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VNA HEALTH AT
HOME NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW
MEDICAL/HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED
AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION.
PLEASE REVIEW IT
CAREFULLY.
This Notice is effective
beginning April 14, 2003.
What is the purpose of this
Notice?
We respect the privacy of your
health information and pledge to protect that information. This
Notice describes your rights and our duties on the subject of
your health information. It tells you about how we may use and
give out (“disclose”) your personal medical information. This
Notice applies to all information and records about your care
that we have received or created. It also applies to
information received or created by our employees and volunteers.
Our promise to you about our
duties and responsibilities:
The law says we must protect the
privacy of your information. The law also says that we need to
give you this notice about what we do with the information we
collect and maintain about you. We must follow the practices
described in this notice. The Notice will be posted in public
areas in our building. We agree to consider any reasonable
privacy requests and to notify you if we are unable to meet
those requests. We will not use or give out your information
without your permission, except as described in this notice.
Who will follow this Notice?
VNA Health at Home provides care
to our patients and clients together with doctors and other
health professionals. This Notice will be followed by:
§
All employees and
volunteers of VNA Health at Home;
§
All contracted
entities of VNA Health at Home
What are your rights as a
patient?
You have the following rights
regarding your health information at VNA Health at Home:
§
You have the right to ask us to limit how your personal medical
information is used and given out for your care, for billing,
and for business reasons. If you write to us and ask us to
limit this information, we will consider your request. Please
understand that under the law, we do not have to accept it. You
may also ask us to limit your medical information that we use
and give out to a family member, friend or other person who is
aware or involved in your care.
§
You have the right
to see and get a copy of your medical or billing records or
other written information that we may use to make decisions
about your care, with some limited exceptions. In most cases,
we may charge a reasonable fee for our costs in copying and
mailing the information you have asked for. There are certain
circumstances where we cannot agree to your request. In these
cases, you will have the right to review the reasons why we did
not agree with your request. A licensed health care
professional named by VNA Health at Home will perform the
review.
§
You have the right
to request that we amend your health record if you believe that
the information is wrong or if you believe that important
information is missing. Your request must be made in writing
and must list the reason for your request. If we disagree with
your request, you may ask us to include your written statement
asking for the change as part of your record. We will also
provide you a written statement that lists the reasons why we
disagreed with your request.
§
You have the right
to get a listing or “accounting” of those people or
organizations that received your medical information from us.
This list includes disclosures made by the Agency or by others
on our behalf. It does not include disclosures for treatment,
payment and our business operations or certain other
exceptions. To request an accounting of disclosures, you must
send us a request in writing. The first list provided within a
12-month period will be free. After that, we may charge you our
costs.
§
You have the right
to ask that we communicate with you about your health matters in
a different way or at a different place. For example, you can
ask that we contact you only at a certain phone number or
address that may be different from your home address. We will
agree to reasonable requests.
Who do you contact for more
information or to report a problem?
If you believe that your
privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint in
writing with VNA Health at Home by contacting the person listed
below.
Privacy Officer of VNA Health at
Home
27 Siemon Company Drive
Watertown, CT 06795
Telephone: 860-274-7531
You
may also file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights in the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There are no
penalties if you file a complaint.
What happens if VNA Health at
Home changes this Notice?
We have the right to change
this notice. We will post a copy of the current notice in
public areas in our building, as well as on our website,
http://www.vnahealthathome.org.
When and how will VNA Health
at Home use and/or give out your personal medical
information?
We may use and disclose your
health information for purposes of treatment, payment and health
care operations (our business operations) without written
permission. There are times when we must use your personal
medical information. VNA Health at Home must use and
give out your personal medical information to provide
information:
- To you
or someone who has the legal right to act for you (your
personal representative),
- To the
Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, if
necessary, to make sure your privacy is protected,
- Where
required by law, and in certain emergency circumstances.
What
are treatment, payment, and health care operations and what are
some examples?
Treatment:
Treatment is when we provide
care to you. It includes many pieces, including when doctors
and others consult on your case or when referrals are needed.
We will use and disclose your health information when we provide
you with treatment and services, and to coordinate your care.
Your health information may be used by nurses, home health
aides, social workers, therapists or other personnel involved in
your care. We also may give health information to a hospital or
facility to which you are admitted while receiving home health
service.
Payment:
Payment is billing for services
we provided. It also involves receiving payment from
individuals or insurance companies. We will give out some of
your health information so that we can bill and receive payment
for the treatment and services you receive. For billing and
payment purposes, we may give out your health information to
your representative, insurance or managed care company,
Medicare, Medicaid or another payer. For example, we may
contact Medicare or your health plan to confirm your coverage or
to request prior approval for a proposed treatment or service.
Payment information may include things that identify you, your
diagnosis, procedures performed on you, and supplies we used.
Health Care Operations:
Health care
operations involves many things that the agency must do to
operate its’ business side. We may give out your health
information as necessary for agency operations or business
reasons. These may include management purposes or reviewing our
treatment and services for quality of care. We may also use
your information to evaluate the performance of our staff in
caring for you by using surveys. For example, health
information of many patients may be grouped and studied for
purposes such as evaluating and improving quality of care and
planning for services. Whenever health information is utilized
for Quality Improvement or educational purposes the patient
identifying information will be removed.
How else does VNA Health at Home
use and disclose medical information?
We may also use and disclose
health information about you for specific purposes. Below is a
list of the various ways in which we may use or give out your
health information.
-
Individuals Involved in Your
Care or Payment for Your Care -
Unless you say no, we may
disclose health information about you to a family member,
close personal friend or other person you identify,
including clergy, who is involved in your care. We will
only share the information needed for that person to help
with your care or in arranging payment for your care.
