The Department of Health and Human Services has released an updated version of its web tool that works to provide details on breaches of health information.HHS said Tuesday the HIPAA Breach Reporting Tool now features optimized navigation for individuals who seek information on breaches as well as organizations that aim to report incidents.
HBRTÂ also offers access to information on the types of incidents that affect the healthcare industry or particular sectors, as well as how breaches were resolved following investigations conducted by HHS’ office for civil rights.
“HHS heard from the public that we needed to focus more on the most recent breaches and clarify when entities have taken action to resolve the issues that might have led to their breaches,” said HHS Secretary Tom Price.
HHS OCR initially launched HBRT in 2009 as mandated by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act.
The website publicly releases information on large breaches reported to OCR by entities covered under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
The upgraded HBRT includes functionality that highlights ongoing investigations and reported breaches within the last two years; an archive of older breaches; navigation to additional incident information; and advice for consumers.
