Notice of Privacy Practices and Statement of Non-Discrimination Compliance

This notice describes how medical information about you can 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: our Compliance/Privacy Officer at 757-321-2222 or e-mail us at: compliance@jfshamptonroads.org

This Notice of Privacy Practices describes how we may use and disclose your protected health information to carry out treatment, payment, or health care operations and for other purposes that are permitted or required by law. It also describes your right to access and control your protected health information.  “Protected health information” is information about you, including demographic information, that may identify you and that relates to your past, present or future physical or mental health condition and related health care services.

We are required to abide by the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices.  We may change the terms of our notice, at any time.  The new notice will be effective for all protected health information that we maintain at that time.  Upon your request, we will provide you with a revised Notice of Privacy Practices by accessing our website, by calling the office and requesting that a revised copy be sent to you in the mail or asking for one at the time of your next appointment.

Uses and Disclosures of Protected Health Information

Uses and disclosures of Protected Health Information Based on Your Written Consent.

You will be asked by a health care professional to sign a consent form.  Once you have consented to the use and disclosure of your protected health information for treatment, payment and health care operations by signing the consent form, Jewish Family Service will use or disclose your protected health information as described in this Section 1.  Your protected health information may be used and disclosed by Jewish Family Service and others outside of our office that are involved in your care and treatment for the purpose of providing health care services to you.  Your protected health information may also be used and disclosed for payment of your health care bill and to support the operation of Jewish Family Service.

Following are examples of the types of uses and disclosures of your protected health care information that Jewish Family Service is permitted to make once you have signed our consent form.  These examples are not meant to be exhaustive, but to describe the types of uses and disclosures that may be used by our office once you have provided consent.

• Treatment:  We will use and disclose your protected health information to provide, coordinate, or manage your health care and any related services.  This includes the coordination or management of your health care with a third party that has already obtained your permission to have access to your protected health information.  For example, your protected health information may be provided to a health care provider to whom you have been referred to ensure your health care provider has the necessary information to diagnose or treat you.
• Payment:  Your protected health information will be used, as needed, to obtain payment for your health care services.  This may include certain activities that your health insurance plan may undertake before it approves or pays for the health care services we recommend for you.
• Healthcare Operations: We may use or disclose, as needed, your protected health information in order to support the business activities of Jewish Family Service.  These activities include, but are not limited to, quality assessment activities, accrediting bodies, licensing, marketing activities and conducting or arranging any agency services for other business activities and operations. For example, we may call you in the waiting room when your provider is ready to see you.  We may use or disclose your protected health information, as necessary, to provide you with information about other agency health related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.  We may use or disclose your protected health information to send you Client Satisfaction Surveys.

We may disclose your protected health information to medical students and other students who are fulfilling their practicum requirement at our agency.

Your Written Authorization is Required for Other Uses and Disclosures

The following uses and disclosures of your Protected Health Information will be made only with your written authorization:

Uses and disclosures of psychotherapy notes where appropriate.

Uses and disclosures of Protected Health Information for marketing purposes

Disclosures that constitute a sale of your Protected Health Information.

Other uses and disclosures of your protected health information will be made only with your written authorization, unless otherwise permitted or required by law as described below.  You may revoke this authorization, at any time, in writing, except to the extent that Jewish Family Service has taken action in reliance on the use or disclosure indicated in the authorization.

Other permitted and required Uses and Disclosures That May be Made With Your Consent, Authorization or Opportunity to Object

We may use and disclose your protected health information in the following instances

You have the opportunity to agree or object to the use or disclosure of all or part of your protected health information.  If you are not present or able to agree or object to the use or disclosure of the protected health information, then your health care professional may, using professional judgement, determine whether disclosure is in your best interest.  In this case, only the protected health information that is relevant to your health care will be disclosed.

Others Involved in Your Healthcare: Unless you object, we may disclose to a member of your family, a relative, a close friend or any other person you identify, your protected health information that directly relates to that person’s involvement in your health care.  If you are unable to agree or object to such a disclosure, we may disclose such information as necessary if we determine that it is in your best interest based on our professional judgement.  We may use or disclose protected health information to notify or assist in notifying a family member, personal representative or any other person that is responsible for the care of your location, general condition or death.  Finally, we may use or disclose your protected health information to an authorized public or private entity to assist in disaster relief efforts and to coordinate uses and disclosures to family or other individuals involved in your health care.

