Federal law requires Union Hospital District to maintain the privacy of individually identifiable health information and to provide you with notice of its legal duties and privacy practices with respect to such information.  Union Hospital District must abide by the terms and conditions of this Privacy Notice, as revised from time to time.

Who Will Follow This Notice
   
This notice describes our hospital’s practices and that of:

     
A.  Uses or Disclosures of Health Information For Treatment, Payment & Health Care Operations
   
Union Hospital District may use your individually identifiable health information for treatment, payment and health care operations.  Examples of treatment, payment and health care operations include:

     
B. Uses or Disclosures Union Hospital District May Make Without Your Authorization
   
In addition to treatment, payment and health care operations, and unless this Privacy Notice recites a more stringent restriction in Section C, the law permits or requires Union Hospital District to make, use and/or disclose individually identifiable health information without your written authorization:  (i) for certain public health activities and purposes, including reporting of adverse product events to the Food and Drug Administration, (ii) to report suspected abuse, neglect or domestic violence, (iii) to submit information to health oversight agencies for oversight activities, such as audits, authorized by law, (iv) in the course of judicial and administrative proceedings, (v) for law enforcement purposes, (vi) to a medical examiner, coroner or funeral director, (vii) to assist an organ procurement organization or organ bank in facilitating organ or tissue donation and transplantation, (viii) to further research, provided that Union Hospital District complies with federal requirements, (ix) to avert a serious and imminent threat to public health safety, (x) for specialized government functions, including activities related to the military, veterans, or national security, (xi) to comply with workers’ compensation or similar laws.  Union Hospital District will make the above uses and/or disclosures of information in accordance with applicable law.

In addition, Union Hospital District may use and/or disclose your individually identifiable health information as follows:

   
C. More Stringent Protection For Your Health Information Per South Carolina Law
   
If you are a patient with an HIV or Hepatitis B infection, your attending physician may inform a lay healthcare giver who is or soon will be providing health care to you regarding your HIV or Hepatitis B infection.  However, your physician must notify you before and after the disclosure is made and must provide you with the name of the person to whom the physician will disclose this information.

With respect to your prescription drug information, Union Hospital District will not transfer or receive your information without your written release, except when the transfer or receipt involves:  (1) the lawful transmission of a prescription drug order in accordance with all state and federal laws pertaining to the practice of pharmacy; (2) information necessary to effect the recall of a defective drug or device or other information necessary to protect the health and welfare of an individual or the public generally; (3) other state or federal laws, court order, or subpoena, or regulations including, but not limited to, accreditation or licensure requirements that mandate release or transfer of information; (4) information that an institutional review board uses to monitor clinical research; (5) information which does not identify you by name, or that is encoded in a manner that information identifying you by name or address is not generally obtainable, and that Union Hospital District uses for epidemiological studies, research, statistical analysis, medical outcomes, or pharmacoeconomic research; and (6) information that Union Hospital District may reveal to a party who, on your behalf, obtains a dispensed prescription from a pharmacy.  If the practitioner discloses information for any purpose other than those listed above, you must sign a permission form.

If you are a patient of a psychologist, professional counselor, marriage and family therapist, psycho-educational specialist, licensed master social worker, licensed independent social worker, or a registered nurse who meets the requirements of a clinical nurse specialist and who works in the field of mental health, South Carolina law requires these professionals to limit their uses and disclosures of the information to the amount of information and recipients necessary to accomplish the purpose of the disclosure.

If you are a patient of a professional counselor (which includes, but is not limited to, a psycho-therapist that provides individual or group therapy, family counseling, chemical abuse or dependency counseling or rehabilitation counseling) or a marriage and family therapist, Union Hospital District may not disclose your confidential information to anyone without your permission.  If the marriage and family therapist discloses information for any purpose, you must sign a permission form.  However, please note that a marriage and family therapist may reveal the information without your written permission if the law requires the disclosure.

