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Patient Privacy Practices
North Georgia Medical Center
Notice Of Privacy Practices
I. 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.
II. WE
HAVE A LEGAL DUTY TO SAFEGUARD YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION (PHI)
We are required
to protect the privacy of your health information. We call this information
"protected health information," or "PHI" for short,
and it includes information that can be used to identify you. We must
provide you with this notice about our privacy practices that explains
how, when, and why we use and disclose your PHI. With some exceptions,
we may not use or disclose any more of your PHI than is necessary to accomplish
the purpose of the use or disclosure.
However,
we reserve the right to change the terms of this notice and our privacy
policies at any time. Any changes will apply to the PHI we already have.
Before we make an important change to our policies, we will promptly change
this notice and post a new notice on public bulletin boards and in the
lobbies within our facilities. You can also request a copy of this notice
from the admissions or marketing office at any time.
III.
HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION
We use and
disclose health information for many different reasons. For some of these
uses or disclosures, we need your prior consent or specific authorization.
Below, we describe the different categories of cur uses and disclosures
and give you some examples of each category.
A. Uses
and Disclosures Relating to Treatment, Payment, or Health Care Operations.
We may use and disclose your PHI with or without your consent for the
following reasons:
1. For treatment. We may disclose your PHI to physicians, nurses, medical
students, and other health care personnel who provide you with health
care services or are involved in your care. For example, if you're being
treated for a knee injury, we may disclose your PER to the rehabilitation
department in order to coordinate your care.
2. To obtain payment for treatment. We may use and disclose your PHI in
order to bill and collect payment for the treatment and services provided
to you. For example, we may provide portions of your PIE to our billing
department and your health plan to get paid for the health care services
we provided to you. We may also provide your PIE to our business associates,
such as billing companies, claims processing companies, and others that
process our health care claims.
3. For health care operations. We may disclose your PHI in order to operate
this facility. For example, we may use your PHI in order to evaluate the
quality of health care services that you received or to evaluate the performance
of ' the health care 'professionals who provided health care services
to you. We may also provide your PHI to our accountants, attorneys, consultants,
and others in order to make sure we're complying with the laws that affect
us.
B. We may
use and disclose your PHI without your consent or authorization for the
following reasons:
1. When a disclosure is required by federal, state, or local law, judicial
or administrative proceedings, or law enforcement. For example, we make
disclosures when a law requires that we report information to government
agencies and law enforcement personnel about victims of abuse, neglect,
or domestic violence; when dealing with gunshot and other wounds; or when-
ordered in judicial or administrative proceedings.
2. For public health activities. For example, we report information about
births, deaths, and various diseases, to government officials in charge
of collecting that information, and we provide coroners, medical examiners,
and funeral directors necessary information relating to an individual's
death.
3. For health oversight activities. For example, we will provide information
to assist the government when it conducts an investigation or inspection
of a health care provider or organization.
4. For purpose of organ donation. We may notify organ procurement organizations
to assist them in organ, eye, or tissue donation and transplants.
5. For research purposes. In certain circumstances, we may provide PHI
in order to conduct medical research.
6. To avoid harm. In order to avoid a serious threat to the health or
safety of a person or the public, we may provide PHI to law enforcement
personnel or persons able to prevent or lessen such harm.
7. For specific government functions. We may disclose PHI of military
personnel and veterans in certain situations. And we may disclose PHI
for national security purposes, such as protecting the president of the
United States or conducting intelligence operations.
8. For workers' compensation purposes. We may provide PHI in order to
comply with workers' compensation laws.
9. Appointment reminders and health-related benefits or services. We may
use PHI to provide appointment reminders or give you information about
treatment alternatives, or other health care services or benefits we offer.
10. Fund-raising activities. We may use PHI to raise funds for our organization.
The money raised through these activities is used to expand and support
the health care services and educational programs we provide to the community.
If you do not wish to be contacted as part of our fund-raising efforts,
please contact the person listed in section VI below.
C. Two Uses
and Disclosures Require You to Have the Opportunity to Object.
