| HIPAA - Notice of Privacy Practices |
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NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL AND OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY. As a health care provider, Youth Services International, Inc. (YSI) uses confidential personal health information about adult or juvenile offenders, referred to below as protected health information (PHI). PHI is information about the offender, including demographic information that may identify the offender and that relates to the offenders past, present or future physical/metal health/substance abuse/dental health or condition and related health care services. YSI protects the privacy of this information, and it is also protected from disclosure by state and federal law. In certain specific circumstances, pursuant to this Notice of Privacy Practices ("Notice"), adult and juvenile offenders authorization or applicable laws and regulations, PHI can be used by YSI or disclosed to other parties. Below are categories describing these uses and disclosures, along with some examples to help you better understand each category. Uses and Disclosures for Treatment: Payment and Health Care Operations YSI may use or disclose your PHI for the purposes of treatment, payment and health care operations, described in more detail below, without obtaining written authorization from you. For Treatment: YSI may use and disclose PHI in the course of providing, coordinating, or managing your medical treatment, including the disclosure of PHI for treatment activities of another health care provider. These types of uses and disclosures may take place between physicians, nurses, technicians, and other health care professionals who provide you health care services or are otherwise involved in your care. For example, if while during treatment your attending medical professional refers you to another medical professional i.e. dentist, hospital or specialist physician. Your attending medical professional will disclose your PHI to these providers with whom your attending physician has consulted regarding your care. Additionally, your attending medical professional will disclose your PHI to nurses and other health care professionals at the facility or off-site medical office who may be assisting in your care. For Payment: YSI may use and disclose PHI in order to bill and collect payment for the health care services provided to you. For example, YSI may need to give PHI for your health plan in order to be reimbursed for the services provided to you. YSI may also disclose PHI to its business associates, such as billing companies, claims processing companies and others that assist in processing health claims. YSI may also disclose PHI to other health care providers and health plans for the payment activities of such providers or health plans. For Health Care Operations: YSI may use and disclose PHI as part of its operations, including for quality assessment and improvement, such as evaluating the treatment and services you receive and the performance of our staff in caring for you, provider training, underwriting activities, compliance and risk management activities, planning and development, and management and administration. YSI may disclose PHI to doctors, nurses, technicians, attorneys, consultants, accountants, and others for review and learning purposes, to help make sure YSI is complying with all applicable laws, and to help YSI continue to provide health care to its adult or juvenile offenders at a high level of quality. YSI may also disclose PHI to other health care providers and health plans for such entity's quality assessment and improvement activities, credentialing and peer review activities, and health care fraud and abuse detection or compliance, provided that such entity has, or has had in the past, a relationship with the adult or juvenile offenders who is the subject of the information. Exceptions to Notice Requirement: Despite the general rules explained above, YSI may use or disclose your PHI without providing you with this “Notice” to carry out treatment, payment, or health care operations in certain circumstances. For instance, an emergency treatment situation or other circumstance may cause YSI to be unable to provide you with this “Notice” prior to providing treatment, in which case this “Notice” will be provided to you as soon as reasonably practicable after such emergency treatment situation. In some cases other persons are legally authorized to acknowledge receipt of this “Notice” on behalf of an adult or juvenile offenders. Other Uses and Disclosures for Which Authorization is Not Required: In addition to using or disclosing PHI for treatment, payment and health care operations, YSI may use and disclose PHI without your written authorization under the following circumstances: As Required by Law and Law Enforcement: YSI may use or disclose PHI when required to do so by applicable law. YSI also may disclose PHI when ordered to do so in a judicial or administrative proceeding, to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person, when dealing with gunshot and other wounds, about criminal conduct, to report a crime, the location of the crime or victims, or the identity, description, or location of a person who committed a crime, or for other law enforcement purposes. For Public Health Activities and Public Health Risks: YSI may disclose PHI to government officials in charge of collecting information about births and deaths, preventing and controlling disease, reports of child abuse or neglect and of other victims of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence, reactions to medications or product defects or problems, or to notify a person who may have been exposed to a communicable disease or may be at risk of contracting or spreading a disease or condition. For Health Oversight Activities: YSI may disclose PHI to the government for oversight activities authorized by law, such as audits, investigations, inspections, licensure or disciplinary actions, and other proceedings, actions or activities necessary for monitoring the health care system, government programs, and compliance with civil rights laws. Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors: YSI may disclose PHI to coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors for the purpose of identifying a decedent, determining a cause of death, or otherwise as necessary to enable these parties to carry out their duties consistent with applicable law. Organ, Eye, and Tissue Donation: YSI may release PHI to organ procurement organizations to facilitate organ, eye, and tissue donation and transplantation. Research Under Certain Circumstances: YSI may use and disclose PHI for medical research purposes. To Avoid a Serious Threat to Health or Safety: YSI may use and disclose PHI, to law enforcement personnel or other appropriate persons, to prevent or lessen a serious threat to the health or safety of a person or the public. Specialized Government Functions: YSI may use and disclose PHI of military personnel and veterans under certain circumstances. YSI may also disclose PHI to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities, and for the provision of protective services to the President or other authorized persons or foreign heads of state or to conduct special investigations. Workers' Compensation: YSI may disclose PHI to comply with workers' compensation laws, other similar laws or other similar legally established programs. These programs provide benefits for work-related injuries or illnesses. Adult or Juvenile