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Joy Pritts

Portrait of Joy Pritts

Joy Pritts joined the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in February 2010 as Chief Privacy Officer. Ms. Pritts provides critical advice to the Secretary and the National Coordinator in developing and implementing ONC’s HITECH privacy and security programs.

Prior to joining ONC, Ms. Pritts was on the faculty at Georgetown University where she held a joint appointment as a Senior Scholar with the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and as a Research Associate Professor with the Health Policy Institute. Her work has focused on the critical issues surrounding the privacy of health information and patient access to medical records at both the federal and state levels. She has written extensively on such topics as the HIPAA Privacy Rule, federal alcohol and substance abuse confidentiality laws, and the confidentiality of health information in research. She has worked closely with national consumer organizations and federal policymakers on ensuring the protection of health information. Ms. Pritts has most recently participated in a number of federal HIT initiatives including serving on the Technical Advisory Panel for the multi-state Health Information Security and Privacy Collaborative (HISPC) and as a board member of the National Governors Association’s State Alliance for e-Health.

Ms. Pritts holds a law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College.

Joy Pritts's Latest Blog Posts

ONC launches new challenge to create online notice of privacy practices

Joy Pritts | February 10, 2014

Thanks to the HIPAA Privacy Rule patients have the right to be informed of their rights with respect to their protected health information as well as how their health care providers and health plans may use and disclose such information.  Health plans and health care providers are required to develop and distribute a written notice that provides a clear, user-friendly explanation of these rights and practices. These are known as Notices of Privacy Practices (NPP) and may be on paper or online.

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HHS Mobile Devices Roundtable: Health Care Delivery Experts Discuss Clinicians’ Use of and Privacy & Security Good Practices for mHealth

Joy Pritts | April 4, 2012

Clinicians are increasingly finding mobile devices such as tablets, laptops, smart phones and PDAs useful in health care delivery due to their speed, convenience, and flexibility. But as the health care industry rapidly adopts these mobile devices, there is a growing concern about the potential privacy and security vulnerabilities that are cropping up in the process. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology  (ONC) is striving to better understand this evolving marketplace, particularly from a privacy and security perspective,

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Health Information Security Viewpoint from HIMSS 2012: We’re in This Together

Joy Pritts | March 14, 2012

Patient privacy is everyone’s responsibility, and we all play a role in maintaining health information security. Those were the key takeaways from the Office of the Chief Privacy Officer’s (OCPO) Education Session on Privacy and Security. We interviewed Amy Wang, the Director of Information Services & Operational Effectiveness and the Information Security Officer, part of the Henry Ford Health System, to see how one hospital has been able to create a culture of privacy and security.

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ONC Launches Data Segmentation Initiative

Joy Pritts | September 19, 2011

ONC is pleased to announce the launch of the Data Segmentation Initiative (DSI) on October 5, 2011. The Initiative will build on the vision of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), which recommended the development of metadata tags to be used for exchanging data across organizational structures while maintaining the privacy and security of the information.

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