Treatment: We may use or disclose your personal health information
to a physician or other healthcare provider providing treatment to you. For
example, if we refer you to a physician for a service that we cannot
provide, your health information will be disclosed to that office.
Payment: We may use and disclose your personal health information to
obtain payment for services we provide to you. Your insurance may need
personal health information about you so it can make a determination of
eligibility and/or coverage of insurance.
Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose your personal health
information in connection with our healthcare operations. Healthcare
operations include but are not limited to quality assessment and improvement
activities, employee review activities, training of employees and nursing
students, licensing or credentialing activities, marketing activities and
conducting or arranging for other business activities.
We may use a sign-in sheet at the Public Health front desk where you will be
asked to sign your name. We may also call you by name in the Public
Health reception area. We may disclose limited personal health information
to provide you with appointment reminders such as voicemail messages,
postcards, or letters.
We will share personal health information with third party “business
associates”. Whenever an arrangement between our agency and a business
associate involves the use or disclosure of your personal health
information, we will have a written contract that contains terms that will
protect the privacy of your personal health information.
We may use or disclose your personal health information, as necessary to
provide you with information about treatment alternates or other
health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you such as
a newsletter about the services we offer.
To persons involved in
your care:
We may use or disclose
personal health information to notify or assist in the notification of a
family member or personal representative of your location, your general
condition, or death. If you are present, then we will provide you with an
opportunity to object to such uses or disclosures before they are made. In
the event of your incapacity or emergency circumstances, we may disclose
information that is directly relevant to the person’s involvement in your
healthcare, if we determine that it is in your best interest to do so.
As required by law:
We may disclose your
personal health information when we are required to do so by federal, state
or local law.
For public health activities: We may use and
disclose personal health information about you for public health activities,
including reporting births and deaths and notifying appropriate authorities
if we reasonably believe that you are a possible victim of abuse, neglect,
or domestic violence or other crimes. We may disclose your personal health
information to the extent necessary to avert a serious threat to your health
or safety or the health or safety of others.
For health oversight activities: We may disclose personal
health information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by
law.
For judicial and administrative proceedings: We may
disclose personal health information about you in response to a court or
administrative order. We may disclose personal health information in
response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process, but only
if efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an
order protecting the information requested.
For law enforcement purposes: We may disclose personal
health information to law enforcement officials when certain conditions are
met.
For workers’ compensation: We may release personal health
information about you for workers’ compensation or similar programs.
For national security and similar government
functions: We may disclose to military authorities the personal health
information of Armed Forces personnel under certain circumstances. We may
disclose to authorized federal officials personal health information
required for lawful intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national
security activities. If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or
under custody of a law enforcement official, we may disclose personal health
information about you to the institution or official under certain
circumstances.
For organ and tissue donation:
If you are an organ donor, we may release personal health information to
organizations that handle organ procurement or organ, eye or tissue
transplantation or to an organ donation bank as necessary to facilitate
organ or tissue donation and transplantation.
Research: We may disclose personal health
information to research institutions, but only if efforts have been made to
tell you about the request or obtain an order protecting the information
requested. Should we receive such a request for research, every effort will
be made to disclose information that does not contain individually
identifiable information.
With your authorization: Other uses and disclosures of
personal health information not covered by this notice or the laws that
apply to us will be made only with your written authorization. If you give
us an authorization, you may revoke it in writing at any time. Your
revocation will not affect any use or disclosures permitted by your
authorization while it was in effect.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
YOUR RIGHTS
Access:
You have the right to look
at or get copies of your personal health information, with limited
exceptions. You must make your request for access to your medical records in
writing by using forms we provide or sending us a letter to the address at
the end of this Notice. If you request copies, we will charge you a
reasonable amount for each page plus postage if you want the copies mailed
to you.
We may deny your request in certain very limited
circumstances. If you are denied access to medical information, you may
request that the denial be reviewed. Another licensed health care
professional not directly involved in the decision to deny your request will
review your request and the denial. We will abide by the outcome of the
review.
Disclosure accounting: You have the right to
receive a list of disclosures we or our business associates made of your
personal health information for purposes, other than treatment, payment,
healthcare operations and certain other activities, for a period of time up
to six years, but not including dates before April 14, 2003. If you request
this accounting more than once in a 12-month period, we may charge you a
reasonable, cost-based fee for providing the list.
Request restrictions You have the right to request that
we restrict how we use or disclose your personal health information for
treatment, payment, or health care operations or the disclosures we make to
someone who is involved in your care or the payment for your care, such as a
family member or friend. We are not required to agree to these additional
restrictions, but if we do, we will abide by our agreement (except in an
emergency).
Confidential communication: You have the right to request
that we communicate with you about your personal health information by
alternative means or to alternative locations. You must make your request in
writing and may use forms we provide. Your request must specify the
alternative means or location, and provide satisfactory explanation of how
payments will be handled under the alternative means or location you
request.
Amendment: You have the right to request that we amend
your personal health information. Your request must be in writing, and it
must give a reason for your request. We may deny your request if you ask us
to amend information that was not created by us, is not part of the
information kept by the county, is not part of the information you would be
permitted to inspect and copy, or is accurate and complete. Any denial will
be in writing and state the reason for the denial.
Right to refuse: You may refuse to share information
with us however if you do we may not be able to serve you.
Kandiyohi County Public Health
