HIPAA Compliance Statement
As a provider of contract services to healthcare organizations and their patients/residents
Dysphagia Mobile Imaging, Inc. certifies that we ensure compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
If
you would like more information please contact our corporate offices at:
Dysphagia Mobile Imaging, Inc.
2315 Central Avenue, Suite D
Augusta, GA 30904
706-496-2161
Use and Disclosure of Medical Information
We can use or disclose medical
information about you regarding your treatment, payment for services or for healthcare operations. We may also disclose
your protected health information (PHI) for the treatment activities of another provider, the payment activities of another
provider or covered entity, and certain limited healthcare operations of another covered entity.
For
Treatment: To provide you
with medical treatment or services, we may need to use or disclose information about you to doctors, nurses, technicians,
healthcare students or other healthcare personnel who are involved in your treatment. For example, a doctor may need to know
what drugs you are allergic to before prescribing medications. Departments within the health system may share medical
information about you to coordinate your care. For instance, the laboratory may request information to complete lab
work. We may also disclose medical information about you to people who may be involved in your medical care after you leave
the clinic, such as home health agencies, your family, a friend, Hospice employees, long term care facilities, and, if you
request, your clergy member.
For Payment: We may use and disclose your medical information to bill and receive
payment for the treatment that you receive here. For example, we may use or disclose your medical information to your
insurance company about a service you received at the clinics, so that your insurance company can pay us or reimburse you
for the service. We may also ask your insurance company for prior approval for a service to determine whether the insurance
company will pay for the service.
For Health Care Operations: We can use and disclose medical information
about you for health care operations. These include uses and disclosures that are necessary to run DMI and make sure
that our patients receive quality care. For example, we may use or disclose medical information about you to evaluate
the performance of the therapists, doctors, nurses, technicians and students in caring for you. Medical information
about you and other DMI patients may be combined to allow us to evaluate whether St. John’s should offer additional
services or discontinue other services and whether certain treatments are effective. We may also compare this information
with other hospitals, clinics or services outside of St. John’s to evaluate whether we can make improvements in the
care and services that we offer. To best protect your privacy when we are combining medical information, we
will remove information that identifies you known as “facially de-identified information”.
For
Research: We may disclose
information to researchers when their research has been approved by an institutional review board (IRB) that has reviewed
the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your health information.
Uses and Disclosures of Medical
Information That Do Not Require Your Authorization
We
can use or disclose health information about you without your authorization when there is an emergency
or when we are required by law to treat you; when we are required by law to use or disclose certain information, or when there
are substantial communication barriers to obtaining authorization from you. Further, we may use or disclose your health
information without your authorization in any of the following circumstances:
When necessary
to contact you to provide:
·
Appointment reminders
· Information about treatment alternatives or other
health related benefits of services that may be of interest to you or,
· Participation in a clinical trial or research protocol;
· When it is required by law;
· When it involves use and disclosure for public health activities, such as mandated
disease reporting, etc.,
·
When reporting information
about victims of abuse, neglect or domestic violence;
· When
disclosing information for the purpose of health oversight activities, such as audits, investigations, licensure or
disciplinary actions or legal proceedings or actions;
· When
disclosing information to Business Associates for purposes of creating a limited data set which may include zip codes, dates
of birth, or dates of service but may not contain patient identifiers such as name, address, phone
number or social security number;
·
When disclosing information
for law enforcement purposes, for instance to locate a missing person or regarding a victim of a crime who cannot give authorization
because of incapacity;
·
When disclosing information
about deceased persons to medical examiners, coroners and funeral directors;
· When disclosing or using information for organ and tissue donation purposes;
· When disclosing information related to a research
project when a waiver of authorization has been approved by the Institutional Review Board;
· When we believe in good faith that the disclosure is necessary to
avert a serious health or safety threat to you or to the public's safety;
· When required by law to notify a person subject to the jurisdiction of the FDA for
public health purposes related to the quality, safety, or effectiveness of FDA regulated products or activities such as collecting
or reporting adverse events, dangerous products and defects or problems with FDA regulated products;
· When disclosure is necessary for specialized government functions,
such as military service, for the protection of the President or for national security and intelligence activities; medical
suitability determinations and government programs providing public benefits;
· When required by military command authorities, if you are a member of the armed forces
or if you are a foreign military member;
·
When you are a prison
inmate, information can released to the correctional facility in which you reside for the following purposes: (1) for
the institution to provide you with health care; (2) to protect the health and safety of others; or (3) for the safety
and security of the correctional facility; and
· When
disclosure is necessary to comply with Worker's Compensation laws or purposes.
Patient
Amendment of Records
Purpose:
DMI
recognizes that our patients have a right to amend their clinical records.
Policy:
Notice
of patient rights to amend their clinical records is included in the Notice of Privacy Practices posted in our mobile clinics
and available to patents upon request.
The Privacy office
will maintain records regarding all requests to amend records, the response that was given, and any documents pertaining to
any dispute. The DMI corporate office will maintain all records.
Request
for Amendments
1. Clinical
record amendment requests must be in writing, with reason for request.
2. Patients
will be informed in writing if their amendment request is accepted within 60 days after receipt of the request.
We may, however, request a onetime 30-day extension by notifying the patient in writing and including the reasons for
the delay and the date in which the request will be acted upon.
3. Amendment
requests may be denied under the following circumstances:
§ The
Clinical record is no longer in possession of the office
§ The
office did not create the clinical record
§ Amendment
pertains to information that is not part of our clinical record
§ Patient
is not entitled to review or access portions of the clinical records including but not limited to:
ÜPsychotherapy notes contained in our records may
not be reviewed
ÜPortions
of records are denied under other federal or state law
ÜRecords involve clinical research
ÜRecords were obtained from someone other than
health care provider under promise of confidentiality and access would reveal sources of information
Documentation
and Distribution of the Amendment
· Amendments
will be added to the clinical record; they will not replace information already contained within the record.
The amendment entry must be entered with a date and identify specific portion of the record that are affected by the
amendment along with a link to the location of the amendment.
· The office will make a reasonable effort to ensure timely distribution of the amendment
to persons or entities in possession of clinical records and identified by the patient as needing the information.
· If DMI receives an amendment to a patient’s
record from another entity, we will amend our records appropriately.
