Notice of Privacy Practices - How Medical Information About You Is Used

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Words and Terms to Know

Business Associate

People or companies who do work for BryanLGH Medical Center, but who are not members of our workforce.

Disclose

Sharing, transferring or giving access to people outside of our workforce and to other organizations.

Notice

Information made available to increase awareness of practices and policies (see below).

Provider

People and organizations that provide health care, such as doctors, ambulance companies and hospitals.

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN OBTAIN ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY.

Each time you receive care at BryanLGH Medical Center, a record is made of your visit. Your medical record may include your symptoms, what was found during the exam, test results, diagnoses, treatment given and a plan for future care or treatment. Your billing record may include facts about your bill and insurance. Together, this is called your health information.

Who Will Follow This Notice

BryanLGH Medical Center

This Notice describes the privacy practices of BryanLGH Medical Center (the "Medical Center") and all of its programs and departments.

Medical Staff

This Notice also serves as the Joint Notice of Privacy Practices of the Medical Center and eligible members of its medical staff who participate with the Medical Center in an organized healthcare arrangement. Under this arrangement, the Medical Center and these medical staff members agree to follow the information practices described in this Notice when using or disclosing Medical Center records and information related to Medical Center visits. Under the arrangement, the Medical Center and these participating medical staff members will:

Use and distribute this Notice as their Joint Notice of Privacy Practices.
Obtain a single signed acknowledgment of receipt.
Follow the information practices described in this Notice when using or disclosing Medical Center records and information.
Share health information from inpatient and outpatient Medical Center visits among participants so that they can help the Medical Center with its healthcare operations.
The organized healthcare arrangement does not cover the information practices or health information of medical staff members in their private offices or at other practice locations.

Your Health Information Rights

Request for Voluntary Restrictions

You have the right to request a restriction on how we use and disclose your health information for treatment, payment, healthcare operations or to certain family members or friends identified by you, who are involved in your care or payment for your care. We are not required to agree to your request and will notify you if we are unable to agree.

Access to Health information

You may request to inspect and receive a copy of your health information. If you request copies, we may charge you a copying fee plus postage. If we agree to prepare a summary of your health information, we will charge a fee to prepare the summary.

Amendment

You may request that we amend or correct health information that we keep in your records. We are not required to make all requested amendments, but will give each request careful consideration. If we deny your request, we will provide you with a written explanation of the reasons and your rights.

Accounting

You have a right to receive an accounting of disclosures of your health information made by us or our business associates. The first accounting in any 12-month period is free; however, you may be charged a fee for each subsequent accounting you request within the same 12-month period.

Confidential Communications

You may request that we communicate with you about your health information in a certain way or at a certain location. We will accommodate your request if it is reasonable and specifies the alternate means or location.

Copy of this Notice

You have the right to receive a written copy of this Notice upon request.

How to Exercise These Rights

All requests to exercise these rights must be in writing. We will follow written procedures to handle requests and notify you of our actions and your rights. You may receive request forms or exercise your rights by contacting the Release of Information Manager in the Health Information Management Department at (402) 481-8223.

Our Responsibilities

BryanLGH is required by law to:

Protect the privacy of your health information.
Provide you with a current copy of the Notice of Privacy Practices.
Do what we say we will do in our current Notice.
Display the most current copy of the Notice on the BryanLGH Medical Center Web site (www.bryanlgh.org) and at service delivery sites.
We will use and disclose your health information only with your permission, except as described in this Notice or as required by State or federal law. We have the right to change this Notice and apply the changes to the health information we already have about you and any we receive in the future.

Uses and Disclosures without Your Permission

The following are the types of uses and disclosures we may make of your health information without your permission. Where State law restricts one of these uses or disclosures, we will follow State law. These are general descriptions only and do not cover every example of use and disclosure within a category.

1.  We will use and disclose your health information for treatment purposes. For example:We will use and disclose health information about you with nurses, physicians and technicians who are involved in your care at the Medical Center. 
               We will disclose your health information to your physician and other physicians, providers and healthcare facilities for their use in treating you in the future. 
               We will use and disclose your health information for payment purposes. For example:

2.  We will use your health information to prepare your bill, and we will send health information to your insurance company with your bill.
               We may disclose health information about you to other qualified parties for their payment purposes. For example, if you are brought in by ambulance, we may disclose your health information to the ambulance provider for its billing     purposes.
We will use and disclose your health information for healthcare operations. For example:

We will disclose your health information to members of our medical staff and outside consultants so that they can help us assess our quality of care.
In some cases, we will furnish your health information to other qualified parties for their healthcare operations. The ambulance company, for example, may want information on your condition to help them know whether they have done an effective job of stabilizing your emergency condition.
We will allow our business associates to use or disclose your health information. For example:

We may send your health information to a billing service so that they can help us bill for services. We require our business associates to protect your health information.
Hospital Patient Directory. We will include your name, location in the facility, general condition and religious affiliation in a patient directory. This information may be provided to members of the clergy and, except for religious affiliation, to other people who ask for you by name. We will not include your information in the patient directory if you object or if State or federal law prohibits us.

