Effective Date: April 14, 2003
Last Revision Date: None
This notice describes how medical information about you may
be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information.
Please review it carefully.
This Notice serves as a joint Notice for BJC HealthCare affiliated
hospitals and providers (collectively referred to herein as “we” or “our”).
Because we are affiliated health care providers as defined by the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, we have elected
to prepare a joint Notice concerning our privacy practices. We will
follow the terms of this Notice and may share health information with
each other for purposes of treatment, payment and health care operations
as described in this Notice.
Our Duties Regarding Your Health Information
We respect the confidentiality of your health information and recognize
that information about your health is personal. We are committed to
protecting your health information and to informing you of your rights
regarding such information. We are also required by law to protect the
privacy of your protected health information and to provide you with
notice of these legal duties. This Notice explains how, when and why
we typically use and disclose health information and your privacy rights
regarding your health information. In our Notice, we refer to our uses
and disclosures of health information as our “Privacy Practices”.
Protected health information generally includes information that we
create or receive that identifies you and your past, present or future
health status or care or the provision of or payment for that health
care. We are obligated to abide by these Privacy Practices as of the
effective date listed above.
We may, however, change our Privacy Practices in the future and specifically
reserve our right to change the terms of this Notice and our Privacy
Practices. We will communicate any change in our Notice and Privacy
Practices as described at the end of this Notice. Any changes that we
make in our Privacy Practices will affect any protected health information
that we maintain.
Generally, our Privacy Practices strive:
- To make sure that health information that identifies you is kept
private;
- To give you this Notice of our Privacy Practices and legal duties
with respect to protected health information;
- To follow the terms of the Notice that is currently in effect; and
- To make a good faith effort to obtain from you a written acknowledgement
that you have received or been given an opportunity to receive this
Notice.
BJC Healthcare Providers Included in this Notice
Our Notice serves as a joint notice for all BJC HealthCare affiliated
entities, sites and locations, each of which will follow the terms of
this Notice.
Specifically, our Notice describes our Privacy Practices and that
of:
- Any BJC HealthCare affiliated hospital and the health care professionals
authorized to enter information into your hospital chart;
- All our departments and units, including BJC pharmacies;
- Any member of a volunteer group we allow to help you while you are
in one of our hospitals or while receiving care from us;
- All employees, staff and other health care personnel, including
those employees or personnel of any other BJC hospital or provider;
and BJC Long Term Care and Senior Services, BJC Corporate Health Services,
BJC Behavioral Health, BJC Home Care Services, and BJC Vision Centers.
A complete listing of the BJC HealthCare affiliated hospitals and providers
and the general classes of service delivery sites covered by our Notice
may be found on the last page of this Notice.
Our Notice does not address the privacy practices that your personal
doctor (if not employed by us) may use in his or her private office
and will not affect the medical decisions they make in your care and
treatment.
How We May Use and Disclose Health Information About You
We use and disclose your protected health information in a variety
of circumstances and for different reasons. Many of these uses and disclosures
require your prior authorization. There are situations, however, in
which we may use and disclose your health information without your authorization.
Many of these uses and disclosures will occur with your treatment, for
payment of your health services or for our health care operations. There
are additional situations, however, where the law permits or requires
us to use and disclose your health information without your authorization.
These situations will also be described in this section of the Notice.
Specifically, we may use and disclose your protected health information
as follows:
For Treatment, Payment and Health Care Operations.
- For Your Treatment. We may use and/or disclose
your protected health information to physicians, nurses, dietitians,
technicians, residents, medical or other health professional students,
physical therapists or other personnel who are involved in your care
and who will provide you with medical treatment or services. For example,
if you have had surgery or just had a baby, we may contact a home
health care agency to arrange for home services or to check on your
recovery after you are discharged from the hospital.
- For Payment of Health Services that You Receive. We
may use and/or disclose your protected health information to bill
and receive payment for the health services that you receive from
us. For example, we may provide your health information to our billing
or claims department to prepare a bill or statement to send to your
insurance company, including Medicare or Medicaid, or another group
or individual that may be responsible for payment of your health services.
