Notice of Privacy Practices
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
Effective: Jan. 1, 2006
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.
WHO WILL FOLLOW THIS NOTICE
This joint notice applies to our staff, volunteers, board
members, business associates and doctors while they are treating
you in our facility. It describes how we will use and share
your information, how we are required by law to maintain the
privacy of your health information and to provide you with notice
of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your
protected health information (PHI). PHI is information about
you, including demographic information, that may identify you and
that relates to your health or condition and related health care
services. We are required to abide by the terms of the notice
currently in effect. If you have questions about any part of
this notice or if you want more information about our privacy
practices, please contact our Chief Privacy Officer at
727-820-8024.
I. How we (including our affiliated entities and
doctors who are treating you) may use or share your health
information
We are committed to protecting the privacy of your health
information. The law permits us to use or share your health
information for the following purposes:
- Treatment. We may use or share your PHI with physicians,
nurses, students, and other health care personnel to provide you
treatment or services For example, your PHI may be
provided to a physician to whom you have been referred to ensure
that the physician has the necessary information to diagnose and
treat you.
- Payment. We may use or share your PHI to obtain payment
for your health care services, including to a collection agency or
credit bureau. We may also share your PHI with other
providers so they may obtain payment for services. We may
also use or share your PHI so that we may locate you for collection
purposes; including using services with change of address
information to ensure your statements are mailed to the most
current address on file with the postal service. For example,
obtaining approval for payment of services from your health plan
may require that your PHI be shared with your health plan. We
may also provide your PHI to our business associates or other
providers' business associates, such as billing companies,
collection agencies, and vendors who mail billing statements.
- Health Care Operations. We may use or share your PHI or a
limited data set in order to operate our facilities. Our
hospitals and its medical staff members have an organized health
care arrangement and may use or share your PHI for the operations
of the organized health care arrangement. For example, we may
use your PHI in order to evaluate the quality of health care
services that you received, to evaluate the performance of the
health care professionals who provided health care services to you,
for medical review purposes, or auditing. In addition, we
report traumas, birth defects and cancer cases (Florida Cancer
Registry) to the departments of health for quality improvement and
licensing purposes and quarterly data to the Agency for Health Care
Administration (AHCA) as required for licensing. We may also
provide your PHI to accountants, attorneys, consultants, and others
in order to make sure we're complying with the laws that affect
us.
- Directory. We will use and share your name, the location
at which you are receiving care, your condition (in general terms),
and your religious affiliation in our facility directory unless you
object. All of this information, except religious
affiliation, will be given to people that ask for you by name, such
as visitors. Members of the clergy will be told your
religious affiliation. The opportunity to consent may be obtained
retroactively in emergency situations.
- Notification and Communication with Family. We may
release your PHI to a relative, close friend, or any other person
you identify, information that directly relates to that person's
involvement in your health care or who helps pay for your care
unless you object. If you are unable to agree or object
to the release, we may release information as necessary if we
determine that it is in your best interest based on our
professional judgment, such as emergency situations. We may
use or release PHI to notify or assist in notifying a family
member, personal representative, or any other person that is
responsible for your care to tell them your location or general
condition. Finally, we may use or share your PHI to an
authorized public or private entity to assist in disaster relief
efforts and to coordinate uses and releases to family or other
individuals involved in your health care.
- Required by law, court, or law enforcement. We may
release PHI 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 crime; or
when ordered by a court.
- Public Health. As required by law, we may release PHI or
a limited data set to public health authorities for purposes
related to preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability;
reporting to the Food and Drug Administration problems with
products and reactions to medications; and reporting disease or
infection exposure. We are required to report all births and
deaths to the Office of Vital Statistics for certificate
purposes.
- Health Oversight Activities. We may release PHI to health
agencies for activities authorized by law. These oversight
activities include audits, investigations, and inspections, as
necessary for our licensure and for the government to monitor the
health care system, government programs, and Compliance with civil
rights laws. For example, we may release PHI to the Secretary
of the Department of Health & Human Services so they can
determine our compliance with privacy laws.
- Deceased Person Information. We may release your health
information to coroners, medical examiners, and funeral
directors.
10. Organ Donation. We may release your health
information to organizations involved in procuring, banking or
transplanting organs and tissues, such as Lions Bank and Life
Link.
11. Research. We may release your health information
or limited data set to researchers conducting research that has
been approved by an Institutional Review Board.
12. Public Safety. We may release your health
information to appropriate persons in order to prevent or lessen a
serious and near threat to the health or safety of a particular
person or the general public.
