HIPAA Privacy Policy

 

Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region

 

Notice of Health Information Privacy Practices

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED OR DISCLOSED BY PLANNED PARENTHOOD SOUTHWEST OHIO REGION AND HOW YOU CAN ACCESS THIS INFORMATION.  

 

Effective Date of This Notice: April 02, 2024

 

PLEASE REVIEW THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY.

If you have any questions about this Notice, please contact Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region’s Privacy Official at: (513) 592-2828

We understand that information about you and your health care is personal.  We are committed to protecting health information about you.  We will create a record of the care and services you receive from us.  We do so to provide you with quality care and to comply with any legal or regulatory requirements.  This Notice applies to all of the records generated or received by Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region, whether we documented the health information, or another doctor forwarded it to us. 

This Notice will tell you the ways in which we may use or disclose health information about you.  This Notice also describes your rights to the health information we keep about you and describes certain obligations we have regarding the use and disclosure of your health information.

Our pledge regarding your health information is backed-up by Federal law.  The privacy and security provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) require us to:

• Make sure that health information that identifies you is kept private;
• Make available this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to health information about you; and
• Follow the terms of the Notice that is currently in effect.

 

HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

The following categories describe different ways that we may use or disclose health information about you. Unless otherwise noted, each of these uses and disclosures may be made without your permission. For each category, we will explain what we mean and give some examples.  Not every use or disclosure in a category will be listed.  However, unless we ask for separate authorization, all of the ways we are permitted to use and disclose information will fall within one of the categories.

 

For Treatment: We may use health information about you to provide you with health care treatment and services.  We may disclose health information about you to doctors, nurses, technicians, health students, volunteers or other personnel who are involved in taking care of you.  They may work at our offices, at a hospital if you are hospitalized under our supervision, or at another doctor’s office, lab, pharmacy, or other healthcare provider to whom we may refer you for consultation, to take x-rays, to perform lab tests, to have prescriptions filled, or for other treatment purposes.  For example, a doctor treating you may need to know if you have diabetes because diabetes may slow the healing process. We may provide that information to a physician treating you at another institution.

For Payment: We may use and disclose health information about you so that the treatment and services you receive from us may be billed to and payment collected from you, an insurance company, a state Medicaid agency or a third party.  For example, we may need to give your health insurance plan information about your office visit so your health plan will pay us or reimburse you for the visit.  Alternatively, we may need to give your health information to the state Medicaid agency so that we may be reimbursed for providing services to you.  In some instances, we may need to tell your health plan about a treatment you are going to receive to obtain prior approval or to determine whether your plan will cover the treatment.

For Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose health information about you for operations of our health care practice.  These uses and disclosures are necessary to run our practice and make sure that all of our patients receive quality care.  For example, we may use health information to review our treatment and services and to evaluate the performance of our staff in caring for you.  We may also combine health information about many patients to decide what additional services we should offer, what services are not needed, whether certain new treatments are effective, or to compare how we are doing with others and to see where we can make improvements.  We may provide your health information to outside entities and persons such as our attorneys, accountants, consultants and others that provide services to us or on our behalf.  We may remove information that identifies you from this set of health information so others may use it to study health care delivery without learning who our specific patients are.

Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio has agreed to participate in an organized health care arrangement ("OHCA") with Clinical Health Network for Transportation, Inc. ("CHN") and its participating members. Current OHCA participants include:

 

• Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida

• Planned Parenthood of Arizona

• Planned Parenthood Great Plains

• Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts

• Planned Parenthood Greater New York

• Planned Parenthood Northern New England

• Planned Parenthood of Southern New England

• Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region

 

Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region and the OHCA participating members use an electronic health record hosted by BetterHealth, a Planned Parenthood Partnership and maintained by CHN. Through the BetterHealth electronic health record, identifiable health information of Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region is combined with the identifiable health information of other OHCA members.

