Group Medical Plan
Protecting Your Health
Information Privacy Rights
April , 2006
The Plan’s policies protecting your privacy rights and
your rights under the law are described in the attached Plan’s Notice of
Privacy Practices. All employees
received a copy of this notice in April of 2003. New employees receive this notice with their
health insurance enrollment materials.
You may also obtain a copy of the Notice of Privacy Practices from our
website under What's New at
www.wellesley/HR.Wellesley
College HIPAA Privacy Notice
April 15, 2006
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.
If
you have any questions about this Notice please contact our Privacy Contact who
is Eleanor Wilcox Tutty, Human Resources Office.
This
Notice of Privacy Practices describes how we may use and disclose your
protected health information to carry out treatment, payment or health care
operations and for other purposes that are permitted or required by law. It
also describes your rights to access and control your protected health
information. “Protected health information” is information about you, including
demographic information, that may identify you and that relates to your past,
present or future physical or mental health or condition and related health
care services.
Uses
and Disclosures of Protected Health Information
We use health information
about you for treatment, to obtain payment for treatment, for administrative
purposes, and to evaluate the quality of care that you receive. We may use or disclose identifiable health
information about you without your authorization for several other reasons. Subject to certain requirements, we may give
out health information without your authorization for public health purposes,
for auditing purposes, for research studies, and for emergencies. We provide information when otherwise
required by law, such as for law enforcement in specific circumstances. In any other situation, we will ask for your
written authorization before using or disclosing any identifiable health
information about you. If you choose to sign an authorization to disclose
information, you can later revoke that authorization to stop any future uses
and disclosures.
We may change our policies
at any time. Before we make a
significant change in our policies, we will change our notice and post the new
notice. You can also request a copy of our
notice at any time. For more information
about our privacy practices, contact the person listed below.
The
Federal regulations that govern the use and disclosure of protected health
information may require us to disclose your health information in any of the
following situations:
Required By
Law. We may use or disclose your protected health
information to the extent that law requires the use or disclosure. The use or disclosure will be made in
compliance with the law and will be limited to the relevant requirements of the
law. You will be notified, as required by law, of any such uses or disclosures.
Public Health. We may disclose your protected health
information for public health activities and purposes to a public health
authority that is permitted by law to collect or receive the information. The
disclosure will be made for the purpose of controlling disease, injury or
disability. We may also disclose your protected health information, if directed
by the public health authority, to a foreign government agency that is
collaborating with the public health authority.
Communicable
Diseases. We may disclose your protected health
information, if authorized by law, to a person who may have been exposed to a
communicable disease or may otherwise be at risk of contracting or spreading
the disease or condition.
Health
Oversight. We may disclose protected health information
to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law, such as audits,
investigations, and inspections. Oversight agencies seeking this information
include government agencies that oversee the health care system, government
benefit programs, other government regulatory programs and civil rights
laws.
Abuse or
Neglect. We may disclose your protected health
information to a public health authority that is authorized by law to receive
reports of child abuse or neglect. In addition, we may disclose your protected
health information if we believe that you have been a victim of abuse, neglect
or domestic violence to the governmental entity or agency authorized to receive
such information. In this case, the disclosure will be made consistent with the
requirements of applicable federal and state laws.
Food and Drug
Administration. We may disclose your protected health
information to a person or company as directed or required by the Food and Drug
Administration (i) To or report adverse events (or similar activities with
respect to food of dietary supplements), product defects or problems (including
problems with the use or labeling of a product), or biological product deviations,
(ii) to track FDA-regulated products, (iii) to enable product recalls, repairs
or replacement, or lookback (including locating and notifying individuals who
have received products that have been recalled, withdrawn, or are the subject
of lookback), or (iv) to conduct post-marketing surveillance.
Legal
Proceedings. We may disclose protected health information
in the course of any judicial or administrative proceeding, in response to an
order of a court or administrative tribunal (to the extent such disclosure is
expressly authorized), in certain conditions in response to a subpoena,
discovery request or other lawful process.
Law
Enforcement. We may also disclose protected health
information, so long as applicable legal requirements are met, for law
enforcement purposes. These law enforcement purposes include (1) legal
processes and otherwise required by law, (2) limited information requests for
identification and location purposes, (3) pertaining to victims of a crime, (4)
suspicion that death has occurred as a result of criminal conduct, (5) in the
event that a crime occurs on the premises of the practice, and (6) medical
emergency (not on the Practice’s premises) and it is likely that a crime has
occurred.
