HIPAA Privacy Policy
Glen Rose Medical Center
Notice of Privacy Policies and Practices
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.
This Notice of Privacy Policies and Practices (the “Notice”)
tells you about the ways we may use and disclose medical information
about you and your rights and our obligations regarding the use
and disclosure of your medical information. This Notice applies
to Glen Rose Medical Center to include the Hospital and Nursing
Home, (the “Center”) and its employees, and it is
effective beginning April 14, 2003.
I. OUR OBLIGATIONS.
We are required by law to:
- Make sure that the medical information we have about you is
kept private, to the extent required by state and federal law;
- Give you this Notice explaining our legal duties and privacy
practices with respect to medical information about you; and
- Follow the terms of the version of this Notice that is currently
in effect at the time we acquire medical information about you.
II. HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU.
The following categories describe the different reasons that we
typically use and disclose medical information. These categories
are intended to be generic descriptions only, and not a list of
every instance in which we may use or disclose medical information.
Please understand that for these categories, the law generally
does not require us to get your consent in order for us to release
your medical information.
A. For Treatment.
We may use medical information about you to provide you with medical
treatment and services, and we may disclose medical information
about you to doctors, nurses, technicians, medical students, or
hospital personnel who are providing or involved in providing
medical care to you. For example, we will provide information
about the results of your test to your physician and his or her
office staff.
B. For Payment.
We may use and disclose medical information about you so that
we may bill and collect from you, an insurance company, or a third
party for the services we provided. This may also include the
disclosure of medical information to obtain prior authorization
for treatment and procedures from your insurance plan. For example,
we may send a claim for payment to your insurance company, and
that claim may have a code on it that describes your diagnosis.
C. For Health Care Operations.
We may use and disclose medical information about you for our
health care operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary
to operate our practice appropriately and make sure all of our
patients receive quality care. For example, we may need to use
or disclose your medical information in order to conduct certain
cost-management practices, or to provide information to our insurance
carriers.
D. Quality Assurance.
We may need to use or disclose your medical information for our
internal processes to determine that we are providing appropriate
care to our patients.
E. Utilization Review.
We may need to use or disclose your medical information to perform
a review of the services we provide to ensure that the proper
level of services are received by our patients, depending on their
condition and diagnosis.
F. Peer Review.
We may need to use or disclose medical information about you in
order for us to review the credentials and actions of physicians
to ensure they meet our qualifications and standards.
G. Appointment Reminders.
We may use and disclose medical information to contact you as
a reminder that you have an appointment.
H. Treatment Alternatives.
We may use and disclose medical information to tell you about
or recommend possible treatment options or alternatives that we
believe may be of interest to you.
I. Health Related Benefits and Services.
We may use and disclose medical information to tell you about
health-related benefits or services that we believe may be of
interest to you.
J. Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care.
We may release medical information about you to a friend or family
member who is involved in your medical care, as well as to someone
who helps pay for your care, but we will do so only as allowed
by state or federal law, or in accordance with your prior authorization.
K. As Required by Law. We will disclose medical information about
you when required to do so by federal, state, or local law.
L. To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety. We may use and
disclose medical information about you when necessary to prevent
or decrease a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety
or the health and safety of the public or another person. Such
disclosure would only be to someone able to help prevent the threat,
or to appropriate law enforcement officials.
M. 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.
N. Research. We may use or disclose your medical information to
an Institutional Review Board or other authorized research body
if it has obtained your consent as required by law, or if the
information we provide them is “de-identified”.
O. Military and Veterans. If you are or were a member of the armed
forces, we may release medical information about you as required
by the appropriate military authorities.
P. Worker’s Compensation. We may release medical information
about you for your employer’s worker’s compensation
or similar program. These programs provide benefits for work-related
injuries. For example, if your injuries result from your employment,
worker’s compensation insurance or a state worker’s
compensation program may be responsible for payment for your care,
in which case we might be required to provide information to the
insurer or program.
Q. Public Health Risks. We may disclose medical information about
you to public health authorities for public health activities.
As a general rule, we are required by law to disclose the following
types of information to public health authorities, such as the
Texas Department of Health. The types of information generally
include the following:
- To prevent or control disease, injury, or disability (including
the reporting of a particular disease or injury).
- To report births and deaths.
- To report suspected child abuse or neglect.
- To report reactions to medications or problems with medical
devices and supplies.
- 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 if you agree or when required
or authorized by law.
- To provide information on certain medical devices.
- To assist in public health investigations, surveillance, or
interventions.
R. Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose medical information
to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law.
