Here are the key points:

1. It would not be a violation of HIPAA to ask an independent driver if they have been vaccinated. HIPAA laws prohibit you from exposing an unauthorized third party to Protected Health Information. For example, a doctor cannot share Protected Health Information with a third party without the patient’s consent. Similarly, you may know the vaccination status of a driver, but cannot share that information with others without the driver’s consent. However, a doctor can ask a patient about previous vaccinations. You, too, can pose the question to drivers for the sake of the health and safety of all drivers, staff, and customers.

2. You should make it very clear to independent drivers when proof of vaccination is a customer requirement. More and more customers are requiring proof that only vaccinated drivers are visiting their facilities (for instance, a medical lab that only lets vaccinated people enter their establishment). In such cases, the driver would then have the choice to either comply with the customer’s requirement and provide proof of vaccination or else to not get offered those loads.

3. You should only provide proof of driver vaccination if you have a signed authorization from the driver to disclose that information. Customer’s facilities are third parties and fall under the HIPPA rules described above. This link will take you to a sample authorization form from the Department of Health and Human Services: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/forms/ihs810.pdf .

See screen shot below. You may wish to consult legal counsel on whether drivers may provide generic customer information on the form so that one form can be used as authorization for multiple customers.