Privacy Policy

THIS ONE-PAGE SUMMARY BRIEFLY DESCRIBES THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE ATTACHED NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES. FOR FURTHER DETAILS, PLEASE REVIEW THE ATTACHED NOTICE CAREFULLY AND COMPLETELY.


LaPorte Regional Health System (LRHS) is committed to providing all of our patients quality care. Part of providing quality care involves gathering, using, and sharing information about individual patients in order to:

LRHS may also use and disclose your information to provide you with appointment reminders or to notify you that you need to schedule an appointment.

For certain uses and disclosures of your information that LaPorte Regional Health System makes, you have the right to agree or object to the use or disclosure. Please let LRHS know if you would prefer we not use or disclose your information for the following purposes:

LRHS is permitted, and at times required by law, to disclose information about you to public health reporting agencies, to government agencies authorized to collect reports of suspected abuse, to avert a serious threat to health or safety, to health oversight agencies, and others. Certain uses and disclosures of your information require your written permission.

LRHS may disclose demographic information to the foundation related to LaPorte Regional Health System so that the foundation may possibly contact you in fund-raising activities. If you do not wish to be contacted for fund-raising purposes, please contact our Privacy Official at (219) 326-2389.

You have certain rights regarding the information we maintain about you. These rights include:

If you have any questions about the information contained in this Notice, please contact the LRHS Privacy Official at 219-326-2389.

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


About this Notice of Privacy Practices

LaPorte Regional Health System (LRHS) understands that medical information about you and your health record is personal. Protecting your information is important to us. LRHS creates a record of the care and services you receive. LRHS needs this record to provide you with quality care, to communicate with others involved in your care, and to comply with certain legal requirements. This notice applies to all of the records of your care generated by LRHS.

This notice will tell you about the ways in which LRHS may use and disclose your information. LRHS uses your information within our organization and discloses your information outside of the organization. This notice also describes certain rights that you have and certain obligations LRHS has regarding the use and disclosure of your information.

Who will follow this notice

This Notice describes LaPorte Regional Health System’s practices regarding the use and disclosure of your information and that of our employees, officers, volunteers, and health care students associated with LaPorte Regional Health System. LaPorte Regional Health System and its medical staff have formed an organized health care arrangement. This means that LaPorte Regional Health System and its medical staff will share your information with each other as necessary to carry out treatment, payment, and health care operations relating to the organized health care arrangement. This Notice applies to your information used and disclosed at LaPorte Hospital, VNA Home Care & Hospice Services, The Community Health & Dental Center, The LaPorte Hospital Wellness Center, Family Support Services, The Employee Pharmacy Benefits Program, and LRHS out-patient care facilities.

How LRHS may use and disclose information about you for treatment, payment, and health care operations

The following categories describe different ways that LRHS may use and disclose information about you. For each category, at least one example will be provided. Not every use and disclosure will be listed in each category.

For Treatment: LRHS will use information about you to provide you with medical treatment or services. For example, different departments may share information about you in order to provide you the treatment and services you need. LRHS may also disclose information about you to people outside of LaPorte Regional Health System who may be involved in providing services that are part of your care. For example, LRHS may provide information about you to a home health agency or pharmacy involved in your care.

For Payment: LRHS may use and disclose information about you so that the treatment and services you receive may be billed to and payment may be collected from you, an insurance company, or a third party. For example, LRHS may use your information to verify your health insurance benefits and to pre-certify your services and LRHS may disclose your information to your insurance company so that they will pay LaPorte Regional Health System for the services you received.

For Health Care Operations: LRHS may use and disclose information about you to support our business activities. These activities are necessary to run our organization and to provide our patients with the highest quality care. These activities include, but are not limited to, quality review, conducting training programs, accreditation, and conducting or arranging for other business activities. For example, we may use your information to call you from a waiting area or to resolve any internal concerns. We may use or disclose your information to provide you with information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you. LRHS may use and disclose your information to conduct patient satisfactions surveys also.

LRHS will share your information with third parties known as "business associates" that perform various activities for us. For example, LRHS uses business associates to perform certain activities for us including some transcription, trash disposal, and accreditation as well as other services. Whenever an arrangement between our organization and a business associate involves the use or disclosure of your information, LRHS will have a written contract that contains terms that require the business associate to safeguard the privacy of your information.

LRHS may also use your information for fund-raising purposes. LRHS may disclose demographic information to the foundation related to LaPorte Regional Health System so that the foundation may possibly contact you in fund-raising activities. If you do not wish to be contacted for fund-raising purposes, please contact the LRHS Privacy Official at 219-326-2404.

Appointment reminders: LRHS may use and disclose information about you to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or medical care or that you may need to schedule an appointment. LRHS may leave a message for you with another person who answers your phone or a message may be left on your answering machine.

