PLAINVIEW AREA HEALTH SYSTEM
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION
ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND
HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION.
PLEASE REVIEW IT
CAREFULLY.
If you have any questions or would like additional information about this notice or our Privacy Practices, please contact the Privacy Officer, at (402) 582-4245.
This notice describes the privacy practices of Plainview Area Health System entities including:
· Any health care professional authorized to enter information into your medical record.
· All departments of Plainview Area Health System.
· All Plainview Area Health System’s Home Healthcare services.
· Plainview Area Health System’s medical clinic and medical clinic staff.
· Plainview Area Health System’s Outreach Department.
· All the above-identified entities, sites and locations will follow the terms of this notice. In addition, these entities, sites and locations may share medical information with each other for treatment, payment or hospital operations as described in this notice.
We understand that medical information about your health is personal and we are committed to protecting that medical information. We create a record of the care and services you receive as needed to provide you with quality care and to comply with legal requirements. This notice applies to all of the records of your care, whether generated by hospital, home care, medical clinic or outreach.
This privacy practice notice will tell you about the ways in which we may use and disclose medical information about you. It also describes your rights and certain obligations we have regarding the use and disclosure of your medical information.
We are required by law to:
· make sure that medical information that identifies you is kept private;
· give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to medical information about you; and
· follow the terms of the notice that is currently in effect.
HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
The following categories describe different ways we use and disclose medical information. For each category of uses and disclosures, we will explain what we mean and give some examples. Not every use or disclosure in a category will be listed. All of the ways we are permitted to use and disclose information will fall within one of the identified categories.
· For Treatment. We may disclose medical information about you to doctors, nurses, technicians, residents, medical students, or other personnel who are involved in taking care of you. For example, a doctor treating you for a broken leg may need to know if your
you have diabetes since diabetes may slow the healing process. In addition, the doctor may need to tell the dietitian if you have diabetes so we can arrange for appropriate meals. Different departments of the hospital, as well as the different entities, may also share medical information about you in order to coordinate the different things you need, such as prescriptions, lab work, x-rays and follow-up care. We may disclose medical information about you to people and entities outside Plainview Area Health System who may be involved in your ongoing medical care.
· For Payment. We may use and disclose medical information about you so that the treatment and services you receive may be billed to and payment may be collected from you, an insurance company or a third party. For example, we may need to give your plan information about a surgery you received so the health plan will pay us or reimburse you for the surgery. We may tell your health plan about a treatment you are going to receive to obtain prior approval or to determine whether your health plan will cover the treatment. We also may disclose medical information about you to entities outside Plainview Area Health System who may need this information to bill for services they provided you.
· For Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose medical information about you for Plainview Area Health System’s operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary to operate the entity and promote quality care. For example, we may use medical information to review our treatment and services and to evaluate the performance of our staff. We may also combine medical information about many patients to decide what additional services we should offer, what services are not needed, and whether certain new treatments are effective. We may disclose information to doctors, nurses, technicians, medical students and other personnel for review and learning purposes. We may disclose medical information about you to entities outside of Plainview Area Health System for certain healthcare operations as long as both entities have treated you. We may also combine the medical information we have with medical information from other hospitals to compare how we are doing and see where we can make improvements in care and services. We may remove information that identifies you from this set of medical information so that others may use it to study health care and health care delivery without learning patient specifics.
· Business Associates. We may disclose medical information to other persons or organizations, known as business associates, who provide services on our behalf under contract. To protect your medical information, we require our business associates to appropriately safeguard the information we disclose to them.
· Appointment Reminders. We may use and disclose medical information to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or medical care.
· Treatment Alternatives. We may use and disclose medical information to tell you about or recommend possible treatment options or alternatives of interest.
· Health-Related Benefits and Services. We may use and disclose medical information to tell you about health-related benefits or services of interest.
· Fundraising Activities. We may disclose medical information about you to our hospital related foundation so the foundation may contact you in raising money for hospital operations. We will only release contact information, such as your name, address and phone number and the dates you received treatment or services. If you do not want to be contacted for fundraising efforts, you must notify the Plainview Area Health System’s Foundation in writing.
