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Louisiana LIHEAP Service Delivery Guide 26 | P a g e

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C. Confidentiality Louisiana’s Confidentiality Law R.S. 46:56 applies to all case records kept by State Agencies and Private and Public Service Contractors. The confidentiality law prohibits release of client identifying information from the LIHEAP applications or case records to any other organization or agency outside of LHC without prior written consent of the individual. Information may be released upon completion of the authorization section on Page 2 of the application. This form must be signed by the customer and maintained in the customer’s case record. This information should be completed and signed at the time of the request to assure customers are aware of the information being sent. Subgrantees must ensure that Protected Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is protected at all times. PII is defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as: Any information about an individual maintained by an agency, including but not limited to, education, financial transactions, medical history, and criminal or employment history and information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, such as their name, social security number, date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, biometric records, etc., including any other personal information that is linked or linkable to an individual. This definition of PII can be further defined as: 1. Public PII: PII found in public sources such as telephone books, public websites, business cards, university listing, etc. Public PII includes first and last name, address, work telephone number, email address, home telephone number, and general education credentials. 2. Protected PII: Subgrantees must never release any Protected PII to any other organization or agency outside of LHC. Examples include:  Social Security Numbers in any form  Place of Birth associated with an individual  Date of Birth associated with an individual  Mother’s maiden name associated with an individual  Biometric record associated with an individual  Fingerprint  Iris scan  DNA