??lms. a" ?a 9' DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 8; HUMAN SERVICES OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 75 Voice {617) 565-1340, (300) 368-1019, 565- 1343, {300) 5317697 PM FAX (617} 565-3809, ov Office for Civil Rights. Region I JFK Federal Building, Room 1875 Government Center 2 5 Boston, MA 02203-0002 Director, Privacy Civil Liberties Of?ce TRICARE Management Activity 7700 Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 220 Our Reference number: 13-15-4360 Deal- I: On January 24, 2013, the US. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Of?ce for Civil Rights (OCR) received a complaint alleging a violation of the Federal Standards for Privacy of Individually Identi?able Health Information (45 CPR. Parts 160 and 164, Subparts A and E, the Privacy Rule). Speci?cally, the complainant alleges that his PHI was impermissiny disclosed when his records were given to his supervisor by the Naval Health Clinic. This allegation could re?ect a violation of 45 C.F.R. ?164.502(a) OCR enforces the Privacy Rule, 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. We have reviewed the matter raised in the complaint. Complainant?s protected health information was given to his supervisor by an occupational health provider at Naval Health Clinic Annapolis; this disclosure was made after a determination was made by the provider that complainant?s condition made it so that complainant?s carrying of a weapon in his performance of his job duty represented a serious and imminent threat to the public. Under 45 CPR. a covered entity may disclose protected health information if the covered entity believes in good faith that the disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of the public and the disclosure is made to a person reasonably able to prevent or lessen the threat. In this case, the occupational health provider made a good faith determination that complainant?s possession of a weapon while on-duty represented a serious and imminent threat and disclosed information related to this determination to complainant?s supervisor who could reasonably prevent the threat by changing complainant?s carry status. This is a permissible disclosure under 45 C.F.R. the occupational health provider may have disclosed more information than was the minimum necessary to accomplish this purpose, however, and OCR has provided technical assistance to Tricare regarding the minimum necessary standard. Based upon this response, we have determined that no further OCR action is warranted, and therefore, we are closing this matter. This determination applies only to the allegations in this complaint that were reviewed by OCR. determination as stated in this letter applies only to the allegations in this complaint that were reviewed by OCR. 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 Philip Lewis, Investigator, at (617) 565-1355 (Voice), (617) Please be advised that communication by email presents a risk of disclosure of the transmitted information to, or interception by, unintended third parties. Sincerely, t" . . max/3? Susan Rhodes Regional Manager