Ohio Valley Notice of Privacy Practices

Our Uses and Disclosures:

Your health information may be used or shared for the following reasons:

To treat you

We can use your health information to provide care for you and disclose it to other health care professionals who are also providing care for you. We may disclose your health information to other doctors, nurses, technicians, medical or nursing students, or people outside of our organization who need the information to take care of you. This may include pharmacies, home health care providers, or drug and medical device experts. Example: A doctor treating you for an injury asks your primary care doctor about your overall health condition and history.

To run our organization

We can use and disclose your health information to run our practice and hospital, to improve the quality of care we deliver, or for other health care operations. We may use or disclose your health information to assess the quality of the care our staff provides to you, to assess the effectiveness of treatments, to determine what treatments are needed or missing in the community, or to assist with the training or education of our staff, residents, or students. We may remove information that identifies you and/or combine your health information with the information of others so that we can study the health of the community we serve or allow others (only if de-identified) to study the population health of our community. Example: We use health information about you to manage your treatment and services.

To bill for your services

We may use and disclose your health information so that the health care services you receive can be billed and paid for by you, your insurance, health plans, or others. We may also use or disclose your health information to your insurance provider, health plan, or others to obtain prior approval and coverage of a proposed treatment or to learn if the treatment will be covered. Example: We give information about you to your health insurance plan so it will pay for your services.

To contact you

We may use or disclose your health information to contact you about appointments, follow up care, and other matters. We may contact you by telephone, text, mail, email, or any other method that you authorize us to contact you. Example: We may text you an appointment reminder the morning of your scheduled appointment or leave a voicemail message at the telephone number you provide to us.

How else can we use or share your health information?

In addition to using or disclosing your health information to provide your treatment, securing your health care coverage, and maintain our operations, we may use or disclose your health information in other ways. Typically, in ways that contribute to the public good, such as public health and research. These uses or disclosures of your health information typically occur in limited circumstances, involve limited information, or are required by law. In each case, there are additional requirements we enforce to ensure the confidentiality and privacy of your health information. For more information see: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/index.html

Public health and safety

We will disclose your health information when required to do so by federal, state, or local law. We may also disclose your health information for public health or safety reasons, such as births, deaths, abuse, neglect, to assist with product recalls, or to report adverse or unanticipated reactions to drugs or medical products. We may disclose health information to notify people whose health or safety may be endangered. We may disclose your health information for health oversight activities to governmental, regulatory, or to entities designated by authorized agencies for activities authorized by law, such as investigations, compliance reviews, inspections, assessment of workers’ compensation claims, or audits. We may disclose your health information in response to judicial or administrative proceedings. We may also disclose your health information, when authorized by law, for law enforcement purposes, in the event of an emergency, or for disaster relief purposes.

Patient information directories

We may use or disclose limited information about you in our patient directory maintained at our hospital, such as your name, location or room number, and a description of your general condition. We typically provide this information to people who ask about you by name. We may also include your religious affiliation and provide this information to clergy providing religious support at our hospital. We include this limited information about you in our directory so that family members, friends, and loved ones may contact us for information about your condition or to visit you in our hospital. If you prefer to keep this information confidential or to be removed from the hospital directory, you may request this from the hospital admissions department.

Organ and tissue donation

We may use or disclose health information about organ, eye, or tissue donors and transplant recipients to third parties that manage or operate organ, eye, or tissue donations or transplants. We may also disclose health information about decedents to third parties to assist with their duties, such as identifying a deceased person or determining a cause of death or to permit funeral directors to carry out their duties.

Research

We may use or disclose your health information for medical research purposes. Our researchers may review your health information as part of your current care or to prepare or perform research. Any individual health information used for research purposes will be screened through a specialized institutional process to review the protections for patients involved in the research. We will not disclose your health information outside of our organization for research purposes unless we obtain your prior written approval or our institutional process for review of patient protections determines that your privacy is protected.

Health related services

We may use or disclose your health information to contact or provide you with information about health-related products and services available at our hospital or practice.

Health information exchanges

We may participate in health information exchanges and disclose your health information to other health care providers or entities for treatment. We may participate in these health information exchanges to ensure your other health care providers have timely access to a centralized repository of your health information. You have the right to submit a written request to place restrictions on disclosures of your health information. You have the right to limit or request that we do not disclose any of your health information to a health information exchange.

Authorizations for Other Uses or Disclosures:

We understand the sensitivity of the information we collect and our responsibility to maintain its confidentiality. We take our obligation to protect your privacy seriously and will strive to make every effort to ensure it is maintained. As such, when we use or disclose your health information we will limit the use or disclosure to only the information that is minimally necessary to accomplish the purpose. We will not use or disclose your health information for any reason other than those described in this notice without your written authorization unless otherwise permitted by law. For example, we will not use your health information for certain marketing purposes (other than if the communication is made directly to you in person, is simply a promotional gift of nominal value, is a prescription refill reminder, general health or wellness information, or a communication about health-related products or services that we offer or that are directly related to your treatment), use or disclose psychotherapy notes that may be in your health information, or sell your health information without your written authorization. If you do provide authorization for us to use or disclose your health information other than as described in this notice, you may limit or revoke that authorization in writing at any time. However, we cannot take back any use or disclosure of your health information that was made prior to the revocation of your authorization.

In our effort to ensure that only the minimally necessary amount of your health information is used or disclosed, we recognize that there are certain types of health information that are more sensitive than others. With that in mind, we will obtain your consent for certain disclosures, consistent with applicable state and federal law, that has information related to: (i) the performance or results of an HIV test or diagnosis or an AIDS-related condition; (ii) genetic test results; (iii) substance use disorder or drug and alcohol treatment received as part of a drug or alcohol treatment program; or (iv) mental health treatment

Our Responsibilities

• We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information, to provide you with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your health information, and to notify you in the event you are affected by a breach of our security systems and your protected health information.
• We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it. For more information visit: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/noticepp.html

Changes to the Terms of this Notice