- For Our Health Care Operations. We perform many
activities to help assess and improve the health or other services
that we provide. Such activities include, among others, participating
in medical or nursing training programs or education, performing quality
reviews, conducting patient opinion surveys, developing clinical guidelines
and protocols, engaging in case management and care coordination,
business management, insurance or legal compliance reviews, participating
in accreditation surveys such as the Joint Commission for the Accreditation
of Healthcare Organizations. These activities are referred to as “health
care operations.”
We may use and/or disclose health information for purposes of any
of these health care operations. For example, we may use health information
to assess the scope of our services or to determine if additional
health services are needed. In determining what services are needed,
we may disclose health information to physicians, medical or other
health or business professionals for review, consultation, comparison,
and planning. If we use health information in this manner, we may
try to remove any information that identifies you or anyone else to
further protect your health information. Additionally, we may disclose
health information to auditors, accountants, attorneys, government
regulators, or other consultants to assess and/or ensure our compliance
with laws or to represent us before regulatory or other governing
authorities or judicial bodies.
- For Another Provider’s Treatment, Payment or Health
Care Operations. The law also permits us to disclose your
protected health information to another health care provider involved
with your treatment to enable that provider to treat you and get
paid for those services as well as for that provider’s health
care operations involving quality reviews or assessments or compliance
audits.
- Special Circumstances When We May Disclose Your Health
Information related to Treatment, Payment or Health Care Operations.
After removing direct identifying information (such as
your name, address and social security number) from the health information,
we may use your health information for research, public health activities
or other health care operations (such as business planning). While
only limited identifying information will be used, we will also
obtain certain assurances from the recipient of such health information
that they will safeguard the information and only use and disclose
the information for limited purposes.
Additionally, we may disclose health information to outside organizations
or providers in order for them to provide services to you on our behalf.
We will also seek written assurances from these providers to safeguard
the health information that they receive.
For Permitted or Required by Law Activities.
There are circumstances where we may use and/or disclose your health
information without first obtaining your written authorization for purposes
other than for treatment, payment, or health care operations. Except
for specific situations where the law requires us to use and disclose
information (such as reports of births to the health department or reports
of abuse or neglect to social services), we have listed all these permitted
uses and disclosures in this section.
- For Public Health Activities. We may use or disclose
health information to a public health authority that is authorized
by law to collect or receive information in order to report, among
other things, communicable diseases and child abuse, or to the F.D.A.
to report medical device or product related events. In certain limited
situations, we may also disclose information to notify a person exposed
to a communicable disease.
- For Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose
health information to a health oversight agency that includes, among
others, an agency of the federal or state government that is authorized
by law to monitor the health care system.
- For Law Enforcement Activities. We may disclose
limited information in response to a law enforcement official’s
request for information to identify or locate a victim, a suspect,
a fugitive, a material witness, or a missing person (including individuals
who have died) or for reporting a crime that has occurred on our premises
or that may have caused a need for emergency services.
- For Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. We
may disclose health information in response to a subpoena or order
of a court or administrative tribunal.
- To Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors. We
may release health information to a coroner or medical examiner to
identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death.
- For Purposes of Organ Donation. We may disclose
health information to an organ procurement organization or other facility
that participates in the procurement, banking or transplantation of
organs or tissues.
- For Purposes of Research. Many of us conduct and
participate in medical, social, psychological and other types of research.
Most research projects are subject to a special approval process to
evaluate the proposed research project and its use of health information
before we use or disclose health information. In certain circumstances,
however, we may disclose health information to people preparing to
conduct a research project to help them determine whether a research
project can be carried out or will be useful, so long as the health
information they review does not leave our premises.
Additionally, because we are committed to advancing science and medicine
and as a part of your treatment, our clinicians may offer you information
about clinical research trials (investigational treatments). To determine
whether you are a candidate for certain clinical trials, our clinicians
and research personnel may occasionally review your medical records
and compare your information to the clinical trial requirements.