13. Specific Government Functions. We may share your
health information for military or national security purposes.
14. Worker's Compensation. We may share your health
information as necessary to comply with worker's compensation
laws. We report any injuries referred to us from an employer
to the Department of Worker's Compensation and any work-related
deaths to OSHA. All employers are given health information
regarding work-related injuries they have referred to us.
15. Appointment Reminders & Health Related
Benefits. We may use your PHI to contact you to provide
appointment reminders or to give information about other treatments
or health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to
you.
16. Fund-Raising. We may contact you to participate
in fund-raising activities.
17. Florida State Specific Requirements. When
Florida's laws are more stringent than federal privacy laws, the
state law preempts the federal law.
18. Organized Health Care Arrangement. Each hospital
and its medical staff members have organized and are presenting you
this document as a joint notice. Each hospital is listed on
this Notice. Information may be shared as necessary to carry
out treatment, payment and health care operations. Physicians
may have access to PHI in their offices to assist in reviewing past
treatment as it may affect treatment at the time. Your
physician may have different policies or notices regarding the
physician's use and disclosure of your health information created
in the physician's office or clinic.
19. Affiliated Covered Entity. PHI will be
made available to staff at local affiliated entities as necessary
to carry out treatment, payment and health care operations.
Caregivers at other facilities may have access to PHI at their
locations to assist in reviewing past treatment information as it
may affect treatment at this time. You may contact the Chief
Privacy Officer for more information on specific sites included in
this affiliated covered entity.
20. Diagnostic and therapeutic information regarding
psychiatric, drug/alcohol abuse, or sexually transmitted diseases
(including HIV status) will not be disclosed without your specific
permission, unless required by law.
II. Your Health Information Rights
- You have the right to request a limit on certain uses and
releases of your health information. We will consider your
request, but are not required to accept it. These requests
must be in writing and submitted to our Chief Privacy Officer.
- You have the right to choose how you receive your health
information. You have the right to ask that we send
information to you at an alternative address or by other means (for
example telephone instead of mail, post office box instead of home
address). We must agree to your request so long as we can
easily provide it in the format you requested. These requests
must be in writing.
- You have the right to see and get copies of your health
information, in most cases. These requests must be in
writing. Lab results that are not part of your hospital
medical record may not be released to you without permission from
your physician. Hospital records may not be copied until
after discharge.
- You have a right to request that we correct or update
information that is incorrect or incomplete. We are not
required to change your health information. If we deny your
request, we will provide you with information about our denial and
how you can disagree with the denial. These requests must be
in writing.
- You have a right to receive a list of disclosures we have made
except that we do not have to account for the disclosures described
under treatment, payment, health care operations; information
provided to you; information released based on your written
authorization; directory listings; certain government functions;
disclosures of a limited data set (which may only include date
information and limited address information); and to correctional
institutions or law enforcement in custodial situations.
These requests must be in writing and must state a time period,
which may not be longer than six years and may not include dates
before April 14, 2003.
- You have a right to get a paper copy of this Notice of Privacy
Practices. You may request a copy of this notice at any
time.
III. Changes to this Notice of Privacy
Practices
We reserve the right to change this Notice of Privacy Practices
at any time in the future. We reserve the right to make the
changed notice effective for health information we already have
about you as well as any we receive in the future. We will
post a current copy of the Notice. Upon request, you may
obtain a copy of the current notice by contacting our Chief Privacy
Officer at 727-820-8024.
IV. When We May Not Use or Disclose Your Health
Information
Except as described in this Notice of Privacy Practices, we will
not use or disclose your health information without your written
authorization. If you do authorize us to use or disclose your
health information for another purpose, you may revoke your
authorization in writing at any time.
V. Incidental Disclosures
We make reasonable efforts to avoid incidental disclosures of
your protected health information. An example of an
incidental disclosure is conversations that may be overheard
between you and our team members in the Emergency Center.
VI. Complaints
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may
file a complaint with our Chief Privacy Officer or with the
Secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services.
To file a complaint with our Chief Privacy Officer, call
727-820-8024.
You will not be penalized for filing a complaint.
BayCare Health System Hospitals:
Mease Countryside Hospital
Mease Dunedin Hospital
Morton Plant Hospital
Morton Plant North Bay Hospital
St. Anthony's Hospital
St. Joseph's Children's Hospital of Tampa
St. Joseph's Hospital
St. Joseph's Women's Hospital
St. Joseph's Hospital North
South Florida Baptist Hospital