HIPAA Privacy Act
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 following is
a description of your rights with respect to your protected health information.
Right to Request a Restriction – You have the
right to request a restriction on the PHI we use or disclose about you for
treatment, payment or health care operations. We are not required to agree to
any restriction that you may request. If we do agree to the restriction, we
will comply with the restriction unless the information is needed to provide
emergency treatment to you.
Right to Request Confidential
Communications
If you believe
that a disclosure of all or part of your PHI may endanger you, you may request
that we communicate with you regarding your information in an alternative
manner or at an alternative location. For example, you may request that we
contact you only at your work.
Right to Inspect and Copy - You have the right to inspect and copy
your PHI that is contained in the “designated record set.” However, you may not
inspect or copy psychotherapy notes or certain other information. We may deny
your request to inspect and copy your PHI in certain limited circumstances. If
you are denied access to your information, you may request that the denial be
reviewed. A licensed health care professional chosen by us will review your
request and the denial. The person performing the review will not be the same one
who denied your initial request. Under certain conditions our denial will not
be reviewable. If this event occurs, we will inform
you in our denial that the decision is not reviewable.
Right to Request Amendment - If you believe that your PHI is incorrect
or incomplete, you may request that we amend your information. In certain
cases, we may deny your request for amendment. If we deny your request, you
have the right to file a statement of disagreement with us. This statement will
be linked with the disputed information and all future disclosures of the
disputed information will include your statement of disagreement.
Right of Accounting – You have a right to an accounting of most
disclosures of your PHI that are for reasons other than treatment, payment, or
health care operations. An accounting will include the date(s) of disclosure,
to whom we made the disclosure, a brief description of
the information disclosed, and the purpose of the disclosure. Your request may
be for disclosures made up to six years before the date of your request, but in
no event, for disclosures made before
Right
to a Paper Copy of This Notice – You
have the right to a paper copy of this Notice, even if you have agreed to
accept this notice electronically.
Texas A&M University
Emergency Care Team may use PHI for the purposes of treatment, payment, and
health care operations, in most cases without your written permission. Examples
of our use of your PHI for these purposes are:
For Treatment – This includes such
things as verbal and written information that we obtain about you and use
pertaining to your medical condition and treatment provided to you by us and
other medical personnel including doctors who give orders to allow us to
provide treatment to you. It also includes information we give to other
healthcare personnel to whom we transfer your care and treatment, which
includes transfer of PHI via radio or telephone to the hospital or dispatch
center as well as providing the hospital with a copy of the written record we
create in the course of providing you with treatment and transport.
For Payment – This includes any
activities we must undertake in order to get reimbursed for the services we
provide to you, including such things as organizing your PHI and submitting
bills to insurance companies (either directly or through a third party billing
company) management of billed claims for services rendered, medical necessity
determinations and reviews, utilization review, and collection of outstanding
accounts.
For Health Care Operations – This
includes quality assurance activities, licensing, and training programs to
ensure that our personnel meet our standards of care and follow established
policies and procedures, obtaining legal and financial services, conducting
business planning, processing grievances and complaints, and creating reports
that do not individually identify you for data collection purposes.
Other ways in which Texas A&M
University Emergency Care Team is permitted to use and/or disclose your PHI are:
As Required by Law - We
may use or disclose your PHI to the extent that federal, state, or local law requires
the use or disclosure. When used in this Notice, “required by law” is defined
as it is in the HIPAA Privacy Regulations.
For Public Health Activities – We
may use or disclose your PHI for public health activities that are permitted or
required by law. For example, we may use or disclose information to a public
health authority authorized to receive reports of child abuse or neglect.
For Health Oversight Activities – We
may disclose your PHI to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by
law, such as audits, investigations, inspections, licensure or disciplinary
actions, civil, administrative, or criminal proceedings or other activities.
Oversight agencies seeking this information include government agencies that
oversee (1) the healthcare system, (2) government benefit programs, (3) other
government regulatory programs, and (4) compliance with civil rights laws.