Family and Friends. We may disclose your location or general condition to a family member or your personal representative. If any of these individuals or others you identify as being involved in your care, we may also disclose such information as is directly relevant to their involvement. We will only release this information if you agree, are given the opportunity to object and do not, or if in our professional judgment, it would be in your best interest to allow the person to receive the information or act on your behalf. For example, we may allow a family member to pick up your prescriptions, medical supplies or X-rays. We may also disclose your information to an entity assisting in disaster relief efforts so that your family or individual responsible for your care may be notified of your location and condition.
Required by Law. We will use and disclose your information as required by federal, State or local law.

Public Health Activities. We may disclose health information about you for public health activities.
These activities may include disclosures:

To a public health authority authorized by law to collect or receive such information for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability.
To appropriate authorities authorized to receive reports of child abuse and neglect.

To FDA-regulated entities for purposes of monitoring or reporting the quality, safety or effectiveness of FDA-regulated products.
To notify a person who may have been exposed to a disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a disease or condition.
Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose health information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law. These oversight activities include, for example, audits, investigations, inspections and licensure.

Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. We may disclose your health information for judicial or administrative proceedings as required or permitted by law or in response to a valid subpoena, court order or other binding authority.
Law Enforcement. We may release certain health information if asked to do so by a law enforcement official as required by law such as:

As required by law, including reporting wounds and physical injuries.

In response to a court order, subpoena, warrant, summons or similar process.

In emergency circumstances to report a crime; the location of the crime or victims; or the identity, description or location of the person who committed the crime.
Under certain circumstances, we may use or disclose your health information to avert a serious threat to health and safety.
Deceased Individuals. We may release health information to a coroner, medical examiner or funeral director as necessary for them to carry out their duties.

Organ, Eye or Tissue Donation. We may release health information to organ, eye or tissue procurement, transplantation or banking organizations or entities as necessary to facilitate organ, eye or tissue donation and transplantation.

Research. Under certain circumstances, we may use or disclose your health information for research, subject to certain safeguards. For example, we may disclose information to researchers when a special committee who has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your health information has approved their research. We may disclose health information about you to people preparing to conduct a research project, but the information will stay on site.
Specialized Government Functions. We may use and disclose your health information for national security and intelligence activities authorized by law. If you are a military member, we may disclose to military authorities under certain circumstances. If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law enforcement official, we may disclose to the correctional institution, its agents or the law enforcement official your health information necessary for your health and the health and safety of other individuals.

Workers' Compensation. We may release health information about you as authorized by law for workers' compensation or similar programs that provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness.
Incidental Uses and Disclosures. There are certain incidental uses or disclosures of your information that occur while we are providing service to you or conducting our business. For example, after surgery the nurse or doctor may need to use your name to identify family members that may be waiting for you in a waiting area. Other individuals waiting in the same area may hear your name called. We will make reasonable efforts to limit these incidental uses and disclosures.

Appointment Reminders. We may contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or medical services.
Treatment Alternatives. We may contact you to provide information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.
Fundraising. We may contact you as part of a fundraising effort. We may also disclose certain elements of your health information, such as your name, address, phone number and dates you received treatment or services, to a business associate or a foundation related to the Medical Center so that they may contact you to raise money for the Medical Center.
Other Uses and Disclosures. Other uses and disclosures of your health information not covered above will be made only with your written authorization. If you authorize us to use and disclose your information, you may revoke that authorization at any time. Such revocation will not affect any action we have taken in reliance on your authorization.

Complaints and Questions

Complaints or questions about your privacy rights must be made in writing to the Information Security Officer at BryanLGH Medical Center, 1600 S. 48th Street, Lincoln, NE 68506. If you have questions about this process, call (402) 481-8224.

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you have the right to file a complaint in writing with the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Nothing will be held against you for filing a complaint.

Reference: Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 164.520

Effective Date: 4/13/2003
Version: #1

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BryanLGH.org Privacy Policy

As a user of the www.bryanlgh.org site, you take on certain risks and responsibilities. You also have the right to know how we protect your privacy and ensure your confidentiality and what you should expect from us. This site is responsible for the editorial content and services offered on this site.

