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Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates

  • NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996

 

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.

 

The terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices apply to Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates. The members of this clinically integrated health care arrangement work and practice at Community Health Ventures, Visiting Nurse Service, Medina County Visiting Nurse Service, Portage County Visiting Nurse Service, Stark County Visiting Nurse Service, Hospice of Visiting Nurse Service, Visiting Nurse Service Personal Care Services, Visiting Nurse Service Equipment & Supplies, CHV – Home Medical Equipment, Visiting Nurse Service Equipment & Supplies/Complete Home Care, and Advanced Infusion Services. All of the entities and persons listed will share personal health information of our patients as necessary to carry out treatment, payment, and health care operations as permitted by law.

 

We are required by law to maintain the privacy of our patients' personal health information and to provide patients with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your personal health information. We are required to abide by the terms of this Notice so long as it remains in effect. We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices as necessary and to make the new Notice effective for all personal health information maintained by us. You may obtain a copy of any revised notices at Visiting Nurse Service & Affiliates web site – www.vnsa.com, or a copy may be obtained by mailing a request to Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates, Attention Privacy Officer, #1 Home Care Place, Akron, Ohio 44320.

We are required by law to maintain the privacy of our patients' personal health information and to provide patients with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your personal health information. We are required to abide by the terms of this Notice so long as it remains in effect. We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices as necessary and to make the new Notice effective for all personal health information maintained by us. You may obtain a copy of any revised notices at Visiting Nurse Service & Affiliates web site – www.vnsa.com, or a copy may be obtained by mailing a request to Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates, Attention Privacy Officer, #1 Home Care Place, Akron, Ohio 44320.

USES & DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION

Your Authorization

Except as outlined below, we will not use or disclose your personal health information for any purpose unless you have signed a form authorizing the use or disclosure. You have the right to revoke that authorization in writing unless we have taken any action in reliance on the authorization.

Uses and Disclosures for Treatment

We will make uses and disclosures of your personal health information as necessary for your treatment. For instance, doctors and nurses and other professionals involved in your care will use information in your medical record and information that you provide about your symptoms and reactions to plan a course of treatment for you that may include procedures, medications, tests, etc. We may also release your personal health information to another health care facility or professional who is not affiliated with our organization but who is or will be providing treatment to you. For instance, if you must be transferred to another home health agency or to a long-term care facility, we may release your personal health information to them to enable your continuing care and/or treatment.

Uses and Disclosures for Payment

We will make uses and disclosures of your personal health information as necessary for the payment purposes for the services provided to you. For instance, we may forward information regarding your care and treatment to your insurance company to arrange payment for the services provided to you or we may use your information to prepare a bill to send to you or to the person responsible for your payment.

Uses and Disclosures for Health Care Operations

We will use and disclose your personal health information as necessary, and as permitted by law, for our health care operations, which include clinical improvement, professional peer review, business management, accreditation and licensing, etc. For instance, we may use and disclose your personal health information for purposes of improving the clinical treatment and care of our patients. We may also disclose your personal health information to another health care facility, health care professional, or health plan for such things as quality assurance and case management, but only if that facility, professional, or plan also has or had a patient relationship with you.

Our Facility Directory

At our inpatient facility, The Justin T. Rogers Hospice Care Center, we maintain a facility directory listing the name, room number, general condition and, if you wish, your religious affiliation. Unless you choose to have your information excluded from this directory, the information, excluding your religious affiliation, will be disclosed to anyone who requests it by asking for you by name. This information, including your religious affiliation, may also be provided to members of the clergy. You have the right during registration to have your information excluded from this directory and also to restrict what information is provided and/or to whom.

Family and Friends Involved in Your Care

With your approval, we may from time to time disclose your personal health information to designated family, friends, and others who are involved in your care or in payment of your care in order to facilitate that person’s involvement in caring for you or paying for your care. If you are unavailable, incapacitated, or facing an emergency medical situation and we determine that a limited disclosure may be in your best interest, we may share limited personal health information with such individuals without your approval. We may also disclose limited personal health information to a public or private entity that is authorized to assist in disaster relief efforts in order for that entity to locate a family member or other persons that may be involved in some aspect of caring for you.

Business Associates

Certain aspects and components of our services are performed through contracts with outside persons or organizations, such as auditing, accreditation, legal services, etc. At times it may be necessary for us to provide certain sections of your personal health information to one or more of these outside persons or organizations who assist us with our health care operations. In all cases, we require these business associates to appropriately safeguard the privacy of your information.

Fundraising

We may contact you to donate to a fundraising effort for or on our behalf. You have the right to "opt-out" of receiving fundraising materials/communications and may do so by sending your name and address to Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates, attention Director of Development, # 1 Home Care Place, Akron, OH 44320, together with a statement that you do not wish to receive fundraising materials or communications from us.

Appointments and Services

We may contact you to provide appointment reminders, test results, patient education materials or discharge instructions. You have the right to request and we will accommodate reasonable requests by you to receive communications regarding your personal health information from us by alternative means or at alternative locations. For instance, if you wish appointment reminders to not be left on voice mail, or education materials or discharge instructions sent to a particular address, we will accommodate reasonable requests.