Uses and Disclosures Requiring Your Agreement or Opportunity for you to Object

In the following instances you will be given the opportunity to agree or object to the use or disclosure of all or part of the information about you. If you are not present or able to agree or object to the use or disclosure of information, then a licensed health care professional, using professional judgment, may determine whether the use or disclosure is in your best interest. In this case, only information about you that is related to your health care will be disclosed.

Facility Directory: Unless you object, LRHS will use and disclose your name and your location within our facility as listed in our facility directory. This information will be disclosed to anyone who asks for you by name.

Clergy Directory: Unless you object, LRHS will use and disclose your name, your location within our facility, and your religious affiliation as listed in our clergy directory. This information will be provided to members of the clergy who request it.

Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care or Whom You Designate: Whenever possible, LRHS will ask your permission to use and disclose information about you to a family member, friend, or anyone you designate as involved in your medical care or who helps pay for your care.

Emergencies: LRHS may use or disclose information about you in an emergency treatment situation and to contact members of your family and/or significant other. As soon as it is reasonable after the emergency treatment situation, we will make a good faith effort to obtain a written acknowledgement of your receipt of this Notice. If LRHS is required by law to treat you and an attempt to obtain your written acknowledgement was made but LRHS was unable to obtain your written acknowledgement, LRHS will still use and disclose your information to treat you and possibly to contact members of your family and/or significant other.

Communication Barriers: LRHS may use and disclose information about you if LRHS has made an attempt to obtain your written acknowledgement of this Notice but are unable due to substantial communication barriers.

Other Permitted and Required Uses and Disclosures That May Be Made Without Your Authorization or Opportunity to Object

LaPorte Regional Health System is permitted to make certain disclosures about you without your authorization and without you having an opportunity to agree or object.

Organ and tissue donation: LRHS may use and disclose information about you to organizations that handle organ procurement or organ, eye or tissue transplantation or to an organ donation bank, as necessary to facilitate organ tissue donation and transplantation. For example, we make disclosures about certain patients to the Indiana Organ Procurement Organization.

Workers’ Compensation: LRHS may disclose information about you for workers’ compensation or similar programs. These programs provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness.

Employers: LRHS may disclose information to your employer if your employer needs this information to comply with federal and/or state laws to record such illness or injury or to carry out responsibilities for work-place surveillance.

Public health and patient safety: LRHS may disclose information about you for public health activities or to assure your safety. For example, LRHS reports certain communicable diseases to the Indiana State Board of Health as required by law. Other activities generally include disclosures of patient information:

Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors: LRHS may disclose information about you to a coroner or medical examiner. For example, this may be necessary to identify a deceased person or to determine the cause of death. LRHS may also disclose information about patients of LaPorte Regional Health System to funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties.

We will disclose information about you when required to do so by federal, state, or local law.

Health oversight activities: LRHS may disclose medical information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law. These oversight activities include, for example, audits, investigations, inspections, and licensure. These activities are necessary for the government to monitor the health care system, government programs, and compliance with civil rights laws.

To avert a serious threat to health or safety: LRHS may use and disclose information about you when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person. Any disclosure, however, would only be to someone able to help prevent the threat.

Lawsuits and Disputes: LRHS may disclose information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or court or administrative order.

Law Enforcement: LRHS may disclose information about you if asked to do so by a law enforcement official as part of law enforcement activities, to help identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, victim of a crime, or missing person. LRHS may disclose information about a death if LRHS believes the death may be the result of criminal conduct. LRHS may also disclose information regarding criminal conduct at LaPorte Regional Health System and in emergency circumstances to report a crime.

Protective Services for the President, National Security and Intelligence Activities: LRHS may disclose information about you to authorized federal officials so they may provide protection to the President and others related to national security activities.

Military and Veterans: If you are a member of the armed forces, LRHS may disclose information about you as required by military command authorities. LRHS may also disclose information about foreign military personnel to the appropriate foreign military authority.

Inmates: The rights listed in this Notice will not apply to inmates of a correctional institution or to persons under the custody of a law enforcement official.

Research

Under certain circumstances, LRHS may use and disclose information about you for research purposes. For example, a research project may involve comparing the health and recovery of all patients who received one medication to those who received another, for the same condition. All research projects, however, are subject to a special approval process. This process evaluates a proposed research project and its use of patient information and requires the researchers to provide reasonable safeguards to protect the privacy of patient information. Before LRHS uses or discloses information about you for research, the project will have been approved through this research approval process. LRHS may, however, disclose information about you to people preparing to conduct a research project, for example, to help them look for patients with specific medical needs, so long as the information they review does not leave LaPorte Regional Health System.

