I.Purpose
Patients must know about the development, use and disclosure of their PHI. Total Care has developed a Notice of Privacy Practices (Appendix C) (“Notice”) that includes the information required under the HIPAA regulations. A patient’s acknowledgement is required. Total Care Personnel may not use or disclose PHI in a manner inconsistent with the Notice.
II.Procedure
In the event a patient is requesting Direct Access Testing, a Notice must be provided to each patient upon provision of any service and upon any change of the Notice. The patient will be asked to sign an Acknowledgment of Receipt of Notice of Privacy Practices at this time and such Acknowledgement must be kept in the patient’s records. A template of the Acknowledgement of Receipt of Notice of Privacy Practices is included as Appendix D. If a patient does not acknowledge receipt of the Notice, a note must be made on the registration form or in the patient’s record indicating why the Acknowledgement was not obtained. Treatment of a patient must not be conditioned on acknowledging receipt of the Notice. The Notice must be available to any person who requests, including those who are not patients.
The Notice must be posted in a clear and prominent location where it is reasonable to expect those seeking services from Total Care will be able to read it. The Notice must also be posted on Total Care’s website.
If the Notice is amended, the amended version must be made available upon request, but a new acknowledgement is not required.
III.References
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45 CFR §164.520