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Privacy Statement
You are hereby instructed to review this
Statement of Privacy carefully as you will be
required to acknowledge your review of and
agreement to its statements. AMSI is required by federal HIPAA regulations to maintain the privacy of your health information ("protected Health Information" or "PHI") and to provide you with this notice. We will take precautions to protect information necessary to your care. We will use your health information for treatment, to run our healthcare network and to obtain payment. We may use and disclose (give out) your PHI in connection with your treatment and/or other services provided to you - for example, to diagnose and treat you. In addition, we may contact you to provide appointment reminders or information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services. We may record your information at the nurse's stations, provide it in bedside charts and collect it in sign-in sheets in order to coordinate your care. We may disclose your PHI to obtain payment for services that we provide to you. We may use and disclose your PHI for healthcare operations. These include internal administration and planning and various activities that improve the quality and cost effectiveness of healthcare services. We may use your PHI to evaluate our physicians, nurses and other healthcare workers - or to support training of these professionals. We may also use PHI to address patient concerns, to provide patient education and to assess patient satisfaction. We may provide licensing and accrediting organizations with your PHI to maintain approvals we need to continue our services. We may also disclose PHI to other healthcare providers when such PHI is required for them to treat you (e.g., specialists, pharmacists), receive payment for services they provide to you, or conduct certain healthcare operations. For example, emergency ambulance companies use PHI to request payment for services in bringing you to the hospital. We may disclose your PHI to a family member, other relative, friend or any other person if we: 1) obtain your agreement; 2) provide you with the opportunity to object to the disclosure, and you do not object; 3) we reasonably assume that you do not object. If we provide information on any individual(s) listed above we will release only information that we believe is directly relevant to that person's involvement with your healthcare or payment related to your healthcare. We may also disclose your PHI in the event of an emergency or to notify (or assist in notifying) such persons of your location, general condition or death. We may use PHI to communicate with you about products or services relating to your treatment, case management or care coordination, or alternative treatments, therapies, providers or care settings without your written authorization. We offer you help in finding a physician and look at how this referral service is used. We may send you newsletters or informational mailers regarding our services, programs and community events. If you have taken part in one of our health screenings or other community events, we may follow up with you by telephone or mail about services that may benefit you. We may disclose your PHI for the following public health activities: 1) reporting births or deaths; 2) preventing or controlling disease; 3) reporting child abuse and neglect to public health or other government authorities authorized by law to receive such reports; 4) reporting information about products and services under the jurisdiction of the United States Food and Drug Administration, such as reactions to medications and problems with products; 5) alerting a person who may have been exposed to an infectious disease or may be at risk of contracting or spreading disease or condition; 6) notifying people of recalls of products they may be using; and 7) reporting information to your employer as required by law addressing work-related illnesses and injuries or workplace medical surveillance. If we reasonably believe you are a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence, we may disclose your PHI to a governmental authority, including a social service protective agency, authorized by law to receive reports of such abuse, neglect or domestic violence. We may disclose your PHI to a health oversight agency that is responsible for ensuring compliance with rules of government health programs such as Medicare or Medicaid. We may disclose your PHI in response to a court order, subpoena, or other lawful process. We may disclose PHI of deceased individuals to a coroner or medical examiner authorized by law to receive such information. We may disclose your PHI to organizations that obtain organs or tissue for banking and/or transplantations. We may use or disclose your PHI to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to personal or public safety. We may disclose your PHI as authorized by state law relating to worker's compensation or other similar government programs. If you are or become a correctional institution inmate or you are in custody of a law enforcement official, we may release your PHI to the institution or official if required to provide you with healthcare or to protect the health and safety of others. We may use and disclose your PHI when required to do so by any other laws not already referenced above. If a business associate assists AMSI operations. AMSI will disclose PHI as needed, but only if the business associate has signed a privacy addendum agreeing to maintain the privacy of PHI. For any purpose other than the ones described above, we may use or disclose your PHI only when you give AMSI your specific written authorization. For instance, you will need to sign an authorization form before we can send your PHI to a life insurance company. You may request to see and obtain copies of your medical and billing records and to have copies sent to others. To do so, please submit a written request to AMSI. We will charge you for copies. Under limited circumstances defined by law, we may deny you access to a portion of your records. You may request additional restrictions on AMSI' use and disclosure of your PHI 1) for treatment, payment and healthcare operations; 2) to individuals (such as family members, or other relatives, close friends or any other person identified by you) involved with your care or with payment related to your care; and 3) to notify or assist in the notification of such individuals regarding your location in the hospital and your general condition. Although we will consider all requests for restrictions carefully, we are not required to agree to a request. You may request to receive your PHI by alternate means of communication or at alternate locations. For example, you may instruct us not to contact you by telephone at home, or you may give us a mailing address other than your home for test results. You may revoke your authorization by delivering a written form requesting us to stop using your authorization. The request will be effective once agreed to by as set forth above. A revocation form is available upon request from AMSI. You have the right to request that we amend the PHI maintained in your medical or billing records. To do so, you must submit a written request to the AMSI. We may deny your request if AMSI reasonably believes that the information is accurate and complete, if the PHI was not created by AMSI, or other special circumstances apply. If you wish further information about your privacy rights, are concerned that your privacy rights were violated, or disagree with a decision that we made about access to your PHI, you may contact AMSI by clicking on "Contact". Additionally, you may file a written complaint with the Director, Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Upon request, AMSI will provide you with contact information. We may change the terms of this notice at any time. If we change this notice, we will post the revised list online at www.absolutemedicalsolutions.com. You may obtain any revised notice by contacting us. |
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