Notice of Privacy Practices

Effective Date: January 1st, 2023

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.

For More Information, Please Contact Us:

Attn: Privacy Officer
Citrus County Rural Health, Inc.
927 North Citrus Avenue
Crystal River, FL 34428
(352) 565-7342

Who We Are

This Notice describes the privacy practices of Citrus County Rural Health, Inc., and the privacy practices of:

• All of our doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other health care professionals authorized to enter information about you into your medical chart.
• All of our departments, including, e.g., our medical records and billing departments.
• All of our health center sites.
• All of our employees, staff, volunteers and other personnel who work for us or on our behalf.

Our Pledge

We understand that health information about you and the health care you receive is personal.  We are committed to protecting your personal health information.  When you receive treatment and other health care services from us, we create a record of the services that you received.  We need this record to provide you with quality care and to comply with legal requirements.  This notice applies to all of our records about your care, whether made by our health care professionals or others working in this office and tells you about the ways in which we may use and disclose your personal health information.  This notice also describes your rights with respect to the health information that we keep about you and the obligations that we have when we use and disclose your health information.

We are required by law to:

• Make sure that health information that identifies you is kept private in accordance with relevant law.
• Give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your personal health information.
• Follow the terms of the notice that is currently in effect for all of your personal health information.

How we May Use and Disclose Your Health Information

We may use and disclose your personal health information for these purposes:

For Treatment.  We may use health information about you to provide you with health care treatment or services.  We may disclose health information about you to the doctors, nurses, technicians, medical students and others who are involved in your care.  They may work at the Health Center, at the hospital if you are hospitalized under our supervision, or at another doctor’s office, lab, pharmacy or other health care provider to whom we may refer you for treatment, consultation, x-rays, lab tests, prescriptions or other health care service.

They may also include doctors and other health care professionals who work at the Health Center, or elsewhere, whom we consult about your care.  For example, we may consult with a specialist who lends his/her services to the Health Center about your care or disclose to an emergency room doctor who is treating you for a broken leg that you have diabetes, because diabetes may affect your body’s healing process.

For Payment.  We may use and disclose health information about you to bill and collect payment from you, your insurance company, including Medicaid and Medicare, or other third party that may be available to reimburse us for some or all of your health care.  We may also disclose health information about you to other health care providers or to your health plan so that they can arrange for payment relating to your care.  For example, if you have health insurance, we may need to share information about your office visit with your health plan in order for your health plan to pay us or reimburse you for the visit.  We may also tell your health plan about treatment that you need to obtain your health plan’s prior approval or to determine whether your plan will cover the treatment.

For Health Care Operations.  We may use and disclose health information about you for our day-to-day operations and may disclose information about you to other health care providers involved in your care or to your health plan for use in their day-to-day operations.  These uses and disclosures are necessary to run the Health Center and to make sure that all of our patients receive quality care, and to assist other providers and health plans in doing so as well.  For example, we may use health information to review the services that we provide and to evaluate the performance of our staff in caring for you.  We may also combine health information about our patients with health information from other health care providers to decide what additional services the Health Center should offer, what services are not needed, whether new treatments are effective or to compare how we are doing with others and to see where we can make improvements.  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 patients are.

Appointment Reminders.  We may use and disclose health information about you to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment at the Health Center.

Health-Related Services and Treatment Alternatives.  We may use and disclose health information to tell you about health-related services or recommend treatment options or alternatives that may be of interest to you.  Please let us know if you do not wish us to contact you with this information, or if you wish to have us use a different address when sending this information to you.

Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care.  We may release health information about you to a friend or family member who is involved in your health care or the person who helps pay for your care.  We will only disclose medical information that these people need to know.  We may also use your medical information to let family members or other responsible people know where you are and what your general medical condition is, or to an entity assisting in disaster relief.  If you are able to make your own health care decisions, we will ask your permission before using your medical information for these purposes.  If you are unable to make health care decisions, we will disclose relevant medical information to family members or other responsible people if we feel it is in your best interest based on our professional judgment.  For example, we may provide limited medical information to allow a family member to pick up a prescription or x-ray for you.

Research.  Under certain circumstances, we may use and disclose health 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 which evaluates a proposed research project and its use of health information, trying to balance the research needs with a patient’s need for privacy.  Before we use or disclose health information for research, the project will have been approved through this special approval process, although we may disclose health information about you to people preparing to conduct a research project.  For example, we may help potential researchers look for patients with specific health needs, so long as the health information they review does not leave our facility.  We will almost always ask for your specific permission if the researcher will have access to your name, address, or other information that reveals who you are or will be involved in your care.

Organ and Tissue Donation.  If you are an organ donor, we may disclose health 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 or tissue donation and transplantation.

Fundraising Activities.  We may use health information about you to contact you in an effort to raise money for our not-for-profit operations.  If you do not want us to send you such information, please contact us at the contact information listed at the end of this Notice.  Each fundraising effort will clearly indicate how you can opt-out of future fundraising communications.

Health Information Exchange.  We may participate in one or more health information exchanges (HIEs) and may electronically share your health information for treatment, payment and healthcare operations purposes with other participants in HIEs.

As Required By Law.  We will disclose health information about you when required to do so by international, 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.

Military and Veterans.  If you are a member of the armed forces or separated/ discharged from military services, we may release health information about you as required by military command authorities or the Department of Veterans Affairs as may be applicable.  We may also release health information about foreign military personnel to the appropriate foreign military authorities.

Workers’ Compensation.  We may release health information about you for workers’ compensation or similar programs.  These programs provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness.

Public Health Activities.  We are sometimes required to report 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.
• 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 about you 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.

Business Associates.  We may disclose Health Information to our business associates that perform functions on our behalf or provide us with services if the information is necessary for such functions or services.  For example, we may use another company to perform billing services on our behalf.  All of our business associates are obligated to protect the privacy of your information and are not allowed to use or disclose any information other than as specified in our contract.

Lawsuits and Disputes.  We may disclose health information about you in response to a court or administrative order.  We may also disclose health information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process that is not accompanied by a court or administrative order, but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.

Law Enforcement.  We may release health information about you if asked to do so by a law enforcement official:

• In response to a court order, subpoena, warrant, summons or similar process.
• To identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person.
• Under certain limited circumstances, about the victim of a crime.
• About a death we believe may be the result of criminal conduct.
• About criminal conduct at the Health Center.
• 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.

Coroners, Health Examiners and Funeral Directors.  We may release health information about our patients 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 to funeral directors as may be necessary for them to carry out their duties.

National Security and Intelligence Activities.  We may release health information about you to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence and other national security activities authorized by law.

Protective Services for the President and Others.  We may disclose health information about you to authorized federal officials so they may provide protection to the President, other authorized persons or foreign heads of state or conduct special investigations.

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 corrections 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 and Discloses Of Your Protected Health Information That Require Written Authorization:

We will request that you sign a separate form or notice acknowledging you have received a copy of this notice.  If you choose, or are not able to sign, a staff member will sign their name, date.  This acknowledgment will be filed with your records.