[{"innerBlocks":[],"name":"core\/freeform","postId":2591,"blockType":{"name":"core\/freeform","keywords":[],"attributes":{"content":{"type":"string","source":"raw"},"lock":{"type":"object"}},"providesContext":[],"usesContext":[],"selectors":[],"supports":{"className":false,"customClassName":false,"reusable":false},"styles":[],"variations":[],"apiVersion":3,"title":"Classic","description":"Use the classic WordPress editor.","category":"text"},"originalContent":"The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has named Kathryn Marchesini to serve as ONC\u2019s chief privacy officer.

Marchesini, who joined the Department of Health and Human Services in 2010, has been serving in a number of capacities at ONC, including acting chief privacy officer and deputy director for privacy, where she led ONC\u2019s privacy team and helped with federal policy, guidance and education initiatives addressing emerging health IT privacy and security-related issues.

The chief privacy officer at ONC is charged with, among other activities, ensuring that privacy and security standards are addressed in a consistent manner to better protect private health data, as well as advising the national coordinator for health information technology on electronic health information privacy and security policies.

National Coordinator for HIT Donald Rucker, MD, sent an email to ONC staff on Wednesday informing them of Marchesini\u2019s selection for the position.

\u201cKathryn is a well-respected expert on the HIPAA rules from both the government and public sectors,\u201d Rucker wrote. \u201cShe brings to her new role a wealth of experience as a senior advisor and deputy director for privacy at ONC where she advised staff and stakeholders about privacy and security implications surrounding electronic health information, technology and health research. Most recently she has worked with the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies to provide strategic direction and substantive expertise at the intersection of privacy and security law, technology and healthcare.\u201d

On Wednesday, Marchesini said ONC has a \u201claser focus\u201d in its priorities, particularly as the agency looks to implement provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act.

\u201cWe will zone in on some of the areas we\u2019ve been looking long and hard at,\u201d said Marchesini, including seeking to \u201ccontinue to address uncertainties around the overall interplay of privacy and security of identifiable health information with respect to access, purposes and various stakeholder uses of that.\u201d

Marchesini added that in her role as chief privacy officer she will encourage ONC to \u201ccontinue inspiring confidence in health IT, electronic health information exchange, as the healthcare infrastructure evolves.\u201d

Last year, ONC had announced its intention to eliminate the Office of the Chief Privacy Officer in 2018 because of shifting priorities and an attempt to become a leaner and more accountable agency. At the time, Rucker said there was no need for a dedicated office for privacy and security in ONC given that HHS \u201calready on some level\u201d had those capabilities in the Office for Civil Rights.

However, in a policy reversal, ONC changed course with the Marchesini selection and decided to retain the position.

\u201cThe leadership in the Administration took another look at the requirements, the work that we were doing with OCR, and what we\u2019re doing to achieve interoperability and usability\u2014and privacy and security are still important pieces within that, and felt that it would be important to fill the position that\u2019s statutorily required of the chief privacy officer,\u201d said an ONC spokesperson explaining the reversal.

Also See<\/b>: ONC to eliminate Office of the Chief Privacy Officer in FY18<\/a>

Lucia Savage previously served as ONC\u2019s chief privacy officer in the Obama administration. She left the position in January 2017 to join digital behavioral medicine vendor Omada Health as its chief privacy and regulatory officer.

\u201cKathryn has many years\u2019 experience in the Office of the Chief Privacy Officer and knows HIPAA thoroughly,\u201d said Savage in a written statement. \u201cI am sure she will serve the National Coordinator well.\u201d

Deven McGraw, who served as the agency\u2019s acting chief privacy officer and left HHS in October to join startup Ciitizen as its chief regulatory officer, was similarly positive about Marchesini being named to the position.

\u201cI think this is a terrific pick,\u201d said McGraw, who in addition to her ONC duties had previously served as former deputy director of health information privacy at OCR. \u201cKathryn has deep experience in privacy and security, and close relationships with staff at both ONC and OCR, which will help assure the important coordination between those two offices.\u201d

HIPAA is enforced by the OCR to provide nationwide privacy, security and breach notifications for health information accessed, used, disclosed or held by covered entities and their business associates. \u201cKey components of the (chief privacy officer\u2019s) work involves changing the industry\u2019s understanding of HIPAA by showing how HIPAA and other privacy rules support rather than impede information flow in an electronic environment; developing and supporting approaches that assure, information shared electronically is kept secure,\u201d according to ONC\u2019s FY18 budget justification.

McGraw added that OCR \u201chas all of the authority to enforce privacy and security regulation but ONC plays an important role in working with stakeholders to understand their privacy and security issues and needs\u2014for example, what questions do they have about how to comply with HIPAA that create potential obstacles to interoperability\u201d and \u201chaving someone in this position that can work closely with both offices is key and Kathryn has worked in both places and has the deep respect of both offices.\u201d","saveContent":"The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has named Kathryn Marchesini to serve as ONC\u2019s chief privacy officer.