Fundraising Activities:  We may use or disclose your Protected Health Information, as necessary, in order to contact you for fundraising activities. You have the right to opt out of receiving fundraising communications

Emergencies:  We may use or disclose your protected health information in an emergency treatment situation.  If this happens, we will try to obtain your consent as soon as reasonably practicable after the delivery of treatment.  If your healthcare provider or another healthcare provider in our agency is required by law to treat you and the healthcare provider has attempted to obtain your consent but is unable to obtain your consent, he or she may still use or disclose your protected health information to treat you.

Communication Barriers: We may use and disclose your protected health information if your health care professional or another health care professional at Jewish Family Service attempts to obtain consent from you but is unable to do so due to substantial communication barriers and the health care professional determines, using professional judgement, that you intend to consent to use or disclose under the circumstances.

Other Permitted and Required Uses and Disclosures That May Be Made Without Your Consent, Authorization, or Opportunity to Object.

We may use or disclose your protected health information in the following situations without your consent or authorization.  These situations include:

Required by Law:  We may use or disclose your protected health information to the extent that the use or disclosure is required by law.  The use or disclosure will be made in compliance with the law and will be limited to the relevant requirements of the law.  You will be notified, as required by law, of any such uses or disclosures.

Public Health:  We may disclose your protected health information for public health activities and purposes to a public health authority that is permitted by law to collect or receive the information.  This disclosure will be made for the purpose of controlling disease, injury, or disability.

Communicable Diseases:  We may disclose your protected health information, if authorized by law, to a person who may have been exposed to a communicable disease or may otherwise be at risk of contracting or spreading the disease or condition.

Health Oversight:  We may disclose protected health information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law, such as audits, investigations, and inspections.

Abuse or Neglect:  We may disclose your protected health information to a public health authority that is authorized by law to receive reports of child abuse or neglect.  In addition, we may disclose your protected health information if we believe that you have been a victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence to the governmental entity or agency authorized to receive such information.

Food and Drug Administration:  We may disclose your protected health information to a company or person required by the Food and Drug Administration to report adverse events, product defects or problems, biologic product deviations, track products; to enable product recalls; to make repairs or replacements, or to conduct post marketing surveillance, as required.

Legal Proceedings:  We may disclose protected health information in the course of any judicial or administrative proceeding, in response to an order of a court or administrative tribunal (to the extent such disclosure is expressly authorized), in certain conditions in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process.

Law Enforcement:  We may disclose protected health information, so long as applicable legal requirements are met, for law enforcement purposes.

Coroners, Funeral Directors and Organ Donation:  We may disclose protected health information to a coroner or medical examiner for identification purposes, determining cause of death or for the coroner or medical examiner to perform other duties authorized by law.  We may also disclose protected health information to a funeral director, as authorized by law, in order to permit the funeral director to carry out their duties.  We may disclose such information in reasonable anticipation of death.

Research:  We may disclose your protected health information to researchers when their research has been approved by an institutional review board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your protected health information.

Criminal Activity: Consistent with applicable federal and state laws, we may disclose your protected health information, if we believe that the use or disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public.

Military Activity and National Security:  When the appropriate conditions apply, we may use or disclose protected health information of individuals who are Armed Forces personnel (1) for activities deemed necessary by appropriate military command authorities; (2) for the purpose of a determination by the Department of Veteran Affairs of your eligibility for benefits, or (3) to foreign military authority if you are a member of the foreign military services.

Workers’ Compensation:  Your protected health information may be disclosed by us as authorized to comply with workers’ compensation laws and other similar legally established programs.

Inmates:  We may use or disclose your protected health information if you are an inmate of a correctional facility and Jewish Family Service created or received your protected health information in the course of providing care to you.

Required Uses and Disclosures:  Under the law, we must make disclosures to you and when required by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate or determine our compliance with the requirements of Section 164.500 et. Seq.