Offenders: If you are an adult or juvenile offender of a correctional facility and your medical professional or off-site medical office created or received your protected health information, YSI may use or disclose your PHI in the course of providing care for you. Appointment Reminders; Health-related Benefits and Service; Marketing: YSI may use and disclose your PHI to contact you and remind you of an appointment at the facility or off-site medical office or to inform you of treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you, such as disease management programs. Disclosures to You or for HIPAA Compliance Investigations: YSI may disclose your PHI to you or to your personal representative, and is required to do so in certain circumstances described below in connection with your rights of access to your PHI and to an accounting of certain disclosures of your PHI. YSI must disclose your PHI to the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (the "Secretary") when requested by the Secretary in order to investigate YSI's compliance with privacy regulations issued under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Uses and Disclosures To Which You Have an Opportunity to Object: You will have the opportunity to object to these categories of uses and disclosures of PHI that YSI may make:
Disclosures for Institutional Safety: We may disclose your PHI to the facility personnel or other law enforcement personnel if they represent to us that such information is necessary for the provision of your care, your health and safety, the health and safety of other persons and the administration and maintenance of the security, safety, and good order of the facility. Other Uses and Disclosures of PHI For Which Authorization is Required: Other types of uses and disclosures of your PHI not described above will be made only with your written authorization, which with some limitations you have the right to revoke in writing. Regulatory Requirements: YSI is required by law to maintain the privacy of your PHI, to provide individuals with notice of its legal duties and privacy practices with respect to PHI, and to abide by the terms described in this Notice. YSI reserves the right to change the terms of this “Notice” and of its privacy policies and to make the new terms applicable to the entire PHI it maintains. Before YSI makes an important change to its privacy policies, it will promptly revise this “Notice” and post a new “Notice” in all intake/admission, medical or other pertinent areas of the facility. You have the following rights regarding your PHI: You may request that YSI restrict the use and disclosure of your PHI. YSI is not required to agree to any restrictions you request, but if YSI does so it will be bound by the restrictions to which it agrees except in emergency situations. You have the right to request that communications of PHI to you from YSI be made by particular means or at particular locations. Your requests must be made in writing and sent to the Nurse. YSI will accommodate your reasonable requests without requiring you to provide a reason for your request. Generally, you have the right to inspect and copy your PHI that YSI maintains, provided that you make your request in writing to the Nurse. Within thirty (30) days of receiving your request (unless extended by an additional thirty (30) days), YSI will inform you of the extent to which your request has or has not been granted. In some cases, YSI may provide you a summary of the PHI you request if you agree in advance to such a summary and any associated fees. If you request copies of your PHI or agree to a summary of your PHI, YSI may impose a reasonable fee to cover copying, postage, and related costs. We may deny your request, and you will not have a right to have the denial reviewed, if by obtaining the information you request you would jeopardize your health and safety or the health and safety of other people at your facility. If you believe that your PHI maintained by YSI contains an error or needs to be updated, you have the right to request that YSI correct or supplement your PHI. Your request must be made in writing to the Nurse, and it must explain why you are requesting an amendment to your PHI. Within sixty (60) days of receiving your request (unless extended by an additional thirty (30) days), YSI will inform you of the extent to which your request has or has not been granted. YSI generally can deny your request if your request relates to PHI: (i) not created by YSI; (ii) that is not part of the records YSI maintains; (iii) that is not subject to being inspected by you; or (iv) that is accurate and complete. If your request is denied, YSI will provide you a written denial that explains the reason for the denial and your rights to: (i) file a statement disagreeing with the denial; (ii) if you do not file a statement of disagreement, submit a request that any future disclosures of the relevant PHI be made with a copy of your request and YSI’s denial attached; and (iii) complain about the denial. You generally have the right to request and receive a list of the disclosures of your PHI. YSI has made at any time during the six (6) years prior to the date of your request (provided that such a list would not include disclosures made prior to April 14, 2003). The list will not include disclosure for which you have provided a written authorization, and does not include certain uses and disclosures to which this “Notice” already applies, such as those: (i) for treatment, payment and health care operations; (ii) made to you; (iii) for YSI's individuals involved in your health care; (iv) for national security or intelligence purposes; or (v) to correctional institutions or law enforcement officials. You should submit any such request to the Facility Administrator, and within sixty (60) days of receiving your request (unless extended by an additional thirty (30) days), YSI will respond to you regarding the status of your request. YSI will provide the list to you at no charge, but if subsequent requests are subject to a reasonable, cost based fee, of which you will be aware of in advance. You have the right to receive a paper copy of this notice upon request, even if you have agreed to receive this notice electronically. You can receive a copy of this notice at our Web site, www.ysii.com. To obtain a paper copy of this notice, please contact Facility Administrator. You may complain to YSI if you believe your privacy rights with respect to your PHI have been violated by contacting the Facility Administrator and submitting a written complaint. YSI will in no manner penalize you or retaliate against you for filing a complaint regarding YSI’s privacy practices. You also have the right to file a complaint with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. For more information, or to begin the formal process connected with these rights, please contact the Facility Administrator. Complaints and Inquiries You may register a complaint to us or to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services if you believe that your privacy rights have been violated. To file a complaint with us, please submit it in writing and address it to:
Or Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services Your complaint should include the following: Your name Please note: If you file a complaint, we will not take any action against you or change our treatment of you in any way. Effective Date of This Notice: This notice is effective April 14, 2003. We are required to abide by the terms of the notice that is currently in effect. |