Privacy Policy

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY.

  1. WE HAVE A LEGAL DUTY TO SAFEGUARD YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION (PHI)

    • PHI is your health information. Your PHI includes information that can be used to identify you that ECHC has created or received about your past, present, or future health or condition, the provision of health care to you, or payment of this health care. We must provide you with this notice about out privacy practices that explains how, when and why we use and disclose your PHI. With some exceptions, we may not use or disclose any more of your PHI than is necessary to accomplish the purpose of the use or disclosure. We are legally required to follow the privacy practices that are described in this notice.
    • We reserve the right to change the terms of this notice and our privacy policies at any time. Any changes will apply to the PHI we already have. Before we make an important change to our policies, we will promptly change this notice and post a new notice in the lobby of each of our facilities. You can request a copy of this notice at any time by calling 421-7489.

  2. HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION.

    We may use and disclose your PHI for many different reasons. Some of these uses and disclosures require your consent or specific authorization while some do not.

    1. Uses and Disclosures Relating to Treatment, Payment or Health Care Operations that Do Not Require Your Prior Written Consent. We may use and disclose your PHI without your consent fro the following reasons:

      • For Treatment. ECHC may use health information to provide you with medical treatment or services. We may disclose your health information to doctors, nurses, health profession students, or other ECHC employees who are involved in taking care of you. Additionally, ECHC may use or disclose the health information to manage or coordinate treatment, health care, or other related services. For example, if a referral is made to a cardiologist then ECHC would disclose the information necessary to that cardiologist such as progress notes and EKG results. ECHC may also disclose health information to the local township trustee if the trustee is providing assistance for your medical care. For example, the township trustee may need to know what medications you are taking in order for the trustee to coordinate payment with a pharmacy so you can obtain those medications. Also, if you are in need of emergency treatment, your PHI would be released to the treating entity.
      • To Obtain Payment for Treatment. ECHC may useand disclose your health information to bill and collect for the treatment and services we provide to you. We may send health information to an insurance company or other third party for payment purposes. For example, a bill may be sent to you or a third-party payor, such as Medicare. We may disclose PHI to the local township trustee if the trustee is providing payment to ECHC for your treatment and services. For example, if the local trustee is providing ECHC with the sliding scale payment for your services it is necessary for ECHC to disclose the information needed by the trustee to provide the payment.
      • For Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose your PHI in order to operate ECHC. These uses and disclosures are necessary to run ECHC, to make sure you receive competent, quality health care, and to maintain and improve the quality of health care we provide. For example, we may use your PHI in order to evaluate the performance of health care professionals who provided health care services to you. We may also provide your PHI to our accountants, attorneys, consultants, and others in order to make sure we are complying with laws that affect us.

      2. The above examples are not all inclusive of the situations when, as permitted by federal and State law, we may use and disclose PHI for treatment, payment, and operations.

    2. Other uses and Disclosures that Do Not Require Your Consent.

      • Public Health: As required by law, we may disclose PHI to public health authorities concerning births, deaths, and certain health conditions such as communicable diseases.
      • Health Oversight: We may disclose PHI to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law such as audits, investigations, and inspections.
      • Abuse or Neglect: As required by law, we may disclose PHI concerning child abuse or neglect and the abuse or neglect of an endangered adult to governmental or law enforcement agencies.
      • Food and Drug Administration: We may disclose PHI to person or company required by the Food and Drug Administration to report adverse events, product defects or problems, biologic product deviations, track products; to enable product recalls; to make repairs or replacements; or to conduct post marketing surveillance, as required.
      • Legal Proceedings: We may disclose PHI in the course of any judicial or administrative proceedings in response to (i) an order of the court or administrative tribunal (to the extent such disclosure is expressly authorized) and (ii) in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process (excluding mental health records which, in Indiana, can only be released upon a court order) but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.
      • Law Enforcement: We may disclose PHI for law enforcement purposes such as reporting gun shot and stabbing injuries as required by law, responding to limited information requests for identification and location purposes, and reporting crimes.
      • Coroners, Funeral Directors, and Organ Donation: We may provide coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors necessary information relating to an individual’s death. If you are an organ donor, we may release medical information to organizations that handle organ procurement and transplants.
      • To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety: ECHC may use and disclose your PHI when ECHC believes it is absolutely necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person. Any particular circumstances.
      • Military Activity and National Security: If you are a member of the armed forces, we may release your health information as required by military command authorities and the Veterans Affairs benefits eligibility. We may disclose medical information about you to authorized federal officials so they may provide protection to the President, other authorized persons or foreign heads of state or conduct special investigations.
      • Worker’s Compensation: ECHC may disclose your PHI for programs that provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness.

