HHS Office for Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Rainer on Progress and News at OCR [Podcast]

Compliance Perspectives

By Adam Turteltaub Melanie Fontes Rainer recently marked the completion of her second year leading the Office for Civil Rights at HHS. In this podcast she shared some of the accomplishments over this time as well as what the health care community can expect next. She recounts the six rules that have been issued, ranging from reproductive rights to Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which covers nondiscrimination and is inclusive of sex, race, disability, national origin, religion and color. Also of note have been activities designed to ensure access to documents in languages other than English. She also shares what OCR has been doing to engage with the provider community through in-person meetings, webinars, YouTube videos and resources on their site. Looking to the future, the Director warns that health care providers are likely to continue to be attractive targets for data breaches and ransomware attacks. She advises covered entities to do what they can to make themselves less attractive by having a risk plan and implementing it. Listen in to learn more about what OCR has been and will be doing. Listen now