An Assisted Living & Skilled Nursing Community in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana
DISCOVERY
CARE CENTRE
601 N. 10th Street
Hamilton, MT 59840
406-363-CARE (2273)
FAX: 406-363-2709
DISCOVERY CARE CENTRE
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
Effective Date: 04-14-03
If you have any questions about this notice, please contact the Facility Privacy Officer.
(406)363-2273
Each time you visit a hospital/long term care facility, physician, or other healthcare provider, a
record of your visit is made. Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination and test
results, diagnoses, treatment, and plan for future care or treatment, and billing related
information. This notice applies to all the records of your care generated by the long term care
facility whether made by long term care facility personnel, agents of the long term care facility,
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.
Our Responsibilities
We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your health information and provide you a
description of our privacy practices. We will abide by the terms of this notice and notify you if we
cannot agree to a requested restriction. We will accommodate reasonable requests you may have to
communicate health information by alternative means or at alternative locations.
Uses and Disclosures
How we may use and disclose medical information about you.
The following categories describe examples of the way we use and disclose medical information.
For treatment: We may use medical information about you to provide you treatment or services. We may
disclose medical information about you to doctors, nurses, technicians, medical students, or other
long term care personnel who are involved in taking care of you at Discovery Care Centre. For
example: a doctor treating you for an injury may need to know if you have diabetes, because diabetes
may slow the healing process, or if your Doctor orders Physical Therapy, the nursing staff will need
to discuss your care and treatment with the Physical Therapist. Different departments of Discovery
also may share medical information about you in order to coordinate the different things you may
need, such as prescriptions, lab work meals, and x-rays. We may also provide your physician or a
subsequent healthcare provider with copies of various reports that should assist them in treating
you once you are discharged from Discovery.
For Payment: We may use and disclose medical information about your treatment and services to bill
and collect payment from you, your insurance company or a third party payer. For example, we may
need to give your insurance company information about your surgery so they will pay us or reimburse
you for the treatment. We may also tell your health plan about treatment you are going to receive to
determine whether your plan will cover it.
For Health Care Operations: Members of the medical staff and/or quality improvement team may use
information in your health record to assess the care and outcomes in your case and others like it.
The results will then be used to continually improve the quality of information about may
patients/residents to evaluate the need for new services, treatment, or equipment. We may disclose
information to doctors, nurses, and other students for educational purposes.
We may also use and disclose medical information:
To business associates we have contracted with to perform the agreed upon service and billing for
it;
To remind you that you have an appointment for medical care;
To assess your satisfaction with our services;
To tell you about possible treatment alternatives;
To tell you about health-related benefits or services;
For Population based activities relating to improving health or reducing health care costs;
For conducting training programs and reviewing competence of health care professionals.
Business Associates: There are some services provided in our organization through contracts with
business associates. Examples may include physician services in the emergency department and
radiology, certain outside laboratories, or a copy service we use when making copies of your health
record. When these services are contracted, we may disclose your health information to our business
associate so that they can perform the job we’ve asked them to do and bill you or your third party
for services rendered. To protect your health information, however, we require the business
associate to appropriately safeguard your information.
Directory: We may include certain limited information about you in the Facility directory while you
are here. The information may include your name, location in the facility, your general condition
(e.g. fair, stable, etc, ) and your religious affiliation. This information may be provided to
members of the clergy and, except for religious affiliation, to other people who ask for you by
name. If you would like to opt out of being in the Facility directory, please request the Opt Out
Form from the admission staff or Facility Privacy Officer.
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 or who helps pay for your
care. 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.
Future Communications: We may communicate to you via newsletters, mail outs, or other means
regarding treatment options, health related information, disease-management programs, wellness
programs, or other community based initiatives or activities our facility is participating in.
Affiliated Covered Entity: Protected health information will be made available to your physician as
necessary to carry out treatment, payment and health care operations.
As Required by Law:
Funeral Directors: We may disclose health information to funeral directors consistent with
applicable law to carry out their duties.
Organ Procurement Organizations: Consistent with applicable law, we may disclose health information
to organ procurement organizations or other entities engaged in the procurement, banking, or
transplantation of organs for the purpose of tissue donation and transplant.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA): We may disclose to the FDA health information relative to
adverse events with respect to food, supplements, product and product defects or post marketing
surveillance information to enable product recalls, repairs or replacement.
Workers Compensation: We may disclose health information to the extent authorized by and to the
extent necessary to comply with laws relating to workers compensation or other similar programs
established by law.
Public Health: As required by law, we may disclose your health information to public health or legal
authorities charged with preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability.
Law Enforcement: We may disclose health information for law enforcement purposes as required by law,
or in response to a valid subpoena.
Federal Law makes provision for your health information to be released to an appropriate health
oversight agency, public health authority or attorney, provided that a workforce member or business
associate believes in good faith that we have not engaged in unlawful conduct or have otherwise
violated professional or clinical standards and are potentially endangering one or more patients,
workers, or the public.
Your Health Information Rights
Although your health record is the physical property of the healthcare particioner or facility that
compiled it, you have the 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 include
psychotherapy notes. 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.
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 kepty by our facility. We may deny your request for an amendment and if this occurs,
you will be notified of the reason for the denial.
An Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to request an accounting of disclosures. This is a
list of the disclosures we make of medical information about you.
Request Restrictions: You have the right to request a restriction or limitations 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 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. 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.
Request Confidential Communications: You have the right to request that we communicate about medical
matters in a certain way or at a certain location. We will agree to the request to the extent that
it is reasonable for us to do so. For example, you can ask that we use an alternative address for
billing purposes.
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.
CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE
We reserve the right to change this notice and the revised or changed notice will be effective for
information we already have about you as well as any information we receive in the future. The
current notice will be posted in the facility and include the effective date. In addition, each time
you are admitted to Discovery Care Centre for treatment or health care services, we will offer you a
copy of the current notice in effect.
COMPLAINTS
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the facility by
contacting the main number and asking for the Facility Privacy Officer or with the Secretary of the
Department of Health and Human Services. To file a complaint with the facility contact the Privacy
Officer. All complaints must be submitted in writing.
You will not be penalized for filing a complaint.
OTHER USES OF MEDICAL INFORMATION
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 you.
PRIVACY OFFICER:
Name: Kim Malensek
Telephone Number: (406)363-2273
Email: kmalensek@discoverycare.com
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601 N. 10th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840 406-363-CARE (2273) Fax: 406-363-2709