CLICK HERE FOR DIGITAL NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES FOR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION
Effective Date: 04/22/2024
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS
TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW THIS DOCUMENT CAREFULLY.
The Cancer & Hematology Centers (CHC) provides each patient with a Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP) that is written in plain language and that
contains the elements required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Regulations.
CHC is committed to protecting the patient’s personal and heath information. Additionally, both federal and state laws require CHC to maintain the
privacy of patient personal health information.
This Notice explains CHC privacy practices, our legal duties, and your rights concerning your personal and health information. In this Notice, your
personal or protected health information (PHI) is referred to as “healthcare information” and includes information about your health treatment and care
when it contains identifiable information such as your name, age, address, income, and other financial information.
Understanding Your Health Record/Information:
The health and billing records we maintain are the physical property of CHC. You have the following rights with respect to your protected healthcare
information:
- RIGHT TO INSPECT AND/OR OBTAIN COPY
You have the right to inspect and obtain a copy of your completed health records unless your doctor believes that disclosure of that information to you
could harm you. You may not see or get a copy of information gathered for a legal proceeding or certain research records while the research is ongoing.
Your request to inspect or obtain a copy of the records must be submitted in writing, signed, and dated, to the medical records department of the CHC
facility that maintains the records. (Requests for billing records should be sent to the billing departments.) We may charge a fee for processing your
request. If CHC denies your request to inspect or obtain a copy of the records, you may appeal the denial in writing to The Cancer & Hematology
Centers Privacy Officer at 6424 S. Harvey Street, Norton Shores, MI 49444.
- RIGHT TO REQUEST AN AMENDMENT
If you feel that the health information CHC has about you is incorrect or incomplete, you have the right to ask us to amend your medical records. Your request for an amendment must be in writing, signed, and dated. It must specify the records you wish to amend, identify the CHC facility that maintains
those records, and give the reason for your request. You must address your request to the Privacy Officer at 6424 S. Harvey Street, Norton Shores, MI
49444 or to the CHC facility that maintains the records you wish to amend. CHC will respond to you within 60 days. We may deny your request; if we do,
we will tell you why and explain your rights.
- RIGHT TO AN ACCOUNTING OF DISCLOSURES
You may request an accounting, which is a listing of the entities or persons (other than yourself) to whom CHC has disclosed your health information
without your written authorization. The accounting would not include disclosures for treatment, payment, healthcare operations, and certain other
disclosures exempted by law. Your request for an accounting of disclosures must be in writing, signed, and dated. It must identify the time period of the
disclosures and the CHC facility that maintains the records about which you are requesting the accounting. We will not list disclosures made earlier than
six (6) years before your request.
Your request should indicate the form in which you want the list (for example, paper or electronically). You must submit your written request to the
medical records department. We will respond to you within sixty (60) days. We will give you the first listing within any 12-month period free of charge, but we will charge you for all other accounting requested within the same 12-months.
- RIGHT TO BREACH NOTIFICATION
In the event of any breach of unsecured PHI, CHC shall fully comply with HIPAA/HITECH breach notification requirements, including notification to you
of any impact that the breach may have had on you and/or your family member(s) and actions CHC undertook to minimize any impact the breach may
have had on you.
- RIGHT TO REQUEST RESTRICTIONS
You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the medical information we use or disclose about you for treatment, payment, or healthcare
operations. Unless otherwise required by law, you have a right to restrict certain health information disclosures to health insurers if you pay full cost of
services at the time of your visit.
To request a restriction, you must make your request in writing to the Privacy Officer at 6424 S. Harvey Street, Norton Shores, MI 49444. In your
request, you must tell us what information you want to limit, whether you want to limit our use, disclosure, or both, and to whom you want the limits to
apply, for example, disclosures to your spouse. All requests will be reviewed for consideration of acceptance; therefore, you will not receive an
immediate response to your request. Every effort will be made to provide you with a response to your request within thirty (30) days. - RIGHT TO REQUEST CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS
You have the right to request that we communicate with you about medical matters in a certain way or at a certain location. For example, you can ask
that we only contact you at work or by mail. To request confidential communications, you must make your request in writing to the Privacy Officer at
6424 S. Harvey Street, Norton Shores, MI 49444. We will not ask you the reason for your request. CHC will accommodate all reasonable requests. Your
request must specify how or where you wish to be contacted.
- RIGHT TO A PAPER COPY OF THIS NOTICE
You have the right to a paper copy of this Notice. You may ask us to give you a copy of this Notice at any time. Even if you have agreed to receive this
Notice electronically, you are still entitled to a paper copy. You may obtain a paper copy of this Notice at any of our facilities or by calling
1.800.411.7999.
- PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE
Your “personal representative” may exercise the rights listed above on your behalf if under an applicable law, that person has legal authority to act on
your behalf in making decisions related to healthcare.
Request Information Or File A Complaint
If you have questions, would like additional information, or want to report a problem regarding the handling of your healthcare information, you may contact:
The Cancer & Hematology Centers
Attn: Privacy Officer
6424 S. Harvey Street, Norton Shores, MI 49444
Additionally, if you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a written complaint at the address above, ATTN: Compliance Coordinator. You may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at:
Office for Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW; Room 509F, HHH Building
Washington, D.C. 20201
(800) 368-1019 | www.hhs.gov/ocr
• We cannot, and will not, require you to waive the right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a condition of receiving treatment from the office.
• We cannot, and will not, retaliate against you for filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- HOW CHC PROTECTS YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION
CHC is required to:
• Maintain the privacy of your health information as required by law;
• Provide you with a notice as to our duties and privacy practices as to the information we collect and maintain about you;
• Abide by the terms of this Notice;
• Notify you if we cannot accommodate a requested restriction or request;
• Accommodate your reasonable requests regarding methods to communicate health information with you; and
• Accommodate your request for an accounting of disclosures.
