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.

YOU MAY REQUEST A PAPER COPY OF THIS NOTICE AT ANY TIME.

Caldwell Regional Medical Center provide health care to patients in partnership with physicians and other professionals and organizations. The information in this Notice of Privacy Practices will be followed by all the following entities, sites and locations of the hospital:

●All individuals employed by the hospital
●All hospital inpatient and outpatient departments
●Volunteers working at any hospital facility
●Medical, nursing and other students present at any hospital facility
●Any health care professional that treats you at any hospital facility
●Rural Health Clinics
●Healthcare Professionals
●General Surgery Physician

Uses and Disclosures

The hospital and clinic may use and disclose your health information for the following purposes without your express consent or authorization.

Treatment. Your health information may be used by staff members or disclosed to other health care professionals for the purpose of evaluating your health, diagnosing medical conditions, and providing treatment. For example, results of laboratory tests and procedures will be available in your medical record to all health professionals who may provide treatment or who may be consulted by staff members. We also may disclose your medical information to health care facilities if you need to be transferred from the Hospital and or Clinic to another hospital, clinic nursing home, home health provider or rehabilitation center. We may also disclose your medical information to people outside the Hospital or Clinic who are involved in your care after you leave the Hospital or Clinic such as family members or pharmacist.

Payment. Your health information may be used to seek payment from your health plan, from other sources of coverage such as an automobile insurer, or from credit card companies that you may use to pay for services. For example, your health plan may request and receive information on dates of service, the services provided, and the medical condition being treated. We may also tell your health plan about treatment you are going to receive in order to obtain prior authorization from your plan to cover payment for the treatment.

Health care operations. Your health information may be used as necessary to support the day-to-day activities and management of Caldwell Regional Medical Center. For example, information on the services you received may be used to support budgeting and financial reporting, and activities to evaluate and promote quality.

Law enforcement. Your health information may be disclosed to law enforcement agencies to support government audits and inspections, to facilitate law-enforcement investigations, and to comply with government mandated reporting such as abuse.

Public health reporting. Your health information may be disclosed to public health agencies as required by law. For example, we are required to report certain communicable diseases to the state’s public health department.

Fundraising. Unless you request us not to, we may use your information, such as name, address, telephone number, gender, age and the dates you received treatment at the Hospital and/or Clinic to support our fund-raising efforts. If you do not want to participate in fund-raising efforts, please notify the Hospital or Clinic in writing.

Marketing. Unless you request us not to, there are some marketing activities for which we may use your name and address, to provide you with information about services available at our practice. If you’d rather not receive marketing communication from our practice, If you do not want to participate in fund-raising efforts, please notify the Hospital or Clinic in writing.

Business Associates. Your health information may be disclosed to certain outside persons or organizations the Hospital or Clinic contracts with to perform certain services on our behalf, such as auditing, accreditation, legal services, inc. We require these business associates, and any of their subcontractors, to enter into written agreements that require them to appropriately safeguard the privacy of your information.

Additional Uses of Information

Appointment reminders. Your health information will be used by our staff to send you appointment reminders.

Information about treatments. Your health information may be used to send you information on the treatment and management of your medical condition that you may find interesting. We may also send you information describing other health-related products and services that we believe may interest you.

Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors. Your health information may be released to a coroner or funeral director to identify a deceased person or determine cause of death. We may also release health information about patients of Caldwell Regional Medical Center to funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties.

Cadaveric Organ Donations. Your health information may be released to an organ procurement organization such as an eye bank or tissue bank unless the patient or the patient’s representative has indicated they do not want to donate organs or tissue.

To Avert a Threat to Health or Safety. Your health information may be released when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or to the health and safety of the public or another person.

Disaster Relief Agencies. Your health information such as location, medical condition, or death may be disclosed to disaster relief organizations such as the Red Cross and other public or private organizations in the event of a major disaster.

