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HIPPA Policy
NOTICE
OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
Our
Pledge Regarding Medical Information:
We are required by law to maintain the
privacy of your health information and to provide you with
notice of our legal duties and privacy practices. You
personal doctor may have different policies of notices
regarding the doctor’s use and disclosure of your medical
information created in the doctor’s office or clinic.
We
Protect Your Information
We maintain protocols to ensure the
security and confidentiality of your personal information. We
have physical security in our building, passwords to protect
databases, compliance audits, and virus/intrusion detection
software. Within our practice, access to your information is
limited to those who need it to perform their jobs.
How
We May Use And Disclose Medical Information About You.
The following categories describe
different ways that we use and disclose medical information.
For each category of uses or disclosures we will explain what
we mean and try to give some examples. Not every use or
disclosure in a category will be listed. However, all of the
ways we are permitted to use and disclose information will
fall within one of the categories. Information may be
disclosed in writing, orally, or electronically.
For
Health Care Operations.
- We may use and disclose medical
information about you for our business operations. These
uses and disclosures are necessary to run Major Hospital and
Affiliates and make sure that all of our patients receive
quality care.
- For Example, we may use medical
information to review our treatment and services and to
evaluate our performance.
We may 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 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 the care and
services we offer.
We may remove information that identifies you from this set of
medical information so others may use it to study health care
and health care delivery without learning who the specific
patients are.
Business Associates.
We contract with outside organizations,
called business associates, to perform some of our operational
tasks on our behalf. Examples would include billing agencies
and a copy service we use when making copies of your health
record. When these services are performed, we disclose the
necessary health information to these companies so that they
can perform the tasks we have asked them to do and bill you or
your third-party payer for services rendered. To protect your
health information, however, we require the business associate
to appropriately safeguard your information.
Appointment Reminders.
We may use and disclose your medical
information to remind you of appointments, annual exams or
prescription refills.
Treatment Alternatives.
We may use and disclose medical
information to tell you about or recommend possible treatment
options or alternatives that may be of interest to you. For
example, this may include specific brand name or over the
counter pharmaceuticals.
Health-Related Benefits and Services.
We may use and disclose medical
information to tell you about health-related benefits or
services. For example, this may include a new heart care
program that we offer.
Organ and Tissue Donation.
If you are an organ donor, we may release
medical information to organizations that handle organ
procurement or organ, eye or tissue or to an organ donation
bank, as necessary to facilitate organ or tissue donation and
transplantation.
Military and Veterans.
If you are a member of the armed forces,
we may release medical information about you as required by
military command authorities. We may also release medical
information about foreign military personnel to the
appropriate foreign military authority.
Workers’ Compensation.
We may release medical information about
you for workers’ compensation or similar programs. These
programs provide benefits for work-related injuries or
illness.
Public Health Risks and Patient Safety Issues.
We may disclose medical information about
you for public health activities or to ensure your safety.
These activities generally include the following:
· To prevent or control disease, injury or
disability
· To report births and deaths
· To report actual or suspected child or elder
abuse or neglect
· To report reactions to medications or problems
with products
· To notify people of recalls of products they may
be using
· To notify a person who may have been exposed to
a disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a
disease or condition
· To notify the appropriate government authority
if we believe a patient has been the victim of abuse, neglect
or domestic violence. We will only make this disclosure when
required or authorized by law
Health Oversight Activities.
We may disclose medical information to a
health oversight agency for activities authorized by law.
These oversight activities include, for example, audits,
investigations, inspections, and licensure. These activities
are necessary for the government to monitor the health care
system, government programs and compliance with civil rights
laws.
Lawsuits and Disputes.
If you are involved in a lawsuit or a
dispute, we may disclose medical information about you in
response to a court or administrative order. We may also
disclose medical information about you in response to a
subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process by
someone else involved in the dispute.
Law Enforcement.
We may release medical information if
asked to do so by a law enforcement official:
· In response to a court order, subpoena, warrant,
summons or similar process
· To identify or locate s suspect, fugitive,
material witness, or missing person
· About the victim of a crime if, under certain
limited circumstances, we are unable to obtain the person’s
agreement
· About a death we believe may be the result of
criminal conduct
· About criminal conduct at the hospital; and
· In 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.
Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral
Directors.
We may release medical information to a
coroner or medical examiner. This may be necessary, for
example, to identify a deceased person or determine the cause
of death. We may also release medical information about
patients of the hospital 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 authorize persons or
foreign heads of state or conduct special investigations.
Inmates.
The rights listed in this notice will not
apply to inmates of a correctional institution.
Other Uses of Medical Information.
Other uses and disclosures of medical
information not covered by this notice or laws will be made
only with your written permission. If you provide us
permission to use or disclose medical information, you may
revoke that permission, in writing at any time. If you
revoke your permission, we will no longer use or disclose
medical information about you for the reasons covered by your
written authorization. Major Hospital is unable to take back
any disclosures we have already made with your permission, and
that we are required to retain our records of the care that we
provided to you.
YOUR
RIGHTS REGARDING YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION
Right to Inspect and Copy.
You have the right to inspect and copy
medical information that may be used to make decisions about
your care. This includes medical and billing records, but
does not include psychotherapy notes.
To inspect and copy medical information
that may be used to make decisions about you, you must submit
your request in writing to Health Information Management. 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 in some limited circumstances. If you are denied access
to medical information, you may request that the denial be
reviewed. Another licensed health care professional chosen by
Major Hospital 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 is incorrect you have the right to request an
amendment.
To request an amendment, your request
must be made in writing and submitted to Risk Management. In
addition, you must provide a reason that supports your
request.
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 us to amend information that:
Was not created by us, unless the person
or entity that created the information is no longer available
to make the amendment;
· Is not part of the medical information kept by
Major Hospital and Affiliates;
· Is not part of the information which you would be permitted to inspect and copy; of
· Is accurate and complete.
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures.
You have the right to request an
“accounting of disclosures.” This is a list of people who you
authorized to see your medical records.
To request this list or accounting of
disclosures, you must submit your request in writing to Health
Information management. Your request must state a time period
which may not be longer than six years and may not include
dates before April 14, 2003. The first list you request
within a 12 month period will be free. For additional lists,
we may charge you for the costs of providing the list. We
will notify you of the cost involved and you may choose to
withdraw or modify your request at that time before any costs
are incurred.
Right to Request Restrictions.
You have the right to request a
restriction or limitation on the ways medical information is
used. 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 your care, like a
family member or friend. For example, you could ask that we
not use or disclose information about a surgery you had.
We are not required to agree to your request.
If we do agree, we will comply with your
request unless the information is needed to provide you
emergency treatment. To request restrictions, you must make
your request in writing to Health Information. 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, for
example, disclosures to your spouse.
Right to Request Confidential Communications.
You have the right to request that we
communicate with you about medical matters in a certain way or
at a certain location. For example, you can ask that we only
contact you at work or by mail.
To request confidential communications,
you must make your request in writing to Risk Management. 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
this notice. You may ask us to give you a copy of this notice
at any time. Even if you have agree to receive this notice
electronically, you are still entitled to a paper copy of this
notice.
Changes To This Notice
We reserve the right to change this
notice. We reserve the right to make the revised or changed
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 all Major Hospital
and Affiliates facilities.
The notice will contain the effective
date. In addition, each time you register at or are admitted
for treatment or health care services we will make a copy of
the current notice available to you.
Complaints
If you believe your privacy rights have
been violated, you may file a complaint with Major Hospital or
with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Services. To file a complaint contact Health Information
manager at: (317) 398-5330
YOU WILL NOT BE PENALIZED FOR FILING A
COMPLAINT.
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his statement describes the policies and practices of Major Hospital regarding the collection and use of your personal information from your visit to our web site and your use of our other Internet services. These include, but are not limited to, our baby pages, giftcard purchases, our education department, employment information, foundation information, online patient classes, feedback and news. This statement is accessible from every page of Major Hospital’s web site. Major Hospital is committed to maintaining the privacy of visitors to our web site and users of our Internet services.