HIPAA 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.

Our commitment

St. Raphael Health – Dallas is required by law to maintain the privacy of your protected health information, to give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, and to follow the terms of the notice currently in effect.

How we may use and disclose your health information

Treatment

We may use and disclose your health information to provide, coordinate or manage your care and related services, including sharing information with physicians, nurses, technicians and other providers involved in your treatment.

Payment

We may use and disclose your health information to bill and obtain payment for the care you receive, including determining eligibility or coverage, and utilization review.

Health care operations

We may use and disclose your health information for activities necessary to run the hospital, such as quality assessment, reviewing the competence of our staff, accreditation, licensing, business planning and administration.

Other uses and disclosures permitted or required by law

We may use or disclose your health information without your authorization where the law permits or requires it, including:

• Public health activities, including reporting disease, injury or vital events
• Reporting suspected abuse, neglect or domestic violence
• Health oversight activities such as audits and investigations
• Judicial and administrative proceedings, in response to a valid order or process
• Law enforcement purposes, within the limits the law allows
• Coroners, medical examiners and funeral directors
• Organ, eye or tissue donation
• Research, where an institutional review board has approved a waiver or the information is de-identified
• To avert a serious threat to health or safety
• Specialized government functions, workers' compensation, and where otherwise required by law

Uses and disclosures that require your written authorization

Most uses and disclosures of psychotherapy notes, uses and disclosures for marketing purposes, and any sale of your health information require your written authorization. Other uses and disclosures not described in this notice will be made only with your written authorization, which you may revoke in writing at any time.

Substance use disorder records

Where records are protected under 42 CFR Part 2, additional restrictions apply to their use, disclosure and redisclosure, and those restrictions are followed in addition to the practices described in this notice.

Your rights regarding your health information

• Access. You may inspect and obtain a copy of your health information, generally within 30 days of your request.
• Amendment. You may ask us to correct information you believe is incorrect or incomplete. We may deny the request in certain circumstances and will explain why in writing.
• Accounting of disclosures. You may request a list of certain disclosures we have made, generally covering up to six years.
• Restrictions. You may ask us to limit how we use or disclose your information. We are not required to agree, except that we must agree to withhold information from a health plan where you have paid for the care in full out of pocket.
• Confidential communications. You may ask us to contact you in a specific way or at a specific location.
• Paper copy. You may request a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically.
• Breach notification. You will be notified if a breach occurs that compromises the privacy or security of your information.

To exercise any of these rights, contact the hospital’s Privacy Officer at +1 (469) 329-3700.

Our duties

We are required to maintain the privacy of your health information, provide this notice, and abide by its terms. We reserve the right to change this notice and to make the revised notice effective for information we already hold as well as information we receive in the future. A current copy will be posted on this website and available at the hospital.

Complaints

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with us at the hospital’s Privacy Officer, or with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, D.C. 20201, by calling 1-800-368-1019, or at hhs.gov/ocr/complaints.

You will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint.

Texas requirements

Texas law, including the Texas Medical Records Privacy Act, applies additional requirements to entities handling protected health information in Texas, such as workforce privacy training and limits on electronic disclosure. We follow those requirements in addition to the federal standards described above.