Privacy Policy
SEARSTONE RETIREMENT COMMUNITY
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
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.
We respect the privacy of your protected health information and are committed to maintaining our confidentiality in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and its implementing regulations (“HIPAA”) and other applicable privacy laws. This Notice of Privacy Practices (“Notice”) applies to all information and records related to your care that our facility creates, receives, maintains, or transmits. It extends to information received or created by our employees, staff, volunteers, and physicians. This Notice informs you about the possible uses and disclosures of your protected health information. It also describes your rights and our obligations regarding your protected health information.
We are required by law to:
- maintain the privacy of your protected health information;
- provide to you this detailed Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices relating to your protected health information;
- notify affected individuals following a breach of your unsecured protected health information; and
- abide by the terms of the Notice that are currently in effect.
Providers within our organized health care arrangement (“OHCA”) will share information for purposes of treatment, payment and health care operations.
I. WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION FOR TREATMENT, PAYMENT, AND HEALTH CARE OPERATIONS
We may use and disclose your protected health information for purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations without your written authorization. We have described these uses and disclosures below and provide examples of the types of uses and disclosures we may make in each of these categories.
For Treatment. We will use and disclose your protected health information in providing you with treatment and services. We may disclose your protected health information to facility and non-facility personnel who may be involved in your care, such as physicians, nurses, nurse aides, and physical therapists. Our workforce has access to such information on a need-to-know basis. For example, a nurse caring for you will report any change in your condition to your physician. Your physician may need to know the medications you are taking before prescribing additional medications. It may be necessary for the physician to inform the nurses or staff of the medications you are taking so they can administer the medications and monitor any possible side effects. In addition, we may contact you to provide appointment reminders or information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services, which may be of interest to you. We also may disclose protected health information to individuals who will be involved in your care after you leave the facility.
For Payment. We may use and disclose your protected health information so that we can bill and receive payment for treatment and services you receive at the facility. Bills requesting payment will usually include information which identifies you, your diagnosis, and any procedures performed or supplies used. For billing and payment purposes, we may disclose your protected health information to your representative, an insurance or managed care company, Medicare, or another third party payor. For example, we may contact Medicare or your health plan to confirm your coverage or to request prior approval for a proposed treatment or service.
For Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose your protected health information for facility operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary to monitor the health status of patients, manage the facility, and monitor our quality of care. For example, we may use protected health information to evaluate our facility’s services, including the performance of our staff. In addition, we may release your protected health information for quality assessment and improvement activities or for review of or evaluation of health care professionals. Health care operations may also include the use of information for quality assurance, training, accreditation, medical review, auditing, and business planning.
II. WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU FOR OTHER SPECIFIC PURPOSES
Facility Directory. Unless you object, we may include certain limited information about you in our facility directory. This information may include your name and your location in the facility.
Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care. Unless you object, we may disclose your protected health information to a family member, close personal friend, or other person, who is involved in your care.
As Required by Law. We will disclose your protected health information when required by law to do so.
Public Health Activities. We may disclose your protected health information for public health activities. These activities may include, for example:
- reporting to a public health or other government authority for preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability, or reporting abuse or neglect;
- reporting to the federal Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) concerning adverse events or problems with products for tracking products in certain circumstances, to enable product recalls or to comply with other FDA requirements;
- to notify a person who may have been exposed to a communicable disease or may otherwise be at risk of contracting or spreading a disease or condition or
- for certain purposes involving workplace illness or injuries.
Reporting Victims of Abuse, Neglect or Domestic Violence. If we believe that you have been a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence, we may use and disclose your protected health information to notify a government authority if required or authorized by law, or if you agree to the report.
Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose your protected health information to a health oversight agency for oversight activities authorized by law. These may include, for example, audits, investigations, inspections and licensure actions or other administrative proceedings. These activities are necessary for government oversight of the health care system, government payment or regulatory programs, and compliance with civil rights laws.
Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. We may disclose your protected health information in response to a court or administrative law. We also may disclose information in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process, to the extent permitted under state law.
Law Enforcement. We may disclose your protected health information for certain law enforcement purposes, including:
- as required by law to comply with reporting requirements;
- to comply with a court order, warrant, subpoena, summons, investigative demand or similar legal process;
- to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person;
- when information is requested about the victim of a crime if the individual agrees or under other limited circumstances;
- to report information about a suspicious death;
- to provide information about criminal conduct occurring at the facility;
- to report information in emergency circumstances about a crime; or
- where necessary to identify or apprehend an individual in relation to a violent crime or an escape from lawful custody.