Health Products and Services

We may from time to time use your personal health information to communicate with you about health products and services necessary for your treatment, to advise you of new products and services we offer, and to provide general health and wellness information.

Research

In limited circumstances, we may use and disclose your personal health information for research purposes. For example, a research organization may wish to compare outcomes of all patients that received a particular drug and will need to review a series of medical records. In all cases where your specific authorization has not been obtained, your privacy will be protected by strict confidentiality requirements applied by an Institutional Review Board or privacy board which oversees the research or by representations of the researchers that limit their use and disclosure of patient information.

Other Uses and Disclosures

We are permitted or required by law to make certain other uses and disclosures of your personal health information without your consent or authorization.

  • We may release your personal health information for any purpose required by law;
  • We may release your personal health information for public health activities, such as required reporting of disease, injury, and birth and death, and for required public health investigations;
  • We may release your personal health information as required by law if we suspect child abuse or neglect; we may also release your personal health information as required by law if we believe you to be a victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence;
  • We may release your personal health information to the Food and Drug Administration if necessary to report adverse events, product defects, or to participate in product recalls;
  • We may release your personal health information to your employer when we have provided health care to you at the request of your employer to determine workplace-related illness or injury; in some cases you will receive notice that information is disclosed to your employer;
  • We may release your personal health information if required by law to a government oversight agency conducting audits, investigations, or civil or criminal proceedings;
  • We may release your personal health information if required to do so by subpoena or discovery request; in some cases you will have notice of such release;
  • We may release your personal health information to law enforcement officials as required by law to report wounds and injuries and crimes;
  • We may release your personal health information to coroners and/or funeral directors consistent with law;
  • We may release your personal health information in limited instances if we suspect a serious threat to health or safety;
  • We may release your personal health information if you are a member of the military as required by armed forces services; we may also release your personal health information if necessary for national security or intelligence activities; and
  • We may release your personal health information to workers' compensation agencies if necessary for your workers' compensation benefit determination.
  • Ohio law requires that we obtain a consent from you before disclosing your personal health information to the Long Term Care Ombudsman regarding your services; or disclosing the performance or results of an HIV test or diagnosis of AIDS or an AIDS-related condition.

RIGHTS THAT YOU HAVE

Access to Your Personal Health Information

You have the right to receive a copy and/or inspect much of the personal health information that we retain on your behalf. All requests for access must be made in writing and signed by you or your representative. You may be charged a medical record research and photocopying fee consistent with state law if you request a copy of the information. We will also charge for postage if you request a mailed copy. You may obtain an access request authorization form from Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates, Medical Records Department, #1 Home Care Place, Akron, Ohio 44320.

Amendments to Your Personal Health Information

You have the right to request in writing that personal health information that we maintain about you be amended or corrected. We are not obligated to make all requested amendments but will give each request careful consideration. All amendment requests, in order to be considered by us, must be in writing, signed by you or your representative, and must state the reasons for the amendment/correction request. If an amendment or correction you request is made by us, we may also notify others who work with us, and have copies of the uncorrected record, if we believe that such notification is necessary. You may obtain an amendment request form from Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates, Medical Records Department, #1 Home Care Place, Akron, Ohio 44320.

Accounting for Disclosures of Your Personal Health Information

You have the right to receive an accounting of certain disclosures made by us of your personal health information after April 14, 2003. Requests must be made in writing and signed by you or your representative. Accounting request forms are available from Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates, Medical Records Department, #1 Home Care Place, Akron, Ohio 44320. The first accounting in any 12-month period is free; you will be charged a fee for each subsequent accounting you request within the same 12-month period.

Restrictions on Use and Disclosure of Your Personal Health Information

You have the right to request restrictions on certain of our uses and disclosures of your personal health information for treatment, payment, or health care operations. You can obtain a restriction request form by asking the representative who delivers this notice. We are not required to agree to your restriction request but will attempt to accommodate reasonable requests when appropriate and we retain the right to terminate an agreed-to restriction if we believe such termination is appropriate. In the event of a termination by us, we will notify you of such termination. You also have the right to terminate, in writing or orally, any agreed-to restriction by sending such termination notice to Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates, Medical Records Department, #1 Home Care Place, Akron, Ohio 44320.

Complaints

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates’ Privacy Officer, Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates, #1 Home Care Place, Akron, Ohio 44320. You may also file a complaint with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington D.C. in writing within 180 days of a violation of your rights. There will be no retaliation for filing a complaint.

Acknowledgment of Receipt of Notice

You will be asked to sign an acknowledgment that you received this Notice of Privacy Practices. For Further Information If you have questions or need further assistance regarding this Notice, you may contact Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates’ Privacy Officer, Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates, #1 Home Care Place, Akron, Ohio 44320.

 

 As a patient you retain the right to obtain a paper copy of this Notice of Privacy Practices, even if you have requested such copy by e-mail or other electronic means.

 

Effective Date

 

This Notice of Privacy Practices is effective April 14, 2003.