Privacy Policy
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
Effective on November 1, 2002
This notice describes how medical information about you may be used and/or 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 Privacy Officer.
This Notice describes how Carolina Regional Cancer Center may use and/or 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 rights to access and control your protected health information. “Protected health information” (PHI) is information about you, including demographic information, that may identify you and that relates to your past, present or future physical or mental health or condition and related health care services. We are required to abide by the terms of this Notice.
We may change the terms of our Notice at any time. The new Notice will be effective for all PHI that we maintain at that time. Upon your request, you will be provided with any revised Notice by accessing our website at crccmd.com, by calling the office and requesting that a revised copy be sent to you in the mail, or by asking for one at the time of your next appointment.
1. USES AND DISCLOSURES OF PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION.
Uses and Disclosures of PHI with or without Your Written Consent Although not required by law for the purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations, you will be asked to sign a consent form. Once you have consented to the use and/or disclosure of your PHI for treatment, payment and health care operations, your physician will use/disclose your PHI as described in Section 1. Your PHI may be used/disclosed by your physician, our office staff and others outside of our office who are involved in your care and treatment for the purpose of providing health care services to you. Your PHI may also be used/disclosed to obtain payment for your health care bills and to support the operation of the practice. Following are examples of the types of uses/disclosures of your PHI that CRCC is permitted to make. These examples are not meant to be exhaustive but to describe the types of uses/disclosures that may be made by our office.
• Treatment: We will use/disclose PHI to provide, coordinate, or manage health care and any related services. This includes the coordination or management of health care with a third party that has already obtained your permission to have access to your PHI. For example, we would disclose PHI, as necessary, to a home health agency that provides care to you. We will disclose PHI to other physicians who may be treating you when we have the necessary permission from you to disclose your PHI. For example, your PHI may be provided to a physician to whom you have been referred to ensure that the physician has the necessary information to diagnose or treat you. We may disclose PHI from time to time to another physician or health care provider (e.g., a specialist or laboratory) who, at the request of your physician, becomes involved in your care by providing assistance with your health care diagnosis or treatment to your physician.
• Payment: Your PHI 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, such as making a determination of eligibility or coverage for insurance benefits, reviewing services provided to you for medical necessity, and undertaking utilization review activities. For example, obtaining approval for a hospital stay may require that relevant PHI be disclosed to the health plan to obtain approval for the hospital admission.
• Health Care Operations: We may use/disclose, as needed, PHI in order to support the business activities of our practice. These activities include (but are not limited to) quality assessment activities, employee review activities, training of medical students, licensing, marketing and fundraising activities, and conducting or arranging for other business activities. For example, we may disclose PHI to medical school students who see patients at our office. We may use a sign-in sheet at the registration desk where you will be asked to sign your name and indicate your physician. We may call you by name in the waiting room when your physician is ready to see you. We may use/disclose PHI as necessary to contact you to remind you of your appointments. We will share your PHI with third party “business associates” who perform various activities (e.g., billing, transcription services) for CRCC. Whenever an arrangement between our office and a business associate involves the use/disclosure of PHI we will have a written contract that contains terms that will protect the privacy of your PHI.
We may use/disclose PHI as necessary to provide you with information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you. We may use/disclose PHI for other marketing activities. For example, your name and address may be used to send you a newsletter about CRCC and the services we offer. We may send you information about products or services that we believe may be beneficial to you. You may contact our Privacy Officer to request that these materials not be sent to you. We may use/disclose your demographic information and the dates that you received treatment from your physician as necessary in order to contact you for fundraising activities supported by CRCC. If you do not want to receive these materials, please contact our Privacy Officer and request that these fundraising materials not be sent to you.
Uses and Disclosures of PHI Based upon Your Written Authorization: Other uses/disclosures of PHI 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 CRCC has taken an action in reliance on the use/disclosure indicated in the authorization.
Other Permitted and Required Uses/Disclosures That May Be Made with Your Consent, Authorization or Opportunity to Object: We may use/disclose PHI in the following instances. You have the opportunity to agree or object to the use/disclosure of all or part of your PHI. If you are not present or unable to agree or object to the use/disclosure of the PHI, then your physician may, using professional judgment, determine whether the disclosure is in your best interest. In this case, only the PHI that is relevant to your health care will be disclosed.
• Others Involved in Your Health Care: Unless you object, we may disclose to a member of your family, a relative, a close friend or any other person you identify, your PHI 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 judgment. We may use/disclose PHI to notify or assist in notifying a family member, personal representative or any other person who is responsible for your care, of your location, general condition or death. We may use/disclose PHI to an authorized public or private entity to assist in disaster relief efforts and to coordinate uses/disclosures to family or other individuals involved in your health care.
• Emergencies: We may use/disclose PHI in an emergency treatment situation. If this happens, your physician will try to obtain your consent as soon as reasonably practical after the delivery of treatment. If your physician or another physician in the practice is required by law to treat you and the physician has attempted to obtain your consent but is unable to obtain your consent, he may still use/disclose your PHI to treat you.
• Communication Barriers: We may use/disclose PHI if your physician or another physician in the practice attempts to obtain consent from you but is unable to do so due to substantial communication barriers and the physician determines, using professional judgment, that you intend to consent to use/disclosure under the circumstances.
Other Permitted and Required Uses/Disclosures That May Be Made without Your Consent, Authorization or Opportunity to Object: We may use/disclose PHI in the following situations without your consent or authorization. These situations include:
• Required by Law: We may disclose PHI to the extent that the use/disclosure is required by law. The use/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/disclosures.
• Public Health: We may disclose PHI for public health activities and purposes to a public health authority that is permitted by law to collect or receive the information. The disclosure will be made for the purpose of controlling disease, injury or disability. We may also disclose PHI, if directed by the public health authority, to a foreign government agency that is collaborating with the public health authority.
• Communicable Diseases: We may disclose PHI, 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 PHI to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law, such
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Carolina Regional Cancer Center
4708 Oleander Drive, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
