PRIVACY POLICIES
I. What this Is?
This Notice describes the privacy practices of this Home Care Agency ("Agency").
II. Our Privacy Obligations
This Agency choose to maintain the privacy of health information about you ("Protected Health Information" or "PHI") and to provide you with this Notice of our duties and privacy practices with respect to PHI. When we use or disclose PHI, we are required to abide by the terms of this Notice (or other notice in effect at the time of the use or disclosure).
III. Permissible Uses and Disclosures Without Your Written Authorization
In certain situations, which we will describe in Section IV below, we must obtain your written authorization in order to use and/or disclose your PHI. However, we do not need any type of authorization from you for the following uses and disclosures:
A. Uses and Disclosures For Treatment, Payment and Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose PHI in order to treat you and conduct our "Agency Care Operations" (e.g., internal administration, quality improvement, and customer service) as detailed below:
• Treatment. We use and disclose PHI to provide Home care services to you-for example, prescription verification. In addition, we may contact you to provide appointment reminders or information about doctor’s appointments or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you. We may also disclose PHI to other practitioners involved in your treatment.
• Payment. We do not use and disclose PHI to obtain payment for services that we provide to you-for example, we do not make claims or obtain payment from your health insurer, HMO, or other company that arranges or pays the cost of some or all of health care.
• Home Care Operations. We may use and disclose PHI for our Agency operations, which include internal administration and planning and various activities that improve the quality and cost effectiveness of the services we deliver to you. For example, we may use PHI to evaluate the quality and competence of our Caregivers, Nurses, and providers. We may disclose PHI to our office manager in order to resolve any complaints you may have and ensure that you have a pleasant service with us.
We may also disclose PHI to your other health care providers when such PHI is required for them to treat you or conduct certain health care operations, such as quality assessment and improvement activities, reviewing the quality and competence of health care professionals, or for health care fraud and abuse detection or compliance.
A. Disclosure to Relatives Close Friends and Other Careqivers. We may use or disclose PHI to a family member, other relative, a close personal friend, or any other person identified by you when you are present for, or otherwise available prior to, the disclosure. If you object to such uses or disclosures, please notify the PCD or Agency Owner.
If you are not present, you are incapacitated, or in an emergency circumstance, we may exercise our professional judgment to determine whether a disclosure is in your best interest. If we disclose information to a family member, other relative, or a close personal friend, we would disclose only information that is directly relevant to the person's involvement with your health care or payment related to your health care. We may also disclose PHI in order to notify (or assist in notifying) such persons of your location, general condition, or death.
C. Public Health Activities. We may disclose PHI for the following public health activities:
(1) To report health information to public health authorities for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability;
(2) To report child abuse and neglect to public health authorities or other government authorities authorized by law to receive such reports;
(3) To report information about products and services under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
D. Victims of Abuse, Neglect or Domestic Violence. If we reasonably believe you are a victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence, we may disclose PHI to a governmental authority, including a social service or protective services agency, authorized by law to receive reports of such abuse, neglect, or domestic violence.
E. Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose PHI to a health oversight agency that oversees the health care system and is charged with responsibility for ensuring compliance with the rules of government health programs.
F. Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. We may disclose PHI in the course of a judicial or administrative proceeding in response to a legal order or other lawful process.
G. Law Enforcement Officials. We may disclose PHI to the police or other law enforcement officials, as required or permitted by law or in compliance with a court order or a grand jury or administrative subpoena.
H. Decedents. We may disclose PHI to a coroner or medical examiner, as authorized by law.
I. Health or Safety. We may use or disclose PHI to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to a person or the public's health or safety.
J. As required by law. We may use and disclose PHI when required to do so by any other law not already referred to in the preceding categories.
IV. Use and Disclosures Requiring Your Written Authorization
A. Use or Disclosure with Your Authorization. For any purpose other than the ones described in Section III, we only may use or disclose PHI when you give us your authorization on our authorization form ("Your Authorization"). For instance, you will need to execute an authorization form before we can send your PHI to your life insurance company, to your child's camp or school, or to the attorney representing the other party in litigation in which you are involved.
