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Privacy Policy
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Effective
Date: April 14, 2003
Olympic
Anesthesia Services, Inc.
990 Sylvan Way
Bremerton, WA 98310
It
is the policy of our practice that all physician and staff preserve the
integrity and the confidentiality of protected health information (PHI)
pertaining to our patient. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that
our practice and its physicians and staff have the necessary medical and
PHI to provide the highest quality medical care possible while
protecting the confidentiality of the PHI of our patient to the highest
degree possible. Patient should not fear about providing information to
our practice and its physicians and staff for purposes of treatment,
payment and healthcare operations (TPO). To that end, our practice and
its physicians and staff will -
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Adhere
to the standards set forth in the Notice of Privacy Practices. |
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Collect,
use and disclose PHI only in conformance with state and federal laws
and
current patient covenants and/or authorizations, as appropriate.
Our practice and its physicians and staff will not
use or disclose PHI for uses outside of practices TPO, such as
marketing, employment, life insurance applications, etc. without an
authorization from the patient.
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Use
and disclose PHI to remind patients of their appointments only
within their
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Recognize
that PHI collected about patients must be accurate, timely, complete
and available when needed. Our practice and its physicians and staff
will:
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Implement reasonable measures to protect the
integrity of all PHI
maintained about patients
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Recognize
that patients have a right to privacy. Our practice and its
physicians and staff respect the patient's individual dignity at all
times. Our practice and its physician and staff will respect
patient's privacy to the extent consistent with providing
the highest quality medical possible and with the efficient
administration of the facility.
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Act
as responsible information stewards and treat all PHI as sensitive
and confidential. Consequently, our practice and its physicians and
staff will:
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Treat
all PHI data as confidential in accordance with professional ethics,
accreditation standards, and legal requirements.
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Not
disclose PHI data unless the patient (or his or her authorized
representative) has properly consented to or authorized the release
or the release is otherwise authorized by law. |
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Recognize
that, although our practice "owns" the medical record, the
patient has a
right to inspect and obtain a copy of his/her
PHI. In addition, patients have a right
to request an amendment to his/her medical
record if he/she believes his/her information is inaccurate or
incomplete. Our practice and its physicians and staff
will:
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permit patients
access to their medical records when their written requests
are approved by our practice. If we deny
their request, then we must inform the patients that they may
request a review of our denial. In such cases, we will have an
on-site healthcare professional review the patients' appeals.
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Provide
patients an opportunity to request the correct of inaccurate or
incomplete PHI in their medical records in accordance with the law
and professional standards.
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All
physicians and staff of our practice will maintain a list of all
disclosures of PHI for purposes other than TPO for each patient. We
will provide this list to patients upon request, so long as their
requests are in writing. |
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All
physicians and staff of our practice will adhere to any restrictions
concerning the use or disclosure of PHI that patients have requested
and have been approved by our practice. |
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All
physicians and staff of our practice must adhere to this policy. Our
practice will not tolerate violations of this policy. Violation of
this policy is grounds for disciplinary action, up to and including
termination of employment and criminal or professional sanctions in
accordance with our practice's personnel rules and regulations.
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Our
practice may change this privacy policy in the future. Any changes will
be effective upon the release of a revised privacy policy and will be
made available to patients upon request. |
Source:
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy
Manual, Copyright © 2001Gates, Moore & Company. Reprinted with
permission.
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