HIPPA Prohibits Retaliation Office for Civil Rights US Department of Health and Human Services

The Witness List

Office for Civil Rights

US Department of Health and Human Services

How to File a Health Information Privacy or Security Complaint

Complaint Requirements

Anyone can file a health information privacy or security complaint. Your complaint must:

Be filed in writing by mail, fax, e-mail, or via the OCR Complaint Portal

Name the covered entity or business associate involved, and describe the acts or omissions, you believed violated the requirements of the Privacy, Security, or Breach Notification Rules

Be filed within 180 days of when you knew that the act or omission complained of occurred. OCR may extend the 180-day period if you can show "good cause"

HIPAA Prohibits Retaliation

Under HIPAA an entity cannot retaliate against you for filing a complaint. You should notify OCR immediately in the event of any retaliatory action.

Pete Bennett in the ER for the umpteenth time.

Bennett, Pete

Employer: Self Contract Seeking Work

Once again Pete Bennett struggling with yet another medical incident during the never ending investigation. Not sure when but a typical repeated event in between the regular beatings.

How to File a Health Information Privacy or Security Complaint

Complaint Requirements

Anyone can file a health information privacy or security complaint. Your complaint must:

• Be filed in writing by mail, fax, e-mail, or via the OCR Complaint Portal
• Name the covered entity or business associate involved, and describe the acts or omissions, you believed violated the requirements of the Privacy, Security, or Breach Notification Rules
• Be filed within 180 days of when you knew that the act or omission complained of occurred. OCR may extend the 180-day period if you can show "good cause"

HIPAA Prohibits Retaliation

Under HIPAA an entity cannot retaliate against you for filing a complaint. You should notify OCR immediately in the event of any retaliatory action.

File a Health Information Privacy Complaint Online 

Open the OCR Complaint Portal and select the type of complaint you would like to file. Complete as much information as possible, including:

• Information about you, the complainant
• Details of the complaint
• Any additional information that might help OCR when reviewing your complaint

You will then need to electronically sign the complaint and complete the consent form. After completing the consent form you will be able to print out a copy of your complaint to keep for your records

File a Health Information Privacy Complaint in Writing

File a Complaint Using the Health Information Privacy Complaint Form Package

Open and fill out the Health Information Privacy Complaint Form Package - PDF in PDF format. You will need Adobe Reader software to fill out the complaint and consent forms. You may either: 

• Print and mail the completed complaint and consent forms to:
  Centralized Case Management Operations
  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
  Room 509F HHH Bldg.
  Washington, D.C. 20201
• Email the completed complaint and consent forms to OCRComplaint@hhs.gov (Please note that communication by unencrypted email presents a risk that personally identifiable information contained in such an email, may be intercepted by unauthorized third parties)

File A Complaint Without Using Our Health Information Privacy Complaint Package

If you prefer, you may submit a written complaint in your own format by either:

• Print and mail the completed complaint and consent forms to:
  Centralized Case Management Operations
  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
  Room 509F HHH Bldg.
  Washington, D.C. 20201
• Email to OCRComplaint@hhs.gov

Be sure to include:

• Your name
• Full address
• Telephone numbers (include area code)
• E-mail address (if available)
• Name, full address and telephone number of the person, agency, or organization you believe violated your (or someone else’s) health information privacy rights or committed another violation of the Privacy or Security Rule
• Brief description of what happened. How, why, and when do you believe your (or someone else’s) health information privacy rights were violated, or how the Privacy or Security Rule otherwise was violated
• Any other relevant information
• Your signature and date of complaint

If you are filing a complaint on someone’s behalf, also provide the name of the person on whose behalf you are filing.

You may also include:

• If you need special accommodations for us to communicate with you about this complaint
• Contact information for someone who can help us reach you if we cannot reach you directly
• If you have filed your complaint somewhere else and where you’ve filed

File a Security Rule Complaint 

You may file a Security Rule complaint electronically via the OCR Complaint Portal, or using our Health Information Privacy Complaint Package - PDF.

If you mail or fax the complaint, be sure to send it to the appropriate OCR regional office based on where the alleged violation took place. OCR has ten regional offices, and each regional office covers specific states. Send your complaint to the attention of the OCR Regional Manager. You do not need to sign the complaint and consent forms when you submit them by e-mail because submission by e-mail represents your signature.