These oversight activities include audits, civil, administrative,
or criminal investigations and proceedings, inspections, licensure
and disciplinary actions, and other activities necessary for the
government to monitor the health care system, certain governmental
benefit programs, certain entities subject to government regulation
which relates to health information, and compliance with civil
rights laws.
S. Lawsuits and Legal Proceedings. If you are involved in a lawsuit
or a legal dispute, we may disclose medical information about
you in response to a court or administrative order, subpoena,
discovery request, or other lawful process. In addition to lawsuits,
there may be other legal proceedings for which we may be required
or authorized to use or disclose your medical information, such
as investigations of health care providers, competency hearings
on individuals, or claims over the payment of fees for medical
services.
T. Law Enforcement. We may disclose your medical information if
we are asked to do so by law enforcement officials, or if we are
required by law to do so. Examples of these situations are:
- 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 the victim of a crime.
- About a death we believe may be the result of criminal conduct.
- About criminal conduct in our office.
- 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.
- To report certain types of wounds or physical injuries (for
example, gunshot wounds).
U. Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Home Directors. We
may disclose your 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 our patients to funeral home directors as necessary
to carry out their duties.
V. National Security and Intelligence Activities. We may disclose
medical information about you to authorized federal officials
for intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security
activities authorized by law.
W. Inmates. If you are an inmate of a correctional institution
or under custody of a law enforcement official, we may disclose
medical information about you to the correctional institution
or the law enforcement official. This would be necessary for the
institution to provide you with health care, to protect your health
and safety and the health and safety of others, or for the safety
and security of the correctional institution or law enforcement
official.
III. OTHER USES OF MEDICAL INFORMATION.
There are times we may need or want to use or disclose your medical
information other than for the reasons listed above, but to do
so we will need your prior permission. If you provide us permission
to use or disclose medical information about you for such other
purposes, 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.
IV. YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU.
Federal and state laws provide you with certain rights regarding
the medical information we have about you. The following are a
summary of those rights.
A. Right to Inspect and Copy. Under most circumstances, you have
the right to inspect and/or copy your medical information that
we have in our possession, which generally includes your medical
and billing records. To inspect or copy your medical information,
you must submit your request to do so in writing to the Center’s
HIPAA Privacy Officer at the address listed in Section VI. below.
If you request a copy of your information, we may charge a fee
for the costs of copying, mailing, or other supplies associated
with your request. The fee we may charge will be the amount allowed
by state law.
In certain very limited circumstances allowed by law, we may deny
your request to review or copy your medical information. We will
give you any such denial in writing. If you are denied access
to medical information, you may request that the denial be reviewed.
Another licensed health care professional chosen by the Center
will review your request and the denial. The person conducting
the review will not be the person who denied your request. We
will abide by the outcome of the review.
B. Right to Amend. If you feel the medical information we have
about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend
the information. You have the right to request an amendment for
as long as the information is kept by the Center. To request an
amendment, your request must be in writing and submitted to the
HIPAA Privacy Officer at the address listed in Section VI. below.
In your request, you must provide a reason as to why you want
this amendment. If we accept your request, we will notify you
of that in writing.
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
(i) was not created by us, (ii) is not part of the information
kept by the Center, (iii) is not part of the information which
you would be permitted to inspect and copy, or (iv) is accurate
and complete. If we deny your request, we will notify you of that
denial in writing.
C. Right to an Accounting of Disclosures. You have the right
to request an “accounting of disclosures” of your
medical information. This is a list of the disclosures we have
made for up to six years prior to the date of your request of
your medical information, but does not include disclosures for
Treatment, Payment, or Health Care Operations (as described in
Sections II. A., B., and C. of this Notice) or disclosures made
pursuant to your specific authorization (as described in Section
III of this Notice), or certain other disclosures. To request
this list of accounting, you must submit your request in writing
to the Center’s HIPAA Privacy Officer at the address set
forth in Section VI. below.
D. Right to Request Restrictions. You have the right to request
a restriction or limitation on the medical information we use
or disclose about you in various situations. 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.
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 with emergency treatment. In addition, there are
certain situations where we won’t be able to agree to your
request, such as when we are required by law to use or disclose
your medical information. To request restrictions, you must make
your request in writing to the Center’s HIPAA Privacy Officer
at the address listed in Section VI. below. In your request, you
must specifically tell us what information you want to limit,
whether you want us to limit our use, disclosure, or both, and
to whom you want the limits to apply.
E. 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 home, not at work or, conversely,
only at work and not at home. To request such confidential communications,
you must make your request in writing to the Center’s HIPAA
Privacy Officer at the address listed in Section VI. below.
