Notice of Privacy Practices
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND
DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW
IT CAREFULLY.
When this Notice refers to "we" or "us," it is referring
to Ohio Valley General Hospital. Ohio Valley General Hospital is participating
in an Organized Health Care Arrangement with on-staff, credentialed physicians
and can share protected health information with them for treatment, payment,
and health care operations.
This Notice describes how we will use and disclose your health information.
The policies outlined in this Notice apply to all of your health information
generated by us, whether recorded in your medical record, invoices, payment
forms, videotapes or other ways. Similarly, these policies apply to the
health information gathered from other organizations by any health care
professional, employee or volunteer who participates in your care.
USES AND DISCLOSURES OF YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION
1. In some circumstances
we are permitted or required to use or disclose your health information
without obtaining your prior authorization and without offering you the
opportunity to object. These circumstances include:
a. Uses or disclosures for
purposes relating to treatment, payment and health care operations:
i. Treatment. We may use or disclose
your health information for the purpose of providing, or allowing
others to provide, treatment to you. An example would be if your
physician discloses your health information to another doctor
for the purposes of a consultation. Also, we may contact you
with appointment reminders or information about treatment alternatives
or other health-related benefits and services that may be of
interest to you.
ii. Payment. We may use and/or disclose your health information
for the purpose of allowing us, as well as other entities, to secure payment
for the health care services provided to you. For example, we may inform
your health insurance company of your diagnosis and treatment in order to
assist the insurer in processing our claim for payment for health care services
provided to you.
iii. Health Care Operations. We may use and/or disclose
your information for the purposes of our day-to-day operations and functions.
We may also disclose your information to another covered entity to allow
it to perform its day-to-day functions, but only to the extent that we both
have a relationship with you or if we are part of an "organized health care
arrangement" with the other entity, such as other hospitals where our physicians
practice. For example, we may compile your health information, along with
that of other patients, in order to allow us to review that information and
make suggestions concerning how to improve the quality of care provided at
this facility. We may contact you with birthday greetings, condolences and
thank-you notes. Also, we may contact you as part of our efforts to raise
funds for Ohio Valley General Hospital. All fundraising communications will
include information about how you may opt out of future fundraising communications.
b. to create material(s) that originally
had any identifying information concerning you deleted from the
final material(s);
c. when required by law;
d. for public health purposes;
e. to disclose information about victims of abuse, neglect,
or domestic violence;
f. for health oversight activities, such as audits or civil,
administrative or criminal investigations;
g. for judicial or administrative proceedings;
Lawsuits and Disputes If
you are involved in a lawsuit or dispute, we may disclose health information
about you in response to a court or administrative order. We may disclose
health information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request
or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute. We would
only disclose this information if efforts have been made to tell you about
the request to allow you to obtain an order protecting the information requested.
h. for law enforcement purposes;
When required by law, we may disclose health information if asked to do so
by law enforcement officials.
i. to assist coroners, medical examiners or funeral directors
with their official duties;
j. to facilitate organ, eye or tissue donation;
k. for certain research projects that have been evaluated
and approved through a research approval process that takes into account patients'
need for privacy;
l. to avert a serious threat to health or safety;
m. for specialized governmental functions, such as military,
national security, criminal corrections, or public benefit purposes; and
n. for workers' compensation purposes, as permitted by law.
2. We may also use
or disclose your health information in the following circumstances. However,
except in emergency situations, we will inform you of our intended action
prior to making any such uses and disclosures and will, at that time, offer
you the opportunity to object.
a. Directories. We may maintain
a directory of hospital patients that includes your name and location within
the facility. The directory may also include your religious designation and
information about your condition in general terms that will not communicate
specific medical information about you. Except for your religion, we may disclose
this information to any person who asks for you by name. We may disclose all
directory information to members of the clergy.
b. Notifications. We may also disclose to your relatives or
close personal friends any health information that is directly related to that
person's involvement in the provision of, or payment for, your care. We may
also use and disclose your health information for the purpose of locating and
notifying your relatives or close personal friends of your location and general
condition, and to organizations that are involved in those tasks during disaster
situations.