Before You File a Complaint

Don’t waste time filing a complaint we can’t investigate. Review these questions before filing a health information privacy or security complaint with OCR:

Are you filing a complaint against an entity that is required by law to comply with the Privacy and Security Rules? 

Not all entities are required to comply with the Privacy and Security Rules. OCR can only investigate the covered entities that must comply with these rules. Covered entities include most:

• Doctors
• Clinics
• Hospitals
• Psychologists
• Chiropractors
• Nursing Homes
• Pharmacies
• Dentists
• Health Insurance Companies
• Company Health Plans
• Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs that pay for health care

Does your complaint describe an activity that might violate the Privacy or Security Rule?

If you are not sure, go ahead and file your complaint. But, OCR can only investigate complaints that allege an action or omission that fails to comply with the Privacy or Security Rules. For example, a doctor can send your medical test results to another doctor without your permission if the doctor needs the information to treat you; this is not a violation of the Privacy Rule, so we would not investigate a complaint that described this situation.

Did the activity occur after the Privacy and Security Rules took effect?

OCR cannot investigate Privacy Rule complaints that occurred before April 14, 2003 because compliance with the Privacy Rule was not required until that date. Similarly, OCR cannot investigate Security Rule complaints that occurred before April 20, 2005.

Are you willing to give OCR your name and contact information?

OCR does not investigate complaints filed without a name and contact information on the complaint. If you want OCR to keep your name and contact information confidential during the investigation, you may specify that on the consent form.

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Case FLMSD08-00167 - SUSAN KENNEDY VS. FRANK HOWARD

Susan Kennedy and Susan Polk

Contra Costa County Jail 

           

During the trial of Susan Polk her cellmate was Susan Kennedy. Ms. Kennedy was a resident of Danville, graduated from San Ramon High School connected to the Frank/Fred Howard known around twins as the Howard Brothers.  

Pete Bennett knew Susan like many others via performing or singing at local clubs. We reconnected years later having coffee in downtown Walnut Creek. She was nice and polite, our conversation short.  

The picture taken with her phone near Locust Starbucks but came via Frank Howard who each suffered devastating back-to-back fires with houses they inherited.  Then they ended up in Probate with Judge Persky.  

According to the Contra Costa Coroner she was stabbed to death with 21 punctures in her Concord apartment. Her father is Bill Kennedy former President of Bay Alarm.  Raised in Danville.  

Another deadwitness connected to the high profile murder of Pamela Vitale  

Case FLMSD08-00167 - SUSAN KENNEDY VS. FRANK HOWARD


Case FLMSD08-00167 - Complaints/Parties

Complaint Number: 1 Complaint Type: Domestic Violence Without Children Filing Date: 01/25/2008 Complaint Status: ACTIVE
Party Number	Party Type	Party Name	Attorney	Party Status
1	PROTECTED PERSON/PETITIONER	SUSAN KENNEDY	Pro Per
2	RESTRAINED PERSON/RESPONDENT	FRANK HOWARD	Unrepresented	Serve Required (WaitS)

Case FLMSD08-00167 - Actions/Minutes

Viewed	Date	Action Text	Disposition	Image
	03/07/2008 9:30 AM DEPT. 54	HEARING ON F/L OSC/TRO RE: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FILED BY SUSAN KENNEDY	OFF-CALENDAR
Minutes     You are Not Authorized to View Minutes prior to 12/31/2099
	02/15/2008	F/L APPLICATION AND ORDER FOR REISSUANCE OF ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FILED BY SUSAN KENNEDY	Not Applicable
	02/15/2008 9:30 AM DEPT. 54	HEARING ON F/L OSC/TRO RE: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FILED BY SUSAN KENNEDY	NOT HEARD/CONT
Minutes     You are Not Authorized to View Minutes prior to 12/31/2099
	01/25/2008	HEARING ON OSC/TRO D.V. WAS SET FOR 2/15/08 AT 9:30 IN DEPT. 54
	01/25/2008	CASE ENTRY COMPLETED	Not Applicable
	01/25/2008	COLOR OF FILE (FAMILY LAW): GREY	Not Applicable
	01/25/2008	REQUEST FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE RESTRAINING ORDERS FILED	Not Applicable

Case FLMSD08-00167 - Pending Hearings

Date	Action Text	Disposition	Image
This Case Does Not Have Any Pending Hearings

Howard PER0001_Howard_Fredrick PER0001 PER0003_Kennedy_Susan PER0003 Kennedy Susan

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C.I.A. Director Goss Resigns

The is the same CIA agent known to me since 1974 that works with General Petraous during Iraqi Freedom. 

