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.
If you have any questions about this Notice, please contact the Facility Privacy Officer.
This Notice describes our facility’s practices and that of:
We understand that medical information about you and your health is personal. We are committed to protecting medical information about you. We create a record of the care and services you receive at the facility. We need this record to provide you with quality care and to comply with certain legal requirements. This Notice applies to all of the records of your care generated by the facility, whether made by facility members of the workforce or your personal doctor. Your personal doctor may have different policies or notices regarding the doctor’s use and disclosure of your medical information created in the doctor’s office or clinic.
This Notice will tell you about the ways in which we may use and disclose medical information about you. We also describe your rights and certain obligations we have regarding the use and disclosure of medical information. We are required by law to:
The following categories describe different ways that we use and disclose medical information. For each category of uses or disclosures we will explain what we mean and try to give some examples. Not every use or disclosure in a category will be listed. However, all of the ways we are permitted to use and disclose information will fall within one of the categories. Prior authorization is required for most uses and disclosures of Psychotherapy notes, marketing disclosures and sale of protected health information. Any other use and disclosure not mentioned in the Notice of Privacy Practices requires prior authorization.
For Treatment. We may use medical information about you to provide you with medical treatment or services. We may disclose medical information about you to doctors, nurses, technicians, medical students, or other facility workforce members who are involved in taking care of you at the facility. For example, a doctor treating you for a broken leg may need to know if you have diabetes because diabetes may slow the healing process. In addition, the doctor may need to tell the dietitian if you have diabetes so that we can arrange for appropriate meals. Different departments of the facility also may share medical information about you in order to coordinate the different things you need, such as prescriptions, lab work and x-rays. We also may disclose medical information about you to people outside the facility who may be involved in your medical care after you leave the facility, such as family members, clergy or others we use to provide services that are part of your care.
For Payment. We may use and disclose medical information about you so that the treatment and services you receive at the facility may be billed to, and payment may be collected from you, an insurance company or a third party. For example, we may need to give your health plan information about surgery you received at the facility so your health plan will pay us or reimburse you for the surgery. We may also tell your health plan about a treatment you are going to receive to obtain prior approval or to determine whether your plan will cover the treatment.
For Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose medical information about you for facility operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary to run the facility and make sure that all of our patients/residents receive quality care. For example, we may use medical information to review our treatment and services and to evaluate the performance of our staff in caring for you. We may also combine medical information about many facility patients/residents to decide what additional services the facility should offer, what services are not needed, and whether certain new treatments are effective. We may also disclose information to doctors, nurses, technicians, medical students, and other facility team members for review and learning purposes. We may also combine the medical information we have with medical information from other facilities to compare how we are doing and see where we can make improvements in the care and services we offer. We may remove information that identifies you from this set of medical information so others may use it to study health care and health care delivery without learning who the specific patients/residents are.
For Appointment Reminders. We may use and disclose medical information to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or medical care at the facility.
Treatment Alternatives. We may use and disclose medical information to tell you about or recommend possible treatment options or alternatives that may be of interest to you.
For Health-Related Benefits and Services. We may use and disclose medical information to tell you about health-related benefits or services that may be of interest to you.
For Fundraising Activities. We may use medical information about you to contact you in an effort to raise money for the facility and its operations. We may disclose medical information to a foundation related to the facility so that the foundation may contact you in raising money for the facility. We only would release contact information, such as your name, address and phone number and the dates you received treatment or services at the facility. If you do not want the facility to contact you for fundraising efforts, you must notify Nexus Health Systems by going to optout@nhsltd.com, providing your full name and current address in the message and that you do not wish to be contacted for fundraising activities.
For Facility Directory. We may include certain limited information about you in the facility directory while you are a patient/resident at the facility. This information may include your name, location in the facility, your general condition (e.g., fair, stable, etc.) and your religious affiliation. The directory information, except for your religious affiliation, may also be released to people who ask for you by name. Your religious affiliation may be given to a member of the clergy, such as a priest or rabbi, even if they don’t ask for you by name. This is so your family, friends and clergy can visit you in the facility and generally know how you are doing.
For Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care. We may release medical information about you to a friend or family member who is involved in your medical care. We may also give information to someone who helps pay for your care. We may also tell your family or friends your condition and that you are in the facility. In addition, we may disclose medical information about you to an entity assisting in a disaster relief effort so that your family can be notified about your condition, status and location.