- To Avoid Harm to a Person or for Public Safety. We
may use and disclose health information if we believe that the disclosure
is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious threat or harm to the
public or the health or safety of another person.
- For Specialized Government Functions. We may use
and disclose health information of certain military individuals, for
specific governmental security needs, or as needed by correctional
institutions.
- For Workers’ Compensation Purposes. We may
disclose your health information to comply with the workers’ compensation
laws or other similar programs.
- For Appointment Reminders and to Inform You of Health Related
Products or Services. We may use or disclose your health
information in order for us to contact you for appointments or other
scheduled services, or to provide you with information about treatment
alternatives or other health-related products and services.
- For Fund-raising Purposes. We may use or disclose
demographic information including the dates that you received health
care from us, to contact you to raise funds for us to continue or
expand our health care activities. If you do not wish to be contacted
as part of our fund-raising efforts, please contact the individuals
referred to in the Complaint Section below.
When your preference will guide our use or disclosure.
While the law permits certain uses and disclosures without your authorization,
the law also provides you with an opportunity to inform us of your preference,
in certain limited situations, concerning the use or disclosure of your
health information. For these limited uses and disclosures, we may simply
ask and you may simply tell us your preference concerning the use or
disclosure of your health information. These limited situations include:
- Facility directory information on the individuals who are receiving
health services from us. A facility directory may include your name,
your location in the facility, your general condition such as fair,
stable, etc., and your religious affiliation (if provided by you).
Unless you tell us that you do not want to be included in the facility
directory, you will be included and directory information may be disclosed
to members of the clergy or to people who ask for you by name.
- The information, if any, given to your family or friends. Unless
you tell us otherwise prior to a discussion, we may disclose to a
family member or a close personal friend health information concerning
your care, including information concerning the payment for your care.
All Other Uses and Disclosures Require Your Prior Written
Authorization.
For situations not generally described in our Notice, we will ask
for your written authorization before we use or disclose your health
information. You may revoke that authorization, in writing, at any time
to stop future disclosures of your information. Information previously
disclosed, however, will not be requested to be returned nor will your
revocation affect any action that we have already taken. In addition,
if we collected the information in connection with a research study,
we are permitted to use and disclose that information to the extent
it is necessary to protect the integrity of the research study.
Your Rights Regarding Your Health Information
This portion of our Notice describes your individual privacy rights
regarding your health information and how you may exercise those rights.
Requesting Restrictions of Certain Uses and Disclosures of Health
Information.
You may request, in writing, a restriction on how we use or disclose
your protected health information for your treatment, for payment of
your health care services or for activities related to our health care
operations. You may also request a restriction on what health information
we may disclose to someone who is involved in your care, such as a family
member or friend. You must make a request to the medical records department
(or another designated department) that maintains your health information.
We are not required to agree to your request. Additionally, any
restriction that we may approve will not affect any use or disclosure
that we are legally required or permitted to make under the law, including
our facility directory.
Requesting Confidential Communications.
You may request and receive reasonable changes in the manner or the
location where we may contact you for appointment reminders, lab results
or other related information. You must make your request in writing
to the medical records department (or another designated department)
that maintains your health information and you must specify the alternate
method or location where you wish to be contacted and how you will handle
payment for your health services. We will accommodate your reasonable
request, but in determining whether your request is reasonable, we may
consider the administrative difficulty it may impose on us.
Inspecting and Obtaining Copies of Your Health Information.
You may ask to look at and/or obtain a copy of your health information.
You must make your request, in writing, to the medical records department
(or another designated department) that maintains your health information.
For instance, if you would like to view your records from your surgery
at a BJC HealthCare affiliated Hospital and the related physician office
records, you must submit separate requests at both the hospital where
you had your surgery and your physician’s office.
We may charge a fee for copying or preparing a summary of requested
health information. We will generally respond to your request for health
information within 30 days of receiving your request unless your health
information is not readily accessible or the information is maintained
in an off-site storage location.
