Sec. 201. PREVENTION OF UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO MEDICAL RECORDS OF EMPLOYEES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

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## SEC. 201 PREVENTION OF UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO MEDICAL RECORDS OF EMPLOYEES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS ###

(a)Development of Plan ####

(1)In general Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall— #####

(A)develop a plan to prevent access to the medical records of employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs by employees of the Department who are not authorized to access such records; #####

(B)submit to the appropriate committees of Congress the plan developed under subparagraph (A); and #####

(C)upon request, provide a briefing to the appropriate committees of Congress with respect to the plan developed under subparagraph (A). ####

(2)Elements The plan required under paragraph

(1)shall include the following: #####

(A)A detailed assessment of strategic goals of the Department for the prevention of unauthorized access to the medical records of employees of the Department. #####

(B)A list of circumstances in which an employee of the Department who is not a health care provider or an assistant to a health care provider would be authorized to access the medical records of another employee of the Department. #####

(C)Steps that the Secretary will take to acquire new or implement existing technology to prevent an employee of the Department from accessing the medical records of another employee of the Department without a specific need to access such records. #####

(D)Steps the Secretary will take, including plans to issue new regulations, as necessary, to ensure that an employee of the Department may not access the medical records of another employee of the Department for the purpose of retrieving demographic information if that demographic information is available to the employee in another location or through another format. #####

(E)A proposed timetable for the implementation of such plan. #####

(F)An estimate of the costs associated with implementing such plan. ###

(b)Appropriate Committees of Congress Defined In this section, the term “**appropriate committees of Congress**” means— ####

(1)the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate; and ####

(2)the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives.