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Privacy Policy |
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TRI-CITIES CANCER CENTER
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
Effective Date: April 14, 2003
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 Compliance/Privacy Officer at
(509) 783-9894.
Each time you visit a physician, hospital, or other healthcare provider, a record of your visit is made. Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, and treatment, a plan for future care or treatment, and billing-related information. This notice applies to all of the records of your care generated by the Tri-Cities Cancer Center, whether generated by Cancer Center employees, agents or physicians of the Cancer Center.
Our Responsibilities
We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your health information and provide you a description of our privacy practices. We will abide by the terms of this notice.
Uses and Disclosures
How we may use and disclose Medical Information about you.
The following categories describe examples of the way we use and disclose medical information:
For Treatment: We may use medical information about you to provide you treatment or services. We may disclose medical information about you to doctors, nurses, technicians, medical students, or other personnel who are involved in taking care of you. We may also provide your physician or a subsequent healthcare provider with copies of various reports that should assist him or her in treating you.
For Payment: We may use and disclose medical information about your treatment and services to bill and collect payment from you, your insurance company or a third party payer. For example, we may need to give your insurance company information about your treatment so they will pay us or reimburse you for the treatment. We may also tell your health plan about treatment you are going to receive to determine whether your plan will cover it.
For Health Care Operations: Members of the medical staff and/or tumor conference may use information in your health record to assess the care and outcomes in your case and others like it. The results will then be used to continually improve the quality of care for all patients we serve. For example, we may combine medical information about many patients to evaluate the need for new services or treatment. We may disclose information to doctors, nurses, and other students for educational purposes. And we may combine medical information we have with that of other facilities to see where we can make improvements. We may remove information that identifies you from this set of medical information to protect your privacy.
We may also use and disclose medical information:
To business associates we have contracted with to perform the agreed upon service and billing for it;
To remind you that you have an appointment for medical care;
To assess your satisfaction with our services;
To tell you about possible treatment alternatives;
To tell you about health related benefits or services;
To contact you as part of fund raising efforts;
For population based activities relating to improving health or reducing health care costs; and
For conducting training programs or reviewing competence of health care professionals.
Business Associates: There are some services provided in our organization through contracts with business associates. Examples include radiology, Blue Mountain Oncology Program and transcription services. When these services are contracted, we may disclose your health information to our business associate so that they can perform the job we have asked them to do and bill you or your third-party payer for services rendered. To protect your health information, however, we require the business associate to appropriately safeguard your information.
Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care: With your permission, we may release medical information about you to a friend or family member who is involved in your medical care or who helps pay for your care.
Research: We may disclose information to researchers when an institutional review board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your health information has approved their research.
Future Communications: We may communicate to you via newsletters, mail outs or other means regarding health related information, disease-management programs, wellness programs or other community based activities the Cancer Center is participating in.
Organized Health Care Arrangement: The Tri-Cities Cancer Center and its medical staff members are presenting this document as a joint notice. Information will be shared as necessary to carry out treatment, payment and health care operations. Physicians may have access to protected health information in their offices to assist in reviewing past treatment as it may affect treatment at the time.
As required by law, we may also use and disclose health information for the following types of entities, including but not limited to:
• Food and Drug Administration • Correctional Institutions
• Workers Compensation Agents • Accrediting Bodies
• Public Health or Legal Authorities charged with • Regulatory Agencies
preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability
Law Enforcement/Legal Proceedings: We may disclose health information for law enforcement purposes as required by law or in response to a valid subpoena.
State-Specific Requirements: Many states have requirements for reporting including population-based activities relating to improving health or reducing health care costs. Some states have separate privacy laws that may apply additional legal requirements. If the State privacy laws are more stringent than Federal privacy laws, the State law preempts the Federal law.
Your Health Information Rights
Although your health record is the physical property of the Tri-Cities Cancer Center you have the Right to:
Inspect and Copy: You have the right to inspect and copy medical information that may be used to make decisions about your care. Usually, this includes medical and billing records, but does not include psychotherapy notes. Your request to inspect and copy your records may be denied in very limited circumstances. If you are denied access to medical information, you may request that the denial be reviewed. We will comply with the outcome of the review.
Amend: If you feel that medical information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend the information in writing. You have the right to request an amendment for as long as the information is kept by or for the Cancer Center. We may deny your request for an amendment and if this occurs, you will be notified of the reason for the denial.
An Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to request an accounting of disclosures. This is a list of certain disclosures we make of your medical information for purposes other than treatment, payment or health care operations.
Request Restrictions: You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the medical information we use or disclose about you for treatment, payment or health care operations. You also have the right to request a limit on the medical information we disclose about you for treatment, payment or health care operations. You also have the right to request a limit on the medical information we disclose about you to someone who is involved in your care or the payment for your care, like a family member or friend. We are not required to agree to your request. If we do agree, we will comply with your request unless the information in needed to provide you emergency treatment.
A Paper Copy of This Notice: You have the right to a paper copy of this notice. You may ask us to give you a copy of this notice at any time.
CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE
We reserve the right to change this notice and the revised or changed notice will be effective for information we already have about you as well as any information we receive in the future. The current notice will be posted in the Cancer Center and will include the effective date. In the event of revision this notice will be re-distributed.
COMPLAINTS
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the Cancer Center by contacting the main number and asking for the Compliance/Privacy Officer, or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. All complaints must be submitted in writing.
You will not be penalized for filing a complaint.
OTHER USES OF MEDICAL INFORMATION
Other uses and disclosures of medical information not covered by this notice or the laws that apply to us will be made only with your written permission. If you provide us permission to use or disclose medical information about you, you may revoke that permission, in writing, 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 authorization. You will 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 to you.
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