Lakeland Regional Health System

Description

LAKELAND REGIONAL HEALTH SYSTEM NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES 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. I. Understanding Your Health Record Information. Each time you visit a hospital, physician or other healthcare provider, the provider makes a record of it. Typically, this record contains your health history, current symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment and a plan for future care or treatment. This information, often referred to as your medical record, serves as a: A. Basis for planning your care and treatment. B. Means of communication among the many health professionals who contribute to your care. C. Legal document describing the care you received. D. Means by which you or a third-party payer can verify that you actually received the services billed. E. Tool in medical education. F. Source of information for public health officials charged with improving the health regions they serve. G. Tool to assess the appropriateness and quality of care you received. H. Tool to improve the quality of healthcare and achieve better patient outcomes. Understanding what is in your health records and how your health information is used helps you to: I. Ensure its accuracy and completeness. J. Understand who, what, where, when, why and how others may access your health information. K. Make informed decisions about authorizing disclosure to others. L. Better understand the health information rights detailed below. (See Section III) II. We Have a Legal Duty to Safeguard Your Protected Health Information We are legally required to protect the privacy of your health information. We call this information "protected health information," or "PHI" for short. It includes information that can be used to identify you, that we’ve created or received about your past, present, or future health or condition, the provision of health care to you, or the payment of health care. We must provide you with this notice about our privacy practices that explains how, when, and why we use and disclose your health information. With some exceptions, we may not use or disclose any more of your health information than is necessary to accomplish the purpose of the use or disclosure. We are legally required to follow the privacy practices that are described in this notice. Lakeland Regional Health System (LRHS) and all of its subsidiaries will abide by the LRHS Notice of Privacy Practices. All credentialed medical staff of LRHS and its subsidiaries will abide by the LRHS Notice of Privacy Practices while operating at an LRHS entity. The LRHS Notice of Privacy Practices will not cover the credentialed medical staff in their individual office practices. An Organized Health Care Arrangement (OHCA) is a clinically integrated arrangement in which patients are treated by two or more health care providers. All members of the OHCA may use and disclose protected health information across the arrangement, as they would within their individual operations including as necessary to carry out treatment, payment and health care operations.

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