ONC is in "early discussions" with HHS' Office for Civil Rights to divvy up privacy and security responsibilities, National Coordinator for Health IT Donald Rucker, MD, said in a July 11 media briefing, according to GovInfoSecurity.
The Trump administration's HHS budget proposal for fiscal year 2018 would eliminate the ONC's chief privacy officer title. Without a chief privacy officer, Dr. Rucker said the office will continue to work closely with the OCR to address data security. He added data security is "a lot more important [issue] than to leave with one person," such as a chief privacy officer.
"We're in early discussions with OCR, working with them on how to parcel out certain tasks," Dr. Rucker said. Collaborative efforts will include clarifying the "HIPAA misconceptions" healthcare providers have when it comes to "patients' electronic right to access their records," Dr. Rucker said, according to GovInfoSecurity.
Although cybersecurity remains a concern, Dr. Rucker noted it may be outside the scope of industry regulations. He also said privacy and security are implicit in everything the agency does, and are "at the heart of any form of interoperability," another key concern at ONC.
"It's worth pointing out that a lot of cybersecurity [weakness are due to] not maintaining operating systems and things that are totally out of the control of federal regulatory agencies," Dr. Rucker said. He added the "ONC will continue in the [EHR] certification process [with] appropriate security standards."
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