Medic Rescue is committed to protecting the privacy of our members and all those we serve in the community at large. We take very seriously our obligation to maintain the privacy of healthcare information that you share with us confidential and secure.
Purpose of this Notice. Medic Rescue is required by law to maintain the privacy of certain healthcare information, known as Protected Health Information or "PHI". PHI may include your name, address, and other identifying data or information on you, your health or the health services that have been or may be furnished to you. We are also required to provide you with a notice of our legal duties and privacy practices regarding your PHI and to abide by the terms of this notice currently in effect. This notice describes our privacy practices, lets you know when we are permitted to use and disclose your PHI and advises you of your rights. Medic Rescue requires that all of its employees, staff, independent contractors and business associates comply with these privacy practices.
Use and Disclosure of PHI for Treatment, Payment and Health Care Operations. By law, Medic Rescue is permitted to use and disclose PHI for treatment, payment and health care operations in most cases without your permission for the following reasons:
1. For Treatment means that when Medic Rescue provides medical transport services, including emergency, non-emergency and other requested transport services, we are permitted to obtain, use and disclose verbal, written and electronic information about you and regarding your medical condition. This includes PHI received or transferred by phone, radio, electronic or digital or other oral means to or from 911 or dispatch, the hospital, or other medical facility and used by us to provide treatment and transport. It also includes PHI we give to health care personnel to whom we transfer your care and treatment. For example, we provide the hospital with a copy of the electronic record we create while providing treatment and transport to you;
2. For Payment means any activities that Medic Rescue must take in order to get reimbursed for services we provide to you and includes: organizing your PHI; verifying eligibility for services with your insurer; coordinating benefits with other insurers; submitting bills to insurance companies either directly or through a third party; managing claims; making medical necessity determinations; conducting utilization review activities, collecting on outstanding accounts; and disclosing to consumer reporting agencies. For example, we can disclose to your health plan medical information that is required by the plan to determine whether the services we have provided to you are medically necessary; and
3. For Health Care Operations means activities undertaken by Medic Rescue that are required for our operations. Such activities may be performed by Medic Rescue or in some instances by third-party contractors. These activities include: quality assessment and improvement activities; credentialing and licensing; training programs; legal and financial services; business planning and development; customer service; internal grievances; creating reports that do not individually identify you for data collection or other purposes; and due diligence activities. For example, Medic Rescue evaluates personnel performance to ensure that our Standards of Conduct and policies and procedures are followed for internal reviews.
Reminders & Information. Medic Rescue may contact you to remind you of scheduled appointments for non-emergency ambulance and medical transportation, to notify you about other services we provide or health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.
Annual Membership Program. Annually, Medic Rescue sends the public at large materials explaining our membership program, the cost of such membership and the benefits of membership. When Medic Rescue uses your PHI as an existing member to contact you about the membership program, we will inform you that you have the right to opt out of receiving communications regarding our membership program and inform you how to opt out.
When Your Authorization is Required. Except as otherwise permitted or required under HIPAA Rules, Medic Rescue may not use or disclose PHI without authorization. Under certain circumstances, Medic Rescue is required to get your written authorization or other permission, or your opportunity to object prior to disclosing PHI. These circumstances are as follows:
1. Medic Rescue must obtain your written authorization if Medic Rescue would sell your PHI. Medic Rescue does not currently sell any PHI for any reason and does not intend to sell PHI for any reason in the future.
2. Your authorization is required for the disclosure of psychotherapy notes. Medic Rescue typically does not receive nor have access to any psychotherapy notes of any patient that it transports.
3. Medic Rescue must obtain your written authorization for any use or disclosure of PHI for marketing purposes. Medic Rescue does not currently nor do we intend in the future to use or disclose PHI for any marketing purposes.
Use and Disclosure of PHI Without Your Authorization. Under certain circumstances, Medic Rescue may use or disclose your medical information without your written authorization or other permission, or your opportunity to object. These circumstances are as follows:
1. In emergency treatment and transport situations by receiving and disclosing medical and identifying information about you via telephone, 911 calls, radio, electronic or digital or other oral means; dispatching the appropriate personnel to you; communicating with the appropriate personnel during transport and upon arrival at the emergency room; and completing and filing the required written documentation regarding your treatment and transport.