Your Role, Responsibilities and Risks

• You need to be an informed user of this site. Please read all our policies in full so you know how our site works and how you interact with the site.
• Pay special attention to your risks as a user. Web site users open themselves up to certain risks, such as data collection.
• Understand how we collect data and how it is used. It is our goal to protect your personal information from misuse. We do, however, offer programs that collect data for special reasons, such as research, scientific studies and statistics, in which case you may be interested in participating.
• Be aware that use of this site, its services, programs and the health information on it cannot replace nor is it intended to serve as a healthcare provider-patient relationship. You must always consult with a professional for diagnosis and treatment for specific health problems.

What You Should Expect from Us

• We will strive to maintain your privacy, confidentiality and security at all times.
• It is our goal to ensure your trust and confidence by providing you with as much information as we can about data collection procedures and information when needed.
• We will not intentionally use your data without your permission, unless for purposes of maintaining the site or for reviewing the site's use.
• We will make every effort to notify you accordingly of all data collection practices.
• It is our intention to clearly inform you when your risks or privacy may change during the course of using this site.
• We will make every attempt to tell you when our privacy policy is no longer in effect and another one is, such as when you use an integrated program that is being operated on another web site with a different privacy policy.
• It is our goal to make you aware when you leave our site for another, either by telling you in writing or by another technical mechanism.

Our Security Measures

We want your personal information to remain as secure as possible; our business depends on it. We use encryption practices to help insure the integrity and privacy of the personal information and/or health-related personal information you provide to us. As an added security precaution, all personal information and/or health-related personal information are kept on servers with firewalls that meet or exceed industry standards to prevent intruders from gaining access. Although we make every reasonable effort to protect personal information and health-related personal information from loss, misuse or alteration by third parties, you should be aware that there is always some risk involved in transmitting information via the Internet and that hackers or thieves do find ways to thwart security systems.

Changes in Our Privacy Policy

It is our goal to use personal information and health-related personal information in the manner described in the privacy policy that is in effect when your information is collected. We do, however, reserve the right to change the terms of this privacy policy at any time and will post revisions to our site. If at any point, personal information or health-related information is to be used differently from those practices stated in the privacy policy in effect when your data was colleted, we will notify you on this web site.

About the Information We Collect

We understand that the personal information and health-related personal information you provide during your visit to our site is highly sensitive and you may have concerns about sharing such information with us. It is our goal to protect your privacy and we strive to develop practices and policies to safeguard your personal and health-related personal information.

At different places on our site, you may be asked to volunteer your name, e-mail, address and telephone number. We refer to this type of information as "personal information" because it can be used to identify or contact you. When this information is combined with any information on your health or medical status, we refer to this information as "health-related personal information." We often collect information on site use that has nothing to do with you as an individual, only as an anonymous user of the site. We call this information "aggregate information." We intend to use the personal information, health-related personal information and aggregate information only for the purposes for which it was provided.

Some personal information and health-related personal information is needed to use some areas of this site, and we ask that you provide it with the knowledge that it will be used to enhance your experience. This information is kept confidential.

Where this Information Is Collected

We may collect information about you at several places throughout the site. You will be informed on how this information is collected at that time. You will also have the ability to opt-in to information collection when you are using the site or use a service. Most information is collected in the following instances:

Registration

In order to have access to all of the services and content available on our site, you are required to complete a registration form that requests certain information, such as name, telephone number and e-mail address. In addition, you are asked during registration to tell us about health topics that you are interested in. We offer specialized registration for certain programs, events and classes that may request some or all of the above information.

We may use your registration information to send you an e-mail confirming your registration with our site, to respond to questions from you, or to notify you if there is a problem with any services that you requested. We may also, from time to time, send e-mails with your permission on special promotions or newsletters we think may be of interest to you.

Our Site Uses Cookies

In addition to collecting information that you submit to us, we also rely on "cookies." A cookie is a numeric code that a web site transfers to your hard drive for record-keeping purposes. Every computer is assigned a different cookie, but our cookie does not contain or collect your name or other personal identifying information. When you revisit our site, the cookie may allow us to recognize you, your interests and your preferences. We also use cookies to help track the level of interest in different features on our site and to compile data that can help us improve our content.

Your browser software can be set to reject all cookies, including cookies from our site. Most browsers offer instructions on how to reset the browser to reject cookies in the Help section of the toolbar. If you reject our cookie, certain functions and conveniences of the site may not work properly. You do not have to accept our cookie in order to productively use our site. If you accept our cookie, we will never link the cookie to personal information and/or health-related personal information you provide to us.

How We Use Your Personal Information

We continually seek new ways to maintain your trust as a user and improve our offerings. To provide new and better services, we tend to monitor user traffic patterns and try to analyze what our users like and do not like about our current offerings so we can design better services for you. We may also use certain information for testing purposes, site development and planning and during the normal course of maintaining the site. When you use our site, you automatically allow us to collect this information. In these cases, researchers, business analysts, system designers and others may have access to the data we collect.

