Privacy Policy
Margaret Mary Community Hospital
Batesville, IN 47006
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
Effective Date: 01/14/03
I. 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.
II. WE HAVE A LEGAL DUTY TO SAFEGUARD YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION (PHI).
We are legally required to protect the privacy of your health information. We call this information “protected health information”, or “PHI” for short, and it includes information that can be used to identify you that we’ve created or received about your past, present, or future health or condition, the provision of healthcare to you, or the payment of this health care. We must provide you with this notice about our privacy practices that explains how, when and why we use and disclose your PHI. With some exceptions, we may not use or disclose any more of your PHI than is necessary to accomplish the purpose of the use or disclosure. We are legally required to follow the privacy practices that are described in this notice.
However, we reserve the right to change the terms of this notice and our privacy policies at any time. Any changes will apply to the PHI we already have. Before we make an important change to our policies, we will promptly change this notice and post a new notice. You can also request a copy of this notice from the Registration desk at Margaret Mary Community Hospital or view a copy of the notice on our Web site, www.mmch.org.
III. HOW WE MAY USE AND DICLOSE YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION.
We use and disclose health information for many different reasons. Below, we describe the different categories of our uses and disclosures and give you some examples of each category. 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.
1. For Treatment. We may use medical information about you to provide you with medical treatment or services. We may disclose medical information about you to doctors, nurses, technicians, or other hospital personnel who are involved of taking care of you. For example, a doctor treating you for a broken leg may need to know if you have diabetes because diabetes may slow the healing process. In addition, the doctor may need to tell the dietitian if you have diabetesso that we can arrange for appropriate meals. Different departments of the hospital also may share medical information about you in order to coordinate the different things you need, such as prescriptions, lab work and x-rays. We also may disclose medical information about you to people outside the hospital who may be involved in your medical care after you leave the hospital, such as family members, clergy or others we use to provide services that are part of your care.
2. To obtain payment for treatment. We may use and disclose your PHI in order to bill and collect payment for the treatment and services provided to you. For example, we may provide portions of your PHI to our Business Office and your health plan to get paid for the health care services we provided to you. We may also provide your PHI to our business associates, such as billing companies, claims processing companies, collection agencies, rescue/transportation services, contracted service suppliers, employers, , auditors, outsourcing services, and others that process our health care claims.
3. For health care operations. We may disclose your PHI in order to operate this hospital. For example, we may use your PHI in order to evaluate the quality of health care services that you received or to evaluate the performance of the health care professionals who provided health care services to you. We may also provide your PHI to our accountants, attorneys, consultants and others in order to make sure we’re complying with the laws that effect us.
4. To 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 medical information to these companies so that they can perform the tasks we have asked them to do and bill you or your third-party payor for services rendered. To protect your medical information, however, we require the business associate to appropriately safeguard your information.
5. Appointment reminders and health-related benefits or services. We may use PHI to provide appointment reminders or give you information about treatment alternatives, or other healthcare services or benefits we offer.
6. Health-Related Benefits and Services. We may use and disclose medical information to tell you about health-related benefits or services that may be of interest to you. For example, this may be a new cancer care program that we offer
Hospital Directory. We may include certain limited information about you in the hospital directory while you are a patient at the hospital, unless you opt out of being listed in the facility directory at the time of registeration. This information in the facility directory may include your name, location in the hospital, your general condition (e.g. fair, stable, etc.) and your religious affiliation. The directory information, except for your religious affiliation, may also be released to people who ask for you by name. Your religious affiliation may be given to a member of the clergy, such as a priest or rabbi, even if they don’t ask for you by name. This is so your family, friends and clergy can visit you in the hospital and generally know how you are doing.
8. Disclosures to family, friends, or others. We may provide your PHI to a family member, friend, or other person that you indicate is involved in your care or the payment for your healthcare, unless you object in whole or in part. If you are unable to agree or object to such a disclosure, we may disclose such information as necessary if we determine that it is in your best interest based on our professional judgment.