Specialized Government Functions. Your health information may be released for certain specialized government functions such as military and veterans activities that are required by the federal government, national security and intelligence activities, protective service for the President of the United States and others authorized by law, certain medical suitability determinations, a correctional institution or other law enforcement custodial situation, or government programs providing and/or administering public health benefits.

Other uses and disclosures require your authorization. Disclosure of your health information or its use for any purposes other than those listed above requires your specific written authorization. If you change your mind after authorizing a use or disclosure of your information, you may submit a written revocation of the authorization. However, your decision to revoke the authorization will not affect or undo any use or disclosure of information that occurred before you notified us of your decision to revoke your authorization.
Without your authorization, we are expressly prohibited to use or disclose your protected health information for marketing purposes when financial remuneration is involved. We may not sell your protected health information without your authorization. We may not use or disclose most psychotherapy notes contained in your protected health information. We will not use or disclose any of your protected health information that contains genetic information that will be used for underwriting purposes.

Individual Rights

You have certain rights under the federal privacy standards. These include:

●The right to request restrictions on the use and disclosure of your protected health information
●The right to receive confidential communications concerning your medical condition and treatment
●The right to inspect and copy your protected health information
●The right to amend or submit corrections to your protected health information
●The right to receive an accounting of how and to whom your protected health information has been disclosed
●The right to receive a printed copy of this notice

Rights Relating to Electronic Health Information Exchange
Caldwell Regional Medical Center participates in electronic health information exchange, or HIE. New technology allows a provider or health plan to make a single request through a health information organization, HIO, to obtain electronic records for specific patients from other HIE participants for purposes of treatment, payment or health care operations.

You have two options with respect to HIE. First, you can permit authorized individuals to access your electronic health information through an HIO. If you choose this option, you do not have to do anything. Second, you can restrict access to all of your electronic health information (except access by properly authorized individuals as needed to report specific information required by law). If you wish to restrict access, you must complete a specific form available at hyyp://www.kanhit.org. You cannot restrict access to certain information only; your choices is to permit or restrict all of your information.

If you have questions regarding HIE or HIOs, please visit www.kanhit.org for additional information. Your decision to restrict access through an HIO does not impact other disclosures of your health information. Providers and health plans may share your information directly through other means (e.g., facsimile or secure email) without your specific written authorization.

Electronic Health Information Exchange
If you receive health care services in a state other than Kansas, different rules may apply regarding restrictions on access to your electronic health information. Please communicate directly with your out-of-state health care provider about what action, if any, you need to take to restrict access.

Caldwell Regional Medical Center Duties
We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your protected health information and to provide you with this notice of privacy practices. We also are required to abide by the privacy policies and practices outlined in this notice. In the event of a breach of unsecured protected health information, if your information has been compromised it is our duty to notify you.

Right to Revise Privacy Practices
As permitted by law, we reserve the right to amend or modify our privacy policies and practices. These changes in our policies and practices may be required by changes in federal and state laws and regulations. Upon request, we will provide you with the most recently revised notice on any office visit.

The revised policies and practices will be applied to all protected health information we maintain.

Requests to Inspect Protected Health Information
You may generally inspect or copy the protected health information that we maintain. As permitted by federal regulation, we require that requests to inspect or copy protected health information be submitted in writing. You may obtain a form to request access to your records by contacting Registration or the Privacy Officer. Your request will be reviewed and will generally be approved unless there are legal or medical reasons to deny the request.

Complaints
If you believe your rights with respect to health information have been violated, you may file a complaint with us or with the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

To file a complaint with the hospital directly contact the Privacy Officer at the address listed below. All complaints must be made in writing and submitted within 180 days of when you knew or should have known of the suspected violation.

Privacy Officer
Caldwell Regional Medical Center
761 W. 175th St. S
Caldwell, KS 67022

To file a complaint with the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, send the complaint in writing to:

US Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Room 509F HHH Bldg.
Washington, DC 20201

There will be no retaliation against you filing a complaint with the Hospital, Clinic or Department of Health and Human Services. For additional information information, you may call 877-696-6775, or visit the Office for Civil Rights website: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa.

This notice is effective on or after March 1, 2023.