B. Special Authorization. Confidential HIV-related information (for example, information regarding whether you have ever been the subject of an HIV test, have HIV infection, have HIV-related illness, or have AIDS, or any information which could indicate that you have ever been potentially exposed to HIV) will never be used or disclosed to any person without your specific written authorization, except to certain other persons who need to know such information in connection with your care, and, in certain limited circumstances, to public health or other government officials (as required by law), to persons specified in a special court order, or to certain persons with whom you have had sexual contact or have shared needles or syringes (in accordance with a specified process set forth in Pennsylvania State law). This special written authorization is a Pennsylvania State approved form which is a separate document from Your Authorization.
V. Your Individual Rights
A. For Further Information or Complaints. If you desire further information about your privacy rights, are concerned that we have violated your privacy rights, or disagree with a decision that we made about access to PHI, you may contact our Privacy Compliance Officer which is the Agency Owner. You may also file written complaints with the Director, Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Upon request, the Privacy Compliance Officer will provide you with the correct address for the Director. We will not retaliate against you if you file a complaint with either us or the Director.
B. Right to Request Additional Restrictions. You may request restrictions on our use and disclosure of PHI (1) for treatment, payment, and other treatment operations; (2) to individuals (such as a family member, other relative, close personal friend, or any other person identified by you) involved with your care or with payment related to your care; or (3) to notify or assist in the notification of such individuals regarding your location and general condition. All requests for such restrictions must be made in writing. While we will consider all requests for additional restrictions carefully, we are not required to agree to a requested restriction. If you wish to request additional restrictions, please obtain a request form from our Office Manager and submit the completed form to the Office Manager. We will send you a written response.
C. Right to Receive Confidential Communications. You may request, and we will accommodate, any reasonable written request for you to receive PHI by alternative means of communication or at alternative locations.
D. Right to Inspect and Copy Your Health Information. You may request access to your treatment file maintained by us in order to inspect and request copies of the records. All requests for access must be made in writing. Under limited circumstances, we may deny you access to your records. If you desire access to your records, please obtain a record request form from your assigned Caregiver and submit the completed form to the Office Manager. If you request copies, we will charge you $.75 (seventy-five cents) for each page. We will also charge you for our postage costs, if you request that we mail the copies to you.
E. Right to Revoke Your Authorization. You may revoke Your Authorization or Your Special Authorization, except to the extent that we have taken action in reliance upon it, by delivering a written revocation statement to the Office Manager identified below. [A form of Written Revocation is available upon request from the Office Manager.]
F. Right to Amend Your Records. You have the right to request that we amend PHI maintained in your Agency record file. If you desire to amend your records, please obtain an amendment request form from the Office Manager and submit the completed form to the Office Manager. All requests for amendments must be in writing. We will comply with your request unless we believe that the information that would be amended is accurate and complete or other special circumstances apply.
G. Right to Receive An Accounting of Disclosures. Upon written request, you may obtain an accounting of certain disclosures of PHI made by us during any period of time prior to the date of your request provided such period does not exceed six years and does not apply to disclosures that occurred prior to April 14, 2003. If you request an accounting more than once during a twelve (12) month period, we will charge you $.75 (seventy-five cents) per page of the accounting statement.
H. Right to Receive Paper Copy of this Notice. Upon written request, you may obtain a paper copy of this Notice, even if you agreed to receive such notice electronically.
VI. Effective Date and Duration of This Notice
A. Effective Date. This Notice is effective on April 1, 2017.
B. Right to Change Terms of this Notice. We may change the terms of this Notice at any time. If we change this Notice, we may make the new notice terms effective for all PHI that we maintain, including any information created or received prior to issuing the new notice. If we change this Notice, we will mail you the new changes via first class mail. You may also obtain any revised notice by contacting the Office Manager.