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Privacy Notice [45CFR Section 164]
This notice describes your right to have protected health information and the
duties of the Visiting Nurse Association Healthcare Partners of Ohio (VNAHPO)
which includes VNA of Cleveland, VNA CarePlus, Hospice & Palliative Care
Partners of Ohio, VNA HouseCalls and VNA of Mid-Ohio with respect to your
protected health information under the Federal Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. Section
552a).
- You can expect confidentiality of your personal health information (PHI) and
protection of your medical records.
- Your PHI will be used only for purposes of treatment, payment and health
operations unless otherwise authorized by you.
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An example of the use of your PHI for the purpose of treatment: The nurse
taking care of you reports lab results to your doctor’s office.
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An example of the use of your PHI for the purpose of payment: The authorization
nurse reports your progress to your insurance company to receive approval for
payment of visits.
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An example of the use of your PHI for the purpose of healthcare operations: The
nurse’s documentation must be transmitted to the State of Ohio regulatory body
for data collection.
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An authorization signed by you is required before we can release your PHI for
purposes other than treatment, payment and health operations. Exceptions that
do not require your prior authorization include public health risks, audits and
surveys, law enforcement, serious threat to health and safety, military,
national security and workers= compensation. If VNAHPO deems it necessary to
release your PHI for any of these reasons, we will notify you of the necessity
to disclose this information. This authorization may be revoked in writing. The
revocation will not be in effect until receipt of such revocation.
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VNAHPO may contact you to arrange for home visits, to provide appointment
reminders, or to provide information to you about treatment alternatives or
other services which may be of interest to you.
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As an individual you have the right to access and obtain a copy of your PHI
unless otherwise specified by Section 164.524 of the Federal Register. This
request to the Hospice & Palliative Partners of Ohio must be in
writing.
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As an agency, VNAHPO has the right to deny you access to your PHI. The denial
of access must be made in writing and has a review process.
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As an individual you have the right to review a decision to deny access to your
PHI in certain situations. Request for review must be in writing.
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As an individual you have the right to an accounting of disclosures of your PHI
other than for treatment, payment and health operations. The accounting will be
provided to you in writing within 60 days of your request. Exceptions of
disclosures to be accounted for include 1) for purposes of treatment, payment
and healthcare operations, 2) disclosures to you as an individual, 3)
disclosures to persons involved in your care, 4) national security or
intelligence purposes, 5) correctional institutions or law enforcement
officials, 6) disclosures prior to HIPAA compliance date.
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As an individual you have the right to request restriction of use and
disclosure of PHI. VNAHPO need not agree with the restriction. If the
restricted information is needed to provide emergency treatment, VNAHPO may use
it or disclose the restricted information to a healthcare provider to provide
such treatment.
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As an individual you have the right to receive all communications about your
PHI in a confidential manner. You have the right to request alternative ways
for VNAHPO to contact you regarding your health care.
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As an individual you have the right to request amendment or correction of
inaccurate or incomplete PHI. If VNAHPO agrees with the amendment, VNAHPO will
amend the record and notify others identified by you of the amended
information. VNAHPO may deny a request for amendment or correction if the
information 1) was not created by the VNA, 2) is not available for inspection
and copying under Section 164.524 of the Federal Register, or 3) is deemed
accurate and complete by the VNA.
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As an individual you have the right to complain to VNAHPO and to the Secretary
of Health and Human Services if you believe that your privacy rights have been
violated. VNAHPO will not retaliate against you in any way if you do file a
complaint. The complaint must be in writing and may be filed with:
Visiting Nurse Association Healthcare Partners of Ohio
Sharon Jones, Executive Vice President of Clinical Operation
2500 East 22nd Street
Cleveland, Ohio
44115 (216) 931-1380
OR
The Secretary of Health and Human Services
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A written notice of disagreement or amendment must accompany all further
disclosures of personal health information. The same notice will be shared with
persons identified by you as having received your health information which has
been amended.
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VNAHPO will apply sanctions against its employees who fail to comply with our
privacy policies up to and including dismissal.
As an agency, VNAHPO is required to abide by the terms of this notice. The VNA
reserves the right to change the terms of the provisions in this notice as it
applies to PHI. A revised Privacy Notice will be mailed to all active patients
of the VNAHPO prior to the effective date of the amended terms.
This Privacy Statement covers the Visiting Nurse Association Healthcare Partners
of Ohio website: www.vnacleveland.org.
Our Commitment to Privacy
Your privacy is important to us. To better protect your privacy we provide this
notice explaining our online information practices. Information gathered by
VNAHPO is used to monitor our site's effectiveness and to respond to your
questions and requests.
When you contact us, we need to collect some personal information
from you. The types of personally identifiable information that we collect
include: name and e-mail address. We collect this information only so that we
can respond to your message.
We do not share this information with any other organization.
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