OUR PRIVACY POLICY
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 the Administrator of Express Home Care LLC through the phone at (973) 517-0449.
Who will follow this notice:
1. Any health care professionals authorized to enter information into your client record.
2. all employee, staff, volunteers and other EXPRESS HOME CARE LLC personnel.
3. All departments of EXPRESS HOME CARE LLC shall follow the terms of this notice. In addition, these entities may share medical information with each other for treatment, payment, or agency operation purpose described in this notice.
OUR PLEDGE REGARDING MEDICAL INFORMATION:
We understand that medical information about you and your health is personal. We are committed to protecting medical information about you. We create a record of the care and services you receive with the agency. We need this record to provide you with quality care and to comply with certain legal requirements. This notice applies to all of the records of your care generated by the agency, whether made by agency personnel, referring agency, or personal doctor.
This notice will tell you about the ways in which we may and disclose medical information about you. We also describe your rights and certain obligations we have regarding the use and disclosure of medical information.
We are required by law to:
1. Make sure that medical information that identifies you is kept private;
2. To give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect tp medical information about you;
3. Follow the terms of the notice that is currently in effect.
HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
The following categories describe different ways that we use and disclose medical information. For each category of uses or disclosure we will explain what we mean and try to give some examples. Not every use or disclosure in a category will be listed. However, all the ways we are permitted to use and disclose information will fall within one of the categories.
Treatment/Services: We may use medical information about you to provide you with medical or social services. We may disclose medical information about you to doctors, nurses, social workers or other agency personnel who are involved in your care. We may also disclose medical information about you to people outside the agency who may be involved in your medical care after you leave the agency's services, such as family members, clergy or others we use to provide services that are part of your care.
Payment: We may use and disclose medical information about you so that the treatment and services you receive by the agency may be billed to and payment may be collected from you, an insurance company or third party. We may also tell you health plan or third party payer about any services you are going to receive to obtain prior approval or to determine whether you plan/funding source will cover the service.
Health Care Operation: We may use and disclose medical information about you for agency operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary to run the agency and make sure that all of our clients receive quality care. We may also combine medical information about many agency clients to decide what additional services the agency should offer, what services are not needed, and whether certain new services are effective. We may also disclose information to doctors, nurses, social workers and other agency personnel for review and learning purposes. We may also combine the medical information we have with medical information from other agencies to compare how we are doing and see where we can make improvements in the care and services we offer. We may remove information that identifies you from this set of medical information, so others may use it to study health care and health care delivery without learning who the specific clients are.
Appointment Reminders: We may use and disclose medical information to contact you, a family member or the responsible party as a reminder of an appointment with agency personnel regarding your services.
Health Related Benefits and Marketing: We may use and disclose medical information to tell you about health-related benefits or services that may be of interest to you. If you do not want the agency to contact you for health-related benefits or services, you must notify our Compliance Officer in writing.
Individuals Involved in Your Care of Payment: We may release medical information about you to a friend, family member or responsible person who is involved in your medical care. We may also tell your family or friends your condition and that you are cared for by the agency. In addition, we may disclose medical information about you to an entity assisting in a disaster relief effort so that your family can be notified about your condition, status and location.
As Required By Law: We will disclose medical information about you when required to do so by federal, state or local law. If you are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose medical information about you in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose medical information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.
Law Enforcement: We may release medical information if asked to do so by a law enforcement official:
-
In response to a court order, subpoena, warrant, summons or similar process;
-
To identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person;
-
About the victim of a crime if, under certain limited circumstances, we are unable to obtain the person's agreement;
-
About the death we believe may be the result of a criminal conduct;
-
In emergency circumstances to report a crime; the location of the crime or victims; or the identity, description or location of the person who committed the crime.
Health and Safety: We may use and disclose medical information about you when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person. Any disclosure, however, would only be to someone able to help prevent the threat. We also may disclose information about you for public health activities. These activities generally are to help prevent or control disease, injury or disability; to notify a person who may have been exposed to a disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a disease or condition; to notify the appropriate government authority if we believe a client has been the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence.
Health Oversight Activities: We may disclose medical information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law. These oversight activities include, for example audits, investigations, inspections, and licensure. These activities are necessary for the government to monitor the health care system, government programs, and compliance with civil rights laws.
Special Permission Situation: If you are a current member or retired from the armed forces, we may release medical information about you as required by military command authorities, or to assist the veterans' administration with your care. We may also release information to individuals such as a medical examiner or funeral director, so they may carry out their lawful duties.
Health Oversight Activities: We may disclose medical information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law. These oversight activities include, for example audits, investigations, inspections, and licensure. These activities are necessary for the government to monitor the health care system, government programs, and compliance with civil rights laws.
Worker's Compensation and Disability: We may release medical information about you for workers' compensation or similar programs. These programs provide benefits for work or other related illnesses
National Security: We may release medical information about you to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities authorized by law.