Privacy Policy

                      

Notice of Privacy Practices

Effective Date: March 1, 2005

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN ACCESS THIS INFORMATION.

PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

This notice will be provided to a patient, resident, or client so we use the terms "you" and "your" primarily with reference to the person receiving care here. In some cases, however, a family representative, such as a spouse or child, will represent the person receiving care. When the patient, resident or client is unable or unwilling to exercise certain rights regarding the control of medical information, "you" may pertain to the family representative.

This notice applies to information and records regarding your health care, including medical records and payment information (medical information), maintained at Brookings Hospital and Brookview Manor. This notice will tell you about the ways in which we may use and disclose medical information about you. We also describe your rights and certain obligations we have regarding the use and disclosure of medical information.

We are required by law to:
Make certain that medical information is kept private, unless disclosure is required by law;
Give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to medical information; and Follow the terms of the notice that is currently in effect.

Who will follow this notice: This notice describes practices of our Hospital, Nursing Home, Hospice, and Home Health Agency and that of: all employees, staff and other health care personnel authorized to enter information into your medical record; any member of a volunteer group we allow to help you while you are under our care;

Our pledge regarding medical information:
We understand that medical information about you and your health is personal. We are committed to protecting medical information about you. We create a record of care and services you receive here and at other health care institutions that share medical information about you to provide continuity of care. We need this record to provide you with quality care and to comply with certain legal requirements.

How we may use and disclose medical information about you:
For treatment: We may disclose medical information about you to doctors, nurses, and other personnel who are involved in taking care of you. For example, a doctor treating you for a broken hip may need to know if you have diabetes because diabetes may slow the healing process. In addition, the doctor will need to tell the dietitian if you have diabetes so that we can arrange for appropriate meals. Different departments of the facility may also share medical information about you in order to coordinate the different things you need, such as diagnostic tests, therapies, activities, and your minister. We may also disclose medical information about you to people outside the facility who may be involved in your medical care, such as a pharmacy, another hospital to which you are transferred or a medical or diagnostic clinic.

For payment: We may use and disclose medical information about you so that the treatment and services you receive may be billed to and payment may be collected from you, an insurance company or a third party. To obtain prior approval or to determine whether your plan will cover the treatment, information about treatment or services may need to be disclosed.

For health care operations: We may use and disclose medical information about you for facility operations. For example, we may use medical information to evaluate the performance of our staff in caring for you. We may also combine medical information about patients, clients, or residents to decide on additional services , what services are not needed, and whether certain services are effective. We may also disclose information to doctors, nurses, technicians, and students for review and learning purposes. We may also combine the medical information we have with medical information from other hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies or clinics to determine where we can make improvements in the care and services we offer. We may remove information that identifies you from this set of medical information so others may use it to study health care and health care delivery without learning who you are.

Directory: We may include certain limited information such as your name, location in the facility, and your religious affiliation in a directory. With your permission, this directory information can be released to the news media, clergy, and visitors.

Individuals involved in your care: We may release medical information about you to a family member or designated individual who is directly involved in your health care. We may disclose medical information about you to an entity assisting in a disaster relief effort so that your family can be notified about your condition, status and location.

As required by law: We will disclose medical information about you when required to do so by federal, state, or local law.

To avert a serious threat to health or safety: We may use and disclose medical information about you when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person. Any disclosure, however, would only be to someone able to help prevent the threat.

Worker's Compensation: We may release medical information about you for worker's compensation programs which provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness.

Public health risks: We may disclose medical information about you for public health activities. These activities generally include the following:

* to prevent or control disease, injury or disability;
* to report deaths;
* to report reactions to medications or problems with products;
* 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; and
* to notify the appropriate agencies or authorities if we suspect, or you have been the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence as authorized by law.

Health oversight activities: We may disclose medical information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law, for example, audits, investigations, inspections, and licensure. These activities are necessary for the government to monitor the health care system , government programs, and compliance with civil rights laws.

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 someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.

Law enforcement: We may release medical information if requested by a law enforcement official or in response to a court order, subpoena, warrant, summons or similar process;

• To identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person
• To provide information about the victim of a crime if, under certain limited circumstances, we are unable to obtain the person's agreement;
• To investigate a death which may be the result of criminal conduct;
• To report a crime; the location of the crime or victims; or the identity, description or location of the person who committed the crime.

Organ and tissue donation: If there is an organ / tissue donation event, we may release medical information to organizations as necessary to facilitate organ or tissue donation and transplantation.

Coroners, medical examiners and funeral directors: We may release medical information to a funeral director, coroner or medical examiner as necessary to carry out their duties.

National security and intelligence activities: We may release medical information about you to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities authorized by law.

Military and Veterans: We may release medical information about you as required by military command authorities or, if you are foreign military personnel, to the appropriate foreign military authority.

Protective services: We may disclose medical information about you to authorized federal officials to provide protection to the president, authorized persons, foreign heads of state, or to conduct special investigations.

Inmates: If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law enforcement official, we may release medical information for the institution to provide you with health care; to protect your health and safety or the health and safety of others; or the safety and security of the correctional institution.

Brookings Hospital and Brookview Manor will not use or disclose your medical information in any other way unless you allow us to do so in writing. If you do give us permission to use or disclose your medical information for another purpose, you have the right to change your mind and revoke the permission 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 authorizations. 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 you.

Your privacy rights.- You have the following rights regarding medical information we maintain about you:
Right to request restrictions: You have the right to request a restriction on the medical information we disclose about you for treatment, payment or health care operation. You also have the right to request a limit on the medical information we disclose about you to someone who is directly involved in your care or the payment for your care.

These restrictions may affect payment, continuity of care, and results.

Right to inspect and copy. You have the right to see and copy your medical records, unless that information is protected by law. You must make these requests in writing. We will act upon your request within two (2) days for all Brookview Manor residents and within thirty (30) days for all other patients. If your request to look at or copy your medical records is denied, you have the right to have the denial reviewed by a health care professional. If you request a copy of your medical records, we may charge a fee for the costs of copying, mailing or other supplies associated with your request.

Right to amend - You may ask us to change information in your medical records. If your request is denied, you can write a statement of disagreement with the denial that we will keep with your medical information.

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 work or by mail. If you have received this notice of your medical information privacy rights electronically, you may ask us to provide you with a paper copy.

Right to accounting of disclosures. You may ask us to provide you with information about certain disclosures of your medical information in the past. You may request an accounting of disclosures made in the past six years, but this accounting will only cover disclosures made after April 14, 2003.

Complaints: If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the facility or the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. To file a complaint with this facility , contact: Administrator. Telephone: 696-9000. Filing a complaint will not affect the quality of the services you receive and you will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint.

You may contact the designated privacy officer at Brookings Hospital and Brookview Manor if you have questions about the use or disclosure of your medical records or about your privacy rights.

Contact: Privacy Officer, Phone number: 696-7722 ext. 7261.