Research. We may allow personal health
information of patients from our facility to be used or
disclosed for research purposes provided that the researcher
adheres to certain privacy protections. Your personal
health information may be used for research purposes only
if the privacy aspects of the research have been reviewed
and approved by a special Privacy Board or Institutional
Review Board, if the researcher is collecting information
in preparing a research proposal, if the research occurs
after your death, or if you authorize the use or disclosure.
Coroners. Medical Examiners. Funeral
Directors. Organ Procurement Organizations. We may
release your personal health information to a coroner,
medical examiner, funeral director or, if you are an organ
donor, to an organization involved in the donation of
organs and tissue.
To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or
Safety. We may use and disclose your personal health
information when necessary to prevent a serious threat
to your health or safety or the health or safety of the
public or another person. However, any disclosure would
be made only to someone able to help prevent the threat.
Military and Veterans. If you are
a member of the armed forces, we may use and disclose
your personal health information as required by military
command authorities. We may also use and disclose personal
health information about foreign military personnel as
required by the appropriate foreign military authority,
or may use or disclose personal health information for
purposes related to receiving benefits.
Workers' Compensation. We may use
or disclose your personal health information to comply
with laws relating to workers' compensation or similar
programs.
National Security and Intelligence Activities:
Protective Services for the President and Others.
We may disclose personal health information to authorized
federal officials conducting national security and intelligence
activities or as needed to provide protection to the President
of the United States, certain other persons or foreign
heads of states or to conduct certain special investigations.
Fundraising Activities. We may use
certain personal health information to contact you in
an effort to raise money for the facility and its operations
and our affiliates. We may disclose personal health information
to a foundation related to the facility so that the foundation
may contact you in raising money for the facility. In
doing so, we would only release contact information, such
as your name, address and phone number, family members
and the dates you received treatment or services at the
facility.
Appointment Reminders. We may use
or disclose personal health information to remind you
about appointments.
Treatment Alternatives. We may use or disclose
personal health information to inform you about treatment
alternatives that may be of interest to you.
Health-Related Benefits and Services.
We may use or disclose personal health information to
inform you about health-related benefits and services
that may be of interest to you.
III. YOUR
AUTHORIZATION IS REQUIRED FOR OTHER USES OF PERSONAL
HEALTH INFORMATION
We will use and disclosure personal health
information (other than as described in this Notice or
required by law) only with your written Authorization.
You may revoke your Authorization to use or disclose personal
health information in writing, at any time. If you revoke
your Authorization, we will no longer use or disclose
your personal health information for the purposes covered
by the Authorization, except where we have already relied
on the Authorization.
IV. YOUR
RIGHTS REGARDING YOUR PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION
You have the following rights regarding
your personal health information at the facility:
Right to Request Restrictions. You
have the right to request restrictions on our use or disclosure
of your personal health information for treatment, payment
or health care operations. You also have the right to
restrict the personal health information we disclose about
you to a family member, friend or other person who is
involved in your care or the payment for your care.
We are required to agree to your requested
restriction unless you are being transferred to another
health care institution, the release of records is required
by law, or the release of information is needed to provide
you emergency treatment.
Right of Access to Personal Health Information.
You have the right to request either orally or in writing,
your medical or billing records or other written information
that may be used to make decisions about your care. We
must allow you to inspect your records within 24 hours
of your request. If you request copies of the records,
we must provide you with copies within 2 days of that
request.
We may charge a reasonable fee for our costs
in copying and mailing your requested information. We
may deny your request to inspect or receive copies in
certain limited circumstances. If you are denied access
to personal health information, in some cases you will
have a right to request review of the denial. This review
would be performed by a licensed health care professional
designated by the facility who did not participate in
the decision to deny.
Right to Request Amendment. You have
the right to request the facility to amend any personal
health information maintained by the facility for as long
as the information is kept by or for the facility. You
must make your request must be made in writing and must
state the reason for the requested amendment.
To
request an amendment, your request must be made in writing
and submitted to our Privacy Officer; Susan Marre, RHIA,
Director of Medical Records and Privacy Officer, New England
Sinai Hospital, 150 York Street, Stoughton, MA 02072.
In addition, you must provide a reason that supports your
request.
We may deny your request for amendment if
the information