Other uses of patient information

Other uses and disclosures of patient information not covered by this Notice or required by law will be made only with your written permission. If you provide LRHS permission to use or disclose your information, you may revoke that permission, in writing, at any time. If you revoke your permission, LRHS will no longer use or disclose information about you for the reasons covered by your written permission. LRHS is not able to take back any disclosures made prior to you revoking your permission and LRHS is required to retain our records of the care that we provided to you.

Your Rights Regarding Your Information

You have the following rights regarding the information LRHS maintains about you.

Right to access, inspect, and request copy of your information: You have the right to access, inspect, and request a copy of information that LRHS may have used to make decisions about you.

To access, inspect, and/or request a copy of information about you that may be used to make decisions about you, you must submit your request in writing to the Medical Records Department located in the LaPorte Hospital building, lower level. Forms for this purpose are located in the Medical Records Department. If you request a copy of the information, we may charge a fee for the costs of copying, mailing, or other supplies/labor associated with your request.

LRHS may deny your request to access, inspect, and/or receive a copy in certain limited circumstances. For example, a licensed health care professional may determine that it is reasonably likely to endanger the life or physical safety of you or another person if you are granted access, inspection, and/or a copy of the information. If you are denied access to your information, you may request that the denial be reviewed. Another licensed health care professional chosen by LaPorte Regional Health System will review your request and the denial. The person conducting the review will not be the same person that denied your request. LRHS will comply with the outcome of the review.

Right to amend information about you: If you believe the information LRHS has about you is incorrect or incomplete, you have the right to request a change or amendment to your information. You have the right to request an amendment for as long as we keep the information about you.

To request a change or amendment to your information, your request must be made in writing and include a reason that supports your request. This written request must be submitted by mail or in person to the Medical Records Department, located in the lower level of the LaPorte Hospital building. Forms for this purpose are located in the Medical Records Department.

LRHS may deny your request for an amendment if it is not in writing or does not include a reason that supports your request. In addition, we may deny your request if you ask us to amend information that:

Right to accounting of disclosures: You have the right to request an "accounting of disclosures". This is a list of certain disclosures of your information that LaPorte Regional Health System made.

To request this list or accounting of disclosures, you must submit your request in writing to the Medical Records Department located in the lower level of the LaPorte Hospital building. Forms for this purpose are located in the Medical Records Department. Your request must state a time period that may not be longer than 6 (six) years and may not include dates before April 14, 2003. The first list you request within a 12-month period will be free. For additional lists, we may charge you for the costs of providing the list. We will notify you of the cost involved and you may choose to withdraw or modify your request at that time before any costs are incurred.

Right to request privacy restriction for your information: You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the ways LRHS uses or discloses your information for treatment, payment, or health care operations. You also have the right to request a limit on the information LRHS discloses about you to your family, significant others, or others involved in your care or the payment of your care. LRHS is not required to agree to your request. If LRHS does agree, LRHS will comply with your request unless the information is needed to provide you emergency treatment. To request a restriction, you must tell LRHS (1) what information you want to limit; (2) whether you want to limit our use, disclosure, or both; and (3) to whom you want the limits to apply, for example, disclosures to your spouse.

Right to request alternate or confidential communications: You have the right to request that LRHS communicate with you about your care or the payment of your care in a certain way or at a certain location. For example, you can ask that LRHS only contact you at work or by mail. To request alternate communications, you must make your request in writing and submit it to LRHS Patient Scheduling & Registration located in the front lobby of the LaPorte Hospital building. LRHS will not ask you the reason for your request. LRHS will accommodate all reasonable requests. Your request must specify how or where you wish to be contacted.

Right to a paper copy of this notice: You have the right to a paper copy of this Notice at any time. Even if you have agreed to receive this Notice electronically, you are still entitled to a paper copy of this Notice.

Right to file a complaint: If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with LaPorte Regional Health System or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. You may file a complaint with LaPorte Regional Health System by calling the Customer Service line at 219-326-1234, extension 1500. You will not be penalized for filing a complaint.

Further Information About this Notice:

LaPorte Regional Health System and its medical staff as an organized health care arrangement are required by law to maintain the privacy of your information and to provide individuals with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to their information. LRHS and the organized health care arrangement are required to abide by the terms of the Notice currently in effect.

LRHS reserves the right to change the terms of this Notice. LRHS reserves the right to make the revised or changed Notice effective for information about you that we already have as well as any information we receive in the future. LRHS will post a copy of the current Notice at points of registration within LaPorte Regional Health System. The effective date of The Notice will be in the top right-hand corner of every page.

If you have any questions about the information contained in this Notice, please contact the LRHS Privacy Official at 219-326-2404.