Compassion | Expertise | Excellence | Attention

A PATIENT HAS THE RIGHT TO:

 

•Receive the care necessary to regain or maintain his or her maximum state of health and if necessary, cope with death.

 

•Expect personnel who care for the patient to be friendly, considerate, respectful and qualified through education and experience, as well as perform the services for which they are responsible with the highest quality of services

 

•Be fully informed and have complete information, to the extent known by the physician, regarding diagnosis, treatment, procedure and prognosis, as well as the risks and side effects associated with treatment and procedure prior to the procedure.

 

•Be fully informed of the scope of services available at the facility, provisions for after-hours and emergency care and related fees for services rendered.

 

•Be a participant in decisions regarding the intensity and scope of treatment. If the patient is unable to participate in those decisions, the patients rights shall be exercised by the patients designated representative or other legally designated person.

 

•Make informed decisions regarding his or her care.

 

•Refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law and be informed of the medical consequences of such refusal. The patient accepts responsibility for his or her actions should he or she refuse treatment or not follow the instructions of the physician or facility.

 

•Approve or refuse the release of medical records to any individual outside the facility, or as required by law or third party payment contract.

 

•Be informed of any human experimentation or other research/educational projects affecting his or her care of treatment and can refuse participation in such experimentation or research without compromise to the patients usual care.

 

•Express grievances/complaints and suggestions at any time.

 

•Be given assistance in changing primary care or specialty physicians if other qualified physicians are available. 

 

•Provide patient access to and/or copies of his/her medical records.

 

•Be informed as to the facilitys policy regarding advance directives/living wills

 

•Be fully informed before any transfer to another facility or organization and ensure the receiving facility has accepted the patient transfer.

 

•Express those spiritual beliefs and cultural practices that do not harm or interfere with the planned course of medical therapy for the patient.

 

•Expect the facility to agree to comply with Federal Civil Rights Laws that assure it will provide interpretation for individuals who are not proficient in English. The facility presents information in a manner and form, such as TDD, large print materials and interpreters, that can be understood by hearing and sight impaired individuals.

 

•Have an assessment and regular assessment of pain.

 

•Education of patients and families, when appropriate, regarding their roles in managing pain, as well as potential limitations and side effects of pain treatment, if applicable.

 

•Have their personal, cultural, spiritual and/or ethnic beliefs considered when communicating to them and their families about pain management and their overall care.

 

•Exercise his or her rights without being subjected to discrimination or reprisal.

 

•Voice grievances regarding treatment or care that is (or fails to be) furnished.

 

•Personal privacy.

 

•Receive care in a safe setting.

 

•Be free from all forms of abuse or harassment.

 

•To change providers if other qualified providers are available.

 

        If a patient is adjudged incompetent under applicable State of 

        health and safety laws by a court of proper jurisdiction, the 

        rights the patient are exercised by the person appointed 

        under State law to act on the patients behalf.

 

If a State court has not adjudged a patient incompetent, any legal representative designated by the patient in accordance with State laws may exercise the patients rights to the extent allowed by state law.

 

 

PATIENT RESPONSIBILITIES

 

•Be considerate of other patients and personnel and for assisting in the control of noise, smoking and other distractions.

 

•Respecting the property of others and the facility.

 

•Reporting whether he or she clearly understands the planned course of treatment and what is expected of him or her.

 

•Keeping appointments and, when unable to do so for any reason, notifying the facility and physician.

 

•Providing care givers with the most accurate and complete information regarding present complaints, past illnesses and hospitalizations, medications, unexpected changes in the patients condition or any other patient health matters.

 

•Observing prescribed rules of the facility during his or her stay and treatment and, if instructions are not followed, forfeiting the right to care at the facility and is responsible for the outcome.

 

•Promptly fulfilling his or her financial obligations to the facility.

 

•Payment to facility for copies of the medical records the patient may request.

 

•Identifying any patient safety concerns. 

 

 

ADVANCE DIRECTIVES

 

In the State of Michigan, all patients have the right to participate in their own health care decisions and to make Advance Directives or to execute Powers of Attorney that authorize others to make decisions on their behalf based on the patients expressed wishes when the patient is unable to make decisions or unable to make decisions or unable to communicate decisions. 

 

The Novi Surgery Center respects and upholds those rights. However, unlike in an acute care hospital setting, The Novi Surgery Center does not routinely perform high risk procedures. Most procedures performed in this facility are considered to be of minimal risk. Of course, no surgery is without risk. You will discuss the specifics of your procedure with your physician who can answer your questions as to its risks, your expected recovery, and care after your surgery. Therefore, it is our policy, regardless of the contents of any Advance Directive or instructions from a health care surrogate or attorney-in-fact, that if an adverse event occurs during the your treatment at this facility, we will initiate resuscitative or other stabilizing measures and transfer you to an acute care hospital for further evaluation. 