1. Patient directories. We may include your name, location in this facility,
general condition, and religious affiliation, in our patient directory
for use by clergy and visitors who ask for you by name, unless you object
in whole or part. The opportunity to consent may be obtained retroactively
in emergency situations.
2. Disclosures to family, friends, or others. We may provide your PHI
to a family member, friend, or other person that you indicate is involved
in your care or the payment for your health care, unless you object in
whole or in part. The opportunity to consent may be obtained retroactively
in emergency situations.
D. All Other
Uses and Disclosures Require Your-Prior Written Authorization. In any
other situation not described in sections III A, B, and C above, we will
ask for your written authorization before using or disclosing any of your
PHI. If you choose to sign an authorization to disclose your PHI, you
can later revoke that authorization in writing to stop any future uses
and disclosures (to the extent that we haven't taken any action relying
on the authorization).
IV. WHAT
RIGHTS YOU HAVE REGARDING YOUR PHI
You have
the following rights with respect to your PHI:
1. The Right to Request Limits on Uses and Disclosures of Your PHI. You
have the right to ask that we limit how we use and disclose your PHI.
We will consider your request but are not legally required to accept it.
If we accept your request, we will put any limits in writing and abide
by them except in emergency situations. You may not limit the uses and
disclosures that we are legally required or allowed to make.
2. The Right to Choose How We Send PHI to You. You have the right to ask
that we send information to you to an alternate address or by alternate
means (for example, e-mail instead of regular mail). We must agree to
your request so long as we can easily provide it in the format you requested.
3. The Right to See and Get Copies of your PHI. In most cases, you have
the right to look at or get copies of your PHI that we have, but you must
make the request in writing. In certain situations, we may deny your request;
i.e. if you are a ward of the state (inmate), your physician has deemed
access to your records may be detrimental to your health, or adjudication
of incompetence. If we do, we will explain to you and put in writing our
reasons for the denial along with other alternatives available to have
your records released directly to the state, physician, guardian and explain
your right to have the denial reviewed. There may be charges for copies
made.
4. The Right to Get a List of the Disclosures We Have Made. You have the
right to get a list of instances in which we have disclosed your PHI.
The list will not include uses or disclosures that you have already consented
to, such as those made for treatment, payment, or health care operations,
directly to you, to your family, or in our facility directory. The list
also won't include uses and disclosures made for national security purposes,
to corrections, or law enforcement personnel 1.
5. The Right to Correct or Update your PHI. If you believe there is a
mistake in your PHI or that a piece of important information is missing,
you have the right to request that we correct the existing information
or add the missing information. You must provide the request and your
reason for the request in writing. We will respond within 60 days of receiving
your request. We ma deny your request in writing if the PHI is (i) correct
and complete, (ii) not created by us, (iii) not allowed to be disclosed,
or (iv) not part of our records. Our written denial will state the reasons
for the denial and explain your right to file a written statement of disagreement
with the denial. If you don't file one, you have the right to request
that your request and our denial be attached to all future disclosures
of your PHI. If we approve your request, we will make the change to your
PHI, tell you that we have done it, and tell others that need to know
about the change to your PHI.
V. HOW
TO COMPLAIN ABOUT YOUR PRIVACY PRACTICES
If you think
that we may have violated your privacy rights, or you disagree with a
decision we made about access to your PHI, you may file a complaint with
the person listed in Section VI below. You also may send a written complaint
to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. We will
take no retaliatory action against you if you file a complaint about our
privacy practices.
VI. PERSON
TO CONTACT FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THIS NOTICE OR TO COMPLAIN
ABOUT OUR PRIVACY PRACTICES
If you have
any questions about this notice or any complaints about our privacy practices,
or would like to know how to file a complaint with the Secretary of the
Department of Health and Human Services or with the facility, please contact:
North Georgia Medical Center (706) 276-4741 and ask the operator for the
Privacy Officer/HIPAA Compliant Officer.
Approved
1/03
HIPAA 8350001
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