Sylvia Matthew Burwell is the 22nd Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and took office last June 9th, 2014. According to her Biography, “Secretary Burwell has called for the Department to operate under three guiding tenets: to deliver results on a wide range of complex issues; to strengthen the relationships that drive progress; and to build strong teams with the talent and focus needed to deliver impact for the American people”.
Included in her job description along with overseeing more than 77,000 employees is ensuring that data breaches of unsecured protected health information affecting 500 or more individuals are posted on the HHS website. The Secretary is required to do this by section 13402(e) (4) of the HITECH Act. The following unauthorized access/disclosure breaches have been reported to the Secretary between May 2014 and August 2014.
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References
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/coveredentities/federalregisterbreachrfi.pdf
Filed under: Business Continuity, Data Breach, Disaster Recovery, Education, HIPAA / HITECH Enforcement, News Events, OCR HIPAA Audits, Risk Analysis/Risk Management, Tip of the Week