 

At the acute care hospital, further treatments or withdrawal of treatment measures already begun will be ordered in accordance with your wishes, Advance Directive, or health care Power of Attorney. Your agreement with this facilitys policy will not revoke or invalidate any current health care directive or health care power of attorney. If you wish to complete an Advance Directive, copies of the official State forms are available at our facility. If you do not agree with this facilitys policy, we will be pleased to assist you in rescheduling your procedure.

 

 

PHYSICIAN OWNERSHIP

 

You have selected the Novi Surgery Center, a federally recognized Medicare Certified Ambulatory Surgery Center for your health care services. As a patient, you have the right to receive a list of all physician owners in this facility, upon request. Your physician may or may not have an ownership interest in the Surgery Center as not all pysicians who practice here have an ownership interest. If you feel that the services ordered for you are not proper or are negatively impacted by physician ownership in the facility, please notify a menber of administration immediately.

 

 

PATIENT CONCERNS OR GRIEVANCES

 

Persons who have a concern or grievance regarding the Novi Surgery Center, including but not limited to, decisions regarding admission, treatment, discharge, denail of services, quality of services, courtesy of personnel or any other issue are encouraged to contact the administrator or write a statement to:  

 

Administrator

Novi Surgery Center

25500 Meadowbrook Road

Novi, MI 48375

 

The Novi Surgery Center is Medicare Certified and is accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care.  Any complaints regarding services provided at the Novi Surgery Center can be directed in writing or by telephone to:

 

Department of Health Services

PO Box 30037

235 South Grand Avenue

Lansing, MI  48909

(517) 373-2035

 

Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care

5250 Old Orchard Road, Suite 200

Skokie, IL 60077

Tel: 847/853.6060

 

 

HIPAA

 

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.

 

This Privacy Notice is being provided to you as a requirement of a federal law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). This Privacy Notice describes how we may use and disclose your protected health information to carry out treatment, payment or health care operations and for other purposes that are permitted or required by law. It also describes your rights to access and control your protected health information in some cases. Your "protected health information" means any written and oral health information about you, including demographic data that can be used to identify you. This is health information that is created or received by your health care provider, and that relates to your past, present or future physical or mental health or condition.

 

  

I. Uses and Disclosures of Protected Health Information

 

This facility use your protected health information for purposes of providing treatment, obtaining payment for treatment, and conducting health care operations. Your protected health information may be used or disclosed only for these purposes unless the facility has obtained your authorization or the use or disclosure is otherwise permitted by the HIPPA privacy regulations or state law.

 

A. Treatment. We will use and disclose your protected health information to provide, coordinate, or manage your health care and any related services. This includes the coordination or management of your health care with a third party for treatment purposes. For example, we may disclose your protected health information to a pharmacy to fill prescription or to a laboratory to order a blood test. We may also disclose protected health information to physicians who may be treating you or consulting with the facility with respect to your care. In some cases, we may also disclose your protected health information to an outside treatment provider for purposes of the treatment activities of the other provider.

 

B. Payment. Your protected health information will be used, as needed, to obtain payment for services that we provide. This may include certain communications to your health insurance company to get approval for the procedure that we have scheduled. For example, we may need to disclose information to your health insurance company to get prior approval for the surgery. We may also disclose protected health information to your health insurance company to determine whether you are eligible for benefits or whether a particular service is covered under your health plan. In order to get payment for the services we provide to you, we may also need to disclose your protected health information to your health insurance companyto demonstrate the medical necessity of the services, or as required by your insurance company, for utilization review. We may also disclose patient information to another providerinvolved in your care for the other provider's payment activities. This may include dislosure of demographic information to anesthesia care providers for payment of their services.

 

C. Operations. We may disclose your protectes health information, as necessary, for our own health care operations to facilitate the function of this facility and to provide quality care to all patients. Health care operations include such activities as: quality assessment and improvement activities, employee review activities, training programs including those in which students, trainees, or practitioners in health care learn under supervision, accreditation, certification, licensing or credentialing activities, review and auditing, including compliance reviews, medical reviews, legal services and maintaining compliance programs, and business management and general administrative activities.

 

In certain situations, we may also disclose patient information to another provider or health plan for their health care operations.

 

D. Other Uses and Disclosures. As part of treatment, payment and health care operations, we may also use or disclose your protected health informationfor the following purposes: to remind you of your surgery date, to inform you of potential treatment alternatives or options, to inform you of health-related benefits or services that may be of interest to you, or to contact you to raise funds for the facility or an institutional foundation related to the facility. If you do not wish to be contacted regarding fundraising, please contact our Privacy Officer.

