Patient Privacy- HIPAA

NOTICE OF PATIENT PRIVACY PRACTICES

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1996. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website, Title I of HIPAA protects health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs. Title II of HIPAA, known as the Administrative Simplification (AS) provisions, requires the establishment of national standards for electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans, and employers.

The Administration Simplification provisions also address the security and privacy of health data. The standards are meant to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the nation's health care system by encouraging the widespread use of electronic data interchange in the US health care system.

Florida Hospital Oceanside / Florida Hospital Ormond Memorial / Medical Staff of Florida Hospital Oceanside and Medical
Staff of Florida Hospital Ormond Memorial (referred to as FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O).

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.

If you have any questions about this notice, please contact the local Compliance and Privacy Officer at Florida Hospital Ormond Memorial.

Section A: Who Will Follow This Notice?

This notice describes FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O’s practices and that of:

1) Any health care professional authorized to enter information into your medical chart
2) All departments and units of FH-F, FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O
3) Any member of a volunteer group we allow to help you while you are in FH-F, FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-F, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O, 4) All employees, staff and other personnel of FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O .

All these entities, sites and locations follow the terms of this notice. In addition, these entities, sites and locations may share medical information with each other for treatment, payment or hospital operations purposes described in this notice. This list may not reflect recent acquisitions or sales of entities, sites, or locations.

Section B: 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 the care and services you receive at the hospital. We need this record to provide you with quality care and to comply with certain legal requirements. This notice applies to all of the records of your care generated or maintained by FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O, whether made by FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O personnel or your personal doctor. Your personal doctor may have different policies or notices regarding the doctor's use and disclosure of your medical information created in the doctor's office or clinic. 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:

1) Use our best efforts to keep medical information that identifies you private
2) Give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to medical information about you
3) Follow the terms of the notice that is currently in effect.

Section C: How We May Use and Disclose Medical Information About You

The following categories describe different ways that we use and disclose medical information. For each category of uses or disclosures we will explain what we mean and try to give some examples. Not every use or disclosure in a category will be listed. However, all of the ways we are permitted to use and disclose information will fall within one of the categories.
Treatment. We may use medical information about you to provide you with medical treatment or services. We may disclose medical information about you to doctors, nurses, technicians, medical students, or other FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O personnel who are involved in taking care of you at the hospital. For example, a doctor treating you for a broken leg may need to know if you have diabetes because diabetes may slow the healing process. In addition, the doctor may need to tell the dietitian if you have diabetes so that we can arrange for appropriate meals. Different departments of FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O also may share medical information about you in order to coordinate the different things you need, such as prescriptions, lab work and x-rays. We also may disclose medical information about you to people outside FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O who may be involved in your medical care after you leave FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O, such as family members, clergy or others we use to provide services that are part of your care.

Payment

We may use and disclose medical information about you so that the treatment and services you receive at FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O may be billed to and payment may be collected from you, an insurance company or a third party. For example, we may need to give your health plan information about surgery you received at FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O so your health plan will pay us or reimburse you for the surgery. We may also tell your health plan about a treatment you are going to receive to obtain prior approval or to determine whether your plan will cover the treatment.

Health Care Operations

We may use and disclose medical information about you for FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O’s operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary to run FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-F, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O and make sure that all of our patients receive quality care. For example, we may use medical information to review our treatment and services and to evaluate the performance of our staff in caring for you. We may also combine medical information about many patients to decide what additional services FH-F, FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O should offer, what services are not needed, and whether certain new treatments are effective. We may also disclose information to doctors, nurses, technicians, medical students, and other FH-F, FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O personnel for review and learning purposes. We may also combine the medical information we have with medical information from other entities to compare how we are doing and see 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 the specific patients are.

Appointment Reminders.

We may use and disclose medical information to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or medical care at FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O.

Treatment Alternatives.

We may use and disclose medical information to tell you about or recommend possible treatment options or alternatives that may be of interest to you.

Health Related Benefits and Services.

We may use and disclose medical information to tell you about health related benefits or services that may be of interest to you.
Fundraising Activities. We may use information about you to contact you in an effort to raise money for FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O and its operations. We may disclose information to a foundation related to FH-F, FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O so that the foundation may contact you to raise money for FH-F, FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O. We would release only contact information, such as your name, address and phone number and the dates you received treatment or services at FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O. If you do not want FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O to contact you for fundraising efforts, you must notify us in writing.

Patient Directory.

We may include certain limited information about you in FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O’s patient directory while you are a patient at FH-F, FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-F, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O. This information may include your name, location in FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O, your general condition (e.g., fair, stable, etc.) and your religious affiliation. The directory information, except for your religious affiliation, may also be released to people who ask for you by name. Your religious affiliation may be given to a member of the clergy, such as a priest or rabbi, even if they don't ask for you by name. This is so your family, friends and clergy can visit you in FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O and generally know how you are doing.

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. We may also give information to someone who helps pay for your care. We may also tell your family or friends your condition and that you are in FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O. In addition, 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.

Research.

Under certain circumstances, we may use and disclose medical information about you for research purposes. For example, a research project may involve comparing the health and recovery of all patients who received one medication to those who received another, for the same condition. All research projects, however, are subject to a special approval process. This process evaluates a proposed research project and its use of medical information, trying to balance the research needs with patients' need for privacy of their medical information. Before we use or disclose medical information for research, the project will have been approved through this research approval process, but we may, however, disclose medical information about you to people preparing to conduct a research project, for example, to help them look for patients with specific medical needs, so long as the medical information they review does not leave the hospital. We will generally ask for your specific permission if the researcher will have access to your name, address or other information that reveals who you are, or will be involved in your care at FH-OM, FH-O, Medical Staff of FH-OM, and Medical Staff of FH-O.

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.

Section D: Special Situations

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.