Simon Recognized for Service to HHS Special Exposure Cohort Administrative Review Panels
, by DCEG Staff
Dr. Steve Simon receives certificate from Admiral Giroir
In November 2018, Steven Simon, Ph.D., received the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary for Health’s Award for Superior Service for “contributions to four Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) Administrative Review Panels for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) of 2000.” The award was presented by Dr. Brett Giroir, Admiral, U.S. Public Health Service, Assistant Secretary for Health, HHS, at a recognition ceremony in the Hubert Humphrey Building.
Congress created the EEOICPA of 2000 to compensate workers in the atomic energy and nuclear weapons fields for the harms they suffered as a consequence of radiation or chemical exposure in the workplace. To implement the Act, HHS (through the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) carries out the SEC assessments used by the Department of Labor to determine medical benefits and compensation payments to the workers or to certain survivors, if applicable. In cases in which the HHS Secretary decides to deny adding a class of workers to the SEC, EEOICPA supporting regulations permit those workers to request Administrative Review of the case, a function carried out by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. Between 2010 and 2018, Dr. Simon served as an invited expert on four panels to review the Secretary’s decisions about exposure and compensation and chaired three of the panels.