-
Business Associates -
There may be some services
provided by our business associates, such as a billing and
transcription services, or legal and accounting
consultants. We may give out your health information to our
business associates so they can perform the jobs we have
asked them to do. To protect your health information, we
have our business associates sign written contracts that
require them to keep your information safe and confidential.
-
Disaster Relief -
We may disclose health
information about you to an organization assisting in a
disaster relief effort.
-
Emergencies -
We may use or disclose your
health information in emergency treatment situations.
-
Communication Barriers -
We may use and
disclose your protected health information if your doctor or
another doctor in the practice tries to get permission from
you but can’t because of language barriers. In this case,
the doctor will use reasonable judgment that you intend to
give permission to use or disclosure information under the
circumstances.
-
As Required By Law -
We may disclose your
health information when required by law to do so.
-
Reporting Victims of Abuse or Neglect -
If we believe that you have
been a victim of abuse or neglect, we may use and disclose
your health information to notify a government authority.
This will happen if we are authorized or required by law or
if you agree to the report.
For child / elder abuse or
neglect, we will disclose your health information to government
authorities.
-
Legal Proceedings -
We may disclose your
health information in response to a court or administrative
order. We also may disclose information in response to a
subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process.
-
Public Health Activities -
We may disclose
your health information for public health activities. These
activities may include, for example:
a)
reporting to a public health or other government
authority for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease,
injury or disability, reporting child abuse or neglect,
reporting births and deaths;
b)
reporting to the federal Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) issues concerning problems with products and product
recalls, etc., or
c)
to notify a person who may have been exposed to or is at
risk of spreading a communicable disease, if authorized by law.
-
Health Oversight Activities
- We may disclose
your health information to a health oversight agency for
activities authorized by law. These may include, for
example, Medicare audits, investigations, State Health
Department inspections and licensure actions or other legal
proceedings.
-
Law Enforcement -
We may disclose your
health information for certain law enforcement purposes.
These include, for example, following reporting requirements
for emergencies or suspicious deaths; to follow a court
order, warrant, or similar legal procedure; to identify or
locate a suspect or missing person; or to answer certain
requests for information about crimes.
-
Coroners, Medical Examiners,
Funeral Directors -
We may release your health
information to a coroner, medical examiner or funeral
director.
-
To Avoid a Serious Threat to
Health or Safety –
Should it be necessary to
prevent a serious threat to your health or safety or the
health or safety of others, we may use or disclose health
information. This type of disclosure will be limited to
someone able to help decrease or stop the threatened harm.
-
Military Activity and
National Security –
Under certain conditions, we
may use or disclose protected health information of
individuals who are Armed Forces personnel (1) for
activities believed necessary by appropriate military
command authorities: (2) for the purpose of determining your
eligibility for benefits by the Department of Veterans
Affairs, or (3) to foreign military authority if you are a
member of that foreign military service. We may also
disclose your protected health information to authorized
federal officials for conducting national security and
intelligence activities, including for the provision of
protective services to the President or others legally
authorized.
-
Workers' Compensation -
We may use or
disclose your health information to comply with laws
relating to workers' compensation or similar programs.
-
Inmates/Law Enforcement
Custody - If you
are an inmate of a prison or jail, or under the custody of a
law enforcement official, we may disclose your health
information to the institution or official for certain
purposes including the health and safety of you and others.
-
Fundraising Activities -
We may use your
contact information such as your name, address and phone
number and the dates that you received services, to contact
you to try to raise money for the Agency.
-
Treatment Alternatives and
Health-Related Benefits and Services -
We may use or disclose your
health information to inform you about treatment
alternatives and health-related benefits and services that
may be of interest to you. For example, your name and
address may be used to send you a newsletter about products
or services that we believe may be beneficial to you.
-
Minors -
We will follow Connecticut
law when using or disclosing protected health information of
minors. For example, if you are an unemancipated minor
agreeing to health care services related to HIV/AIDS,
venereal disease, abortion, reproductive issues, behavioral
health or alcohol/drug dependence, and you have not
requested that another person be treated as a personal
representative, you may have the authority to agree to the
use and disclosure of your health information.
Is information about Behavioral
Health, substance abuse treatment, and HIV treated differently?
For disclosures concerning
health information relating to care for Behavioral Health
(psychiatric) conditions, substance abuse or HIV-related testing
and treatment, special rules may apply. For example, we usually
are not able to disclose this specially protected information in
response to a subpoena, warrant or other legal process unless
you sign a special authorization or a court orders the
disclosure. We will follow state and/or federal law and obtain
a special authorization to release this type of information
about you in cases other than what is listed here.
-
Psychiatric (Behavioral Health) information
- If needed for your diagnosis or treatment in a mental
health program, psychiatric information may be disclosed
based on your general agreement, and very limited
information may be disclosed for payment purposes.
-
HIV-related information -
HIV-related information may
be disclosed based on your general agreement for purposes of
treatment or payment.
-
Substance abuse treatment -
If you are treated in a
special substance (drug and/or alcohol) abuse program, your
authorization will be needed for most disclosures, except
for emergencies, certain reporting requirements and other
disclosures specifically allowed under federal law.
Your
authorization or permission is required for other uses of your
medical information.
For
other reasons that are not listed in this Notice, we will use or
give out your information only with your written permission
(“authorization”). When you sign our Payor Information and
Information Release Form, you allow us to use and disclose your
health information for treatment, payment and health care
operations. Other uses and disclosures will be made only with
your written authorization. You may cancel an authorization to
use or disclose health information, in writing, at any time. If
you cancel an authorization, we will no longer use or disclose
your health information for the purposes covered by that
authorization, except in cases where we followed your original
request.
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