NCHICA Academy

Verne leads OCR’s administration and enforcement for the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 in addition to various policy aspects of the HIPAA Rules. He also serves as the OCR representative to the HHS Privacy Incident Response Team. He has served in several key roles on OCR’s HIPAA Privacy team. Areas of work have involved outreach, enforcement, HIT, emergency preparedness, HIV/AIDS, and the HIPAA audit program. Prior to working for OCR, Verne served in the Medicare Contractor Management Group in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), where he assisted with development of a new Medicare Contractor Strategic Plan. He served as a member of the CMS Privacy Review Board. Verne began his career in late 1999 as a Presidential Management Intern with CMS. Through the Presidential Management Intern program, he served in the HHS Office of the General Counsel and at the Office of Management and Budget. Verne received a J.D. from the University of Houston Law School, a M.P.H. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health, and an M.B.A from the University of Maryland Smith School of Business. He received a B.S. in Biochemistry and a B.A. in Science, Technology and Public Policy from North Carolina State University.