Legal Policies

NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY

In conjunction with and in accordance with the various state and federal laws and regulations applicable to equal employment opportunity and treatment of our patients, Southside Community Hospital has declared a policy of providing employment and health care services without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicapped status, or any other non-merit factor.

DISCLAIMER

SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY HOSPITAL (SCH) provides this site as a community service. The information provided in this site is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. It should not be used as a substitute for a visit with a health care professional. Your health care provider should be consulted regarding matters concerning the medical condition, treatment, and needs of you and your family. Nothing contained in the service is intended to be for medical diagnosis or treatment.

All material contained within these pages is the sole property of SCH unless otherwise noted. Any reproduction or redistribution of this material is prohibited without the expressed written consent of SCH.

Links to other sites are provided as a courtesy to our readers. SCH does not control and/or endorse any of the sites outside of the sch-farmville.org domain, and neither SCH nor its employees, agents or contractors can be held responsible for the information contained in sites outside of our domain name.

SCH is not set up to track, collect or distribute personal information about its visitors to its website. We may compile statistics that show the number of visitors to our site, but these statistics contain no personal information and cannot be used to gather such information.

This service is not targeted to users in a particular locality, nor is it intended to constitute the doing of business in any jurisdiction, nor to be a solicitation of business anywhere on behalf of SCH, nor constitute any contacts with any jurisdiction outside of the State of Virginia.

NOTICE OF INFORMATION PRACTICES

SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY HOSPITAL
NOTICE OF INFORMATION PRACTICES

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

UNDERSTANDING YOUR HEALTH RECORD/INFORMATION

Each time you visit a hospital, physician, or other healthcare provider, a record of your visit is made. Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment, and a plan for future care or treatment. This information, often referred to as your health or medical record serves as a:

• basis for planning your care and treatment;
• means of communication among the many health professionals who contribute to your
  care;
• legal document describing the care you received;
• means by which you or a third-party payer can verify that services
  billed were actually provided;
• tool in educating health professionals;
• source of data for medical research;
• source of information for public health officials charged with improving the health of the nation;
• source of data for facility planning and marketing;
• tool with which we can assess and continually work to improve the care we render and the
  outcomes we achieve.

Understanding what is in your record and how your health information is used helps you to:

• ensure its accuracy;
• better understand who, what, when, where, and why others may access your health information;
• make more informed decisions when authorizing disclosure to others.

YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION RIGHTS

Although your health record is the physical property of the healthcare practitioner or facility that compiled it, the information belongs to you. You have the right to:

• request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your information as provided in 45 CFR* 164.522. The covered entity is not required to agree to a requested restriction;
• obtain a paper copy of the notice of information practices upon request as provided in 45 CFR 164.520;
• inspect and obtain a copy of your health record as provided for in 45 CFR 164.524;
• amend protected health information as provided in 45 CFR 164.526.

Your request must be in writing and state a reason for the request:

• obtain an accounting of disclosures of your health information as provided in 45 CFR 164.528;
• request communication of your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations;
• revoke your authorization to use or disclose health information except to the extent that action has already been taken.

*CFR is The Code of Federal Regulations

SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY HOSPITAL'S RESPONSIBILITIES

This organization is required by law to:

• protect the privacy of your health information;
• provide you with a notice as to our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to information we collect and maintain about you;
• abide by the terms of this notice currently in effect;
• notify you if we are unable to agree to a requested restriction;
• accommodate reasonable requests you may have to communicate health information by alternative means or at alternative locations.

We reserve the right to change our practices and to make the new provisions effective for all protected health information we maintain. Should our information practices change, we will revise the posting on the web site and will provide you a revised notice upon your next encounter at our facility. We will not use or disclose your health information without authorization, except as described in this notice.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REPORT A PROBLEM

If you have questions and would like additional information, you may contact our Privacy Officer who is the Director of Health Information Management at Southside Community Hospital at (434) 315-2544.

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with the Director of Health Information Management or with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Region III, Regional Manager, 150 S. Independence Mall W., Ste. 372, Public Ledger Bldg., Philadelphia, PA 19106-9111. There will be no retaliation for filing a complaint.

EXAMPLES OF DISCLOSURES FOR TREATMENT, PAYMENT and HEALTH OPERATIONS

We will use your health information for treatment. For example: Information obtained by a nurse, physician, or other member of your healthcare team will be recorded in our record and used to determine the course of treatment that should work best for you. Your physician will document in your record his or her expectations of the members of your healthcare team. Members of your healthcare team will then record the actions they took and their observations. In that way, the physician will know how you are responding to treatment. We will also provide your physician or a subsequent healthcare provider with copies of various reports that should assist him or her in treating you once you are discharged from this hospital. For example: If you need to be transferred to another facility, pertinent copies from your medical record will be sent to the receiving facility.

We will use your health information for payment. A bill may be sent to you or a third-party payer. The information on or accompanying the bill may include information that identifies you, as well as your diagnosis, procedures, and supplies used. Information gathered during the course of your treatment may be shared with your insurance company.