For patients receiving neonatal testing to detect inborn metabolic errors and hemoglobin apathies, Union Hospital District may release information about such testing only to the parents of the child, the child’s physician and the child (when 18 years of age or older).

NOTE:  References in this Privacy Notice to health care professionals include only those professionals that Union Hospital District employs.
   
D. Marketing
   
We will need your written authorization to use and disclose your PHI for marketing purposes, except if the marketing is a face-to-face communication or if it involves a promotional gift of nominal value.  “Marketing” includes a communication about a product or service that encourages you to purchase or use the product or service.  It also includes an arrangement whereby Union Hospital District discloses your PHI to another entity, in exchange for compensation, and the other entity communicates about its own product or service to encourage purchase or use of that product or service.  Marketing does not include our describing a health-related product or service (or payment for such product or service) that we provide.  Marketing also does not include our communication for your treatment, or for case management or care coordination purposes, or to direct or recommend to you alternative treatments, therapies, health care providers, or settings of care.
   
E. No Other Uses or Disclosures Without Your Written Authorization
   
Union Hospital District may not make any other uses and disclosures of your individually identifiable health information without your written authorization. You may revoke your authorization at any time if you provide written notice to Union Hospital District. 

Your Right to Receive Confidential Communications and to Request Restrictions.  Federal and state law protect your right to keep your individually identifiable health information private.  You may request that you receive communications from Union Hospital District regarding individually identifiable health information by alternative means or at alternative locations.  You must make your request for confidential communications in writing and must submit this request to the office listed below.  Union Hospital District reserves the right to condition your request on the receipt of information regarding how you wish Union Hospital District to handle payment and/or on the availability of an alternative address or method of contact that you may request.  You may request other restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of protected health information for purposes of treatment, payment and health care operations; however, the law does not require Union Hospital District to agree to the requested restrictions unless the restriction request is a reasonable restriction on communication.

Your Right to Inspect and Copy.  You have the right to inspect and obtain a copy of any individually identifiable health information in your medical record unless your attending physician has determined that there is a sound medical reason to deny you access or unless the law restricts Union Hospital District from disseminating the information.

Your Right to Amend.  You also have the right to amend your individually identifiable health information, unless Union Hospital District did not create such information or unless Union Hospital District determines that your medical record is accurate and complete in its existing form.

Your Right to an Accounting.  You have the right to request and receive an accounting of disclosures of your individually identifiable health information that Union Hospital District has made either in the six (6) years prior to the request date, or during the period between the request date and the date that federal law required Union Hospital District to comply with federal privacy regulations, whichever is more recent.  Such an accounting may not include disclosures made to carry out treatment, payment or health care operations, to create an accurate patient directory or notify persons involved in your care, to ensure national security, to comply with the authorized requests of law enforcement, or to inform you of the content of your medical records, or those disclosures which you have previously authorized pursuant to a validly executed authorization form.

If you would like more information on how to exercise these rights, please contact Union Hospital District’s Chief Privacy Officer at: (864) 429-2574.

Your Right to Get This Notice By Email.  You have the right to get a copy of this notice by e-mail.  Even if you have agreed to receive notice via e-mail, you also have the right to request a paper copy of this notice.

If you believe that Union Hospital District has violated your privacy rights with respect to individually identifiable health information, you may file a complaint with Union Hospital District and the Department of Health and Human Services. To file a complaint with Union Hospital District, please contact the Risk Management Office at (864-429-2394).  Union Hospital District will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.  You may also contact the above office for a copy of this Privacy Notice or for further information regarding its contents.

Union Hospital District reserves the right to amend the terms of this Privacy Notice at any time and to apply the revised Privacy Notice to all individually identifiable health information that it maintains.  If Union Hospital District amends this Privacy Notice, you will be provided with a revised copy at your next visit to Union Hospital District, or upon request.  The revised Privacy Notice will also be available on Union Hospital District’s web site, www.wallacethomson.com.