Marchesini, who joined the Department of Health and Human Services in 2010, has been serving in a number of capacities at ONC, including acting chief privacy officer and deputy director for privacy, where she led ONC\u2019s privacy team and helped with federal policy, guidance and education initiatives addressing emerging health IT privacy and security-related issues.

The chief privacy officer at ONC is charged with, among other activities, ensuring that privacy and security standards are addressed in a consistent manner to better protect private health data, as well as advising the national coordinator for health information technology on electronic health information privacy and security policies.

National Coordinator for HIT Donald Rucker, MD, sent an email to ONC staff on Wednesday informing them of Marchesini\u2019s selection for the position.

\u201cKathryn is a well-respected expert on the HIPAA rules from both the government and public sectors,\u201d Rucker wrote. \u201cShe brings to her new role a wealth of experience as a senior advisor and deputy director for privacy at ONC where she advised staff and stakeholders about privacy and security implications surrounding electronic health information, technology and health research. Most recently she has worked with the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies to provide strategic direction and substantive expertise at the intersection of privacy and security law, technology and healthcare.\u201d

On Wednesday, Marchesini said ONC has a \u201claser focus\u201d in its priorities, particularly as the agency looks to implement provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act.

\u201cWe will zone in on some of the areas we\u2019ve been looking long and hard at,\u201d said Marchesini, including seeking to \u201ccontinue to address uncertainties around the overall interplay of privacy and security of identifiable health information with respect to access, purposes and various stakeholder uses of that.\u201d

Marchesini added that in her role as chief privacy officer she will encourage ONC to \u201ccontinue inspiring confidence in health IT, electronic health information exchange, as the healthcare infrastructure evolves.\u201d

Last year, ONC had announced its intention to eliminate the Office of the Chief Privacy Officer in 2018 because of shifting priorities and an attempt to become a leaner and more accountable agency. At the time, Rucker said there was no need for a dedicated office for privacy and security in ONC given that HHS \u201calready on some level\u201d had those capabilities in the Office for Civil Rights.

However, in a policy reversal, ONC changed course with the Marchesini selection and decided to retain the position.

\u201cThe leadership in the Administration took another look at the requirements, the work that we were doing with OCR, and what we\u2019re doing to achieve interoperability and usability\u2014and privacy and security are still important pieces within that, and felt that it would be important to fill the position that\u2019s statutorily required of the chief privacy officer,\u201d said an ONC spokesperson explaining the reversal.

Also See<\/b>: ONC to eliminate Office of the Chief Privacy Officer in FY18<\/a>

Lucia Savage previously served as ONC\u2019s chief privacy officer in the Obama administration. She left the position in January 2017 to join digital behavioral medicine vendor Omada Health as its chief privacy and regulatory officer.

\u201cKathryn has many years\u2019 experience in the Office of the Chief Privacy Officer and knows HIPAA thoroughly,\u201d said Savage in a written statement. \u201cI am sure she will serve the National Coordinator well.\u201d

Deven McGraw, who served as the agency\u2019s acting chief privacy officer and left HHS in October to join startup Ciitizen as its chief regulatory officer, was similarly positive about Marchesini being named to the position.

\u201cI think this is a terrific pick,\u201d said McGraw, who in addition to her ONC duties had previously served as former deputy director of health information privacy at OCR. \u201cKathryn has deep experience in privacy and security, and close relationships with staff at both ONC and OCR, which will help assure the important coordination between those two offices.\u201d

HIPAA is enforced by the OCR to provide nationwide privacy, security and breach notifications for health information accessed, used, disclosed or held by covered entities and their business associates. \u201cKey components of the (chief privacy officer\u2019s) work involves changing the industry\u2019s understanding of HIPAA by showing how HIPAA and other privacy rules support rather than impede information flow in an electronic environment; developing and supporting approaches that assure, information shared electronically is kept secure,\u201d according to ONC\u2019s FY18 budget justification.

McGraw added that OCR \u201chas all of the authority to enforce privacy and security regulation but ONC plays an important role in working with stakeholders to understand their privacy and security issues and needs\u2014for example, what questions do they have about how to comply with HIPAA that create potential obstacles to interoperability\u201d and \u201chaving someone in this position that can work closely with both offices is key and Kathryn has worked in both places and has the deep respect of both offices.\u201d","order":0,"get_parent":{},"attributes":[],"attributesType":{"content":{"type":"string","source":"raw"},"lock":{"type":"object"}},"dynamicContent":""}]

ONC picks Marchesini to be chief privacy officer

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