2.  Your Rights

Following is a statement of your rights with respect to your protected health information and a brief description of how you may exercise these rights:

You have the right to inspect and copy your protected health information.  This means you may inspect and obtain a copy of protected health information about you that is contained in a designated record set for as long as we maintain the protected health information.

A “designated record set” contains medical and billing records and any other records that your health care professional and Jewish Family Service uses for making decisions about you.

Under federal law, however, you may not inspect or copy the following records; psychotherapy notes; information compiled in reasonable anticipation of, or use in, a civil, criminal, or administrative action or proceeding, and protected health information that is subject to law that prohibits access to protected health information.  Depending on the circumstances, a decision to deny access may be reviewable.  In some circumstances, you may have a right to have this decision reviewed.  Please contact our Privacy Contact if you have questions about access to your medial record.

You have the right to request a restriction of your protected health information.  This means you may ask us not to use or disclose any part of your protected health information for the purposes of treatment, payment, or healthcare operations.  You may also request that any part of your protected health information not be disclosed to family members or friends who may be involved in your care or for notification purposes as described in this Notice of Privacy Practices.  Your request must state the specific restriction requested and to whom you want the restriction to apply. Your health care provider is not required to agree to a restriction that you may request.  We are not required to agree to your request, unless you are asking us to restrict the use and disclosure of your Protected Health Information to a health plan for payment or health care operation purposes and such information you wish to restrict pertains solely to a health care item or service for which you have paid us “out-of-pocket” in full. If we do agree to the requested restriction, we may not use or disclose your Protected Health Information in violation of that restriction unless it is needed to provide emergency treatment.

If you paid out-of-pocket (or in other words, you have requested that we not bill your health plan) in full for a specific item or service, you have the right to ask that your Protected Health Information with respect to that item or service not be disclosed to a health plan for purposes of payment or health care operations, and we will honor that request.

You have the right to request to receive confidential communications from us by alternative means or at an alternative location.  We will accommodate reasonable requests.  We will not request an explanation from you as to the basis for the request.  Please make this request in writing to our Privacy contact.

You may have the right to have Jewish Family Service amend your protected health information. This means you may request an amendment of protected health information about you in a designated record set for as long as we maintain this information.  In certain cases, we may deny your request for an amendment.  If we deny your request for amendment, you have the right to file a statement of disagreement with us and we may prepare a rebuttal to your statement and will provide you with a copy of any such rebuttal. Please contact our Privacy Contact to determine if you have questions about amending your medical record.

You have the right to receive an accounting of certain disclosures we have made, if any, of your protected health information. This right applies to disclosures for purposes other than treatment, payment or healthcare operations as described in this Notice of Privacy Practices.  It excludes disclosures we may have made to you, to family members or friends involved in your care, or for notification purposes.  You have the right to receive specific information regarding these disclosures that occurred after April 14, 2003.  The right to receive this information is subject to certain exceptions, restrictions and limitations.

If your Protected Health Information is maintained in an electronic format (known as an electronic medical record or an electronic health record), you have the right to request that an electronic copy of your record be given to you or transmitted to another individual or entity. We will make every effort to provide access to your Protected Health Information in the form or format you request, if it is readily producible in such form or format. If the Protected Health Information is not readily producible in the form or format you request your record will be provided in either our standard electronic format or if you do not want this form or format, a readable hard copy form. We may charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee for the labor associated with transmitting the electronic medical record.

You have the right to be notified upon a breach of any of your unsecured Protected Health Information.

You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this notice from us, upon request, even if you have agreed to accept this notice electronically.

3.      Complaints

You may complain to us or to the Secretary of Health and Human Services if you believe your privacy rights have been violated by us.  You may file any additional complaints with us by using the JFS compliant procedure.  JFS will not participate in any form of retaliation against you for filing a complaint.

You may contact our Compliance / Privacy Officer at 757-321-2222 or e-mail us at compliance @jfshamptonroads.org for further information about the privacy complaint process.  This notice was published and becomes effective on September 9th, 2013.

Non-Discrimination Policy

Jewish Family Service does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability or age in admission, treatment or participation in its programs, services and activities, or in employment. For further information about this policy, contact the CEO or Quality Assurance Coordinator at 757-321-2222; TTY 1-800-828-1120.