    3. Other Uses and Disclosures We May Make.

      • Appointments: We may use and disclose PHI to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or medical care.
      • Prescription Assistance Program: We may use and disclose PHI to enroll you in patient assistance programs set forth by the drug companies so that you may receive your medications at minimal cost.
      • Shelters: We may use and disclose PHI to area homeless shelters as necessary to coordinate services in order for you to obtain medical treatment and/or maintain your residence in the shelter. We may also disclose your PHI to shelters if you have a health condition that will affect others residing at the shelter (i.e. head lice or tuberculosis).
      • Treatment Alternatives: We may use and disclose PHI to tell you about or recommend possible treatment options or alternatives that may be of interest to you.
      • Health Related Benefits and Services: We may use and disclose PHI to tell you about health-related benefits or services that may be of interest to you (i.e. medical supply companies).

    4. All Other Uses and Disclosures Require Your Prior Written Authorization. In any other situation not described 2 A, B, or C.

      5. Above, we will ask for your written authorization before using or disclosing any of your PHI. If you choose to sign an authorization to disclose your PHI, you can later revoke that authorization in writing to stop any future uses and disclosures (to the extent that we haven’t taken any action relying on the authorization).

  3. YOUR RIGHTS

    The following is a statement of your rights with respect to your PHI and a descirption of how you may exercise theses rights.

    • The Right to Restrict Certain Uses and Disclosures You have the right to ask that we limit how we use and disclose your PHI. we will consider your request, but are not legally required to accept it. If we accept your request, we will put any limits in writing and abide by them except in emergency situations. You may not limit the uses and disclosure that we are legally required to make.
    • The Right to Choose How We Send PHI to You You have the right to ask that we send information to you at an alternate address (for example, sending information to a Post Office Box instead of a shelter address) or by alternative means. We must agree to your request so long as we can easily provide it in the form you requested; however, ECHC will not be able to send any PHI via email. Email is not considered a secure means of communication.
    • The Right to Inspect and Copy Your PHI You have the right to inspect or obtain copies of your PHI that we have. ECHC policy dictates the process of how you may inspect or obtain copies of your PHI. You rrequest must be made in writing. We will respond to you within 30 days after receiving your written request. In certain situations, we may deny your request. If we do, we will tell you, in writing, our reasons for the denial and explain your rights to have the denial reviewed. If you request copies of your PHI, we will charge you appropriately.
    • The Right to Correct or Update Your PHI If you believe there is a mistake in your PHI or a piece of important information is missing, you have the right to request that we amend the existing information or add the missing information. You must provide the request and your reason for the request in writing. We will respond to you within 30 days of receiving your request. We may deny your request in writing if the PHI is:
      1. correct and complete
      2. not created by us
      3. not allowed to be disclosed
      4. not part of our records

      Our written denial will state the reasons for the denial and explain your right to file a written statement of disagreement with the denial. If you don’t file a written statement of disagreement, you have the right to request that your request and our denial be attached to all future disclosures of your PHI. If we approve your request, we will amend your PHI, inform you of the approved request and inform others that need to know about your amended PHI.

    • The Right to Obtain a List of the Disclosures We Have Made You have the right to get a list of instances in which we have disclosed your PHI. The list will not include uses and disclosures for treatment, payment, health care operations, uses or disclosures you have authorized or disclosures directly to you. The list also will not include uses and disclosures made for national security purposes or to corrections or law enforcement personnel. We will respond within 30 days of receiving your request. The list we will give you will include only those disclosures made after April 14, 2003. We will provide data for the time span you request, not to exceed 7 years. The list will include the date of the disclosure, to whom the PHI was disclosed., a brief description of the information disclosed and the reason for the disclosure. We will provide the list to you at not charge. If you make more than one request in the same year, we may charge you for each additional request.
    • The Right to Knowledge of our Privacy Practices You may request an additional copy of our Notice of Privacy Practices by calling 421-7489.

  4. HOW TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PRIVACY PRACTICES

    If you feel we may have violated your privacy rights or you disagree with a decision we made about access to your PHI, you may file a complaint with the person listed in Section 5 below. We will take no retaliatory action against you if you file a complaint about our privacy practices.

  5. PERSON TO CONTACT FOR INFORMATION

    If you have any questions about this notice or any complaints about our privacy practices or would like to know how to file a complaint with the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, please contact: QI/Compliance Officer, ECHO Community Health Care, 315 Mulberry Street, Evansville, IN 47713, 812-421-7489 ext. 2256.

  6. EFFECTIVE DATE OF NOTICE

    This notice is effective April 14, 2003.

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