Research. We may allow protected health information of patients from our facility who choose to participate in research studies. Your protected health information may be used for research purposes only if the privacy aspects of the research have been reviewed and approved by a special Privacy Board of Institutional Review Board, if the researcher is collecting information in preparing a research proposal, if the research occurs after your death, or if you authorize the use or disclosure.
Coroners, Medical Examiners, Funeral Directors, and Organ Procurement Organizations. We may release your protected health information to a coroner, medical examiner, funeral director or, if you are an organ donor, to an organization involved in the donation of organs and tissue.
To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety. We may use and disclose your protected health information when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health or safety or the health or safety of the public or another person. However, any disclosure would be made only to someone able to help prevent the threat.
Military and Veterans. If you are a member of the armed forces, we may use and disclose your protected health information as required by military command authorities. We may also use and disclose protected health information about foreign military personnel as required by the appropriate foreign military authority.
Workers’ Compensation. We may use or disclose your protected health information to comply with laws relating to workers’ compensation or similar programs.
Appointment Reminders. We may use or disclose protected health information to remind you about appointments.
Treatment Alternatives. We may use or disclose protected health information to inform you about treatment alternatives that may be of interest to you.
Health-Related Benefits and Services. We may use or disclose protected health information to inform you about health-related benefits and services we offer that may be of interest to you.
We will use and disclose protected health information (other than as described in this Notice or required by law), such as for sale of protected health information or for marketing, only with your written authorization. You may revoke your authorization to use or disclose protected health information in writing, at any time. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclose your protected health information for the purposes covered by the authorization, except where we have already relied on the authorization.
You have the following rights regarding your protected health information at the facility, which you can exercise by contacting the designated contact listed on the final page of this Notice:
Right to Request Restrictions. You have the right to request restrictions on our use or disclosure of your protected health information for treatment, payment or health care operations. However, we are not required to agree to your requested restriction, unless your request is to restrict disclosure of your protected health information to your health plan pertaining solely to a health care item or service for which you, or another person on your behalf, have paid in full, and the disclosure is for the purpose of carrying out payment or health care operations and is not otherwise required by law.
Right to Confidential Communications. You may request that we contact you at a specific address or by alternate means or at alternative locations. Your request must be in writing.
Right to Inspect and Copy. You may obtain access to or copies of your protected health information upon request. Your request must be in writing. We may charge a reasonable fee for our costs in copying and mailing your requested information.
Right to Amend. You may request corrections to your protected health information if you believe it is inaccurate or incomplete. Your request must be in writing.
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures. You may obtain a list of certain disclosures made within the previous six years upon request, excluding those for treatment, payment, and health care operations, and certain other exempted disclosures.
Right to a Paper Copy of this Notice. You may obtain a printed copy upon request, even if you previously received it electronically.
If any federal or state law requires us to apply more stringent protections to your health information than HIPAA, we will follow the more stringent requirement. For example, some laws may give greater privacy protections for certain types of sensitive health information, such as information related to mental health, HIV/AIDS or other communicable diseases, genetic testing, or substance use disorders.
If Searstone receives substance use disorder diagnosis or treatment records about you from a Part 2 regulated program (“Part 2 Program”) for the purpose of treatment, payment, or health care operations for which your consent was obtained, we may further use and disclose that information consistent with the HIPAA regulations as described in this Notice, except for uses and disclosures for civil, criminal, administrative, and legislative proceedings against you. In no event will we use or disclose your Part 2 Program records, or testimony that describes the information contained in your Part 2 Program records, in any civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative proceedings by any federal, state, or local authority, against you, unless authorized by your consent or a lawful court order. A court order authorizing use or disclosure must be accompanied by a subpoena or other legal requirement compelling disclosure before the requested record will be used or disclosed for this purpose.
We will promptly revise and distribute this Notice whenever there is a material change to the uses or disclosures, your individual rights, our legal duties, or other privacy practices stated in this Notice. We reserve the right to change this Notice and to make the new Notice provisions effective for all protected health information we maintain. We will post a copy of the current Notice in the facility. In addition, we will provide a copy of the revised Notice to all patients via U.S. mail or Searstone in-house mail system.
If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint in writing with the facility or with the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Please visit https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/filing-a-complaint/index.html for further information on how to file a complaint with the Department. To file a complaint with our facility, contact Vanessa Hernandez, Human Resources Director, at (919) 234-0406. We will not retaliate against you if you file a complaint.
For questions about this Notice or to exercise your privacy rights described in this Notice, please contact our Privacy Officer at [email protected].