Last week, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) added a new data section on its Compliance and Enforcement Web Site.  The new section can be viewed at www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/enforcement/data.html.  The public can now access enhanced information about several aspects of OCR’s enforcement program, including:

  • Charts showing state-specific case investigation results;
  • Calendar-year enforcement-results graphs and charts;
  • Calendar-year graph showing complaint receipts; and
  • Yearly variation in the issues in cases resolved through corrective action.

Below is a chart posted on OCR’s new data section illustrating enforcement results for New Jersey:

pie chart showing enforcement results for New Jersey: No Violation: 13%. Corrective Action Obtained: 20%. Resolved after Intake and Review: 67%.

 Another interesting chart lists the top five types of complaints for each of the last 5 years.  It is worth noting that between 2003-2007, the top 4 types of complaints were exactly the same, in the following order: 

  • #1 – Impermissible Uses and Disclosures
  • #2 – Safeguards
  • #3 – Access
  • #4 – Minimum Necessary

The last spot has changed from 2003 through 2007, with last year’s number 5 spot being taken by "Notice" issues.