Notice of Privacy Practice & OASIS Confidentiality

Oahu Home Healthcare is required by law to maintain the privacy of protected health information and to provide you adequate choice of your rights and our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to the uses and disclosures of protected health information [45 CFR 165.520]. We will use and disclose your protected health information in the manner that is consistent with this notice.

HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION:
Oahu Home Healthcare may release health information without authorization for treatment, payment and/or healthcare operations using the minimum health information necessary. Examples of information that may be disclosed are, but not limited to:

Without your consent:

1. TREATMENT: Your health information may be disclosed for the purpose of treatment such as coordination of care, consultations between health care facilities or providers relating to you or a referral for you.
2. PAYMENT: We may use and disclose your health information for the purpose of determining insurance eligibility and or coverage, billing or collection, utilization/medical review to determine medical necessity.
3. HEALTHCARE OPERATIONS: Oahu Home Healthcare may use your health information to support administrative and business program activities such as:
   
1. Quality Assessment Performance Improvement (QAPI) activities
   
2. Organization survey/accreditations
   
3. Business associates performing activities on behalf of Oahu Home Healthcare

The following uses and disclosures do not require your consent include, but are not limited to a release of information containing medical or financial records with information concerning communicable diseases, HIV/AIDS, drug or alcohol abuse, psychiatric diagnosis and or treatment records and/or laboratory test results, medical history, treatment progress and/or any other related information as permitted by state law to:

1. Your insurance company, Medicare, Medicaid or any other person or entity that may be responsible for payment or processing of payment for any portion or your bill for home health services.
2. Any person or entity affiliated with or representing us for the purpose of administration, billing, quality or risk management.
3. Any hospital, nursing home or health care facility to which you have been admitted.
4. Any skilled nursing facility of which you are a resident.
5. Any physician providing care to you.
6. Licensing and accrediting bodies, including items contained within the OASIS Data Set to the state agency acting as a representative to Medicare/Medicaid.
7. Any Business Associate(s) (BAA’s)

We are permitted to use and disclose information about you without your consent/authorization in the following situations:

• Emergency situations
• Substantial communication barriers
• Where we are required by law to provide treatment, but we are unable to obtain consent
• To provide information to state or federal public health authorities, as required by law to:
1. Prevent or control disease, injury, or disability
2. Report deaths
3. Report child abuse or neglect
4. Report reactions to medications or problems with a product
5. Notify persons of recalls of product(s) they may be using
6. Notify a person who may have been exposed to disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a disease or condition
7. Notify the appropriate government authority if we believe a client has been the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence

Health care oversight activities such as audits, investigations, inspections, and licensure by a government health oversight

agency as authorized by law to monitor the health care system, government programs, and compliance with civil rights and laws;

Certain judicial administrative proceedings 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, 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;

Certain law enforcement proposes such as helping to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person, or to comply with a court order or subpoena and other law enforcement purposes;

To coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors, in certain circumstances, for example, to identify a deceased person, determine the cause of death or to assist in carrying out their duties;

For cadaveric organ, eye, or tissue donation purposes to communicate to organizations involved in procuring, banking or transplanting organs and tissue if you are an organ donor;

For certain research purposes under very select circumstances. We may use your health information for research. Before we disclose any of your health information for such research purposes, the project will be subject to an extensive approval process;

To avert serious threat to health and safety: to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the general public, such as when a person admits to participation in a violent crime or serious harm to a victim or is an escape convict. Any disclosure, however, would only be to someone able to help prevent the threat;

For specialized government functions, including military and veterans’ activities, national security and intelligence activities, protective services for the President and others, medical suitability determinations, correctional institutions and custodial situations;

For Workers’ Compensation purposes: Workers’ Compensation or similar programs provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness.

We are permitted to use or disclose information about you without consent or authorization if you are informed in advance and given the opportunity to agree to or restrict the disclosure in the following circumstances:

• To a family member, friend or other identified person, the information relevant to an individual’s involvement in your care or payment for care; to notify the individual of your general location, condition or death.

Other uses and disclosure will be made only with your written authorization. That authorization may be revoked in writing, at any time, except in limited situations.

YOUR RIGHTS- you have the right, subject to certain conditions, to:

1. “Opt out” of receiving fundraising communications.
2. Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) Confidentiality
1. Be informed of the purpose of OASIS information collections
2. Have OASIS information kept secure & confidential
3. Be informed that OASIS information will not be disclosed except for legitimate purposes allowed by the Federal Privacy Act
4. Refuse to answer OASIS questions
5. To review and request changes on your OASIS assessment
3. Confidential communication of protected health information. We will attempt to honor reasonable requests for confidential communications.
4. Request restrictions on uses and disclosures of your protected health information for treatment, payment or health care operations.
5. Inspect and obtain copies of protected health information which is maintained in a designated record set. If you request a copy of your health information, we will provide it for you. If we deny access to any protected health information, you will receive written documentation of such denial that explains the basis for the denial, your rights and an explanation of how to exercise those rights.
6. Receive an accounting for disclosures of protected health information made by our agency for up to six (6) years prior to the date on which the accounting is requested for any reason other than for treatment, payment or health care operations, and other applicable exceptions. Requests must be submitted to the Oahu Home Healthcare Privacy Officer.
7. Request to amend protected health information for as long as the protected health information is maintained in the designated record set. A request to amend your record must be in writing. We will act on your request timely. You may extend the time for such action by up to thirty (30) days, if we provide you with a written explanation of the reasons for the delay and the date by which we will complete action on the request. We may deny the request for amendment if the information was not created by or still employed by our organization, is not part of the designated records set. If we deny your request for amendment, you will receive a timely, written denial that explains the basis for the denial, your rights to submit a statement disagreeing with the denial.
8. Notification of a breach following a breach of your unsecure protected health information in accordance with applicable state and federal laws.
   

Complaints- If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, you may contact us or the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There will be no retaliation against you for filing a complaint. The complaint should be filed in writing, an should state the specific incident(s) in terms of subject, date, and other relevant matters. A complaint to the Secretary of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services must describe the acts or omissions believed to be in violation of applicable requirements. [45 CFR 160.306].

For further information regarding filing a complaint, contact:

820 Mililani St. 

Suite # 620
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Phone: 808-492-1403
Fax: 808-356-0330

Office for Civil Rights
Phone: 1-800-368-1019
TDD: 1-800-537-7697

Effective Date- This notice is effective March 2, 2019.