For Research. Under certain circumstances, we may use and disclose medical information about you for research purposes. For example, a research project may involve comparing the health and recovery of all patients/residents who received one medication to those who received another for the same condition. All research projects, however, are subject to a special approval process. This process evaluates a proposed research project and its use of medical information, trying to balance the research needs with patient’s/residents’ need for privacy of their medical information. Before we use or disclose medical information for research, the project will have been approved through this research approval process, but we may, however, disclose medical information about you to people preparing to conduct a research project, for example, to help them look for patients/residents with specific medical needs, so long as the medical information they review does not leave the 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 at the facility.
As Required By Law. We will disclose medical information about you when required to do so by federal, state or local law.
To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety. We may use and disclose medical 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.
Organ and Tissue Donation. If you are an organ donor, we may release medical information 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.
Military and Veterans. If you are a member of the armed forces, we may release medical information about you as required by military command authorities. We may also release medical information about foreign military team members to the appropriate foreign military authority.
Workers’ Compensation. We may release medical information about you for workers’ compensation or similar programs. These programs provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness.
Public Health Risks. We may disclose medical information about you for public health activities. These activities generally include the following activities:
Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose medical information 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.
Lawsuits and Disputes. If you are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose medical information about you in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose medical information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, 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 medical information if asked to do so by a law enforcement official:
Coroners, Medical Examiners, Justice-of-the-Peace and Funeral Directors. We may release medical information to a coroner, justice-of-the-peace and medical examiner. This may be necessary, for example, to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We may also release medical information about patients/residents of the facility to funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties.
National Security and Intelligence Activities. We may release medical 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 medical 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 medical information about you to the correctional 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.
Your Rights Regarding Medial Information About You
You have the following rights regarding medical information we maintain about you:
Right to Inspect and Copy. You have the right to inspect and copy medical information that may be used to make decisions about your care. Usually, this includes medical and billing records, but does not include psychotherapy notes.
To inspect and copy medical information that may be used to make decisions about you, you must submit your request in writing to Nexus Health Systems; Privacy Officer. If you request a copy of the information, we may charge a fee for the costs of copying, mailing or other supplies associated with your request.
We may deny your request to inspect and copy in certain very limited circumstances. If you are denied access to medical information, you may request that the denial be reviewed. Another licensed health care professional chosen by the facility will review your request and the denial. The person conducting the review will not be the person who denied your request. We will comply with the outcome of the review.
Right to Amend. If you feel that medical information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend the information. You have the right to request an amendment for as long as the information is kept by or for the facility. To request an amendment, your request must be made in writing and submitted to Nexus Health Systems’ Privacy Officer. In addition, you must provide a reason that supports your request. We may deny your request for an amendment if it is not in writing or does not include a reason to support the request. In addition, we may deny your request if you ask us to amend information that:
Was not created by us, unless the person or entity that created the information
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures. You have the right to request an “accounting of disclosures.” This is a list of the disclosures we made of medical information about you. To request this list or accounting of disclosures, you must submit your request in writing to Nexus Health Systems’ Privacy Officer. Your request must state a time period which may not be longer than six years and may not include dates before April 14, 2003. Your request should indicate in what form you want the list (for example, on paper or electronically). The first list you request within a 12 month period will be free. For additional lists, we may charge you for the costs of providing the list. We will notify you of the cost involved and you may choose to withdraw or modify your request at that time before any costs are incurred.
Right to Request Restrictions. You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the medical information we use or disclose about you for treatment, payment or health care operations. You also have the right to request a limit on the medical information we disclose about you to someone who is involved in your care or the payment for your care, like a family member or friend. For example, you could ask that we not use or disclose information about a surgery you had. You also have the right to restrict disclosures to a health plan with respect to treatment if you have fully paid out-of-pocket
We are not required to agree to your request. If we do agree, we will comply with your request unless the information is needed to provide you emergency treatment.
To request restrictions, you must make your request in writing to Nexus Health Systems’ Privacy Officer. In your request, you must tell us (1) what information you want to limit; (2) whether you want to limit our use, disclosure or both; and (3) to whom you want the limits to apply, for example, disclosures to your spouse.
Right to Request Confidential Communications. You have the right to request that we communicate with you about medical matters in a certain way or at a certain location. For example, you can ask that we only contact you at work or by mail. To request confidential communications, you must make your request in writing to Nexus Health Systems’ Privacy Officer. We will not ask you the reason for your request. We will accommodate all reasonable requests. Your request must specify how or where you wish to be contacted.