As required by law, we may also use and disclose health information for the following types of entities, including but not limited to:

• Food and Drug Administration
• Public Health or Legal Authorities charged with preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability
• Correctional Institutions
• Workers Compensation Agents
• Organ and Tissue Donation Organizations
• Military Command Authorities
• Health Oversight Agencies
• Funeral Directors, Coroners and Medical Directors
• National Security and Intelligence Agencies
• Protective Services for the President and Others

We will use your health information for regular health operations. Members of the medical staff, the risk or quality improvement manager, or members of the quality improvement team may use information in your health record to assess the care and outcomes in your case and others like it. This information will then be used in an effort to continually improve the quality and effectiveness of the care and service we provide and may be shared as necessary to carry out treatment, payment and health care operations. Physicians and caregivers may have access to protected health information in their offices to assist in reviewing past treatment as it may affect treatment at the time.

Business associates: There are some services provided in our organization through contracts with business associates. Examples include physician services in the emergency department, radiology physician services, certain laboratory tests, and a microfilm company when reducing the paper copies of the chart to microfiche. When these services are contracted, we may disclose your health information to our business associate so that they can perform the job we have asked them to do and bill you or your third-party payer for services rendered. To protect your health information, however, we will require the business associate to appropriately safeguard your information.

Directory: We may include certain limited information about you in the hospital directory while you are a patient at the hospital. The information may include your name, location in the hospital, your general condition (good, fair, etc.) and your religious affiliation. Unless you notify us that you object, this information may be provided to members of the clergy or to other persons who ask for you by name.

Notification: We may use or disclose information to notify or assist in notifying a family member, personal representative, or another person responsible for your care, your location, and general condition unless you opt out of the directory. You may receive appointment reminders through the mail or via telephone.

Communication with family: Health professionals, using their best judgment, may disclose to a family member, other relative, close personal friend, or any other person you identify, health information relevant to that person's involvement in your care or payment related to your care, unless you have opted out of the directory or request restrictions.

Research: We 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 health information.

GI Lab: Patients undergoing GI procedures by the gastroenterologist will have the procedural note forwarded to the GI Lab for future continuity of care.

Amend or Correct: You have the right to request that the hospital amend/correct protected health information. Your request may be denied if the hospital determines that the information is accurate and complete. If we do deny your request, we will add a statement to your permanent record to that effect.

Oncology: We may disclose information to Medical College of Virginia Oncology Physicians via U.S. Mail, fax, internet, or electronic mail. Appointment reminders may be sent by U.S. Mail or by telephone regarding your scheduled visit.

Marketing: We may contact you to provide appointment reminders or information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.

Fund raising: We may contact you as part of a fund-raising effort.

Law Enforcement/Legal Proceedings: We may disclose health information for law enforcement purposes as required by law or in response to a valid subpoena.

Pharmacy: Your local pharmacy may request clarification of a prescription from Southside Community Hospital's Pharmacy Department in order that the local pharmacy may properly fill your prescription for medication.

Radiology, Anesthesia, and/or Emergency Physician Billing: When you receive care or treatment from the Radiology (X-ray) Department and/or Emergency Department, your medical information is shared with these billing agencies.

Home Health: If you are referred to any Home Health agency for continued care at home, medical information will be shared with them to provide communication between the hospital and Home Health Agency to assure the treatment is carried out as ordered.

Nursing Home: In the event you require nursing home placement, medical information is shared with the nursing home for pre-admission certification and/or acceptance.

Federal law makes provision for your health information to be released to an appropriate health oversight agency, public health authority or attorney, provided that a workforce member or business associate believes in good faith that we have engaged in unlawful conduct or have otherwise violated professional or clinical standards and are potentially endangering one or more patients, workers, or the public.

We reserve the right to change this notice and the revised or changed notice will be effective for information we already have about you as well as any information we receive in the future. The current notice, with its effective date, will be posted in the hospital and on the Hospital's Website. You will receive a copy of this notice on your initial visit and when any revisions are made. You may request an additional copy at any time.

EFFECTIVE DATE: April 7, 2003

This notice will be followed by the Hospital, the Hospital's employees and other members of the Hospital's work force, as well as volunteers who provide services within the Hospital. It will also be followed by those physicians and other health care providers who hold clinical privileges at the Hospital (which physicians and providers and the Hospital are considered under HIPAA as participating in an "organized health care arrangement" ("OHCA") who have agreed with the Hospital to abide by this Notice as regards protected health information created or received as a part of rendering care to you in the Hospital through the use of their Hospital clinical privileges. Physicians and other health care providers who hold clinical privileges at the Hospital and the Hospital will share protected health information with each other as necessary to carry out treatment, payment of health care operations of the OHCA, as discussed below. This Notice applies to Southside Community Hospital.

For a copy of our Notice of Information Practices, please contact the Health Information Management Department (434-315-2540) here at Southside Community Hospital or email us at info@sch-farmville.org.