Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis
Notice of Privacy Practices — Effective Date of this Notice: 4/14/03
This notice describes how information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully.
Click here for a printable version of this privacy practice.
Purpose of This Notice
The privacy of your health information is important and our pledge and legal duty is to protect health information about you. We are required by federal and state laws to protect the privacy of your health information.
- We must give you notice of our legal duties and privacy practices concerning your health information, including:
- We must protect information that we have created or received about your past, present, or future health condition, health care we provide to you, or payment for your health care.
- We must notify you about how we protect your health information.
- We must explain how, when and why we use or disclose your health information.
- We may only use or disclose your health information as we have described in this Notice.
- We must abide by the terms of this Notice.
We are required to abide by the terms of this Notice. We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice and to make new Notice provisions effective for all health information that we maintain. We will post a revised Notice in our offices, make copies available to you upon request and post the revised Notice on our web site, www.ccspm.org.
Uses and Disclosures of Your Health Information
There are a number of purposes for which it may be necessary for us to use or disclose your health information. For some of these purposes, we are required to obtain your consent. In other instances, we may be required to obtain a more specific authorization. And in a limited number of circumstances, we are authorized by law to disclose your health information without your consent or authorization. Following is a description of these uses and disclosures.
A. Uses and Disclosures of Your Health Information for Purposes of Treatment, Payment and Health Care Operations.
- Health Care Treatment. We may use or disclose health information about you to provide and manage your health care. This may include communicating with other health care providers such as doctors, nurses, social workers, other clinicians and professionals in training. Also, we may use or disclose health information about you when you need (if applicable) an ultra sound, lab procedures, physical examination, counseling or mental health treatment.
- Appointment Reminders and Other Contacts. We may use your health information to contact you with reminders about your appointments, alternative treatments you may want to consider, or other of our services that may be of interest to you.
- Payment. We may use or disclose your health information to bill and collect payment for the treatment and services provided to you. For example: A bill may be sent to you or a third party payer. The information on or accompanying the bill may include information that identifies you, as well as your diagnosis, procedures and supplies used.
- Health Care Operations. We may use or disclose your health information to allow us to perform necessary business functions and improve our health care services to you. For example, we may use your health information to help us train new staff and conduct quality improvement activities. We may also disclose your information to consultants and other business associates who help us with these activities, but not limited to, billing, computer support, transcription services, licensing and management activities.
Minnesota Patient Consent for Disclosures.
For some of the disclosures of health information described above, we are required by Minnesota law to obtain a written consent from you, unless the disclosure is authorized by law.
B. Uses and Disclosures of Your Health Information that Require Your Opportunity to Agree or Object.
In the following instances we will provide you with the opportunity to agree or object to our use or disclosure of your health information:
- Persons Involved in Your Care. We may, using our best judgment, disclose relevant health information to a family member or other person involved in your care or payment related to your care.
- Notification to Others. We may disclose health information about you to a family member, a personal representative, or another person responsible for your care, in order to notify such person about your current location or general condition.
C. Uses and Disclosures Authorized by Law.
Under certain circumstances we are authorized by law to use or disclose your health information without obtaining a consent or authorization from you. These may include when the use or disclosure is:
- Required by law.
- Necessary for public health activities. For example, when reporting to public health authorities the exposure to certain communicable diseases or risks of contracting or spreading a disease or condition.
- For health oversight activities. For example, when disclosing health information to a state or federal health oversight agency so it can appropriately monitor the health care system.
- Related to victims of abuse and neglect.
- For organ donation purposes.
- For judicial and administrative proceedings. For example, when responding to a court order.
- For law enforcement purposes. For example, when complying with laws that require the reporting of certain types of wounds or injuries.
- To a coroner or medical examiner to allow them to carry out their duties.
- To avert a serious threat to health or safety of you, another person or the public.
- Related to specialized government functions. For example, to respond to military and veterans’ activities or national security.
- Related to Workers’ Compensation.
- Related to correctional institutions and other custody situations.
D. Uses and Disclosures of Your Health Information that Require Your Authorization. Other uses and disclosures of your health information not covered in this Notice will be made only with your written authorization. If you give us an authorization, you may revoke it in writing at any time. Your revocation will not affect any uses or disclosures made while your authorization was still in effect.
Your Individual Rights
A. Right to Access and Copy Your Health Information.
With some exceptions, you have the right to inspect and request a copy of your health records, billing records and records used to make decisions about your care or services if those records include health information about you and are maintained or used by us. We ask that your request be made in writing. We may charge a reasonable fee. There are limited situations in which we may deny your request. In these situations, we will let you know why we cannot grant your request and how to request a review of our denial.
B. Right to Request an Amendment of Your Health Information.
You have the right to request that we amend your health information if you feel that records are incorrect or incomplete. If you wish to have your health information corrected or updated, we ask that your request be made in writing and explain your reason for the amendment. Under limited circumstances we may deny your request. If we do so, you may file a statement of disagreement with us. You may also ask that any future disclosures of your health information include your requested amendment and our denial of your request.
C. Right to Request Restrictions on Uses and Disclosures of Your Health Information.
You have the right to request that we restrict our use or disclosure of your health information. We ask that your request be made in writing. We are not required to agree to your request for a restriction. However, if we do agree, we will comply with our agreement, unless there is an emergency or we are otherwise required to use or disclose the information.
D. Right to Request Confidential Communications.
You have the right to request that we communicate with you in a specific way or at a specific location. For example, you may request that we contact you at your work address or by email. We ask that your request be made in writing. We will make efforts to accommodate reasonable requests.
E. Right to Request an Accounting of Disclosures of Health Information.
You have the right to request an accounting of certain disclosures we make of your health information. We ask that your request be made in writing. Certain disclosures, such as those made with your consent and/or for treatment, payment or health care operations, will not be included in the accounting we provide to you. Your request must state a time period, which may not be longer than six (6) years and may not include dates before April 14, 2003. The first accounting you request within a 12-month period will be free. For additional accountings, we may charge you for the costs of providing the accounting. We will notify you in advance of the cost involved.
F. Right to Receive a Copy of This Notice.
You have the right to receive a paper copy of this Notice at any time. We will make this Notice available in electronic form and post it on our web site.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Privacy Officer listed below.
Questions or Complaints
If you want more information about our privacy practices or have questions or concerns, please contact our Privacy Officer. If you are concerned that your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with our Privacy Officer. You may also submit a written complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will provide you with the address of the Department upon request.
We support your right to the privacy of your health information. We will not retaliate in any way if you choose to file a complaint with us or with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Privacy Officer Contact Information
Name: Carol Hood, Catholic Charities Privacy Officer
Address: 1200 2nd Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55403
Phone: 612.664.8525 Fax: 612.664.8555
E-mail: Chood@ccspm.org
