The Speech and Hearing Center

Privacy Policies

It is the policy of our practice that all clinicians and staff preserve the integrity and the confidentiality of protected health information (PHI) pertaining to our patients.  The purpose of this policy is to ensure that our center, clinicians and staff have the necessary PHI to provide the highest care possible while protecting the confidentiality of the PHI of our patients to the highest degree possible.  Patients should not fear about providing information to our center and staff for purpose of treatment, payment and healthcare operations (TPO).  To that end, our center and its clinicians and staff will --

Adhere to the standard set forth in the Notice of Privacy Practices.

Collect, use and disclose PHI only in conformance with state and federal laws and current patient covenants and/or authorizations, as appropriate.  Our center and its clinicians and staff will not use or disclose PHI for uses outside of centers' TPO, such as marketing, employment, life insurance applications, etc. without an authorization from the patient.

Use and disclose PHI to remind patients of their appointments only within their consent.

Recognize that PHI collected about patients must be accurate, timely, complete, and available when needed.  Our center and its clinicians and staff will Implement reasonable measures to protect the integrity of all PHI maintained about patients.

Recognize that patients have a right to privacy.  Our center and its clinicians and staff respect the patient's individual dignity at all times.  Our center, its clinicians and staff will respect patient's privacy to the extent consistent with providing the highest quality care possible and with the efficient administration of the facility.

Act as responsible information stewards and treat all PHI as sensitive and confidential.  Consequently, our center and its clinicians and staff will:

Treat all PHI data as confidential in accordance with professional ethics, accreditation standards, and legal requirements.

Not disclose PHI data unless the patient (or his or her authorized representative) has properly consented to or authorized the release or the release is otherwise authorized by law.

Recognize that, although our center "owns" the PHI record, the patient has a right to inspect and obtain a copy of his/her PHI.  In addition, patients have a right to request an amendment to his/her PHI record if he/she believes his/her information is inaccurate or incomplete.  Our center and its clinicians and staff will --

• Permit patients access to their PHI records when their written requests are approved by our center.  If we deny their request, then we must inform the patients that they may request a review of their denial.  In such cases, we will have an on-site clinician review the patients' appeals.

• Provide patients an opportunity to request the correction of inaccurate or incomplete PHI in their records in accordance with the law  and professional standards.

• All clinicians and staff of our center will maintain a list of all disclosures of PHI for purposes other than TPO for each patient.  We will provide this list to patients upon request , so long as their requests are in writing.

• All clinicians and staff of our center will adhere to any restrictions concerning the use or disclosure of PHI that patients have requested and have been approved by our center.

• All clinicians and staff of our center must adhere to this policy.  Our center will not tolerate violations of this policy.  Violations of this policy is grounds for disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment and criminal or professional sanctions in accordance with our center's personal rules and regulations.

• Our center may change this privacy policy in the future.  Any changes will be effective upon the release of a revised policy and will be made available to patients upon request.

1/1/03