 

 

 II. Uses and Disclosures Beyond Treatment, Payment, and Health Care Operations Permitted Without Authorization or Opportunity to Object

 

Federal privacy rules allow us to use or disclose your protected health information without your permission or authorization for a number of reasons including the following:

 

A.When Legally Required. We will dislose your protected health information when we are required to do so by any federal, state or local law.

 

B. When There Are Risks to Public Health. We may disclose your protected health information for the following public activities and purposes:

 

To prevent, control, or report disease, injury or disability as permitted by law.

 

To report vital events such as birth or death as permitted or required by law.

 

To conduct public health surveillance, investigations and interventions as permitted or required by law.

 

To collect or report adverse events and product defects, track FDA regulated products, enable product recalls, repairs or replacements to the FDA and to conduct post marketing surveillance.

 

To notify a person who has been exposed to a communicable disease or who may be at risk of contracting or spreading a disease as authorized by law.

 

To report to an employer information about an individual who is a member of the workforce as legally permitted or required.

 

 

C. To Report Suspected Abuse, Neglect Or Domestic Violence. We may notify government authorities if we believe that a patient is the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. We will make this disclosure only when specifically required or authorized by law or when the patient agrees to the disclosure.

 

D. To Conduct Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose your protected health information to a health oversight agency for activities including audits; civil, administrative, or criminal investigations, proceedings, or actions; inspections; licensure or disciplinary actions; or other activities necessary for appropriate oversight as authorized by law. We will not disclose your health information under this authority if you are the subject of an investigation and your health information is not directly related to your receipt of health care or public benefits.

 

E. In Connection With Judicial And Administrative Proceedings. We may disclose your protected health information in the course of any judicial oradministrative proceedinf in response to an order of a court or administrative tribunal as expressly authorized by such order. In certain circumstances, we may disclose your protected health information in response to a subpoena to the extent authorized by state law if we receive satisfactory assurances that you have been notified of the request or that an effort was made to secure a protective order.

 

F. For Law Enforcement Purposes. We may disclose your protected health information to a law enforcement official for law enforcement purposes as follows:

 

As required by law for reporting of certain types of wounds or other physical injuries.

 

Pursuant to court order, court-ordered warrent, subpoena, summons or similar process.

 

For the purpose of identifying or locating a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person.

 

Under certain limited circumstances, when you are the victim of a crime.

 

To a law enforcement official if the facility has a suspicion that your health condition was the result of criminal conduct.

 

In an emergency to report a crime.

 

 

G. To Coroners, Funeral Directors, and for Organ Donation. We may disclose protected health information to a coroner or medical examiner for identification purposes, to dtermine cause of death or for the coroner or medical examiner to perform other duties authorized by law. We may also disclose protected health information to a funeral director, as authorized by law, in order to permit the funeral director to carry out their duties. We may disclose such information in reasonable anticipation of death. Protected health information may be used and disclosed for cadaveric organ, eye or tissue donation purposes.

 

H. For Research Purposes. We may use or disclose your protected health information for research when the use or disclosure for research has been approved by an institutional review board that has reviewed the research proposal and research protocols to address the privacy of your protected health information.

 

I. In the Event of a Serious Threat to Health or Safety. We may, consistent with applicable law and ethical standards of conduct, use or disclose your protected health information if we believe, in good faith, that such use or disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety or to the health and safety of the public.

 

J. For Specified Government Functions. In certain circumstances, federal regulations authorize the facility to use or disclose your protected health information to facilitate specified government functions relating to military and veterans activities, national security and intelligence activities, protective services for the President and others, medcial suitability determinations, correctional institutions, and law enforcement custodial situations.

 

K. For Worker's Compensation. The facility may release your health information to comply with worker's compensation laws or similar programs.

 

III. Uses and Disclosures Permitted without Authorization but with Opportunity to Object

 

We may disclose your protected health information to your family member or a close personal friend if it is directly relevant to the person's involvement in your surgery or payment related to your surgery. We can also disclose your information in connection with trying to locate or notify family members or others involved in your care concerning your location, condition or death.

 

You may object to these disclosures. If you do not object to these disclosures or we can infer from circumstances that you do not object or we determine, in the exercise of our professional judgment, that it is in your best interests for us to make disclosure of information that is directly relevant to the person's involvement with your case, we may disclose your protected health information as described.

 

 IV. Uses and Disclosures which you Authorize

 

Other than as stated above, we will not disclose your health information other than with your written authorization. You may revoke your authorization in writing at any time except to the extent that we have taken action in reliance upon the authorization.