2. In non-emergency treatment and transport situations, for our use in order to treat or transport you, to obtain payment for services provided to you, or for other health care operations.
3. To another health care provider for the treatment activities of that provider.
4. To another health care provider or entity for the payment activities of that provider or entity such as your hospital or insurance company.
5. To another health care provider or entity for the health care operations of that provider or entity if the provider receiving the information has or had a relationship with you and the PHI pertains to that relationship.
6. To a family member, relative, friend or other individual involved in your care, or for disaster relief. Medic Rescue may provide medical information about you to such individuals if we obtain your verbal agreement, if we give you an opportunity to object to such disclosure and you do not object, or if we infer from the circumstances that you would not object. For example, when your spouse has called the ambulance for you, we may assume that you agree to our disclosure of your PHI to your spouse. When we are not able to obtain your agreement or you are unable to object because of your condition or because you are not immediately present, we will use our professional judgment to determine whether it is in your best interest to disclose such information to your family member, relative, friend or other individual involved in your care. Only health information relevant to that person’s involvement with your care will be disclosed. For example, we may inform the person who accompanied you in the ambulance of your symptoms and provide them with updates on your vital signs and treatment as administered by our crew.
7. As required by law. Numerous state, federal and local laws permit or require certain uses and disclosures of medical information. In such cases, Medic Rescue may only use or disclose your medical information to the extent authorized by law.
8. To a public health authority. Medic Rescue may be asked or required by law to disclose medical information to a public health authority under the following circumstances:
a. to report a birth, death, disease or injury;
b. as part of a public health investigation;
c. to report child or adult abuse or neglect, or domestic violence;
d. to report adverse events such as product defects, to tract products or assist in product recalls or repairs or replacements, or to conduct post-marketing surveillance as required by the Food and Drug Administration; and
e. to notify a person about exposure to a possible communicable disease.
9. For health oversight activities including: audits, government investigations, inspections, disciplinary proceedings and other administrative and judicial actions undertaken by the government or its contractors by law to oversee the health care system;
10. For health care fraud and abuse detection or compliance related activities.
11. For judicial and administrative proceedings. Medic Rescue may disclose medical information as required by a court or administrative order or in some cases pursuant to a subpoena, discovery request or other legal process.
12. To law enforcement. Police and other law enforcement may seek medical information from Medic Rescue. We may release this information to law enforcement under limited circumstances, such as when the request is accompanied by a warrant, or when law enforcement needs specific information to locate a suspect or to stop a crime.
13. To coroners, medical examiners and funeral directors. Medic Rescue may release information regarding a decedent to such persons as authorized by law or in order to identify the deceased, determine cause of death, or carry out other duties.
14. For organ, eye and tissue donation. Medic Rescue may release medical information to organ, eye and tissue procurement organizations and similar entities in order to facilitate such types of donation, if you are an organ donor.
15. For research purposes. Medic Rescue may be approached by researchers to provide medical information for research purposes, such as tracking a particular condition. We may provide medical information to a researcher if the researcher has obtained a special waiver from a committee established under federal law to oversee medical research to allow the researcher to not have to obtain the patients’ permission prior to collecting the information. Also, the researcher must demonstrate that the information is necessary to the research and poses a minimal risk of an inappropriate use or disclosure. If the researcher does not obtain the waiver, then Medic Rescue may not disclose the information without an Authorization signed by you.
16. To avert a serious threat to health and safety. Medic Rescue may use or disclose your medical information to avert a serious and imminent threat to an individual or the public’s health and safety.
17. For military and other specialized governmental functions. Medical information may be disclosed for military, defense, national security, intelligence or correctional activities.
18. For workers’ compensation. Medic Rescue may share medical information regarding work-related illness and injuries in order to comply with workers’ compensation laws.
19. In a manner that does not personally identify you or reveal who you are.
Any other use or disclosure of PHI, except those listed above will only be made by Medic Rescue after receiving your written authorization. An Authorization is a written document that must specifically identify the information that we seek to use or disclose and when and how we seek to use or disclose it. For example, if you are applying for a life insurance policy, Medic Rescue must obtain your Authorization to share your medical information with the life insurance company. You may revoke an Authorization at any time, in writing, except to the extent that we have already used or disclosed medical information in reliance on your Authorization or your Authorization was obtained as a condition of obtaining insurance coverage.
Individual Rights. You have a number of rights with respect to your PHI. Such rights are as follows:
1. Restrictions. You have the right to restrict how we use and disclose your medical information that we have about you for treatment, payment or health care operations purposes, or to restrict the information provided to family, friends and other individuals involved in your health care. However, we do not have to agree to any restriction if we believe that it would affect your transport and care. For example, if you request a restriction on information that is needed to provide you with emergency treatment, then we may use such information and disclose it to a health care provider so that they may provide you with emergency treatment. Also, if you wish to pay for our transport services out-of-pocket, in full, you can request that we not disclose information about such transport to your health insurer for payment or healthcare operations. We will honor such request unless you do not pay in full at the time of transport or the law otherwise requires that we share such information. Please contact the Privacy Official listed at the end of this notice if you wish to request a restriction.
2. Confidential Communications. You have the right to request that Medic Rescue reasonably accommodate you regarding the way in which we communicate to you involving your health, health care services or payment. For example, you may ask that we communicate with you only at your home. If we receive such a request in writing, we will do our best to reasonably accommodate such request.
3. Access. You have the right to inspect and copy most of the medical information maintained by Medic Rescue about you. We have forms available for you to use to request access to your PHI. Normally, we will provide you with access within 30 days of your request. We may charge you a reasonable copying fee. In limited cases, we may deny you access to your medical information. You may appeal certain types of denials. If we deny access, we will provide you with a written response and inform you about your appeal rights. You may also request an electronic medical record. Please contact the Privacy Official listed at the end of this notice if you wish to inspect and copy your medical information.
4. Amendment. You have the right to ask Medic Rescue to amend written medical information that we may have about you. For example, you can request that we correct an incorrect transportation date in your records. We will generally amend your information within 60 days of your request and will notify you when we have amended your information. We are permitted by law to deny your request to amend only in certain circumstances, such as when we believe that the information that you have asked us to amend is accurate and complete. You can appeal our denial. Please contact the Privacy Official listed at the end of this notice if you wish to request an amendment to your medical information.
5. Accounting. You have the right to request an accounting from Medic Rescue of certain disclosures of your PHI made by us during the last six (6) years prior to the date of your request. We will generally provide you with your accounting within 60 days of your request. We are not required to give you an accounting of information that we have used or disclosed for treatment, payment or health care operations, or when we share your PHI with our business associates. We are also not required to give you an accounting of our uses or disclosures of PHI for which you have already provided us with a written authorization. You can ask to get an electronic or paper copy of your medical records and other health information we have about you. If you want to know how to do this, please contact the Privacy Official listed at the end of this notice if you wish to request an accounting of your medical information that we have used or disclosed, which is not exempt from the accounting requirement.
6. Electronic and Paper Notice. We currently maintain a web site that provides information about our services. Medic Rescue is required to prominently post its Notice of Privacy Practices on such web site and to make the notice available electronically through the web site. If you have obtained this Notice electronically, you may obtain a paper copy by requesting such notice from the Privacy Official listed below or any staff member of Medic Rescue. Medic Rescue’s Web site is found at www.medicrescue.org.
7. Breaches. Affected individuals have the right to be notified following a breach of unsecured PHI and Medic Rescue will notify you promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your PHI.
8. Complaints. You may complain to Medic Rescue, or to the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services if you believe that your privacy rights have been violated. Under no circumstances will Medic Rescue take any retaliation against you for filing a complaint. If you have any questions, comments or complaints, please contact the Privacy Official listed below.
Revisions to Privacy Notice. Medic Rescue reserves the right to change the terms of this Privacy Notice at any time. Any revised Privacy Notice will be promptly posted at our facility and also posted to our web site, if we maintain a web site at the time of such revision and available at our offices for you to request a copy. We also reserve the right to make the new Privacy Notice provisions effective for all PHI that we maintain.
Privacy Notice/Compliance Contact Officer. If you have any questions or comments or if you wish to file a complaint or exercise any of your individual rights listed in this Privacy Notice, please contact:
Renee Csoman
Medic Rescue
313 Bridge Street
Bridgewater, PA 15009
(724) 728-3621
Effective Date. The effective date of this Privacy Notice is September 23, 2013.