The privacy practices described in this Notice apply to all patients, and will be followed by all employees, staff, and other personnel who have a need to
use your health information to perform their job, including physician members of the medical staff and allied health professionals. The individuals described above may share your health information with each other to carry out treatment, payment, or health care operation related to your care. This Notice explains generally how this practice and the individuals described above might share or disclose your health information.
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.
- Means of communication among the many health professionals who contribute to your care.
- Means by which you or a third-party payer can verify that services billed were actually provided.
- A tool in educating health professionals.
- A source of data for medical research.
- A source of information for public health officials charges with improving the health of the nation.
- A source of data for facility planning.
- A tool with which we can assess and continually work to improve the care we render and the outcomes we achieve.
Understanding what is in your record and how your health information is used helps you to:
- Ensure its accuracy
- Better understanding who, what, when, where and why others may access your health information.
- Make more information decisions when authorizing disclosure to others.
Your Health Information Rights-Although 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 users and disclosures of your information as provided by 45 CFR 164.52.
- Inspect and copy your health record as provided for in 45 CFR 164.528.
- Amend your health record as provided in 45 CFR 164.528.
- Request communications of your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations.
- Request that we restrict certain disclosures of information in your health record to your health plan with respect to health care items or
services for which you, or someone other than your health plan, have paid in full. - Revoke your authorization to use or disclose health information except to the extent that action has already been taken.
Our Responsibilities-We have a longstanding commitment to protecting the privacy rights of our patients. This organization is required to:
- Maintain the privacy of your health information.
- Provide you with a notice as to our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to information we collect and maintain about you.
- 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.
- Notify you in the event that it has been determined that a breach of the privacy of your health information has occurred.
- Not disclose psychotherapy notes which are maintained by us without your authorization.
- Not disclose your health information under circumstances which would constitute a sale of such information under 45 CFR 164.508(a)(4) without your authorization
- Not disclose your health information for marketing purposes without your authorization.
Although we may change our practices and to make the new provisions effective for all protected health information we maintain, if we do change our
information practice we will post a revised copy on our facility website.
We will not use or disclose your health information without your authorization, except as described in this notice.
For More Information or to Report a Problem-If you have questions and would like additional information, you may contact the Chief Operations Officer at 305-538-3828.
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you can file a complaint to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights. There
will be no retaliation for filing a complaint.
Examples of Disclosures for Treatment, Payment and Health Operations-We will use your health information for treatment.
For Example: Information obtained by nurses, physicians, or other member of your healthcare team will be recorded in your record and used to
determine the course of treatment that should work best for you. Your physicians will document in your record his or her expectations of your healthcare team will then record the actions they took and their observations. In that way, the physician will know how you are responding to treatment.
We will also provide your physician or a subsequent healthcare provider with copies various reports that should assist him or her in treating you once
you’re discharge from this hospital.
We will use your health information for payment by a third-party payer.
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 diagnoses, procedures, and supplies used.
We will use your health information for regular health care operations.
For Example: Members of the medical staff, our risk or quality improvement manager, or members of our quality improvement team may use
information in your health record to assess the care and outcomes in your case and other like it. This information will then be used in an effort to continually improve the quality and effectiveness of the healthcare and services we provide.
Business Associates: There are some services provided in our organization through contracts with business associates who create, receive, maintain, or
transmit protected health information on our behalf. Examples include certain laboratory tests and transcription services. When these services are contracted, we may disclose your health information to our business associates so that they can perform the job we’ve asked them to do and, if appropriate, bill you or your third-party payer for service rendered. To protect your health information, however, we require the business associate to appropriately safeguard your information as specified by a contract that provides the information will be kept confidential.
Business Decision Making: We may combine medical information about many hospital patients in an overview to decide what additional services the
hospital should offer, what service are not needed, and whether certain new treatments are effective. We also may disclose information to physicians,
nurses, technicians, medical students, and other personnel for review and education. We may combine the medical information we have with medical
information from other facility 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.
Notification: We may use or disclose information to notify or assist in notifying a family member, personal representative, or another person who is
responsible for you care, of your location and general condition.
Communication with Family: Health professionals, using their best judgment, may disclose to a family member, other relatives, close personal friend or any other person you identify, health information to the extent that it is relevant to that person’s involvement in your care or payment related to your care.
Research: We may disclose information to researchers when their research has been approved by an institutional review board that has reviewed the
research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your health record.
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 many disclose health information to organ procurement organizations or other
entities engaged in the procurement, banking, or transplantation of organs for the purpose of tissue donation and transplant.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA): 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
worker compensation or other similar programs established by law.
Public Health: As required by law, we may disclose your health information to legal authorities charged with preventing or controlling disease, injury, or
disability.
Correctional Institution: Should you be 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.
Law Enforcement: We may disclose health information for enforcement purpose as required by law or in response to valid subpoena.
Federal law provides that an appropriate health oversight agency, public health authority or attorney may have access to your health information if a work force member or business associate believes in good faith that we have engages in unlawful conduct or have otherwise violated professional or clinical standards and are potentially endangering one or more patients, workers, or the public.