We do not intend to use or disclose any personal information or health-related personal information you provide on our site to an unrelated third party without your expressed permission, except as explained in this section. You should know that there are circumstances when, in the ordinary course of business, we will share some information about you with a related third party:

• We may also share aggregate statistical information on our users, traffic patterns and site usage with our business partners. There is nothing in this information that could be used to identify or contact you.
• We may, from time to time, contract with vendors to provide specific services, such as data analysis, data storage, e-mail processing, customer service, sweepstakes or special promotions. We ask vendors to adhere to our confidentiality standards and do not permit a vendor to use our customer information for any other purpose. In many of these instances, you will be given the opportunity to opt-in to this collection of information and can opt-out at any time.
• We may share registration data with business partners that maintain a co-branded service or content, only with your affirmative consent. For more information on co-branded sites, read the information below on our relationships with third parties.
• In certain limited circumstances, we may be legally compelled to release your personal information in response to a court order, subpoena, search warrant, law or regulation. In the event that we are compelled to disclose personal information and/or health-related personal information to a third party, we will notify you unless doing so would violate the law or court order. We also reserve the right to cooperate with law enforcement authorities in investigating and prosecuting users that violate our rules or engage in behavior that is harmful (or illegal) to other users.

Our Relationship with Third Parties

We have business relationships with third-party vendors that deliver services and content. We ask that all business partners disclose their confidentiality practices and procedures and agree to abide by our privacy policy. We make diligent efforts to ensure that third-party vendors are above board; however, we are separate organizations and as such we are not privy to the details of their operations and not responsible for their actions. We work with several types of third-party vendors, including those that provide products and services that we integrate to our site. We request that third-party vendors supply us with information on their security procedures, and we evaluate them periodically to ensure that they are using data in the agreed upon way. There are three types of relationships that differ from our standard business partner relationship in which we license content or a product for integration. These exceptions are:

Sponsored or Co-Branded Sites - We allow other companies to make services and/or content available to you, sometimes on a sponsored or co-branded basis. To access the services on a sponsored or co-branded site, you may have to complete an online registration form in addition to the registration you completed for us. Whenever you provide registration information on sponsored or co-branded sites, data can be collected. You should read the individual privacy policies of sponsored or co-branded sites. Reading the policies will help you make an informed decision on whether or not you want to use the site.

External Links - We feature external links to other web sites that we believe you might find useful; however, we do not endorse these sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these external sites. We will make every effort to notify you when you are leaving our site and we encourage you to read the privacy policy of each site you visit that may collect information or ask you to disclose personal information and/or health-related personal information.

Our Children's Policy - Our site may feature information and services of interest to children 13 and under. Contact information, such as name, e-mail address and demographic information including their age and ethnicity, may be requested. We do not disclose personal or health-related personal information about our 13 or under users. We may, however, use information to create aggregate data that may be shared with third parties. To obtain more information on a child's use of this site, parents or guardians can contact us in writing using the address on our home page links.

Your Privacy Choices

You have the choice on this site to opt-in to information collected about you in most circumstances, the exceptions being the instances when data are used for site maintenance and so on. If you opt-in to data collection we make every effort to give you detailed information on the program or service you select. To opt-out of data collection, make any changes or updates or request that information be deleted, please do the following:

Opt-Out-When you register with our site, you are given the option of receiving e-mail with information that we think you might find useful including promotions, announcements of new services and products and newsletters on particular health topics. You may also participate in our personalized e-mail reminder system that allows you to send an e-mail reminding you of certain health-related activities such as a doctor's visit or to schedule tests. If you decide that you no longer wish to receive these e-mails, you may opt-out by deselecting the checkbox on your personal information page.

Change/Update Personal Information - You may change or update your personal information and/or health-related personal information at any time using the following options:

• Go to your personal information page and change the information there.
• You can contact us in writing using the address in our home page links.

Remove or Delete Personal Information - You may remove previously provided personal and/or health-related personal information at any time. Contact us in writing using the address in our home page links. Users should be aware that it is not always technically possible to remove or delete the information you provide to us. We back-up our systems to protect information from inadvertent loss, and that means a copy of your personal information may exist in a non-erasable form that may be difficult or impossible for us to locate. Nevertheless, upon receiving your request we will try to remove or delete all personal information and/or health-related personal information stored in the databases that we use for research and daily business activities. We will not intentionally disclose any personal information stored in a non-erasable format after receiving your request for removal, except as required by law.

There are certain restrictions on your ability to correct, update or remove the health information you enter into a personal health record. If your doctor or other health care professional has access to your personal health record, and they add information to that record, your personal record could be considered an official medical record for legal purposes. In this case, information cannot be deleted or removed, only updated or annotated.