SPARS Reminder on Safeguarding Clients’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

SAMHSA and the SPARS Team would like to remind all users that Personally Identifiable Information (PII) for clients should not be sent to the SPARS Help Desk or entered into SPARS.

When users contact the SPARS Help Desk with questions related to clients, they should only provide the unique client ID number (e.g., 01, 02; A0001, A0002; or other format) that is used at all data collection points to report in SPARS. Examples of such requests include requests to delete client-level data, understand data reflected in reports, and understand why client reassessments did not count towards a goal. 

Any other information that could be used to identify individual clients should never be included in the client ID, files, or email communications to the SPARS Help Desk, or entered into SPARS. This includes, but is not limited to, client’s names, dates of birth, social security numbers, and phone numbers. 

Thank you,

The SPARS Team

Announcement date: 1/24/2024