CHC reserves the right to amend, change, or eliminate provisions in our privacy practices and access practices and to enact new provisions regarding the PHI we maintain. If our information practices change, we will amend our Notice. You are entitled to receive a revised copy of the Notice by calling and requesting a copy of our Notice or by visiting one of our offices and picking up a copy.
Use & Disclosure Without Your Authorization
- CHC is permitted by federal privacy laws to make use and disclosures of your health information for purposes of treatment, payment, and healthcare operations. Protected healthcare information is the information we create and obtain in providing our services to you. Such information may include documenting your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment, and applying for future care or treatment. It also includes billing documents for those services. Examples related to treatment, payment, and healthcare operations are listed below.
- USE OF YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION FOR TREATMENT PURPOSES:
• A nurse obtains treatment information about you and records it in a health record.
• During the course of your treatment, the physician determines he/she will need to consult with another specialist. He/she will share the information with such a specialist and obtain his/her input.
- USE OF YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION FOR PAYMENT PURPOSES:
CHC submits requests for payment to your health insurance company. The health insurance company or business associate helping CHC obtains payment requests information from us regarding your medical care given. CHC will provide information to them about you and the care given.
- USE OF YOUR INFORMATION FOR HEALTHCARE OPERATIONS:
CHC may obtain services from business associates such as quality assessment, quality improvement, outcome evaluation, protocol and clinical guidelines development, training programs, credentialing, medical review, legal services, and insurance.
CHC and affiliated physician groups will share information about you with such business associates as necessary to obtain these services.
Use & Disclosure Requiring Authorization
- PATIENT CONTACT
CHC may contact you to provide you with appointment reminders, with information about treatment alternatives, or with information about other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you. For example, we may leave voice messages at the telephone number you provide with us.
- OPPORTUNITY TO AGREE OR OBJECT TO NOTIFICATION
Unless you object, CHC may use or disclose your PHI to notify, or assist in notifying, a family member, personal representative, or other person responsible for your care, about your location, and about your general condition, or your death.
- COMMUNICATION WITH FAMILY
No information about you will be disclosed without your written authorization. The only exceptions include essential business operations, life-threatening emergencies, a court order, or instances involving our ethical and legal duty to report abuse.
- PHILANTHROPIC SUPPORT CHC may use or disclose certain health information about you to contact you in an effort to raise funds to support CHC and its operations. You have the right to choose not to receive these communications and we will tell you how to cancel them.
- DISASTER RELIEF EFFORTS CHC may use and disclose your PHI to assist in disaster relief efforts.
Uses & Disclosures With Neither Consent Nor Authorization
- PUBLIC HEALTH ACTIVITIES
• Controlling Disease
As required by law, CHC may disclose your PHI to public health or legal authorities charged with preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability.
• Child Abuse and Neglect
CHC may disclose PHI to public authorities as allowed by law to report child abuse or neglect.
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
CHC may disclose to the FDA your PHI relating to adverse events with respect to food, supplements, products and product defects, or post-marketing surveillance information to enable product recalls, repairs, or replacements.
- VICTIMS OF ABUSE, NEGLECT, OR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
CHC can disclose PHI to governmental authorities to the extent the disclosure is authorized by statute or regulation and in the exercise of professional judgment the doctor believes the disclosure is necessary to prevent serious harm to the individual or other potential victims.
- STATE SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS
Each state has unique requirements for reporting data, including population-based activities relating to improving health or reducing healthcare costs.
- OVERSIGHT AGENCIES
Federal law allows us to release your PHI to appropriate health oversight agencies or for health oversight activities to include audits, civil, administrative, or criminal investigations: inspections; licensures or disciplinary actions, and for similar reasons related to the administration of healthcare.
- JUDICIAL/ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS
CHC may disclose your PHI in the course of any judicial or administrative proceeding as allowed or required by law, or as directed by a proper court order or administrative tribunal, provided that only the PHI released is expressly authorized by such an order, or in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process.
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
CHC may disclose your PHI for law enforcement purposes as required by law, such as when required by court order, including laws that require reporting of certain types of wounds or other physical injury.
- CORONERS, MEDICAL EXAMINERS AND FUNERAL DIRECTORS
CHC may disclose your PHI to funeral directors or coroners consistent with applicable law to allow them to carry out their duties.
- ORGAN PROCUREMENT ORGANIZATIONS
Consistent with applicable law, CHC may disclose your PHI to organ procurement organizations or other entities engaged in the procurement, banking, or transplantation of organs, eyes, or tissue for the purpose of donation and transplant.
- RESEARCH
CHC may disclose information to researchers when their research has been approved by an institutional review board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your PHI.
- THREAT TO HEALTH AND SAFETY
To avert a serious threat to health or safety, CHC may disclose your PHI consistent with applicable law to prevent or lessen a serious, imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public.
- FOR SPECIALIZED GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTIONS
CHC may disclose your PHI for specialized government functions as authorized by law such as to Armed Forces personnel, for national security purposes, or to public assistance program personnel.
- CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS
If you are an inmate of a correctional institution, CHC may disclose to the institution or its agents the PHI necessary for your health and the health and safety of other individuals.
- WORKERS COMPENSATION
If you are seeking compensation through Workers Compensation, CHC may disclose your PHI to the extent necessary to comply with laws relating to Workers Compensation.
- OTHER USES AND DISCLOSURES
Other uses and disclosures besides those identified in this Notice will be made only as otherwise authorized by law or with your written authorization which you may revoke except to the extent information or action has already been taken.
- WEBSITE
You will find this “Notice of Privacy Practices” on the CHC website at: https://theuroinstitute.com/hipaa-notice-of-privacy-practices/