9. For Research Purposes. In certain circumstances, we may provide PHI about you for
IV. As required by law. We will disclose medical information about you when required to do so by federal, state or local law. The following uses and disclosures are required by law:
A. For public health risks. We may disclose medical information about you for public health activities. These activities may include but are not limited to:
- To prevent or control disease, injury or disability;• To report births and deaths;
- To report child abuse or neglect;
- 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 if you agree or when required or authorized by law.
B. For health oversight activities. We may disclose medical information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law. These oversight activities include and may not be limited to: audits, investigations, inspections, licensure and , JCAHO accreditation.
C. For 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 transplantation or to an organ donation bank, as necessary to facilitate organ or tissue donation and transplantation.
D. To avoid harm. In order to avoid a serious threat to the health or safety of a person or the public, we may provide PHI to law enforcement personnel or persons able to prevent or lessen such harm.
E. For specific government functions. We may disclose PHI of military personnel and veterans in certain situations. And we may disclose PHI for national security purposes, such as protecting the president of the United States or conducting intelligence operations.
p>F. For workers’ compensation purposes. We may release medical information about you for workers’ compensation or similar programs. These programs provide benefits for work-related injuries or illnesses.
G. For 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 some one else involved in the dispute.
H. 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 a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person
- About a death we may 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.
- About the victim of a crime if, under certain limited circumstances, we are unable to obtain the person’s agreement.
I. 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 about patients of the hospital to funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties.
J. Inmates. If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law enforcement official, we may release medical information about you to the correctional institution or 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 institution.
V . All other Uses and Disclosures Require Your Prior Written Authorization.
In any other situation not described above, we will ask your written authorization before using or disclosing any of your PHI. If you choose to sign an authorization to disclose your PHI, you can later revoke that authorization in writing to stop any future uses and disclosures (to the extent that we haven’t taken any action relying on the authorization).
VII. YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
You have the following rights regarding medical information we maintain about you.
A. The Right to Request Limits on Uses and Disclosures of Your PHI. You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the medical information we use or disclose about you for 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 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. 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, for example, disclosures to your spouse.
B. The Right to Choose How We Send PHI to You. 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 and not at home. To make a request contact the Privacy Officer. Your request must be in writing and specify how and where you wish to be contacted. We will accommodate all reasonable requests.
C. The Right to Inspect and Copy. In most cases, you have the right to look at or get copies of your PHI that we have, but you must make the request in writing to the Health Information Department. If you request a copyof the information, we may charge a fee for the costs of copying, mailing or other supplies associated with your request. In certain situations, we may deny your request. If we do, we will tell you, in writing, our reasons for denial and explain your right to have the denial reviewed.
D. The Right to Get a List of the Disclosures We Have Made. You have the right to get a list of instances in which we have disclosed your PHI. This is a list of people who you have authorized to see your medical record. The list will not include uses or disclosures that you have already consented to, such as those made for treatment, payment, or health care operations, directly to you, to your family or in our facility directory. The list also won’t include uses and disclosures made for national security purposes, to corrections or law enforcement personnel, or disclosures made before, April 14, 2003, the effective HIPAA compliance date. To request this list you must make your request in writing to the Health Information Department.
E. The Right to Amend. If you believe that there is a mistake in your PHI or that a piece of important information is missing, you have the right to request that we correct the existing information or add the missing information. You must provide the request and your reason for the request in writing. We may deny your request in writing if the PHI is (i) correct and complete (ii) not created by us, (iii) not allowed to be disclosed, or (iv) not part of our records. Our written denial will state the reasons for the denial. To request and amendment you must make your request in writing to the Health Information Department.
F. The Right to a Paper Copy of this Notice. You have the right to a paper copy of this notice. You may also obtain a copy of this notice on our website, www:mmch.org or ask a Registration Clerk.
VII.COMPLAINTS.
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the hospital or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. To file a complaint with the hospital, contact our Privacy Officer. All complaints must be submitted in writing.
VIII. OTHER USES OF MEDICAL INFORMATION
Other uses and disclosures of medical information not covered by this notice or the laws that apply to use will be made only with your written permission. If you provide us permission to use or disclose medical information about you, 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. You understand that we are 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.
Privacy Notice – HIPAA