· Hospital Directory. We may include certain limited information about you in the hospital directory while you are a patient. This information may include your name, and location in the hospital. The directory information may also be released to people who contact the hospital and ask for you by name. This is so your family, friends and clergy may visit you in the hospital.
· Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care. We may release medical information about you to a friend, family member or any other person identified by you as being involved in your medical care or who is involved in the payment of your care. We will only release this information if you agree to the disclosure, are given the opportunity to object to such a disclosure and do not, or if in our professional judgment it would be common practice that it is in your best interest to allow a person to act on your behalf as in the case of picking up a filled prescription or medical supplies. In addition, we may disclose medical information about you or your child to an entity assisting in a disaster relief effort so that your family can be notified about your condition, status and location.
· Under certain circumstances, we may use and disclose medical information about you for research purposes. For example, a research project may involve comparing the health and recovery of all patients who received one medication to those who received another for the same condition. All research projects, however, are subject to a specific approval process. This process evaluates a proposed research project and its use of medical information, trying to balance the research needs with patient’s need for privacy of their medical information. Before we use or disclose medical information for research, the project will have to be approved through our research approval process. We may disclose medical information about you to people preparing to conduct a research project, for example, to help them look for patients with specific medical needs, so long as the medical information they review does not leave the hospital. We will almost always ask your specific permission if the researcher will have access to your name, address or other information that reveals the identity of you, or will be involved in your care.
· As Required By Law. We will disclose medical information about your child when required to do so by federal, state or local law.
· To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety. We may use and disclose medical information about you when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person. Any disclosure would only be to someone able to help prevent the threat.
· Organ and Tissue Donation. If you are an organ donor, we may release medical information to organizations that handle organ procurement, organ, eye or tissue transplantation or to an organ donation bank, as necessary to facilitate organ and or tissue donation and transplantation.
· Workers’ Compensation. We may release medical information about you for workers’ compensation or similar programs that provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness.
· Public Health Activities. We may disclose medical information about you or your child for public health activities. These activities generally include the following:
· To prevent or control disease, injury or disability;
· To report births or deaths;
· To report reactions to medications or problems with products;
· To notify people of recalls of products they may by using;
· To notify a person who may have been exposed to a disease or may be at risk
for contacting or spreading a disease or condition;
· To notify the appropriate government authority if we suspect a patient has been
the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. We will make this disclosure
if you agree or when required or authorized by law.
· Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose medical information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law. Oversight activities that are necessary for the government to monitor the health care system, government programs and compliance with civil rights laws include audits, investigation and inspections.
· Lawsuits and Disputes. If you or your child is involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose medical information in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose medical information about you or your child in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.
· Law Enforcement. We may release medical information if asked to do so by a law enforcement official:
· Response to a court order, subpoena, warrant, summons or similar process;
· Identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person;
· Inquiries as to the victim of a crime if, under certain limited circumstances, we
are unable to obtain the person’s agreement;
· Inquiries as to a death we believe may be the result of criminal conduct;
· Inquiries as to criminal conduct at the hospital; and
· Emergency circumstances to report a crime; the location of the crime or
victims; or the identity, description or location of the person who committed
the crime.
· Coroner, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors. We may release medical information to a coroner or medical examiner, as necessary, for example, to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We may also release medical information about patients to funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties.
· National Security and Intelligence Activities. We may release medical information about you to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities authorized by law.
· Protective Services for the President and Others. We may disclose medical information about you to authorized federal officials so they may provide protection to the President, other authorized persons or foreign heads of state or to conduct special investigations.
· Inmates. We may release medical information about you to a correctional institution or law enforcement official if you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law enforcement official. This release would be necessary (1) for the institution to provide you with health care; (2) to protect your health and safety or the health and safety of others; or (3) for the safety and security of the correctional institution.
