|
|
UNDERSTANDING YOUR HEALTH RECORD & INFORMATION
Each
time you visit a hospital, physician, or other healthcare provider, a
record of your visit is made. Typically, this record contains your
symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment and a plan
for future care or treatment.
This information often referred to as
your health or medical record, serves as a basis for planning your care
and treatment and serves as a means of communication among the many
health professionals who contribute to your care. Understanding what is
in your record and how your health information is used helps you to
ensure its accuracy, better understand who, what, when, where, and why
others may access your health information, and make more informed
decisions when authorizing disclosure to others.
YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION RIGHTS
Unless
otherwise required by law your health record is the physical property
of the healthcare practitioner or facility that compiled it; the
information belongs to you. You have the right to request a restriction
on certain uses and disclosures of your information, and request
amendments to your health record. This includes the right to obtain a
paper copy of the notice of information practices upon request,
inspect, and obtain a copy of your health record. You may obtain an
accounting of disclosures of your health information, request
communications of your health information by alternative means or at
alternative locations, revoke your authorization to use or disclose
health information except to the extent that action has already been
taken.
OUR RESPONSIBILITIES
This organization is
required t maintain the privacy of your health information, and in
addition, provide you with a notice as to our legal duties and privacy
practices with respect to information we collect and maintain about
you. This organization must abide by the terms of this notice, notify
you if we are unable to agree to a requested restriction, accommodate
reasonable requests you may have to communicate health information by
alternative means or at alternative locations. We reserve the right to
change our practices and to make the new provisions effective for all
protected health information we maintain. Should your information
practices change, we will mail a revised notice to the address you have
provided. If we maintain a Web site that provides information about our
customer services or benefits we will post our new notice on that Web
site. We will not use or disclose your health information without your
authorization, except as described in this notice.
Examples of Disclosures for Treatment, Payment, and Health Operation
We
will use your health information for treatment. For example:
Information obtained by a healthcare practitioner will be recorder in
your record and used to determine the course of treatment that should
work best for your. By way of example, your physician will document in
your record their expectations of the members of your healthcare team.
Members of your healthcare team will then record the actions they took
and their observations (example varies by practitioner type). We will
also provide your other practitioners with copies of various reports
that should assist them in treating you.
We will use your
health information for payment. For example: A bill may be sent to you
or a third-party payer. The information on or accompanying the bill may
include information that identifies you, as well as your diagnosis,
procedures, and supplied used.
We will use your health
information for regular health operations. For example: Members of the
medical staff, the risk or quality improvement manager, or members of
the quality improvement team my use information in your record to
assess the care and outcomes in your case and others like it. This
information will then be used in an effort to continually improve the
quality and effectiveness of the healthcare and service we provide.
Business Associates
There may be some services provide in our
organization through contracts with Business Associates. Examples
include physician services in the emergency department and radiology,
certain laboratory tests, and a copy service we use when making copies
of your health record. When these services are contracted, we may
disclose some or all of your health information to Our Business
Associate so that they can perform the jobe weve asked them to do. To
protect your health information, however, we require the Business
Associate to appropriately safeguard your information.
Directory
(inpatient settings) Unless you notify us that you
object, we will use your name, location in the facility, general
condition, and religious affiliation for directory purposes. This
information may be provided to member of the clergy and, except for
religious affiliation, to other people who ask for you by name.
Notification
We may use or disclose information to notify or
assist in notifying a family member, personal representative, or
another person responsible for your care, your location, and general
condition.
Communication with family
Health
professionals, using their best judgment, may disclose to a family
member, other relatives, close personal friends or any other person you
identify, health information relevant to that persons involvement in
your care or payment related to your care.
Research
(inpatient) We may disclose information to researchers
when an institutional review board, that has reviewed the research
proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your health
information, has approved their research.
|
Funeral
directors We may disclose health information to funeral directors
consistent with applicable law to carry out their duties.
Organ procurement organizations:
Consistent with applicable law, we may
disclose health information to organ procurement organizations or other
entities engaged in the procurement, banking, or transplantation or
organs for the purpose of tissue donation and transplant.
Marketing
We may contact you to provide appointment reminders
or information about treatment alternatives or other health-related
benefits and services that may be of interest to you.
Fund raising
We may contact you as part of a fundraising effort.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
As required by law, we may
disclose to the FDA health information relative to adverse events with
respect to food, supplements, product and product defects, or post
marketing surveillance information to enable product recalls, repairs
or replacement.
Workers compensation
We may disclose
health information to the extent authorized by and to the extent
necessary to comply with laws relating to workers compensation or other
similar programs established by law.
Public health
As
required by law, we may disclose your health information to public or
legal authorities charges with tracking births and deaths, as well as
with preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability.
Correctional institution
Should you b an inmate of a
correctional institution, we may disclose to the institution or agents
thereof health information necessary for your health and the health and
safety of other individuals. An inmate does not have the right to the
Notice of Privacy Practices.\
Law enforcement
We may
disclose health information for law enforcement purposes as required by
law or in response to a valid subpoena. Federal law makes provision for
your health information to be released to an appropriate health
oversight agency, public health authority or attorney, provided that a
work force member or business associate believes in good faith that we
have engaged in unlawful conduct or have otherwise violated
professional or clinical standards and are potentially endangering one
or more patients, workers or the public.
Notice or
Privacy availability
This notice will be prominently posted in the
office where registration occurs and patients will b provided with a
hard copy.
Effective Date
This notice will be effective from April 14, 2003.
Modification & Amendmen
This notice may be modified or
amended by other documents, upon notification from your healthcare
provider. |
| |
|
