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How the Chelsea Hub’s "situation table" shares limited data to protect privacy while coordinating care
Summary
Dan Cortez explains what the Hub shares and what it tracks: de-identified demographic ranges, risk factors and participating agencies; he stresses privacy protections while arguing limited sharing can prevent deaths.
Dan Cortez, community liaison for the Chelsea Police Department, said the Hub deliberately limits the data it tracks for privacy while using the information to save lives. "It's just a male, 30 to 40, female, 20 to 30," Cortez said, describing the de-identified demographic ranges the table records.
Cortez explained the Hub keeps only basic, non-identifying information about a situation — risk factors, who introduced the case, the agencies involved and the outcome. He said individual agencies retain their own detailed records but the Hub's tracking is intentionally anonymized. "Privacy helps protect people's information. But information, the sharing of information can protect someone's life," he said.
The interview addresses legal boundaries: Cortez noted agencies are often fearful of HIPAA rules and limits, but that the Hub operates within rules that allow limited sharing when someone is at very high risk. He emphasized the Hub requires a high threshold before any limited information is shared at the table, and that the practice is intended to enable timely interventions in emergencies while minimizing disclosure risks.
