The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the US Department of Health and Human Services administers and enforces the health information Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules, issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, otherwise known as HIPAA, and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. In doing so, we play an important role in ensuring that individuals' health information remains private and secure, and that individuals have rights to their health information.