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Office for Civil Rights

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR), under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is responsible for enforcing confidentiality protections of the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (Patient Safety Act) and the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement final rule (Patient Safety Rule) concerning Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs). The Patient Safety Act and Patient Safety Rule provide two types of protections:

Confidentiality protections are key to voluntary reporting; breaches of these confidentiality provisions may result in civil money penalties (CMP).
Privilege protections are enforced by the judicial system; these provisions limit or forbid the use of protected information in criminal, civil, administrative, or other proceedings.

OCR is responsible for enforcing protections regarding patient safety work product (PSWP), which includes: patient-, provider- and reporter-identifying information that is collected, created, or used by PSOs for patient safety and quality activities. CMP may be imposed for knowing or reckless impermissible disclosures of PSWP.

Please go to OCR's Web site for information about: OCR's role, the confidentiality and privilege protections, the PSO enforcement program, or on how to file a complaint.