Healthcare DIVE February 21, 2023
Dive Brief:
- HIPAA complaints and breaches increased from 2017 to 2021, but the agency in charge of auditing compliance said it doesn’t have the resources to handle the uptick.
- The HHS Office for Civil Rights, or OCR, received 39% more HIPAA complaints in 2021 than in 2017, and large breaches affecting 500 people or more increased 58% in that period, according to the agency’s annual report to Congress.
- But, appropriations didn’t increase over that time, causing a “severe strain on OCR’s limited staff and resources” and hamstringing the agency’s HIPAA enforcement abilities, the report said. For example, the OCR wasn’t able to conduct any audits in 2021.
Dive Insight:
The lack of funding to the OCR is a...
Today's Sponsors
Today's Sponsor
Topics: Cybersecurity, Govt Agencies, Health IT, Healthcare System, HHS, HIPAA, Privacy / Security, Provider, Technology