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By Becky Killian, Staff Writer

Washington County has four different roads named “County Line,” and it makes it difficult when emergency dispatchers are handling 911 calls from residents.
The possibility of changing the road names was discussed during the Tuesday, Aug. 6, meeting of the Washington County Board of Commissioners.

Evan Bridgewater, a Gibson Township resident, raised the concern about the confusion. He explained he called 911 when his wife experienced a medical emergency. When he gave the dispatcher the address he uses at the request of the U.S. Postal Service – which is County Line Road – the dispatcher couldn’t locate his home. Then he recalled the original street name given to him by the county when addresses were converted from rural routes to the current system – Scott County Line Road. Using that address, the dispatcher found his home and sent responders to it.

Bridgewater said his wife recovered from the emergency and that he was pleased with the county’s response. He asked if county officials could meet with Postal Service authorities to find a resolution that would prevent future confusion.

Commission President Phillip Marshall said he had a similar concern about confusing County Line addresses when he was a volunteer firefighter; however, changing road names can cause inconvenience to residents and can be costly for businesses.

The county’s dispatch director, Kelly Sargent, shared Marshall’s and Bridgewater’s concern. He said in addition to the County Line roads, some roads have similar sounding names that can also be difficult for dispatchers to discern.

It was noted these problems are shared by other counties and that it is unlikely the U.S. Postal Service would participate in any discussion to remedy the situation.

Officials agreed to further discuss the matter to try and find a solution.

State of Indiana

Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office secured another win for medical privacy, ensuring through court-directed discovery that IU Health has proper privacy controls and training in place to protect Hoosier patients’ private health information.

IU Health management initially denied allegations that Dr. Caitlin Bernard violated a patient's privacy at a political rally.

IU Health officials even continued those denials after that same doctor's peers serving on the Indiana Medical Licensing Board found that she DID violate privacy laws. This repeated refusal by IU Health to even acknowledge a violation of patient privacy prompted the Office of Attorney General to probe whether and how IU Health was conducting patient privacy training in light of its mishandling of the Bernard matter.

When IU Health officials refused to answer questions, the Office of the Attorney General had no choice but to file a lawsuit to require their cooperation and answers.

“This is a win for patients, but also for the group's 36,000 health care providers who can now trust they've received accurate training that is consistent with HIPAA privacy laws and Indiana patient confidentiality rules,” Attorney General Rokita said. “One of my office’s main priorities is to protect patient privacy because when it’s not, we no longer have reliable, honest healthcare."

The Sept. 15, 2023, lawsuit was filed on behalf of the people of Indiana against IU Health and IU Healthcare Associates for their failure to properly report, review and enforce HIPAA and Indiana law violations. Attorney General Rokita and his team verified through discovery in this case that IU Health has now taken necessary actions to better train employees to help protect the medical privacy of Indiana residents.

Through this lawsuit, Attorney General Rokita’s office confirmed IU Health has undertaken the following actions:

Trained employees to specifically avoid talking about patients in public areas;
Informed its employees they are required to notify public relations staff prior to any communication so that management can verify patient authorization; and
Conducted employee training on what constitutes Protected Health Information.

On June 30, 2022, Dr. Caitlin Bernard spoke with an Indy Star reporter at a political rally about her 10-year-old patient. IU Health later issued a media statement on July 13, 2022, that said Dr. Bernard had not violated privacy laws. After hearing over a dozen hours of testimony, the Indiana Medical Licensing Board, which is comprised of doctors, voted 5-1 that Dr. Bernard violated HIPPA. IU Health issued another statement on May 26, 2023, claiming it disagreed with the board’s decision and believed Dr. Bernard had not violated any privacy laws.

“IU Health rejected the best interest of patients and taxpayers alike when they set the tone by initially refusing to cooperate with our office,” Attorney General Rokita said. “We are pleased the information this office sought over two years ago has finally been provided and the necessary steps have been taken to accurately and consistently train their workforce to protect patients and their health care workers”.

Though voluntarily dismissing it without prejudice, Attorney General Rokita said they could always refile at a later date if necessary. As a government regulator responsible for HIPAA compliance, the State anticipates and expects hospitals and covered entities to continue significant and continual training to physicians and staff that addresses the importance of patient and data privacy.

By: Becky Killian, Staff Writer

Officials have agreed to pay a stipend to the county clerk for handling the extra work associated with general elections. The decision was made during the Monday, Aug. 5, meeting of the Washington County Council.

Clerk Stephanie Rockey will receive $2,000 during general elections.

At the council’s July meeting, Rockey explained a new Indiana law that allows a stipend of up to $2,500 for circuit court clerks who serve as voter registration officers.

Rockey said that Washington County’s population is too small to require a separate voter registration officer, so the work remains her responsibility.

The stipend won’t be paid during municipal election years or during special elections. The law was effective as of July 1.

Rockey said the state assigned more responsibilities to clerks, so the stipend is meant to compensate them for the extra work.

Prior to Monday’s vote, Rockey said a record number of county clerks have resigned due to the additional election work being assigned to them.

In addition to that work, clerks are combatting efforts by hackers to access voter rolls. Rockey said Monroe and Clay counties have been affected by hacking efforts.

In other business, the Council also approved a 10-year real estate property tax abatement for Sullivan’s Concrete Coating. The business bought property at the J.F. Helsel Commerce Park and are operating out of a 10,000 square foot facility. Officials hope the purchase will lead to more businesses locating at the park.

Last week, Senator Mike Braun introduced legislation to repeal a Biden administration Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) mandate for new housing construction that would add significant costs to the purchase of new homes. Senators Marsha Blackburn, John Barrasso, Cynthia Lummis, Shelley Moore Capito, Roger Marshall, Pete Ricketts, Eric Schmitt, and Todd Young cosponsored the legislation.

“Buying a home is more expensive than ever for Americans. We shouldn’t be making them even more expensive with government mandates that could add as much as $31,000 to the price of a new home. My bill will repeal this new Biden administration mandate so we can lower the cost of housing for American families.”—Sen. Braun

The HOUSE Act would:

Repeals the HUD/USDA Final Determination, and requires the agencies to revert to the 2009 standards already in effect;
Prohibits VA from implementing a similar mandate for VA mortgages;
Clarifies that FHFA has no statutory authority to impose similar mandates;
And reforms the underlying law by prohibiting HUD and USDA from adopted new efficiency mandates unless 26 states have already adopted similar standards.

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Erin Houchin (IN-09) issued the following statement in response to the Education Department's announcement on Wednesday that it will delay the release of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA):

“The Department of Education has once again announced a delay in the rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). It is another blunder of the Biden-Harris Administration, and a gut punch to students, families, and universities across the country.

Originally scheduled for release on October 1st, the application will now be available as late as December 1st for some. This delay comes on the four-year anniversary of the passage of the bipartisan FAFSA Simplification Act, a timeframe during which the Department had ample time to perfect the system. Instead, the Department was and continues to be hyper-focused on the illegal student loan bailout.

This situation underscores the urgent need for legislative action, which is why I introduced the FAFSA Deadline Act earlier this Summer. This act would prevent such delays in the future, ensuring that students and families are not subjected to unnecessary burdens and uncertainty. It is imperative that the Department of Education fulfills its obligations in a timely and efficient manner, and be held accountable when they don’t.” – Rep. Erin Houchin