America

This was discussed at the CoSIDA Convention. Depending on what type of athletic trainer issue you have, it may or may not be a worry to you. For instance, the athletic trainers at Vanderbilt are employees of the hospital at the University. Therefore, they are covered by the medical portion of HIPAA and must have a release from the player on an injury-by-injury basis. However, there are athletic trainers like here at Tennessee that are members of the Athletics Department who are not a covered member of HIPAA and are not under the same restraints of injury-by-injury release. As for SIDs, we are not covered by HIPAA. We are ruled by FERPA and the Buckley Amendment. We still need a blanket statement signed by the student-athlete at the beginning of the year to release injuries. Although, from a personal standpoint, I like the fact that privacy issues have been brought up and a renewed sense of understanding for the plight of a student-athlete is growing. I have noticed that here with the Lady Vols, since the HIPAA scare, we now will only report that a player is out with an injury or illness. We do not report that illness or injury and we refer all questions to the athletic trainer, since in the long run - they have a much better idea about what they are talking about when it comes to exact terminology. Plus, it removes one of the major headaches of trying to get the terminology reported correctly even if there is a release. If a reporter REALLY wants to know, they can do the legwork and speak with the head trainer. Then, the responsibility for any possibility of violating someone's privacy is on them, instead of the SID. Just some thoughts. Either way, HIPAA doesn't seem to be the scary beast we first thought it would be. Just follow FERPA and Buckley, unless your trainers are a part of an actual medical unit. If that is the case, then you probably need to speak with an actual expert in HIPAA. Jason Marsteller Lady Vol Media Relations Department