We will not ask the reason for your request, and we will use our
best efforts to accommodate all reasonable requests, but there
are some requests with which we will not be able to comply. Your
request must specify how and where you wish to be contacted.
F. Business Associates. There are some services provided in our
organization through contracts with business associates. When
these services are contracted, we may disclose your medical information
to our business associate so that they can perform the job we
have asked them to do. To protect your medical information, however,
we require the business associate to appropriately safeguard your
information.
G. 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. To obtain a copy of this Notice, you
must make your request in writing to Center’s HIPAA Privacy
Officer at the address set forth in Section VI. below.
V. CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE.
We reserve the right to change this Notice at any time, along
with our privacy policies and practices. 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, along
with an announcement that changes have been made, as applicable,
in our office and on our website at glenrosemedicalcenter.com.
When changes have been made to the Notice, you may obtain a revised
copy by sending a letter to the Center’s HIPAA Privacy Officer
at the address listed in Section VI. below.
VI. COMPLAINTS.
If you believe that your privacy rights as described in this notice
have been violated, you may file a complaint with the Center at
the following address or phone number:
HIPAA Privacy Officer
Medical Records Department
Glen Rose Medical Center
P. O. Box 2099
Glen Rose, TX 76043
(254) 897-2215
To file a complaint, you may either call or send a written letter.
The Center will not retaliate against any individual who files
a complaint. If you do not want to file a complaint with the Center,
you may file one with the Secretary of the Department of Health
and Human Services at the following address or phone number:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Toll Free: 877/696-6775
202/619-0257
In addition, if you have any questions about this Notice, please
contact the Center’s HIPAA Privacy Officer at the address
or phone number listed above.
Web
Site Privacy Policy
Our
web server collects and stores the following general information
about you:
*
the name of the domain from which you access the Internet
(for example, aol.com,
if you are connecting from an America Online account);
* the date
and time you access our service;
* the pages
you visit;
* the Internet
address of the web site from which you linked directly to us.
* the name
and release number of web browser software you are using.
This
information is collected automatically and is not linked to your
personal identity. It is used in an aggregate way to help us improve
our web site and make it more useful to you. We do not use cookies
to collect information.
Online Forms & Email Communication
We
do not obtain personal information (e.g. name, address, e-mail
address, etc.) about you when you visit the Glen Rose Medical
Center web site unless you choose voluntarily to provide such
information to us.
If you identify yourself by sending an e-mail,
by using a form like "Contact Us," or by registering
to receive information from us, there are a few things you should
know.
*
Various people at Glen Rose Medical Center may see the
material you submit.
* We may
enter the information you send into our electronic database, to
share
with our physicians,
other health care professionals, researchers, or
our Internet services
staff.
* In other
limited circumstances, including requests from legal authorities,
we
may be required by
law to disclose information you submit.
You
should note that electronic mail and other Internet communications
channels are not necessarily secure against interception. If your
communication is very sensitive, or includes information like
your diagnosis or medical history, you might want to send it by
postal mail instead.
Under
no circumstances will we ever disclose (to a third party) personal
information about individual medical conditions or interests,
except when we believe in good faith that the law requires it.
From
time to time, this web site may provide links to other useful
or interesting web sites that are not owned or controlled by Glen
Rose Medical Center. We cannot be responsible for the content
or privacy practices used by other web site owners.
You
may contact us with any questions or comments about our privacy
policy.
help@glenrosemedicalcenter.com
Legal
Statement
The
information contained in this web site is for general health information
only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical
diagnosis, treatment or advice. Users of this web site should
not rely exclusively on information provided in this web site
for their medical health needs. All specific medical questions
should be presented to your professional health care provider.
Glen
Rose Medical Center makes no warranties or representations, express
or implied, as to the accuracy, usefulness, timeliness or completeness
of any information contained or referenced in this web site. Glen
Rose Medical Center does not assume any risk for your use of this
web site. Users of this web site should know that medical information
changes constantly and since this web site is only updated periodically,
it may not contain the most recent information. Glen Rose Medical
Center reserves the right to update or change the content of this
web site at any time. Glen Rose Medical Center is not responsible
for information appearing on hyperlinks. The use of this web site
does not create a physician-patient relationship and does not
obligate Glen Rose Medical Center to follow-up or contact users
of this web site.
In
consideration for your use of and access to this web site, you
agree that in no event will Glen Rose Medical Center or any other
party involved in creating, producing or delivering this web site
or any site linked to this web site, be liable to you in any manner
whatsoever for any decision made or action or non-action taken
by you in reliance upon the information provided through this
web site.
