Hospice of the Good Shepherd |
Notice of Privacy Practices |
We have summarized our responsibilities and your rights on this first page. For a complete description of our privacy practices, please review this entire notice. Our Responsibilities Our hospice is required to:
Your Rights As a patient of our hospice, you have several rights with regard to your health information, including the following:
We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and to make the new provisions effective for all health information we maintain. Should our privacy practices change, we will notify you of that fact. A copy of the revised notice will be available after the effective date of the changes upon request. We will not use or disclose your health information without your authorization, except as described in this notice. If have questions and would like additional information, you may contact our Executive Director at 440-808-6111. Understanding Your Health Record/Information Each time you receive services from a health care provider, a record of your services 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:
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. How We Will Use or Disclose Your Health Information 1) Treatment. We will use or disclose your health information for treatment purposes, including for the treatment activities of other health care providers. For example, information obtained by a nurse, physician, 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 physician will document in your record his or her expectations of the members of your healthcare team. Members 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 of various reports that should assist him or her in treating you once you no longer receive services from our hospice. 2) Payment. We will use or disclose your health information for payment, including for the payment activities of other health care providers or payers. For example, a bill may be sent to you or a third-party payer, including Medicare or Medicaid. The information on or accompanying the bill may include information that identifies you, as well as your diagnosis, procedures, and supplies used. 3) Health care operations. We will use or disclose your health information for our regular health operations. For example, members of our staff may use information in your health 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 health care and service we provide. In addition, we will disclose your health information for certain health care operations of other entities. However, we will only disclose your information under the following conditions: (a) the other entity must have, or have had in the past, a relationship with you; (b) the health information used or disclosed must relate to that other entity’s relationship with you; and (c) the disclosure must only be for one of the following purposes: (i) quality assessment and improvement activities; (ii) population-based activities relating to improving health or reducing health care costs; (iii) case management and care coordination; (iv) conducting training programs; (v) accreditation, licensing, or credentialing activities; or (vi) health care fraud and abuse detection or compliance. 4) Business associates. There are some services provided in our organization through the use of outside people and entities. Examples of these “business associates” include our accountants, consultants and attorneys. We may disclose your health information to our business associates so that they can perform the job we’ve asked them to do. To protect your health information, however, we require the business associates to appropriately safeguard your information. 5) 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, of your location, and general condition. If we are unable to reach your family member or personal representative, then we may leave a message for them at the phone number that they have provided us, e.g., on an answering machine. 6) Communication with family. We may disclose to a family member, other relative, close personal friend or any other person involved in your health care, health information relevant to that person’s involvement in your care or payment related to your care. 7) Research. We may disclose information to researchers when certain conditions have been met. 8) Transfer of information at death. We may disclose health information to funeral directors, medical examiners, and coroners to carry out their duties consistent with applicable law. 9) 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 of organs for the purpose of tissue donation and transplant. 10) Marketing. We may contact you regarding your treatment, to coordinate your care, or to direct or recommend alternative treatments, therapies, health care providers or settings. In addition, we may contact you to describe a health-related product or service that may be of interest to you, and the payment for such product or service. 11) Fund raising. We may contact you as part of a fund-raising effort. 12) Food and Drug Administration (FDA). We may disclose to the FDA, or to a person or entity subject to the jurisdiction of 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. 13) 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. 14) Public health. As required by law, we may disclose your health information to public health or legal authorities charged with preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability. 15) Correctional institution. Should you be 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. 16) Law enforcement. We may disclose health information for law enforcement purposes as required by law or in response to a valid subpoena. 17) Reports. 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. Your Health Information Rights Although your health record is the physical property of the hospice, the information in your health record belongs to you. You have the following rights:
Electronic Privacy Hospice of the Good Shepherd is committed to protecting your privacy and will collect no personal information about you unless you choose to provide that information to us. Such information is securely stored within the Hospice of the Good Shepherd private network. How we handle information about your visit to our site
If you read or download information, we automatically collect and store but do not share or sell:
Links and Disclaimer Our web site has links to many other organizations with their permission. Upon leaving the Hospice of the Good Shepherd web site, you are subject to the privacy policy of the new site. Hospice of the Good Shepherd is not responsible for the availability of the systems being linked to and these links are provided to you as a service for you to better understand the different relationships that Hospice of the Good Shepherd has established.For More Information or to Report a Problem If have questions and would like additional information, you may contact the Executive Director. If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint in writing to the Executive Director or to the secretary of the federal Department of Health and Human Services. There will be no retaliation for filing a complaint. Complaints should be made in writing to: Lisa Salmons, Executive Director Effective Date: July 1, 2007 |