Other uses and disclosures of medical information not covered by this notice or the laws that apply to us will be made only with your authorization. If you provide us authorization to use or disclose medical information about you, you may revoke that authorization, in writing, at any time. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclose medical information for the reasons covered by your written authorization. You understand that we are unable to take back any disclosures we have already made with your authorization and that we are required to retain records of the care provided.
You have the following rights regarding medical information we maintain about you:
· Right to Inspect and Copy. You have the right to inspect and request a copy medical information that may be used to make decisions about your care. Usually, this includes medical and billing records. This does not include psychotherapy records.
You must submit your request to inspect and copy medical information that may be used to make decisions about you in writing to the Privacy Officer. If you request a copy of the information , we may charge a fee for the costs of copying, mailing or other supplies associated with your request.
We may deny your request to inspect and copy medical information in certain circumstances. If you are denied access to medical information, you may request that the denial be reviewed. A licensed health care professional chosen by Plainview Area Health System will review your request and the denial. The person conducting the review will not be the person who denied your request. We will comply with the outcome of the review.
· Right to Amend. If you feel that medical information we have about you or your child is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend the information. You have the right to request an amendment for as long as the information is kept by or for Plainview Area Health System.
To request an amendment, your request must be in writing and submitted to the Privacy Officer. In addition, you must provide a reason that supports your request for amendment.
We may deny your request for an amendment if it is not in writing or does not include a reason to support the request. In addition, we may deny your request if you ask to amend information:
· Not created by us, unless the person or entity that created the information is no
longer available to make the amendment;
· Not part of the medical information kept by or for Plainview Area Health
System;
· Not part of the information which you would be permitted to inspect and copy
under the law; or
· That is accurate and complete.
· Right to an Accounting of Disclosures. You have the right to request an accounting of disclosures, which is a list of medical information disclosures made about you or your child.
To request an accounting of disclosures, you must submit a request in writing to the Privacy Officer. Your request must state a time period, which may not be longer than six years. Your request should indicate in what form you want the list (for example, on paper, electronically).
· Right to Request Restrictions. You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the medical information we use or disclose about your treatment, payment or health care operations. You also have the right to request a limit on the medical information we disclose about you to someone who is involved in your care or the payment for care, like a family member or friend.
We are not required to agree to your request. If we do agree to a requested restriction, we will comply with your request unless the information is needed to provide emergency treatment.
To request restrictions, you must make your request in writing to the Privacy Officer. In your request, you must tell us (1) what information you want to limit; (2) whether you want to limit our use, disclosure or both; and (3) to whom you want the limits to apply.
· Right to Request Confidential Communications. You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your medical matters in a certain way or at a certain location.
To request confidential communications, you must make your request in writing to the Privacy Officer. We will not ask you the reason for your request. We will accommodate all reasonable requests. Your request must specify how or where you wish to be contacted.
· Right to a Paper Copy of This Notice. You have the right to a paper copy of the notice. You may ask us to give you a copy of this notice at any time. Even if you have agreed to receive this notice electronically, you are entitled to a paper copy of this notice.
You may obtain a copy of this notice at our website, www.plainviewhospital.com or by contacting the hospital. To obtain a paper copy of this notice, contact the Privacy Officer.
CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE
We reserve the right to or may be required by law to change our privacy practices which may result in changes to this notice. We further reserve the right to make the revised or changed privacy practices notice effective for medical information we already have about you as well as any information we receive in the future. We will post a copy of the current notice in Plainview Area Health System and on our website. The notice will contain on the first page, in the top right-hand corner, the version number and effective date. In addition, each time you register or you are admitted to Plainview Area Health System or otherwise treated by Plainview Area Health System, we will offer you a copy of the current notice in effect.
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the Privacy Officer of Plainview Area Health System or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
You will not be penalized or otherwise retaliated
against for filing a complaint.
Privacy Officer
Plainview Area Health System’s Privacy Officer
704 N 3rd St.
PO Box 489
Plainview, NE 68769
(402) 582-4245