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OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

Office for lCivil Rights, Region 
61 Street. S. W.

Atlanta Federal Center, Suite 337?
Atlanta, GA 3?303-39?9

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DEPARTMENT or HEALTH a HUMAN SERVICES

Voice- (404] 5623886. (800] 368-1019
TDD- (404) 5523884. (BUD) 
- {404) 562-?381

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April 29, 2011

 

 



 

 

vs. Atlanta VA Medical Center
OCR Reference Number: 11-125656

Re:

 



 

 

Dear

 

Thank you for your complaint, which was received by the US. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR), on March 14, 2011. in your complaint, you
allege a violation of the Federal Standards for Privacy of Individually Identi?able Health
information andr?or the Security Standards for the Protection of Electronic Protected Health
information (45 CPR. Parts 160 and 164, Subparts A, C, and E, the Privacy and Security Rules).
Speci?cally, you allege that Atlanta VA Medical Center impermissiny used your protected
health information when sometime in September and December of 0, someone in the
Human Resources Department of Atlanta VA Medical Center made copies of your
Family Medical Leave Act paperwork, which contained detailed health information
and sent a copy to Worker?s Compensation without any prior authorizations. This allegation
could re?ect potential violations of 45 C.F.R. 164.502(a) and respectively.

OCR enforces the Privacy and Security Rules, and also enforces Federal civil rights laws which
prohibit discrimination in the delivery of health and human services because of race, color,
national origin, disability, age, and under certain circumstances, sex and religion.

OCR will not be able to accept your complaint for investigation. Your allegation, even if fully
substantiated, would not violate the Privacy and Security Rules. The Privacy Rule prohibits a
covered entity from impennissibly using and! or disclosing PHI of an individual without prior
authorization. See 45 C. .R. 1? However, the applicable provisions of the HIPAA
Privacy and Security Rules do not apply to health information contained in employment records.
In this case, your complaint allegations pertain only to health information contained in your
employment record, and therefore, OCR is closing this complaint.

determination, as stated in this letter, applies only to the allegations in this complaint that
were reviewed by OCR. OCR only reviewed the evidence of record pertinent to resolving the
issues raised by you in the aforementioned complaint.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, we may be required to release this letter and other
information about this case upon request by the public. In the event OCR receives such a request,
we will make every effort, as permitted by law, to protect information that identi?es individuals
or that, if released, could constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact Robert Chirila, Investigator, by
email at or by telephone at (404) 562-4754 (Voice), or (404) 562-7884
(TDD).

Sincerely,

Roosevelt Freeman
Regional Manager