HIPAA 101 for Patients
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Your health is an intensely personal matter. As a health care provider, hospitals recognize that and work hard to assure your privacy.
As part of our efforts to protect your privacy and keep your personal health information confidential, hospitals nationwide have updated their privacy policy and will begin making it available to you when you come to their facilities for care.
Their privacy policy—or their Notice of Privacy Practices—describes the ways in which they both use and protect your health information. It explains your rights to inspect, copy, and amend your medical information. It also outlines your rights to restrict or limit how hospitals use and share your health information.
In addition, the notice identifies the hospital's Privacy Officer. Their Privacy Officer is the person they have designated to assure that their facilities are equipped and their staff is trained to protect your privacy. The Privacy Officer reviews any special requests you may have and helps to resolve any questions or concerns you may have.
When you come to a hospital for care, they will strongly encourage you to read their Notice of Privacy Practices and ask questions if there are parts of it you don’t understand. It is very important that you understand how your health information may be used and what your rights are regarding your health information.
Please be assured that as much as possible, hospitals will limit both the amount of information about you that is shared and the number of people with whom it is shared. They train staff and volunteers to be sensitive about confidentiality and patient privacy. Hospitals restrict access to information about you to only those who need to know that information under state and federal laws and regulations and to those who provide, pay for, and improve your care. And they maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect your health information.
Attached in an Acrobat document is a brochure that was developed to explain the HIPAA privacy regulations to patients.
