HHS has reorganized the Office for Civil Rights, shifting the office back to a program-based model with three distinct subdivisions: the conscience and religious freedom division, the civil rights division and the health information privacy, data and cybersecurity division.
"This reorganization restores the HHS Civil Rights Division and the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division and strengthens the Office for Civil Rights' ability to defend religious liberty, enforce conscience protections, and combat unlawful discrimination," HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said in the announcement.
HHS first established the conscience and religious freedom division in 2018, but it was dissolved in 2023 under the Biden administration.
HHS asserted that the new structure would improve OCR's effectiveness to "advance the protection of conscience rights, address race-based discrimination in a color-blind manner, eradicate antisemitism and anti-Christian bias, and restore biological truth."
HHS got ahead of speculation about OCR's resources by noting that the reorganization "is not expected to result in reduction of OCR's workforce."
OCR's enforcement division will continue to handle the intake and processing of complaints and the review of healthcare data breaches, the announcement stated.
"This reorganization reinstitutes a structure that rightly prioritizes civil rights and conscience and religious freedom alongside health information privacy and security," said OCR Director Paula M. Stannard.
"All three areas are deserving of subject-matter expertise and distinct senior executive leadership for OCR to best serve the American people."
More information about the restructuring will be published in the Federal Register next month.
Meanwhile, health data security and privacy experts are awaiting news on potential updates to the HIPAA Security Rule that could result in more stringent security controls for the sector.
Jill Hughes has covered health tech news since 2021. Her coverage areas include cybersecurity, HIPAA compliance, interoperability, AI and EHRs.
