HA 101: Onboarding of UIC Students for Scholarly and Research Activities at UI Health

Access the Official Request Form for Policy HA 101

NOTE: If you are requesting access for multiple students, the Faculty sponsor will need to fill out the below form for each student. Please also be aware that this policy does not apply to students with paid research positions as necessary access will be provided through a different process.

For questions or assistance please contact vcha@uic.edu.

Policy Number: HA 101

Version: 1.2

Effective Date: 10/29/2024

Policy Title: Onboarding of UIC Students for Scholarly and Research Activities at UI Health

Vice Chancellor/Associate Chancellor: Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs

Unit Responsible for Policy: Office of the Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs

Contact: Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences Academic Affairs

Policy Statement:

I. UIC Faculty and staff have research, scholarly, and clinical opportunities which may engage UIC students. These opportunities often necessitate physical access to UI Health clinical facility premises, access to patients, access to the electronic health record, and/or access to protected health information.

II. It is the responsibility of the sponsoring colleges, faculty/staff, the student(s), and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs (OVCHA) to ensure that students have appropriate training, approval and oversight to participate in research, scholarly, and clinical opportunities.

III. All human subjects research at UIC requires approval by the Institutional Review Board.

IV. Quality or process improvement projects should have approval of the clinic or academic unit which oversees that unit.

V. Sponsoring faculty/staff should have access to the same systems their students have access.

VI. Sponsoring faculty/staff responsibilities include:

Oversee use of data/access by the student(s)
Ensure that student(s) understand their responsibilities in the conduct of the project
Ensure that the student’s academic unit directors/leaders are aware and approve the students’ engagement
Ensure that student(s) have adequate training and supervision for the project, and that appropriate security measures are planned and followed, including HIPAA compliant data storage
If research, ensure that the project is approved by the Institutional Review Board
For quality or process improvement projects, ensure the clinic or academic unit which oversees that unit approves of the process

VII. The OVCHA is responsible for the timely review and processing of student access requests for the University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics, Mile Square Health Center, and affiliated clinics.

VIII. Students are responsible for timely completion of required training.

Reason for Policy:

Students receive access to UI Health clinical facility premises, access to patients, access to the electronic health record, and/or access to protected health information through their colleges or units for educational purposes.

This policy provides a procedure whereby UIC students who have not already obtained approval and access to clinical facility premises, patients, electronic health record, and/or access to protected health information at the University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics, Mile Square Health Center, and affiliated clinics may do so for scholarly and clinical projects sponsored by faculty and staff.

Minority Impact Statement:

This policy does not have any disproportionate or unique impact on UIC's minority students, staff, or faculty.

Who Should Read the Policy:

UIC Faculty and staff who wish to grant student access, and students who want access to UI Health clinical facility premises, patients, the electronic health record, and/or protected health information.

Definitions:

University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics: Refers to the clinical activity of the tertiary care hospital and outpatient clinics located on UIC’s west campus.

University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System (UI Health): A part of the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), UI Health is an academic clinical enterprise that includes the University of Illinois Hospital, outpatient clinics (OCC), and federally qualified Mile Square Health Center locations. With campuses in Chicago, Peoria, Quad Cities, Rockford, Springfield, and Urbana, the health system includes the academic and research activities of the seven UIC health science colleges: Applied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy; the School of Public Health; and the Jane Addams College of Social Work.

UI Health Mile Square Health Center (Mile Square): Refers to the federally qualified Mile Square Health Center locations.

Affiliated Clinics: For the purposes of this Policy, affiliated clinics refers to UI Health clinics that share the same electronic health record as the University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics and Mile Square.

Procedures:

I. Faculty/Staff (Sponsor) develops a project that engages UIC students.

II. The Sponsor determines that the students will either need physical access to UI Health clinical facility premises, access to patients, access to the electronic health record, and/or access to protected health information.

III. If the sponsor determines the students need physical access to UI Health clinical facilities, and the student does not have a Hospital Identification Badge, then the student will be directly contacted by the Volunteer Office (volserv@uic.edu) at UI Health with further instructions.

IV. If the Sponsor is unclear which access is needed to complete the project, the Sponsor shall contact the Director of Business Intelligence at the University of Illinois Hospital and Clinics. See the Hospital Information Services Directory.

V. The Faculty/Staff Sponsor will need to have the following information in order to complete the intake form and request access for students:

Student Name
Student Email address
Student department/degree program
Project start date
Project end date (or graduation date for the student).
Brief summary of the project

VI. The Sponsor completes the intake form on the OVCHA Website (below). To complete the form, the Sponsor will provide:

The student information listed in in Procedure Statement V above
The student role requested in the electronic health record (see description of the available student roles)
A statement accepting responsibility for the project
A statement ensuring that the student’s college/department is aware that the student is engaged in a project with the Sponsor
Additional affirmation statements pertaining to physical access and IRB

VII. The Access Requestors (AR) in the OVCHA will review the intake form submitted by the Sponsor. If complete, the AR will submit the required Access Request Form (ARF). The AR may require clarifications from the Sponsor before submitting.

VIII. The access requests for the University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics, Mile Square and affiliated clinics will route as follows:

The ARF is transmitted to Hospital Human Resources (HR). HR confirms that the student has an active affiliation in Phonebook (i.e., is a member of the UIC learning community).
- If yes, HR approves the ARF and creates a Learning Management System (LMS) account.
- If no, the request will be rejected. The Student should be referred back to their College administrator.
The ARF is then transmitted to Security, where the student will be credited a network account and receives a password.
LMS sends an email to the student to complete the appropriate, required online training
For access to the Electronic Health Record (EHR), once training is complete, the student is granted access to the EHR.

IX. A health screening may be required to access clinical facilities. Sponsors and students should consult college and hospital policies to determine if this is necessary.

X. It should take no more than two business weeks for a student to access the EHR from the time the ARF is submitted, provided the student responds to the request for LMS and completes the training without delay and knows the hospital electronic health record login credentials.

Request Form:

Access the Official Request Form for Policy HA 101

Related Laws, Regulations, Statutes, and Policies:

HIPAA Privacy and Safety Rule – 45 CFR Part 160 and Subparts A and E of Part 164

HIPAA at the University of Illinois

University of Illinois HIPAA Privacy and Security Directive

Hospital Policy NO. HR 1.01, University Health Service (UHS)

Hospital Policy NO: IM 3.02, Confidentiality Agreement and Security Awareness

Hospital Policy NO: IM 3.03, Account Access

Hospital Policy NO: IM 3.07, Password Standards and Reset Procedures

Hospital Policy NO: IM 3.08, Confidentiality and Security Violations

Revision Log:

08/19/2022 - updated procedure to match ARF process, minor edits to clinical descriptions descriptions
11/01/2024 - version 1.2 published, updated language, new online request form