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NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
THIS IS THE DESCRIPTION OF HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE UTILIZED AND DISCLOSED WITHIN NELSON COUNTY EMS AND HOW YOU MAY OBTAIN THIS INFORMATION.
Our commitment to you from Nelson County EMS is to protect and maintain the privacy of your confidential medical and health care information, known as Protected Health Information or PHI. PHI is information created or received by a covered entity or employer about an individual’s past, present or future health or condition. Nelson County EMS is required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) under the “Privacy Rule” which became effective in 2001 and is now effective as of April 14, 2003, to provide you with this attached Notice of Privacy Practices.
This notice outlines the legal duties and the privacy practices of protecting and safeguarding patient medical records and health information by Nelson County EMS.
Uses and Disclosures of PHI: Nelson County EMS, as a covered entity, is not required to obtain consent or authorization to use PHI for the purpose of Treatment, Payment, and/or Health Care Operations. Notification of what your PHI is used for, how it is used and how it can be reviewed by you is necessary. Every effort will be made in good faith to accompany all patients with a copy of this notice. Examples of our use of your PHI: Treatment: This includes verbal, written or electronic personal information and treatment or care information that we obtain about you from you, your family, caregiver, other medical healthcare providers and/or health care facilities. The information is used during the treatment of your injury and/or medical condition. This information is transferable to whom we transfer your care, treatment or transport, and includes transfer of PHI via radio to the hospital or dispatch center as well as providing the receiving entity with a copy of the written record we create in the course of providing you with care, treatment and/or transport.
Payment: This includes any activities we must obtain in order to receive payment for the services that have been rendered, including such things as organizing your PHI and submitting bills to insurance companies via electronic or paper claims, management of billed claims for services rendered, medical necessity reviews and determinations, utilization reviews and collection of outstanding accounts.
Health Care Operations: This includes patient review with quality assurance, improvement, licensing, and training programs to ensure that the personnel at Nelson County EMS performs at the maximum standard of care that is set forth by Federal, State and Local policies, protocols and procedures.
Oral Communication: Protected Health Information also includes the oral communication. Oral communication is prominent in the treatment setting and covered entities are required to “reasonably safeguard” PHI from any intentional or unintentional use or disclosure. This is to avoid aloud reading of information and subsequently becoming unprotected. Oral disclosures of PHI are exempt from any minimum necessary requirements (which require individuals to use or disclose no more PHI than is necessary to perform the job functions that are expected with Nelson County EMS) There is no requirement for Nelson County EMS to record or document oral communications in the Privacy Rule but (recordings of radio and phone communications are required by other laws, and the fact they are recorded) Nelson County EMS can not be held responsible for guaranteeing the unavoidable type of disclosure through scanners, radios, telephones, and/or overheard information.
Patient Notification: Nelson County EMS may need to use your PHI to provide information of non-emergency medical transports or for information that may be needed during scheduling or re-scheduling of transportation.
Covered Entities: Nelson County EMS is a covered entity under Healthcare providers. Healthcare providers include ambulance services, hospitals, doctors, home health agencies etc. Nelson County EMS electronically stores and transmits health care information and participates through submission of claims electronically and via paper claims. This information is submitted to Health plans (which are also covered entities). Health plans are generally defined as the groups that provide payment for the cost of medical care, such as Insurance, Medicare, Medicaid and Workers’ Compensation. Any non-medical association or group that Nelson County EMS may be required to utilize your PHI will be considered a “business associate” and will be subject to comply with the “Privacy Rule” and bound to confidentiality with Nelson County EMS.
Consent or Authorization is not necessary to be obtained for Nelson County EMS to utilize your PHI for the purposes of treatment, payment, or healthcare operations although necessary steps to notify patients of our use and their rights as a patient should be documented. An authorized person may take any of the actions that the patient could take directly and Nelson County EMS shall treat the patient’s “personal representative” as the patient for the purposes of the Privacy Rule if the representative has legal authority to act on behalf of the patient.
Use or Disclosure of a Patient’s PHI without Consent or Authorization: Nelson County EMS will first give the competent patient the opportunity to sign a statement that Nelson County EMS has submitted to the patient or an authorized individual this written notice of the Privacy practices of PHI within Nelson County EMS. If the patient is not present, is incapacitated, or involved in an emergency and/or transported via air ambulance or by other means and Nelson County EMS is unable to obtain signature of receiving a copy of this notice the situation will require documentation as to the reasoning that the notice will need to be mailed to the patient or the authorized person at a later date.