Reporting Abuse or Neglect – We
may disclose your PHI to a government authority that is authorized by law to
receive reports of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence. Additionally, as
required by law, we may disclose to a government entity authorized to receive
such information, if we believe that you have been a victim of abuse, neglect,
or domestic violence.
Legal Proceedings – We
may disclose your PHI (1) in the course of any judicial or administrative
proceeding (2) in the response to an order of a court or administrative
tribunal to the extent such disclosure is expressly authorized (3) in response
to a subpoena, a discovery request, or other lawful process, once we have met
all administrative requirements of the HIPAA Privacy Regulations.
Law Enforcement – Under
certain conditions, we also disclose your PHI to law enforcement officials.
Some of the reasons for such a disclosure may include, but not limited to: (1)
it is required by law or some other legal process (2) it is necessary to locate
or identify a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person (3) it is
necessary to provide evidence of a crime that occurred on our premises.
For Research – We may disclose your PHI to researchers when
an institutional review board or privacy board has (1) reviewed the research
proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of the information and
(2) approved the researched.
Coroners,
Medical Examiners, Funeral Directors, and Organ Donation – We may disclose PHI to a
coroner or medical examiner for purposes of identifying a deceased person,
determining a cause of death, or for the coroner or medical examiner to perform
other duties authorized by law. We may also disclose, as authorized by law,
information to funeral directors so that they may carry out their duties.
Further, we may disclose PHI to organizations that handle organ, eye, or tissue
donation and transportation.
To
Prevent a Serious Threat to Health or Safety – Consistent with federal and
state laws, we may disclose your PHI if we believe that the disclosure is
necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or
safety of a person or the public. We may also disclose PHI if it is necessary
for law enforcement authorities to identify or apprehend an individual.
Military
Activity and National Security, Protective Services – Under certain conditions, we
may disclose your PHI if you are, or were, Armed Forces personnel for
activities deemed necessary by appropriate military command authorities. If you
are a member of foreign military service, we may disclose your information to
the foreign military authority. We also may disclose your PHI to authorized
federal officials for conducting national security and intelligence activities,
and for the protection of the President, other authorized persons, or heads of
state.
Inmates – If you are an inmate of a correctional institution,
we may disclose your PHI to the correctional institution or to a law
enforcement official for (1) the institution to provide health care to you (2)
your health and safety and the health and safety of others, or (3) the safety
and security of the correctional institution.
Worker’s Compensation – We may disclose your PHI to
comply with worker’s compensation laws and other
similar programs that provide benefits for work related injuries or illnesses.
Others
Involved in Your Health Care – Unless you object in writing we may disclose your
PHI to a friend or family member that you have identified as being involved
with your health care. We also may disclose your information to an entity
assisting in a disaster relief effort so that your family can be notified about
your condition, status, and location. If you are not present or able to agree
to these disclosures of your PHI, then we may, using our professional judgment,
determine whether the disclosure is in your best interest.
The
following is a description of the disclosures that we are required by law to
make.
Disclosures
to the Secretary of the
Disclosure
to You – We
are required to disclose to you most of your PHI in a “designated record set”
when you request access to this information. Generally a “designated record
set” contains medical and billing records as well as other records that are
used to make decisions about your health care benefits. We are also required to
provide, upon your request, an accounting of most disclosures of your PHI that
are for reasons other than treatment, payment, and health care operations.
Other uses and disclosures
of your PHI that are not described above will be made only with your written
authorization. If you provide us with such an authorization, you may revoke the
authorization in writing, and this revocation will be effective for future
disclosures of PHI. However, the revocation will not be effective for
information that we have
You also have the right to complain to us, or to
the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services if
you believe your privacy rights have been violated. You will not be retaliated
against in any way for filing a complaint with us or to the government. Should
you have any questions, comments, or complaints you may direct all inquiries to
the privacy officer listed at the end of this notice.
Adopted
from the Texas A&M Emergency Medical Service with
permission.
Contact
Elise Cooper TAMECT President with any questions or complaints @ delphi6483@aol.com