Consideration of a national health identifier

Topic area	Privacy and Spam
Target audience	Undergraduate and graduate IS/CS/CE/EE majors
Activity type	Reading assignment, worksheet, debate, class discussion, writing assignment, web search
Time required	Minimum of one class period and student work outside of class.
Attachments	Worksheet
Additional materials	A copy of the article "Health Identifier for All Americans Runs Into Hurdles," by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The New York Times, July 20, 1998.
Background needed to complete the assignment	No particular knowledge or skills are needed to complete the assignment, although general knowledge of databases would be helpful.
References	"Health Identifier for All Americans Runs Into Hurdles," by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The New York Times, July 20, 1998
Last modified	August 1998

Abstract:
Students will consider the overall effects of a national health identifier, as proposed by the Clinton administration. They will examine both the implementation and consequences of having a comprehensive cradle-to-grave database system containing all medical information. A worksheet will help students enumerate the basic advantages and disadvantages of the proposal, with students then being asked to take on the various roles of the public hearings as referenced in the article.

Goals for the activity:
See below.

Knowledge / skills / attitudes to be developed (behavioral objectives):
Students will develop:

A basic understanding of the concept of a national identifier.
An understanding of the advantages, disadvantages and consequences of a national health identifier.
Opinions regarding the desirability of a national health identifier and its effects on their personal privacy.

Procedure:
There is considerable flexibility in this assignment and it can be approached from strictly discussion of the worksheet questions to a full-fledged debate. A suggested scenario follows:

Students should be divided into three groups:

The "pro" team.
The "con" team.
The representatives of the Health and Human Services Department.

Before the beginning of the next class, students should do the following:

Read the article.
Complete the study worksheet.
Formulate their support of the "pro" or "con" issues if they are on either of those teams, or formulate important exploratory questions if on the HHS team.
Be prepared to "debate" either the pro or con issues, or ask probing questions if on the HHS team.

During the next class session, the teams meet for the first 10 to 15 minutes of the class to coordinate their major points and/or questions. For the remainder of the class, the HHS team addresses questions to the pro and con teams and listens to their input. Guidelines for the procedure should be developed, with decisions made about whether pro and con teams are allowed to respond to remarks from the other side and what time limits should be set for each side to present its opinions and for each question. These rules could be developed by the class members themselves before the discussion begins.

As homework for the following class, all students should be asked to write a one page recommendation as if it will be sent to the Clinton administration and the HHS committee. It should state their position on this issue along with supporting evidence.

A variation of this approach would be to divide the class into two teams (pro and con) to debate the merits of the proposal before a panel of invited local insurance and/or medical professionals. They would be asked to judge the debate and to formulate an opinion based on what was argued before them.

Additional or alternative work could include doing a web search to report on the current status of the national health identifier and/or the other privacy laws that are mentioned in the article on page three. If the issue has already come to a conclusion at the national level, students could be asked to compare and contrast their arguments with those that are presented in the outcome. Students could analyze the privacy laws to determine whether they actually will "solve" the privacy problems they are created to address.

Assessing outcomes:
Several portions could be graded: the worksheet, the debate (how well-prepared and how convincing the arguments are), the written recommendation, the follow-up web search.

Additional remarks:
None

Author contact information:
Professor Sheila E. Castaneda
Computer Science Department
Clarke College
Dubuque, IA 52001
Email: cast@keller.clarke.edu

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