Requesting a Change in Your Health Information.
You may request, in writing, a change or addition to your health information.
You must make your request in writing to the medical records department
(or another designated department) that maintains your health information.
The law limits your ability to change or add to your health information.
These limitations include whether we created or include the health information
within our medical records or if we believe that the health information
is accurate and complete without any changes. Under no circumstances,
will we erase or otherwise delete original documentation in your health
information.
Requesting an Accounting of Disclosures of Your Health Information.
You may ask, in writing, for an accounting of certain types of disclosures
made of your health information. The law excludes from an accounting
many of the typical disclosures, such as those made to care for you,
to pay for your health services or where you had provided your written
authorization to the disclosure. You must make your request to the medical
records department (or another designated department) that maintains
your health information. Generally, we will respond to your request
within 60 days of receiving your request unless we need additional time.
Obtaining a Notice of Our Privacy Practices.
We provide you with our Notice to explain and inform you of our Privacy
Practices. You may also take a copy of this Notice with you. Even if
you have requested this Notice electronically, you may still request
a paper copy at any time. You may also view or obtain a copy of our
Notice at our website: www.bjc.org
Changes to this Notice
We reserve the right to change this Notice concerning our Privacy
Practices affecting all the health information that we now maintain
as well as information that we may receive in the future. We will provide
you with the revised Notice by making it available to you, upon request,
and by posting it at our service sites. We will also post the revised
Notice on our website.
Complaints
We welcome an opportunity to address any concerns that you may have
regarding the privacy of your health information. If you believe that
the privacy of your health information has been violated, you may file
a complaint with our Patient Care Advocate/Representative, HIPAA Liaison
or with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
You may contact the Patient Advocate/Representative or HIPAA Liaison,
who will assist you, by contacting the Operator at any of our facilities
or offices and requesting the Patient Advocate/Representative or HIPAA
Liaison. The Patient Advocate/Representative or HIPAA Liaison may also
be contacted for any questions concerning this Notice.
It is important to note that requests or complaints must be made
to the hospital or office where your privacy concern arose. Any requests
or complaints made will not be deemed to be filed with any of the
other hospitals or providers covered by or addressed in this Joint
Notice.
YOU WILL NOT BE PENALIZED OR RETALIATED AGAINST
FOR FILING A COMPLAINT.
For more information concerning this Notice or any of our locations,
please access our website at www.bjc.org or
telephone 314.362.9355 or 1.800.932.0936.
A listing of our BJC affiliated providers may be found at the end
of this Notice.
BJC Healthcare Service Delivery Sites
- BJC HealthCare Hospitals
- Alton Memorial Hospital
- Barnes-Jewish Hospital
- Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital
- Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital
- Boone Hospital Center
- Christian Hospital Northeast/Northwest
- Fayette County Hospital
- Missouri Baptist Medical Center
- Missouri Baptist Hospital - Sullivan
- Parkland Health Center - Bonne Terre
- Parkland Health Center - Farmington
- St. Louis Children’s Hospital
- BJC HealthCare Long Term Care Facilities
Barnes-Jewish Extended Care, Village North Manor, Village North
Health Center, and Village North Retirement Community, Eunice Smith
Nursing Home, Fayette County Hospital Long Term Care
- BJC Ancillary Services Providers (such as radiology, pain management
or imaging services)
- BJC Behavioral Health
- BJC Corporate Health
- BJC Home Care Services and Boone Hospital Center's Visiting Nurses
- BJC Medical Group Offices
BJC Retail Pharmacies
BJC Vision Centers
- Fairview Heights Medical Group
- Heart Care Institute
For more information concerning BJC HealthCare facility locations,
please visit our website at www.bjc.org or
telephone 314.362.9355 or 1.800.932.0936.
We subscribe to the HONcode principles. Verify
here.
Boone Hospital Center subscribes to the principles of the Health
on the Net (HON) code of conduct regarding Internet privacy and
pledges to strictly adhere to those principles.