HIPAA Privacy Notice

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.

The facility (“we,” “us,” or “the facility”) is required by law to protect the privacy of your health information, to give you this notice explaining our legal duties and privacy practices, and to follow the terms of the notice that is currently in effect.

We take this seriously. This notice tells you how we may use and share information about your health and your care, and it explains your rights.

“Health information” means information about your health, your care, and payment for your care that identifies you or could reasonably identify you. This includes the fact that you live here.

For your treatment
We use your health information to provide and coordinate your care. For example, our nurses, aides, and therapists share information with each other so they can care for you. We share information with your doctor, with the pharmacy that fills your prescriptions, with the hospital if you are transferred, with specialists, and with anyone else involved in treating you. If you go out for an appointment or in an emergency, we send the information the other providers need.

For your payment
We use and share your information to get paid for your care. For example, we bill Medicare, Medicaid, or your insurance, and we share the information needed to confirm coverage and process claims.

For our health care operations
We use your information to run the facility well and keep care safe. For example, we review the quality of care, train staff and students, coordinate your care, carry out required assessments and surveys, and handle audits, licensing, and general administration.

To others involved in your care
Unless you tell us not to, we may share information relevant to your care with a family member, another relative, a close personal friend, or anyone else you name who is involved in your care or in paying for it. If you are present and able to decide, we will ask you or give you the chance to object first. If you are not able to tell us , such as in an emergency , we will use our best judgment about what is in your interest, and share only what that person needs to know. If you tell us not to share with someone, we will honor that.

We may also tell a family member or another person responsible for your care where you are, how you are doing in general, or that you have passed away.

In a facility directory
Unless you tell us not to, we may include your name, your location in the building, and your general condition in a facility directory, so that people who ask for you by name, and members of the clergy, can find you and visit. You can ask us to keep you out of the directory at any time.

When the law requires it or allows it
We may use or share your information without your permission when the law requires or allows it, including:
• To report abuse, neglect, or exploitation to the agencies that receive those reports.
• For public health, such as reporting disease, or reporting problems with medications or medical devices.
• To health oversight agencies for activities like surveys, inspections, licensing, and investigations, including the Long-Term Care Ombudsman.
• For lawsuits and legal actions, in response to a court order, or a subpoena or other lawful request that meets the requirements of the law.
• To law enforcement, in the limited circumstances the law allows.
• To coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors as needed to do their work.
• For organ and tissue donation, if you are a donor.
• To avoid a serious and immediate threat to your health or safety or someone else’s.
• For workers’ compensation, if it applies to you.
• For specialized government functions, such as military service or national security, in the narrow situations the law allows.
• To the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, if they ask for it to check that we are following the privacy rules.

We will only share the minimum amount of information needed, except when we are sharing for your treatment or when the law requires us to share a specific amount.

Some uses always require your written permission on an authorization form. You can cancel that permission at any time, in writing, and we will stop , except where we have already acted on it.

We will ask for your written authorization before we:
• Use or share psychotherapy notes, in most situations.
• Use or share your information for marketing, in most situations.
• Sell your information. (We do not do this.)
• Use your photograph, video, or voice recording on social media, our website, or in news media. A separate authorization covers this.

For any purpose not described in this notice, we will ask for your written authorization first.

Some information is protected more strictly, by other laws in addition to this notice:
• HIV and AIDS information is protected under Missouri law, which limits who may be told and forbids passing it on.
• Substance use disorder treatment records we receive from a treatment program are protected under a special federal law and generally cannot be shared, even in a legal case, without your specific written permission or a special court order.
• Mental health information is handled with particular care.

You have the following rights regarding your health information. To use any of them, ask the Administrator.

The right to see and get a copy of your record
You can look at your record, usually within 24 hours of asking, and you can get a copy, usually within two working days. We may charge the current allowed cost for copies. There are a few narrow situations where we may deny access; if we do, we will tell you in writing why, and how to have that decision reviewed.

The right to ask us to correct your record
If you think something in your record is wrong or incomplete, you can ask us to correct it. We will respond in writing. If we deny your request, we will explain why, and you can file a written statement of disagreement that we will keep with your record.

The right to a list of certain disclosures
You can ask for a list of certain times we shared your information, going back up to six years. The list does not include sharing for treatment, payment, operations, sharing you authorized, or a few other categories. The first list in a 12-month period is free.

The right to ask for limits
You can ask us to limit how we use or share your information. We do not have to agree, except in one situation. If you pay for a service in full, out of your own pocket and ask us not to tell your health plan about it, we must honor that.

The right to ask us to reach you a certain way
You can ask us to contact you at a particular phone number or address , such as calling your cell phone rather than your home. We will accommodate reasonable requests.

The right to a paper copy of this notice
You can ask for a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically.

The right to be told about a breach
If your unsecured information is involved in a breach, we will notify you.

• We are required by law to protect the privacy of your information.
• We are required to follow the terms of the notice currently in effect.
• We are required to tell you if a breach affects your unsecured information.
• We cannot use or share your information other than as described here, unless you give us written permission.

We may change this notice. If we do, the new notice will apply to all the information we have about you. We will post the current notice in the facility and on our website, and you can always ask for a copy.

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you can complain to us and to the federal government. You will not be penalized, and your care will not be affected, for filing a complaint.

To complain to us, contact the Administrator at your facility.

To complain to the federal government, contact the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:
Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Region VII or file online at: hhs.gov/ocr/complaints

If you have any questions about this notice or want to know more about your privacy rights, contact the Administrator at your facility, who can answer your questions.

Acknowledgement of receipt of this notice is recorded in the admission packet. You may ask for a copy of this notice at any time.