Right to a Paper Copy of This Notice. You have the right to a paper copy of this Notice. You may ask us to give you a copy of this Notice at any time. Even if you have agreed to receive this Notice electronically, you are still entitled to a paper copy of this Notice. You may also obtain a copy of this Notice on our website, www.nhsltd.com.
Right to Be notified of a Breach. You have the right to be notified if there is a breach of your unsecured health information. A breach is an impermissible use or disclosure that demonstrates a greater probability that protected health information has been compromised.
We reserve the right to change this Notice. We reserve the right to make the revised or changed Notice effective for medical information we already have about you, as well as any information we receive in the future. We will post a copy of the current Notice in the facility, and on our website. The Notice will contain on the bottom of each page, the effective date. In addition, each time you register at or are admitted to the facility for treatment or health care services as an inpatient/resident or outpatient/resident, we will offer you a copy of the current Notice in effect.
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the facility or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. All complaints must be filed in writing.
You will not be penalized for filing a complaint.
Other uses and disclosures of medical information not covered by this Notice or the laws that apply to us will be made only with your written permission. If you provide us permission to use or disclose medical information about you, you may revoke that permission, in writing, at any time. If you revoke your permission, we will no longer use or disclose medical information about you for the reasons covered by your written authorization. You understand that we are unable to take back any disclosures we have already made with your permission, and that we are required to retain our records of the care that we provided to you.
Cookies. We collect Non-Personal Information about your use of our Web site and your use of the Web sites of selected sponsors and advertisers through the use of Cookies. Every computer accesses a Nexus Health Systems Web site is assigned a different Cookie by Nexus Health Systems. The information collected by Cookies (i) helps us dynamically generate advertising and content on Web pages or in newsletters, (ii) allows us to statistically monitor how many people are using our Web site and selected sponsors’ and advertisers’ sites, (iii) how many people open our emails, and (iv) for what purposes these actions are being taken. We may use Cookie information to target certain advertisements to your browser or to determine the popularity of certain content or advertisements. Cookies are also used to facilitate a user’s log-in, as navigation aids and as session timers. Cookies used by Nexus Health Systems Manager are also used to restrict underage use of the tools.
Most browser software can be set to reject all Cookies. Most browsers offer instructions on how to reset the browser to reject Cookies in the “Help” section of the toolbar. If you reject our Cookies, certain of the functions and conveniences of our Web site may not work properly but you do not have to accept our Cookies in order to productively use our site. We do not link Non-Personal Information from Cookies to Personally Identifiable Information without your permission and do not use Cookies to collect or store personal health information about you.
Web Beacons. We also may use Web Beacons to collect Non-Personal Information about your use of our Web site and the Web sites of selected sponsors and advertisers, and your use of special promotions or newsletters. The information collected by Web Beacons (i) allows us to statistically monitor how many people are using our website and selected sponsors’ and advertisers’ sites, (ii) how many people open our emails, and (iii) for what purposes these actions are being taken. Our Web Beacons are not used to track your activity outside of our Web sites or those of our sponsors’. We do not link Non-Personal Information from Web Beacons to Personally Identifiable Information without your permission and do not use Web Beacons to collect or store Personal Health Information about you.
We collect personally identifiable information that you provide to us when you register as a member of Nexus Health Systems and/or when you update your member profile. We use the Personally Identifiable Information that you provide to respond to your questions, provide you the specific services you select, send you emails about Web site maintenance and updates, and inform you of significant changes to this Privacy Policy.
This Privacy Policy does not apply to content, business information, ideas, concepts or inventions that you send to Nexus Health Systems by email. If you want to keep content or business information, ideas, concepts or inventions private or proprietary, do not send them in an email to Nexus Health Systems. We try to answer every email within 48 business hours, but are not always able to do so.
Children. We are committed to protecting the privacy of children. Neither Nexus Health Systems nor any of its services are designed or intended to attract children under the age of 13. We do not collect personally identifiable information from any person we actually know is under the age of 13. A parent or guardian, however, may use Nexus Health Systems to establish a personal health record and a Nexus Health Systems home page for a minor. The parent or guardian is solely responsible for providing supervision of the minor’s use of Nexus Health Systems. The parent or guardian assumes full responsibility for ensuring that the registration information is kept secure and that the information submitted is accurate. The parent or guardian also assumes full responsibility for the interpretation and use of any information or suggestions provided through Nexus Health Systems for the minor.
