HHS Office for Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Rainer on Progress and News at OCR
ERISA Blog | Changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rules A Primer for Self-Insured Group Health Plans
Podcast - Data Privacy and Tracking Technology Compliance
Patient Data and Privacy
2022 DSIR Deeper Dive: OCR’s Right of Access Initiative
HIPAA Tips With Williams Mullen - Telehealth After the Pandemic
Relaxed HIPAA Restrictions For Providers Using Telehealth
Webinar: Investigating and Resolving Sexual Assaults on Campus
This summer, the Ohio House of Representatives passed the Campus Accountability and Modernization to Protect University Students (CAMPUS) Act. This law, if enacted, would require institutions of higher education throughout...more
On July 30, a Massachusetts federal judge ruled that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was not deliberately indifferent to antisemitism on its campus, and provided some guidance as to how courts may interpret...more
The Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law in 2010, contained a provision (commonly referred to as Section 1557) prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability in...more
In recent months, OCR has reached resolution agreements with a school district and two universities after investigating complaints of discrimination and harassment based on ancestry or ethnicity, including allegations...more
Case resolutions released by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) in the past two weeks may be signaling a change in how OCR expects institutions of higher education to comply with Title VI’s mandate...more
On November 15, 2023, the U.S. Department of Education’s (“Department”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) released new civil rights data from the 2020-2021 school year, as well as seven data reports and snapshots which provide...more
On November 7, 2023, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a “Dear Colleague Letter” (DCL) that reminds schools of their Title VI obligations to provide all students with a learning environment...more
In a Dear Colleague Letter issued on November 7, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a letter reminding educational institutions of their obligation to address and prevent discrimination...more
The Department of Education recently reminded educational institutions receiving federal funding of their responsibility to foster inclusive campuses in light of the nationwide rise in hate crimes and threats to Jewish,...more
The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division have published a joint Dear Colleague Letter (Joint OCR and DOJ DCL) that, together with a Q&A, provides...more
On July 24, 2023, less than a month after the Supreme Court's landmark decision striking down affirmative action practices in college admissions, the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has launched an...more
The last few years have been eventful and, at times, difficult ones for institutions of higher education. Institutions have been deeply impacted by issues ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic, to debates over free speech, to...more
SUMMARY OF FACTS - The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) opened a compliance review of California’s Victor Valley Union High School District (“the District”) in August 2014 to examine whether...more
As part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Section 1557 is a multilayered approach to prohibit discrimination based on color, national origin, sex, age, and disability in health programs or “activities that receive federal...more
Recently, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued a Request for Information that asks members of the public to submit written comments regarding the administration of school discipline in...more
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) has published an extended Q&A designed to support educational institutions in protecting student rights and interests within the context of both virtual and...more
The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has made another round of revisions to its Case Processing Manual (CPM), effective Aug. 26, 2020. The CPM, last updated in November 2018, outlines the...more
Data collected during the coronavirus pandemic shows a disturbing trend of inequities in testing and treatment for COVID-19 among people of color. On July 20, 2020 the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for...more
On July 20, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued guidance focused on federal financial assistance recipients’ compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act...more
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a statement yesterday reminding schools, colleges, and universities of their responsibilities to address discrimination and harassment based on race and...more
Last week, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) requesting information about how OCR “plans to address alarming racial...more
On December 11, 2019, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring his administration’s commitment to enforcing federal racial anti-discrimination provisions against discrimination “rooted in anti-Semitism.”...more
Timely Topics - By Shannon B. Hartsfield - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Jan. 18, 2018, the creation of a new division within its Office for Civil Rights (OCR). OCR is described as...more
Last week, the U.S. Department of Education (“ED”) published on its website a list of “pending cases currently under investigation” by its Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”). Previously, OCR had released a list of higher...more
Reversing the practice under the Obama Administration, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has just issued new internal guidance changing how regional OCR offices will investigate discrimination...more