3. The following categories
of information will not be used or disclosed in accordance with the terms set
forth in Sections 1 and 2, above. These types of information are provided special
protection by law, and will be used and disclosed only as described below.
a. HIV-Related Information will
be used and disclosed only as follows:
(1) to you;
(2) to the physician who ordered the HIV test, or the physician's
designee;
(3) to an agent or employee of this physician practice who
is involved in your treatment;
(4) to a peer review committee;
(5) to providers who need the information to treat you in
an emergency, or to provide a consultation to us;
(6) to a funeral director;
(7) to report vital statistics;
(8) to comply with public health laws;
(9) to insurers, as necessary to allow us to obtain payment
for services provided to you;
(10) pursuant to a court order;
(11) to a county mental health, retardation, or juvenile
delinquency facility; or
(12) to someone with whom you have sexual or needle sharing
contact, but only if your physician believes the contact is at risk of future
infection. Before making a notification, your physician will discuss with
you the need to notify the contact and/or cease the behavior that poses a
risk of infection to the contact. Only after determining that you will not
notify the contact and/or cease the infectious behavior will the physician
notify the contact. You will be informed of the notification before it occurs.
Any information provided to your contact will not identify you, nor any of
the other individuals with whom you are known to have sexual or needle sharing
contact.
b. Records of involuntary mental health treatment
will be used and disclosed only as follows. However no privileged communications
that are created in the course of your treatment will be disclosed without
your written authorization:
(1) to you;
(2) to those providing treatment to you;
(3) to the county administrator, as permitted by state law;
and
(4) in the course of legal proceedings under the Mental
Health Procedures Act.
c. Substance abuse records will be used and disclosed only
as follows:
(1) with your written authorization, to medical providers
who need the information to diagnose and treat you;
(2) to medical providers who need the information to provide
life-saving, emergency treatment to you; and
(3) with your written authorization, to government or other
officials to obtain benefits due to you as a result of your substance abuse
or dependence.
4. Health Information of Minors
If you are under 18 years of age, your parent or guardian will control access
to, and disclosure of, your health information, subject to the provisions
of this Notice, with the following exceptions:
a. Communicable Diseases. If you
are being diagnosed or treated for a sexually transmitted disease or any other
disease or condition that we are required by law to report to the government
or health authorities,
you (the minor) will control access to, and disclosure of, your health information
that is related to that diagnosis or treatment.
b. Mental Health. If you are over 14 years of age, and you
are able to understand the nature of your mental health records and the purpose
of releasing them, you will control access to, and disclosure of, the health
information related to your mental health treatment.
Except as described above, disclosures of your health information will be made
with your written authorization. You may revoke your authorization at any time,
in writing, unless we have taken action in reliance upon your prior authorization,
or if you signed the authorization as a condition of obtaining insurance coverage.
YOUR RIGHTS
1. To Request Restrictions. You
have the right to request restrictions on the use and disclosure of your health
information for treatment, payment or health care operations purposes or notification
purposes. We are not required to agree to your request. If we do agree to a restriction,
we will abide by that restriction unless you are in need of emergency treatment
and the restricted information is needed to provide that emergency treatment.
To request a restriction, submit a written request to the Contact Person listed
on the final page of this Notice.
2. To Limit Communications. You
have the right to receive confidential communications about your own health information
by alternative means or at alternative locations. This means that you may, for
example, designate that we contact you only at work rather than home. To request
communications via alternative means or at alternative locations, you must submit
a written request to the Contact Person listed on the final page of this Notice.
All reasonable requests will be granted.
