It’s fairly simple really, all we need is confirmation that Obama was or was not born at either hospital.

But what may be more interesting is the unwillingness for either to claim that Obama was actually born there.

I suspect because they both know Obama was not born in their hospital and do not want to be charged as part of Obama’s cover up of the details of his birth, and that they don’t want to deal with any sort of retribution if they say he wasn’t born there.

Even a plaque saying President Obama was born here is proof enough implicate them in what I believe is the greatest hoax and fraud of our time.

SO, if I'm reading this right, for legitimate research purposes, "date of birth, admission and discharge date" CAN be released without triggering HIPAA Privacy Rules.

That's how I'm reading it.

The Anointed One is (reportedly) said to be born Aug 4, 1961, which would put the conception around October 1960.

There's a myriad of research topics out there to tie into. For example, did you know that October and November is the peak of the Hawaii Flash Flood season?

A "researcher" could legitimately contact Hawaii hospitals investigate how road and drainage improvements from 1960-2005 (just pick a year range) stabilized the birth rate in the summary months at Hawaii hospitals.

The hypothesis would be that because couples were forced to stay at home due to flooded and/or washed out roads in October and November, the birth rate would be higher in summer months, 9-10 months after the flash flood season. The same phenomenon is experienced in the NE when snow keeps folks at home -- people are stuck at home and conceive babies.

This "researcher" doesn't need names or any personal data. Just birth dates. The researcher will be needing a day-by-day printout from the hospitals -- INCLUDING those births that happened in August 1961.

If NO births occurred on August 4, 1961 at either Queens Medical Center in Honolulu and Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children ... well, the conclusion is obvious. IF, by some wild chance there are births at those two hospitals on Aug 4, then admission and discharge dates surrounding that birth (i.e., that of Ann Dunham) could yield some interesting data as well.

The "research" could be on any topic: birthing rate decline after the May 1960 tsunami; how hospitals where affected when Kilauea destroyed cropland and the town of Kapoho in early 1960; etc, etc, etc.

Any topic could be used that would yield the day-by-day "date of birth, admission and discharge date", without triggering HIPAA privacy provisions.

;)

researchers who remove most direct identifiers but need to retain dates

Polarik's right. Deindentified dates of birth can be released. If you wanted to know how many male babies were born August 4, 1961 at a certain hospital in Honolulu, they can release that. They cannot tell you their names, or their parents names, or their addresses.

I am the Corporate Privacy Officer for a Health Insurance company. I know of which I speak.