HOME HEALTH
Privacy Policy

​​NOTICE OF INFORMATION & PRIVACY PRACTICE (HIPAA)

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This notice describes how medical information about your care by be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information.

Please review it carefully.

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Understanding your health record/information:

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Each time you visit a hospital, physician, or each time a healthcare professional visits your home a record of your visit is made. Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnosis, treatment and a plan for future care or treatment. This information, often referred to as your health or medical record, serves as a basis for planning your care and treatment and serves as a means of communication among the many health professionals who contribute to your care. Understanding what is in your record and how your health information is used helps you to ensure its accuracy, better understand who, what, when, where, and why others may access your health information, and make more informed decisions when authorizing disclosure to others.

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Your health information rights:

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Unless otherwise required by law your health record is the physical property of the healthcare practitioner or facility that compiled it, but the information belongs to you. You have the right to:

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• Request in writing a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your information. The Agency is not required to agree to comply with your requested restriction.

• Request in writing amendments to your health record, either clinical or demographic.

• Inspect and request in writing a copy of your health record.

• Obtain an accounting of disclosures of your health information.

• Request communications of your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations.

• Revoke your authorization to use or disclose health information except to the extent that action has already been taken.

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Our responsibilities:

 

The Agency is required to maintain the privacy of your health information. In addition, we will:

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• Provide you with a notice as to our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to information we collect and maintain about you and will abide by the terms of this notice.

• Accommodate reasonable requests you may have to communicate health information by alternative means or at alternative locations.

• Post any new notices on our website YourPreferredCare.com. We reserve the right to change our practices and to make the new provision effective for all protected health information we maintain. Should our information practices change, we will mail a revised notice to the address you have supplied us.

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For more information or to report a problem:

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If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with the Secretary of Health and Human Services. There will be no retaliation for filing a complaint.

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We will use your health information for treatment:

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Information obtained by the assessment professional will be recorded in your record and used to determine the course of treatment that should work best for you. By way of example, members of your healthcare team will then record the actions they took, their observations and education provided. We will also provide other practitioners involved with your care with copies of various reports that should assist them in treating you as well as enabling your physician to provide orders for your home care.

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We will use your health information for payment:

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Your information will be utilized to obtain payment for services provided. A bill may be sent to you or a third-party payer. The information on or accompanying the bill may include information that identifies you, as well as your diagnosis, services provided and supplies used. Outside collection agencies may also be utilized.

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We will use your healthcare information for regular healthcare operations:

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We may use and disclose health information in order to facilitate operations and as necessary to provide quality care to all patients. Examples include:

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• Physician

• Quality assessment and improvement activities.

• Activities designed to improve health or reduce healthcare costs.

• Protocol development, case management and care coordination.

• Employee performance and evaluation.

• Training programs including those in which students, trainees or practitioners in healthcare learn under supervision.

• Accreditation, certification, licensing or credentialing activities.

• Review and auditing, including compliance reviews, medical reviews, legal services and compliance programs.

• Business planning and development.

• Patient satisfaction surveys.

• In coordination of emergency and disaster planning and implementation.

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For treatment alternatives:

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We may use and disclose your health information to tell you about or recommend possible treatment

options or alternatives that may interest you.

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Business Associates:

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There may be some services provided in our organization through contracts with Business Associates. Examples may include: therapy services, laboratory tests, supply distribution, and audit services. When these services are contracted, we may disclose some or all of your health information to our Business Associate so that they can perform the job we've asked them to do. To protect your health information, however, we require the Business Associate to properly safeguard your information.

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Communication with family:

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Health professionals, using their best judgment, may disclose to a family member, other relative, close personal friends or any other person you identify, health information relevant to that person's involvement in your care or payment related to your care.

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Research:

 

We may disclose information to researchers when a review board that has reviewed the research proposal, and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your health information has approved their research.

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Marketing:

 

We may contact you to provide information about your treatment alternatives or other health related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.

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Food and Drug Administration (FDA):

 

As required by law, we may disclose to the FDA health information relative to adverse events with respect to food, supplements, products and product defects or post marketing surveillance information to enable product recalls, repairs or replacement.

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Workers compensation:

 

We may disclose health information to the extent authorized by state or other laws and to the degree necessary to comply with those laws relating to workers compensation or other similar laws.

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Home Health Agency

Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS)

STATEMENT OF PATIENT PRIVACY RIGHTS

 

As a home health patient, you have the privacy rights listed below.

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• You have the right to know why we need to ask you questions.

We are required by law to collect healthcare information to make sure:

1. you get quality healthcare

2. payment for Medicare and Medicaid patients is correct

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• You have the right to have your personal healthcare information kept confidential.

  • You may be asked to tell us information about yourself so that we will know which home health service is best for you.

  • We will keep anything we learn about you confidential. This means, only those who are legally authorized to know, or who have a medical need to know, will see your personal health information.

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• You have the right to refuse to answer questions.

  • We may need your help in collecting your health information. If you choose not to answer, we will fill in the information as best we can.

  • You do not have to answer every question to get services.

 

• You have the right to look at your personal health information.

  • We know how important it is that the information we collect about you is correct. If you think we made a mistake, ask us to correct it.

  • If you are not satisfied with our response, you can ask the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal Medicare and Medicaid agency, to correct your information.

You can ask the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services to see, review, copy, or correct your personal health information which the Federal agency maintains in its HHA OASIS System of Records. CLICK for CONTACT INFORMATION. If you want a more detailed description of your privacy rights, see the below:  PRIVACY ACT STATEMENT-HEALTHCARE RECORDS.

 

This is a Medicare & Medicaid Approved Notice.

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