3. To Access and Copy Health Information. You
have the right to inspect and copy any health information about you other than
psychotherapy notes, information compiled in anticipation of or for use in civil,
criminal or administrative proceedings, or certain information that is governed
by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act. To arrange for access to your records,
or to receive a copy of your records, you should submit a written request to
the Contact Person listed on the last page of this Notice. If you request copies,
you will be charged our regular fee for copying and mailing the requested information.
Despite your general right to access your Protected Health Information, access
may be denied in some limited circumstances. For example, access may be denied
if you are an inmate at a correctional institution or if you are a participant
in a research program that is still in progress. Access may be denied if the
federal Privacy Act applies. Access to information that was obtained from someone
other than a health care provider under a promise of confidentiality can be denied
if allowing you access would reasonably be likely to reveal the source of the
information. The decision to deny access under these circumstances is final and
not subject to review.
In addition, access may be denied if (i) access to the information in question
is reasonably likely to endanger the life and physical safety of you or anyone
else, (ii) the information makes reference to another person and your access
would reasonably be likely to cause harm to that person, or (iii) you are the
personal representative of another individual and a licensed health care professional
determines that your access to the information would cause substantial harm to
the patient or another individual. If access is denied for these reasons, you
have the right to have the decision reviewed by a health care professional who
did not participate in the original decision. If access is ultimately denied,
the reasons for that denial will be provided to you in writing.
4. To Request Amendment. You
may request that your health information be amended. Your request may be denied
if the information in question: was not created by us (unless you show that the
original source of the information is no longer available to seek amendment from),
is not part of our records, is not the type of information that would be available
to you for inspection or copying (for example, psychotherapy notes), or is accurate
and complete. If your request to amend your health information is denied, you
may submit a written statement disagreeing with the denial, which we will keep
on file and distribute with all future disclosures of the information to which
it relates. Requests to amend health information must be submitted in writing
to the Contact Person listed on the final page of this Notice.
5. To an Accounting of Disclosures. You
have the right to an accounting of any disclosures of your health information
made during the six-year period preceding the date of your request. However,
the following disclosures will not be accounted for: (i) disclosures made for
the purpose of carrying out treatment, payment or health care operations, (ii)
disclosures made to you, (iii) disclosures of information maintained in our patient
directory, or disclosures made to persons involved in your care, or for the purpose
of notifying your family or friends about your whereabouts, (iv) disclosures
for national security or intelligence purposes, (v) disclosures to correctional
institutions or law enforcement officials who had you in custody at the time
of disclosure, (vi) disclosures that occurred prior to April 14, 2003, (vii)
disclosures made pursuant to an authorization signed by you, (viii) disclosures
that are part of a limited data set, (ix) disclosures that are incidental to
another permissible use or disclosure, or (x) disclosures made to a health oversight
agency or law enforcement official, but only if the agency or official asks us
not to account to you for such disclosures and only for the limited period of
time covered by that request. The accounting will include the date of each disclosure,
the name of the entity or person who received the information and that person's
address (if known), and a brief description of the information disclosed and
the purpose of the disclosure. To request an accounting of disclosures, submit
a written request to the Contact Person listed on the final page of this Notice.
6. To a Paper Copy of this Notice. You
have the right to obtain a paper copy of this Notice upon request.
OUR DUTIES
1. We are required by law
to maintain the privacy of your health information and to provide you with this
Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices.
2. We are required to abide
by the terms of this Notice. We reserve the right to change the terms of this
Notice and to make those changes applicable to all health information that we
maintain. Any changes to this Notice will be posted at our facilities, on our
website, and will be available from us upon request.
COMPLAINTS
A complaint can be filed with us and with the Secretary of the Federal Department
of Health and Human Services if you believe your privacy rights have been violated.
To lodge a complaint with us, please file a complaint with the Contact Person
set forth below. This Contact Person will also provide you with further information
about our privacy policies upon request. No action will be taken against you
for filing a complaint.
DESIGNATED CONTACT PERSON:
Privacy Officer
Ohio Valley General Hospital
25 Heckel Road
McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania 15136
412-777-6321
Effective: April 14, 2003
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