One person to note is Commander George Driscoll (Walnut Creek, LLHS) of the Contra Costa DA's offices was located in Iraq in control of the CIA detention centers located throughout the region.  One highly dubious connection is Spc James Coon (Walnut Creek, LLHS) was killed during August 2007 in Balad, Iraq.

C.I.A. Director Goss Resigns

By DAVID STOUT MAY 5, 2006
WASHINGTON, May 5 — Porter J. Goss abruptly resigned today as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, a post that had been diminished in the restructuring of the intelligence bureaucracy after the Sept. 11 attacks.
With Mr. Goss sitting next to him in the Oval Office, President Bush said the director had offered his resignation this morning. "I've accepted it," Mr. Bush said, praising the retiring director for his "candid advice" and his integrity.
The president said Mr. Goss had led the C.I.A. "ably" through a period of transition, and that he had "helped make this country a safer place." Mr. Bush did not mention a successor, but The Associated Press reported that a senior administration official said one could be chosen as soon as Monday.
Mr. Goss said it had been "a very distinct honor and privilege" to lead the C.I.A. "I would like to report to you that the agency is back on a very even keel and sailing well," Mr. Goss said. He did not explain his decision, and both he and Mr. Bush ignored questions after making their statements.
But it was no secret in Washington that Mr. Goss and John D. Negroponte, the director of national intelligence whose position came into existence as the result of the Sept. 11 attacks, had engaged in turf battles. Mr. Negroponte was at the Oval Office announcement, but said nothing.
Mr. Goss's time with the C.I.A. was marked by the departure of many long-time agency officials, some of whom complained that he had been overly political in his approach to his job. Mr. Goss sometimes appeared uncomfortable in the office, as when he remarked in early 2005 that the workload was heavy and he sometimes felt pulled in different directions.
Photo


President Bush and Porter Goss in the Oval Office. CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times
Mr. Goss's departure comes as the president and his top aides are trying to reinvigorate an administration whose public support has sagged in recent public opinion surveys. The new White House chief of staff, Joshua Bolten, has already announced some changes and has said that more are on the way. And he pointedly invited people who were thinking of leaving the administration by the end of the year to step down a lot sooner.
Mr. Goss, a former Republican Congressman from Florida who headed the House Intelligence Committee and was once a C.I.A. officer, became director in September 2004, succeeding George J. Tenet. His tenure was, as Mr. Bush said, a time of transition _ and undeniably a painful one.
The C.I.A., whose prestige had suffered from intelligence failures on terrorism and Iraq before Mr. Goss arrived, was further reduced in power and official stature by the reorganization of intelligence-gathering that followed the post-mortems over the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
The independent bipartisan commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks recommended the creation of a new post, national intelligence director, that would have supreme power over the C.I.A., the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies in the far-flung intelligence bureaucracy.
Congress accepted that recommendation, creating the new post, which is now filled by Mr. Negroponte, former ambassador to the United Nations and Iraq. He displaced the C.I.A. director as the president's principal intelligence adviser and took what had been Mr. Goss's seat at meetings of the president's key national security aides.
When he took over the C.I.A. in September 2004, Mr. Goss vowed to work hard at "breaking some molds" and getting "more and more of our officers out of Washington." The C.I.A. and the F.B.I. were both criticized by the 9/11 commission.
Mr. Bush said today that Mr. Goss had "instilled a sense of professionalism" at the C.I.A. "He honors the proud history of the C.I.A., an organization that is known for secrecy and accountability," Mr. Bush said.
But Senator Pat Roberts, the Kansas Republican who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, issued a somewhat tepid statement. The senator praised Mr. Goss for his service and acknowledged that he had taken over at a difficult time. "Porter made some significant improvements at the C.I.A.," Mr. Roberts said, "but I think even he would say they still have some way to go."

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Longtime East Bay politician allegedly spent campaign funds on Hawaii remodel

Longtime East Bay politician allegedly spent campaign funds on Hawaii remodel

Alexei Koseff Nov. 8, 2019 Updated: Nov. 8, 2019 9:57 p.m.

SACRAMENTO — A longtime Contra Costa County politician who resigned suddenly last week as county clerk-recorder has agreed to pay a $150,000 fine after California’s campaign ethics watchdog found that he spent political contributions on personal trips and remodeling a vacation home in Hawaii.