Nelson County EMS will be responsible for obtaining the PHI that is directly relevant to the person’s involvement with the patient’s care. · Uses and disclosures to individuals involved in the patient’s care. Nelson County EMS may disclose to a patient’s family member (other relative, close friend, or any person designated by the patient) any PHI directly relevant to such person’s involvement with the patient’s care or payment related to the patient’s care. Nelson County EMS may also use PHI to notify a family member or personal representative of the patient’s location, general condition, or death. · Disaster relief purposes. PHI may be released only to a public entity or private disaster relief organization for the purpose of assisting in coordinating information about a person’s location, general condition, or death. Nelson County EMS is permitted to use PHI without your written authorization, or opportunity to object in certain situations, including: · For the use in treating you or in obtaining payment for services provided to you or in other health care operations. · For the treatment activities of another health care provider. · To another health care provider or entity for the payment activities of the provider or entity that receives the information. · Use and disclosure required by law, provided disclosure complies with and is limited to the relevant requirement of the law (copy of run form to receiving facilities; subpoena, etc…) · Uses and disclosures for public health activities authorized by law to collect PHI to prevent or control disease or injury, and vital statistics information. This includes government entities authorized to receive reports of health oversights and deem investigation, inspections and/or disciplinary proceedings. · Disclosures for judicial and administrative proceeding in response to a direct court order or administrative tribunal, or subpoena, only after Nelson County EMS has received satisfactory assurances that reasonable efforts have been made to notify the individual of the request, or to secure a qualified protective order. · Disclosure for health care fraud and abuse detection or for activities related to compliance with the law. · To a public health authority in certain situations( such as reporting death to the coroner, medical examiner, and funeral directors.) · Disclosure to public health authority situations of birth, death or disease as required by law, as part of a public health investigation, to report child or adult abuse or neglect or domestic violence, to report adverse events such as product defects, or to notify a person about exposure to a possible communicable disease as required by law. · To avert a serious threat to the health and safety of a person in a public place or at work. · Disclosure to Workers Compensation purposes, and in compliance with workers’ compensation laws. · Nelson county EMS may use or disclose health information about you in a way that does not personally identify you or reveal your identity. Patient’s Rights: As a Patient, you have a number of rights with respect to the protection of your PHI, including:
The right to review, copy or inspect your PHI. Nelson County EMS has available PHI request forms that are made available to you to review, copy or inspect at our office. Requirement for obtaining the information is to visit our office at the address below, during the office hours of 8:30a.m.until 4:00p.m.on Mondays through Fridays. A copy of your photo Identification card with current address and date of birth present on the card is required along with your signature on our PHI Request Form. The Medical PHI will at that time be presented to you and the copied signed request form and a copy of your picture ID card will be added to your file and will serve as accountability of the disclosures of your PHI. PHI will be kept on file for a six-year period with Nelson County EMS.
The right to amend your PHI: You have the right to ask us to amend written medical information that we may have about you. Nelson County EMS will prepare the amendment within approximately 60 days unless the amendment has been denied. Nelson County EMS has the right to deny the amendment with written documentation as to reasoning for denial. Example for reasoning; The record is not a record maintained by Nelson County EMS; The information is contained on a record to which Nelson County EMS could properly deny access; or Nelson County EMS determines that the record is accurate and complete as written. If you request to amend the denial you must contact the Nelson County EMS Privacy Officer listed at the end of this Notice.
Recourse: You have the right to file a formal complaint with Nelson County EMS, or directly with the United States Department of Health and Human Services, for violations of the Privacy Rule. Violations may include the improper use or disclosure of PHI by Nelson County EMS, the selling of PHI, or a breach of the patient’s privacy. Each violation may be subject to civil as well as criminal penalties for the alleged violator.
“Minimum Necessary” Requirements: Nelson County EMS has identified precisely what information its employees need to do their jobs. Individuals are required to use or disclose no more PHI than is necessary to perform their job functions or to fulfill the purpose of the use or disclosure.
The “minimum necessary” provisions also require that when making requests or receiving requests from other providers for a patient’s PHI, that Nelson County EMS request or provide only the minimum amount of information necessary to accomplish the purpose of the request.
Adopting / Amending Procedures: The personnel of Nelson County EMS are aware and have been educated to the responsibilities that are made significant for making our business partners aware of the Privacy Rule provision and of their responsibility to uphold the same standards to which Nelson County EMS is responsible.
Breach of Patient Confidentiality Procedure: Nelson County EMS must provide all reasonable precautions to ensure that patient confidentiality is not breached and that PHI is not misused. Remedial measures should be employed when necessary.
If you have any questions or if you wish to file a complaint or exercise any rights listed in this Notice, please contact: Eva A. Prewitt, Privacy Officer Nelson County EMS 1301 Atkinson Hill Avenue Bardstown, KY 40004 (502) 348-4929
Effective Date of Notice: April 10, 2003
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