As a participant in an OHCA, we may share your protected health information with other participants of the OHCA to support the delivery and access of high quality health care. The OHCA may use and disclose your health information to provide treatment, payment or the joint management and operations of the OHCA, including activities such as a shared electronic health medical record, exchange of your health information and insurance information, financial and billing services, quality improvement, or risk management activities.  The formation of this OHCA is for the sole purpose of facilitating compliance with HIPAA, and creates no legal representations, warranties, obligations or responsibilities beyond HIPAA compliance.

Appointment Reminders: We may use and disclose health information to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment.  Please let us know if you do not wish to have us contact you concerning your appointment, or if you wish to have us use a different telephone number or address to contact you for this purpose.

Fundraising Activities: We may use health information about you to contact you in an effort to raise money for our not-for-profit operations.  You have the right to opt out of receiving these communications. Please let us know if you do not want us to contact you for such fundraising efforts by calling the Privacy Officer at (513) 592-2828.

Research: There may be situations where we want to use and disclose health information about you for research purposes.  For example, a research project may involve comparing the efficacy of one medication over another.  For any research project that uses your health information, we will either obtain an authorization from you or ask an Institutional Review or Privacy Board to waive the requirement to obtain authorization.  A waiver of authorization will be based upon assurances from a review board that the researchers will adequately protect your health information.

As Required by Law: We will disclose health information about you when required to do so by federal, state, or local law. 

To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety: We may use and disclose health 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. 

Workers’ Compensation: We may release health information when authorized by and to the extent necessary to comply with worker’s compensation laws and similar programs.  These programs provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness.

Public Health Risks: We may disclose health information about you for public health activities.  These activities generally include the following:

• To prevent or control disease, injury or disability;
• To report births and deaths;
• To report child abuse or neglect
• To report reactions to medications or problems with products;
• To notify people of recalls of products they may be using;
• 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;
• To notify the appropriate government authority if we believe a patient has been the victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence.  We will only make this disclosure if you agree or when required or authorized by law.

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.  These activities are necessary for the government to monitor the health care system, government programs, and compliance with civil rights laws. 

Lawsuits and Disputes: If you are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose health information about you in response to an order issued by a court or administrative tribunal.  We may also disclose health information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only after efforts have been made to tell you about the request and you have time to obtain an order protecting the information requested.

Law Enforcement: We may release health information to a law enforcement official under limited circumstances.  For example, in response to a warrant or subpoena, for the purpose of identifying or locating a suspect, witness, or missing person, under certain circumstances.

Coroners, Health Examiners and Funeral Directors: We may release health information to a coroner or health examiner.  This may be necessary, for example, to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death.  We may also release health information about patients to funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties.

Inmates: If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law enforcement official, we may release health information about you to the correctional institution or law enforcement official.  This release would be necessary: (1) for the institution to provide you with health care; (2) to protect your health and safety or the health and safety of others; or (3) for the safety and security of the correctional institution.

 

USES OF HEALTH INFORMATION REQUIRING AN AUTHORIZATION

The following uses and disclosures of health information will be made only with your written permission:

• Uses and disclosures of protected health information for marketing purposes.
• Use and disclosures that constitute the sale of your protected health information.
• Other uses and disclosures of health information not covered by this Notice or the laws that apply to us.

If you provide us with permission to use or disclose health information about you, you may revoke that permission, in writing, at any time.  If you revoke your permission, we will no longer use or disclose health information about you for the reasons covered by your written authorization.  You understand that we are unable to take back any disclosures we have already made with your permission, and that we are required to retain the records of the care that we provided to you.

 

YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

You have the following rights regarding health information we maintain about you:

Right to Inspect and/or Copy: You have certain rights to inspect and/or copy health information that may be used to make decisions about your care.  Usually, this includes health and billing records.  This does not include psychotherapy notes.

To inspect and copy health information, you must submit your request in writing on a form provided by us to: “The Privacy Official at Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region.”  If you request a copy of your health information, we may charge a fee for the costs of locating, copying, mailing or other supplies and services associated with your request.

