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|  | Required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
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.
The end of this notice lists the name and phone number of the facility Privacy Officer should you have any questions about your privacy rights.
MEDICAL INFORMATION:
Each time you visit a hospital, physician, or other provider of healthcare, a record is made of your visit. We need this information to provide you with quality care and to comply with the law. Although your medical record is the physical property of the healthcare provider that compiles it, the information belongs to you. We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your health information and we are committed to protecting your medical information. We will abide by the terms of this notice as required by federal law.
HOW TO USE AND DISCLOSE MEDICAL INFORMATION:
Treatment - Medical information is used to provide you with medical treatment. This information may be disclosed to physicians, nurses, technicians and other individuals who are involved in your care. Departments of the hospital may share information about you in order to coordinate the things you need, such as medications you take, lab tests and x-rays. For example: a physician treating you for a broken bone will need to know you are a diabetic as this may slow the healing process. The physician may need to tell the dietitian about the diabetes so appropriate meals can be prepared for you. We may disclose information about you for the treatment activities of another healthcare provider.
Payment - We may use and disclose medical information about you so that we can bill and collect payment. This could include an insurance company or a third party. For example: if you are covered by health insurance, the insurance company may need information from us about a surgery or other procedure you had before they will pay us. Your insurance company may require information from us about a treatment you are to receive to determine if they will pay for the treatment. We may disclose information about you for the payment activities of another healthcare provider.
Health Care Operations - Your medical information may be used or disclosed for the purposes of our day-to-day operations. These activities are necessary to operate the hospital and to monitor the quality of care our patients receive.
Examples include:
•To assess your satisfaction with our services
•Remind you of appointments
•To tell you of possible treatment alternatives
•Evaluation of treatment received by our staff
•To work with health oversight organizations which include audits, investigations, inspections and licensure and to combine this information to determine what additional services should be provided
Clergy - In accordance with the law, we may disclose your name, location in the facility, religious affiliation and general condition to members of the clergy. This will only happen if you have not objected to this information being released.
Individuals involved in care or payment for your care - We may disclose medical information about you to a family member or friend who will be involved in your care.
Law Enforcement - Subject to certain restriction, we may disclose information required by law enforcement officials.
Legal Requirements - We disclose patient information to comply with both state and federal laws. For example, we are required to report to the state anytime a patient has certain diseases, such as tuberculosis.
Other examples of required reporting would include:
•Cases involving abuse, negligence or domestic violence
•Workers Compensation Agents; Food and Drug Administration
•Correctional institutions regarding inmates
•Comply with court orders, subpoenas, or other administrative process and Reports to the state all births and deaths
Medical Examiners, Coroners, and Funeral Directors - We may disclose information to these entities when necessary for them to perform their responsibilities.
Military and Veterans - If you are, or have been, a member of the armed forces, we may disclose information about you as required by military authorities.
National Security - We may release patient information to authorized federal officials for matters related to national security.
Patient Directory - You have the opportunity to be included in the patient directory or you may "opt out". If you are in the patient directory and someone asks about you by name then we may provide verification that you are a patient, your location in the facility, and your general condition (such as fair, stable, etc.). Should you decide to opt out of the directory, then anyone asking for you will be given no information.
Serious Threats to Health or Safety - We may disclose information about you when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety as well as the health and safety of the public.
Public Health Risks - We may disclose information to report child or other abuse; to report reactions to medications or medical products; to notify people of recalls; to notify people who may have been exposed to a disease or at risk of contracting or spreading a disease; and to report certain injuries as gunshots or knife wounds.
Organ and Tissue Donation – Consistent with applicable law, we may disclose health information to organ procurement organizations or other entities engaged in the organ procurement, banking, or transplantation of organs for the purpose of tissue donation and transplant.
Business Associates – There are some services provided in our Hospital 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 your health information to our business associate so that they can perform the job we’ve 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.
YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU:
To inspect and copy - In most cases, you have the right to inspect and to obtain a copy of the health information that may have been used to make decisions about your care.
You must contact the facility Privacy Officer or the Medical Records Department and make your request in writing. A fee may be charged if you obtain a copy of your records.
The law provides in limited circumstances you may be denied access to this information. If you are denied access, then you may request that the denial be reviewed. Another healthcare professional chosen by the 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.
To request an amendment to your medical record - If you believe that the information we have about you is incorrect or is incomplete, you have the right to request an amendment to the information. You have this right for as long as we have the information. You should contact the facility Privacy Officer or the Medical Records Department.There is a form you may use to request an amendment.
We may deny your request to amend the record for several reasons:
•The request is not made in writing
•You do not provide a reason to support your request
•The information in dispute was not created by us
•It is not part of the information used to make decisions about you
•The information is not available to you to inspect and copy
• or the information is accurate and complete
To request restrictions - You have the right to request that we restrict or limit the medical information we use or disclose about you for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations. For example, you may want a prior surgery not to be disclosed to a family member or friend who will be involved in your care upon release from the facility. The law states we are not required to comply with your request, however, if we do then we will comply unless the information is needed to provide you with emergency care.
To request confidential communication - You have the right to request that we communicate with you about medical matters in a certain way or at a particular location. We will accommodate all reasonable requests, however, you are not allowed to limit the way we can contact you in order to avoid your responsibility to pay us for the services rendered to you. To request an accounting of disclosures - you may contact us for an accounting of disclosures. Contact the facility Privacy Officer or the Medical Records Department. There is a form prepared for this request. We are not required to provide for an accounting which took place before April 14, 2003. You may ask for an accounting of any period of time, but never more than 6 years. You may also request an accounting for a smaller period of time, for example, for 6 months and starting on a particular date.
We are not required to provide you with an accounting for matters related to treatment, payment or healthcare operations. We are also not required to provide an accounting of disclosures made as result in being in the patient directory or disclosures you authorized us to make.
OTHER USES OF YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION:
If we wish to disclose medical information about you for a reason not covered by treatment, payment, healthcare operations, legal requirements or other disclosures as set forth in this notice, we will seek your written authorization. If you provide us written authorization to use or disclose medical information about you, you may revoke it at any time by doing so in writing. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclose medical information about you for the reasons covered by your written authorization.
CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE:
We reserve the right to change this notice and our policies at any time. If our policies change and we make changes to our Notice then we will post the new Notice in a public area. You can request a copy of our Notice at any time.
COMPLAINTS:
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the facility Privacy Officer or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human (DHH) Services.
To file a complaint with the facility, please contact the Privacy Officer:
St. James Parish Hospital
Attn: Susan Duhon, RHIA - Privacy Officer
1645 Lutcher Avenue
Lutcher, LA 70071
225-746-2922
The Secretary of the DHH Services may be contacted at:
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.; Washington, DC 20201 or by phone at (877) 696-6775. You will not be penalized for filing a complaint.
*Revision of this Notice: September 6, 2011
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