 

V. Your Rights

 

You have the following rights regarding your health information:

 

A. The Right to Inspect and Copy Your Protected Health information. You may inspect and obtain a copy of your protected health information that is contained in a s designated record set for as long as we maintain the protected health information. A "designated record set" contains medical and billing records and any other records that your surgeon and the facility uses for making decisions about you.

 

Under federal law, however, you may not inspect or copy the following records: psychotherapy notes; information compiled in reasonable anticipation of, or for use in, a civil, criminal, or administrative action or proceeding; and protected health information that is subject to a law that prohibits access to protected health information. Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to have a decision to deny access reviewed.

 

We may deny your request to inspect or copy your protected health information if, in our professional judgement, we dtermine that the access requested is likely to endanger your life or safety or that of another person, or that it is likely to cause substantial harm to another person referenced within the information. You have the right to request a review of this decision.

 

To inspect and copy your medical information, you must submit a written request to the Privacy Officer whose contact information is listed on the last page of this Privacy Notice. If you request a copy of your information, we may charge you a fee for the costs of copying, mailing or other costs incurred by us in complying with your request.

 

Please contact our Privacy Officer if you have questions about access to your medical records.

 

B. The Right to Request a Restriction on Uses and Disclosures of your Protected Health Information. You may ask us not to use or disclose certain parts of your protected healthinformation for the purposes of treatment, payment or health care operations. You may also request that we not disclose your health information to family members or friends who may be involved in your care or for notification purposes as described in this Privacy Notice. Your request must state the specific restriction requested and to whom you want the restriction to apply.

 

The facility is not required to agree to a restriction that you may request. We will notify you if we deny your request to a restriction. If the facility does agree to the requested restriction, we may not use or disclose your protected health information in violation of that restriction unless it is needed to provide emergency treatment. Under certain circumstances, we may terminate our agreement to a restriction. You may request a restriction by contacting the Privacy Officer.

 

C. The Right to Request to Receive Confidential communications From Us by Alternative Means or at an Alternative Location. You have the right to request that we communicate with you in certain ways. We will accomodate reasonable requests. We may condition this accommodation by asking you for information as to how payment will be handled or specification of an alternative address or other method of contact. We will require you to provide an explanation for your request. Requests must be made in writing to our Privacy Officer.

 

D. The Right to Request Amendments to your Protected Health Information. You may request an amendment of protected health information about you in a designated record set for as long as we maintain this information. In certain cases, we may deny your request foran amendment. If we deny your request for amendment, you have the right to file a statement of disagreement with us and we may prepare a rebuttal to your statement and will provide you with a copy of any such rebuttal. Requests for amendment must be in writing and must be directed to our Privacy Officer. In this written request, you must also provide a reason to support the requested amendments.

 

E. The Right to Receive an Accounting. You have the right to request an accounting of certain disclosures of your protected health information made by the facility. This right applies to disclosures for purposes other than treatment, payment or health care operations as described in this Privacy Notice. We are also not required to account for disclosures that you requested, disclosures that you agreed to by signing an authorization form, disclosures for a facility directory, to friends or family members involved in your care, or certain other disclosures we are permitted to make without your authorization. The request for an accounting must be made in writing to our Privacy Officer. The request should specify the time period sought for the accounting. We are not required to provide an accounting for disclosures that take place prior to April 14, 2003. Accounting requests may not bemade for periods of time in excess of six years. We will provide the first accounting you request during any 12-month period without charge. Subsequent accounting requests may be subject to a reasonable cost-based fee.

 

F. The Right to Obtain a Paper Copy of This Notice. Upon request, we will provide a seperate paper copy of this notice even if you have already received a copy of the notice or have agreed to accept this notice electronically.

VI. Our Duties

 

The facility is required by law to maintain the privacy of your health information and to provide you with this Privacy Notice of our duties and privacy practices. We are required to abide by terms of this Notice as may be amended from time to time. We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice and to make the new Notice provisions effective for all future protected health information that we maintain. If the facility changes its Notice, we will provide a copy of the revised Notice by sending a copy of the revised Notice via regular mail or through in-person contact.

 

VII. Complaints

 

You have the right to express complaints to the facility and to the Secretary of Health and Human Services if you believe that your privacy rights have been violated. You may complain to the facility by contacting the facility's Privacy Officer verbally or in writing, using the contact information below. We encourage you to express any concerns you may have regarding the privacy of your information. You will not be retaliated against in any way for filing a complaint.

 

Contact Person

 

Office for Civil Rights

U.S. Dept. of Health & Human 

Services

200 Independence Avenue SW

Room 509F HHH Building

Washington, DC 20202

ATTN: Director

 

Effective Date:

April 14, 2003