We may deny your request to inspect and copy in certain very limited circumstances.  If you are denied access to health information, you may in certain instances request that the denial be reviewed.  Another licensed health care professional chosen by our practice will review your request and the denial.  The person conducting the review will not be the person who denied your initial request.  We will comply with the outcome of the review.

Right to Amend: If you feel that health information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend the information.  You have a right to request an amendment for as long as we keep the information.  To request an amendment, your request must be made in writing on a form provided by us submitted to: “The Privacy Official at Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region.”  

We may deny your request for an amendment if it is not the form provided by us and does not include a reason to support the request.  In addition, we may deny your request if you ask us to amend information that:

• Was not created by us, unless the person or entity that created the health information is no longer available to make the amendment;
• Is not part of the health information kept by or for our practice;
• Is not part of the health information which you would be permitted to inspect and copy; or
• Is not accurate and complete.

Any amendment we make to your health information will be disclosed to those with whom we disclose information as previously specified.

Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to request a list (accounting) of any disclosures of your health information we have made, except for uses and disclosures for treatment, payment, and health care operations, as previously described.  

To request this list of disclosures, you must submit your request on a form that we will provide to you.  Your request must state a time period that may not be longer than six years from the date of the request.  The first list of disclosures you request within a 12-month period will be free.  If you request such an accounting more than once in a 12-month period, we will charge a reasonable fee. 

Right to Request Restrictions: You have the right to request a restriction on how we use or disclose your health information for treatment, payment, or health care operations.  We will consider but we are not required to agree to your request for a restriction.   

While we will try to accommodate your request for restrictions, we are not required to do so if it is not feasible for us to do so, or we believe it will negatively impact the care we may provide you.  If we do agree, we will comply with your request unless the information is needed to provide you with emergency treatment.  To request a restriction, you must make your request on a form that we will provide you.  In your request, you must tell us what information you want to limit and to whom you want the limits to apply.  However, we are required to agree to any request by you to restrict disclosures of protected health information to health insurers if you have fully paid for your health services pertaining to such disclosures using your own money.

Right to Request Confidential Communications: You have the right to request that we communicate with you about health matters in a certain manner or at a certain location.  For example, you can ask that we only contact you at work or by mail to a post office box.  During your visit, we will ask you how you wish to receive communications about your health care or for any other instructions on notifying you about your health information.  We will accommodate all reasonable requests.

Right to a Paper Copy of This Notice: You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this Notice at any time upon request.  You may also obtain a copy of this Notice at our website: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/swoh/  

Right to Receive Notice of a Breach:  We are required to notify you following a breach of unsecured protected health information.

Minors and Persons with Guardians:   Minors have all the rights outlined in this Notice with respect to health information relating to reproductive health care, except for services the law requires their parent or guardian to consent to, in emergency situations, or when the law requires reporting of abuse and neglect.  In the case of abortion, if a parent provides consent to your abortion, the parent has all the rights outlined in this Notice, including the right to access the health information relating to the abortion.  However, if you obtain a judicial bypass of the consent requirement, you have the same rights as an adult with respect to health information relating to your abortion.  If you are a minor or a person with a guardian obtaining health care that is not related to reproductive health, your parent or legal guardian may have the right to access your medical record and make certain decisions regarding the uses and disclosures of your health information.  

 

CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE

We reserve the right to change this Notice.  We reserve the right to make the revised or changed Notice effective for health information we already have about you as well as any information we receive in the future.  We will post a copy of the current Notice in our facility and on our website.  The Notice contains the effective date on the first page.

 

COMPLAINTS

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with us or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.  To file a complaint with us, contact the privacy official in writing at: The Privacy Official at Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region, 2314 Auburn Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45219.  You will not be penalized for filing a complaint.

 

The CHN Participating Covered Entities include: Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida; Planned Parenthood Arizona Inc.; Planned Parenthood Great Plains; Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, Inc.; Planned Parenthood of Greater New York; Planned Parenthood of Northern New England Inc.; Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, Inc.; and Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region.