The Fair Political Practices Commission said Friday that its enforcement staff reached a settlement with Joe Canciamilla on 30 counts of campaign finance violations , including personal use of $130,529 in campaign funds from 2011 to 2015 and falsifying state filings to cover up the spending. Each count carries a maximum $5,000 penalty.

Canciamilla took “full responsibility for this situation, is humbled and embarrassed, and hopes the FPPC fines won’t severely overshadow his 46 years of public service to the residents of Contra Costa County,” his attorney said in a statement.

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“Mr. Canciamilla has cooperated with the FPPC, has paid back all disputed amounts, and all fines listed in the proposed stipulation have been paid in full,” said the attorney, Andy Rockas.

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The commission is scheduled to vote Nov. 21 on whether to formally approve the settlement, which called for Canciamilla to pay half of the fine personally and half from campaign funds.

The commission also referred the matter to the county district attorney’s office, which is conducting a review and could bring criminal charges.

Canciamilla, 64, was the youngest public official in state history when he was elected to the Pittsburg school board at age 17. He later served on the Pittsburg City Council and Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors before winning the first of three terms in the state Assembly as a Democrat in 2000.

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Canciamilla opened a campaign account for a county judge seat in 2011 but ultimately did not run. He was appointed clerk-recorder in 2013 and won election to the office twice.

Starting in 2011, Canciamilla repeatedly mixed campaign contributions with his personal funds, an investigation by the Fair Political Practices Commission’s enforcement staff concluded.

In 2011, Canciamilla transferred $70,000 from his judicial race committee to a personal checking account, which he then tapped to open a money market account for that committee. That money was later transferred back to the checking account and used for personal purposes, the enforcement division said.

Canciamilla spent more than $36,000 from his clerk-recorder campaign committee in 2014 for a vacation to Asia, the probe found. The following year, he allegedly spent another $5,900 on airfare to London and Washington, D.C., for himself and his wife, a trip that was later canceled.

Three additional disbursements for personal purposes totaled more than $19,000 from 2011 to 2014. Canciamilla spent an undisclosed sum on credit card charges related to the remodel of a home that he owned in Hawaii, the enforcement staff c said.

Canciamilla allegedly excluded these payments from required campaign filings and regularly overstated his cash on hand to conceal the improper spending. The alleged violations were discovered through an audit of the filings by the Franchise Tax Board, by which time Canciamilla had partially reimbursed his clerk-recorder committee about $43,000.

Canciamilla won re-election as clerk-recorder in 2018 but abruptly resigned last week. He told the East Bay Times he had “decided that now was a good time to leave” because the office was in good shape and “sometimes life just happens.”

His attorney said Friday that Canciamilla resigned “so as to not bring undue hardship to the office while this matter is being resolved.”

County Supervisor Karen Mitchoff said rumors swirled when Canciamilla submitted his resignation with only three days’ notice, but the alleged campaign finance violations surprised her.

“I’m really sad. Joe has been a really good public servant and he served with honor and distinction, and it’s really sad that his career ends in this way,” she said. “It reinforces the negative perception by some in the public that many elected officials can’t be trusted.”

The Board of Supervisors launched a search for a replacement.

It’s the second time in the past three years that a Contra Costa County official has left office early because of allegations of improper campaign spending. In June 2017, then-District Attorney Mark Peterson resigned as part of a plea deal with the state attorney general’s office over his use of $66,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses. He had been charged with 13 felonies and pleaded no contest to perjury.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Phil Matier contributed to this report.

Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff

Alexei Koseff

Follow Alexei on:

https://www.facebook.com/SFChronicle/akoseff

Alexei Koseff is a state Capitol reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle, covering Gov. Gavin Newsom and California government from Sacramento. He previously spent five years in the Capitol bureau of The Sacramento Bee, reporting on everything from international recruiting by the University of California to a ride service for state senators too drunk to drive. Alexei is a Bay Area native and attended Stanford University. He speaks fluent Spanish.

Past Articles from this Author:

• California DMV improperly shared Social Security info for thousands of people
• Gov. Gavin Newsom pushes PG&E, investors; says state takeover possible
• VA chief to Gavin Newsom: Do something about PG&E outages

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The Unarmed Constituent - Former CNN Guest being attacked again

I don't know perhaps this is a hate crime in reverse.  This guy carries a big potentially deadly kitchen knife.  

 

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