Coroners,
Funeral Directors, and Organ Donation. We may disclose protected health information to a
coroner or medical examiner for identification purposes, determining cause of
death or for the coroner or medical examiner to perform other duties authorized
by law. We may also disclose protected health information to a funeral
director, as authorized by law, in order to permit the funeral director to
carry out their duties. We may disclose such information in reasonable
anticipation of death. Protected health information may be used and disclosed
for cadaveric organ, eye or tissue donation purposes.
Research. We may disclose your protected health
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 protected health information.
Criminal
Activity. Consistent with applicable federal and state
laws, we may disclose your protected health information, if we believe that the
use or disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent
threat to the health or safety of a person or the public. We may also disclose
protected health information if it is necessary for law enforcement authorities
to identify or apprehend an individual.
Military Activity
and National Security. When the appropriate
conditions apply, we may use or disclose protected health information of
individuals who are Armed Forces personnel (1) for activities deemed necessary
by appropriate military command authorities; (2) for the purpose of a
determination by the Department of Veterans Affairs of your eligibility for
benefits, or (3) to foreign military authority if you are a member of that
foreign military services. We may also disclose your protected health
information to authorized federal officials for conducting national security
and intelligence activities, including for the provision of protective services
to the President or others legally authorized.
Workers’
Compensation. Your protected health information may be disclosed
by us as authorized to comply with workers’ compensation laws and other similar
legally-established programs.
Inmates. We may use or disclose your protected health
information if you are an inmate of a correctional facility and your physician created
or received your protected health information in the course of providing care
to you.
Required Uses
and Disclosures. Under the law, we must make
disclosures to you and when required by the Secretary of the Department of
Health and Human Services to investigate or determine our compliance with the
requirements of Section 164.500 et. seq.
Your Rights
The
following is a statement of your rights with respect to your protected health
information and a brief description of how you may exercise these rights.
You have the
right to inspect and copy your protected health information. This means you may inspect
and obtain a copy of protected health information about you that is contained
in a designated record set for as long as we maintain the protected health
information. A “designated record set” contains medical and billing records and
any other records that your physician and the practice uses for making
decisions about you. Under federal law,
however, you may not inspect or copy the following records; psychotherapy
notes; information compiled in reasonable anticipation of, or use in, a civil,
criminal, or administrative action or proceeding, and protected health
information that is subject to law that prohibits access to protected health
information. Depending on the circumstances, a decision to deny access may be
reviewable. In some circumstances, you may have a right to have this decision
reviewed. Please contact our Privacy Contact if you have questions about access
to your medical record.
You have the
right to request a restriction of your protected health information. This means you may ask us not to use or
disclose any part of your protected health information for the purposes of
treatment, payment or healthcare operations.
You may also request that any part of your protected health information
not be disclosed to family members or friends who may be involved in your care
or for notification purposes as described in this Notice of Privacy
Practices. Your request must state the
specific restriction requested and to whom you want the restriction to
apply. We are not required to agree to a
restriction that you may request, but if we do agree to the requested
restriction, we may not use or disclose your protected health information in
violation of that restriction unless it is needed to provide emergency
treatment.
You have the
right to request to receive confidential communications from us by alternative
means or at an alternative location. We will accommodate reasonable requests. We may also condition this accommodation by
asking you for information as to how payment will be handled or specification
of an alternative address or other method of contact. We will not request an explanation from you
as to the basis for the request. Please make this request in writing to our
Privacy Contact.
You may have
the right to have your physician amend your protected health information. This means you may request an amendment of
protected health information about you in a designated record set for as long
as we maintain this information. In certain cases, we may deny your request for
an amendment. If we deny your request for amendment, you have the right to file
a statement of disagreement with us and we may prepare a rebuttal to your
statement and will provide you with a copy of any such rebuttal. Please contact
our Privacy Contact to determine if you have questions about amending your
medical record.
You have the
right to receive an accounting of certain disclosures we have made, if any, of
your protected health information. This right
applies to disclosures for purposes other than treatment, payment or healthcare
operations as described in this Notice of Privacy Practices. It excludes
disclosures we may have made to you, for a facility directory, to family
members or friends involved in your care, or for notification purposes. You
have the right to receive specific information regarding these disclosures that
occurred after April 14, 2003. You may request a shorter timeframe. The right
to receive this information is subject to certain exceptions, restrictions and
limitations.
You have the
right to obtain a paper copy of this notice from us, upon request, even if you have agreed to
accept this notice electronically.
Complaints
You
may complain to us or to the Secretary of Health and Human Services if you
believe your privacy rights have been violated by us. You may file a complaint
with us by notifying our privacy contact of your complaint. We will not
retaliate against you for filing a complaint.