Except as set forth in this Privacy Policy or as specifically agreed to by you, Nexus Health Systems will not disclose any personally identifiable or personal health information it gathers from you on our website. We may only release personally identifiable or personal health information to third parties: (1) to comply with valid legal requirements such as a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order; or (2) in special cases, such as in response to a physical threat to you or others, to protect property or defend or assert legal rights. In the event that we are legally compelled to disclose your personally identifiable or personal health information to a third party, we will attempt to notify you unless doing so would violate the law or court order. In addition, we may disclose Personal Information as described below.
Nexus Health Systems operations and maintenance contractors sometimes have limited access to your Personally Identifiable Information in the course of providing products or services to Nexus Health Systems. These contractors include vendors and suppliers that provide us with technology, services, and/or content for the operation and maintenance of our Web site. Unless you have Opted-out of receiving emails and newsletters from Nexus Health Systems, these contractors also may have access to your email address to send newsletters or special promotions to you on our behalf or to send emails to you for purposes such as conducting market research on our behalf. Access to your Personally Identifiable Information by these contractors is limited to the information reasonably necessary for the contractor to perform its limited function for Nexus Health Systems. We also contractually require that our operations and maintenance contractors 1) protect the privacy of your Personally Identifiable Information consistent with this Privacy Policy, and 2) not use or disclose your Personally Identifiable Information for any purpose other than providing us with products and services as required by law.
Certain content and services offered to you through our website are served on Web sites hosted and operated by a company other than Nexus Health Systems (“Third Party Contractor Web sites”). Nexus Health Systems does not disclose your Personally Identifiable Information to these Third Party Contractor Web sites without your consent, but you should be aware that any information you disclose once you access these other Web sites is not subject to this Privacy Policy. Nexus Health Systems does not endorse and is not responsible for the privacy practices of these Third Party Contractor Web sites. You should review the privacy policy posted on the other Web site to understand how that Third Party Contractor Website collects and uses your Personally Identifiable Information.
Nexus Health Systems makes an effort to make it obvious to you when you leave our website and enter a Third Party Contractor Web site, either by requiring you to click on a link or by notifying you on the site before you visit the third party site. In addition, if you see a phrase such as “Powered by” or “in association with” followed by the name of a company other than Nexus Health Systems, then you are on a Web site hosted by a company other than Nexus Health Systems.
Nexus Health Systems also provides links to sites provided by Third Party Contractor Websites that have business arrangements with Nexus Health Systems to pay commissions based on sales of products or services generated through Nexus Health Systems. An example of this would be Veritas Medicine in our Clinical Trials channel.
Nexus Health Systems is a contractor and provides co-branded content and services to Channel Partner Web sites hosted and operated by companies other than Nexus Health Systems Channel Partner Websites. You can only access these co-branded content and services only through the Channel Partner Web site, and usually from the health section of these other Web sites. The co-branded Nexus Health Systems pages that you may access through a Channel Partner Web site may have different registration processes and opportunities for information collection, and Personally Identifiable Information that you provide on these pages may be shared with the Channel Partners. Nexus Health Systems does not share Personal Health Information with Channel Partner Web sites without your consent. Each of these co-branded Nexus Health Systems Web sites has its own privacy policy posted on that site, which explains what information is disclosed by Nexus Health Systems to the Channel Partner and vice versa. If you visit one of these co-branded Nexus Health Systems sites, please read the privacy policy that is posted on that site, as well as the individual privacy policy of the Channel Partner Web site.
In addition to the Third Party Contractor Web sites that you may access as described above, for your convenience there are links to Third Party Web sites operated by companies that are not affiliated with the Nexus Health Systems Web site and that do not have contracts to provide content or services through the Nexus Health Systems Web site. These links may be found in advertisements, referenced within content, or placed beside the names or logos of sponsors. Nexus Health Systems does not disclose your Personal Information to these Third Party Websites without obtaining your consent. Nexus Health Systems does not endorse and is not responsible for the privacy practices of these sites. If you choose to link to one of these Third Party Web sites, you should review the privacy policy posted on this other website to understand how that Third Party Web site collects and uses your Personally Identifiable Information.
Listed below are some of the security procedures that Nexus Health Systems uses to protect your privacy:
Our customer service department will forward your complaint to the appropriate internal Nexus Health Systems department for a response or resolution. We try to answer every email within 48 business hours, but may not always able to do so. If you want to (1) delete your Personally Identifiable Information from our systems, (2) update the Personally Identifiable Information that you have provided to us, or (3) change your preferences with respect to marketing contacts or other activities, please use contact us.
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