Operations
EMS
The measure of our greatness is not in saving those lives that everyone else can save; for this is the standard of care.
Our greatness is measured by saving those that no one else can save.
Dr. Roy Yamada, MD, FACEP
Medical Director-Bedford Fire Department
Bedford Fire Department
Notice of Privacy Practices for Protected Health Information
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.
The Bedford Fire Department Emergency Medical Service (“Bedford Fire/EMS”) is required by law to maintain the privacy of certain confidential health care information, known as Protected Health Information or PHI, and to provide you with a notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your PHI. Bedford Fire/EMS is also required to abide by the terms of this Notice currently in effect.
The Bedford Fire Department Emergency Medical Service (“Bedford Fire/EMS”) is permitted by federal privacy laws to make uses and disclosures of your health information for purposes of treatment, payment and health care operations. Protected Health Information is the information we create and obtain in providing our services to you. Such information may include documenting your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment and transport. It also includes billing documents for those services.
Uses and Disclosures of PHI: Bedford Fire/EMS may use your Protected Health Information (PHI) in the following ways without your consent or authorization:
- FOR YOUR TREATMENT. Without your consent or authorization, Bedford Fire/EMS will use your PHI to treat you. Bedford Fire/EMS will try to get a written consent from you if we can, but in emergencies or when we cannot reasonably obtain signed consent from you we may use your information without it. Bedford Fire/EMS will pass your PHI along to other medical personnel involved in your care, including doctors and nurses at treatment facilities you may be taken to. Bedford Fire/EMS may use radio, telephone, fax, written, and computer communications to transmit this information as needed for your care. Copies of your patient care records will be given to medical staff at facilities that treat you. Bedford Fire/EMS can disclose information about you to your relatives, friends, and to other individuals who have a need to know about your condition.
- FOR PAYMENT . Without your consent or authorization, Bedford Fire/EMS will submit your PHI to insurance companies, to Medicare or Medicaid as appropriate to obtain payment for our services to you. Bedford Fire/EMS may use an outside billing company to process our claims for payment. Bedford Fire/EMS may use your PHI for determining medical necessity for your treatment, for justifying our treatments of you for payment purposes, and when an insurance company or other payer requests further information about you to determine our right to payment. Bedford Fire/EMS may transmit your PHI to a collection agency hired by Bedford Fire/EMS to collect past due accounts.
- FOR HEALTH CARE OPERATIONS. Without your consent or authorization Bedford Fire/EMS will use your PHI in Health Care Operations. Health Care Operations means all activities that we use to evaluate our treatment of you as it relates to patient care. This includes quality assurance activities, licensing, and training programs to ensure that our personnel meet our standards of care and follow established policies and procedures, as well as certain other management functions. Bedford Fire/EMS may use your PHI for Health Care Operations involving:
- EMS system quality management
- Case reviews
- Education
- Obtaining legal, accounting or billing services
- Business planning
- Resolving complaints
- Employee discipline
- Marketing activities, including contacting you about services we provided for purposes relating to system improvements
- Medical research
- Data bases which involve your PHI but do not identify your individual information
- WHEN REQUIRED BY LAW. Whenever Bedford Fire/EMS is required by law to provide your PHI we will transmit your PHI to others without either your consent or authorization. Some examples are:
- To law enforcement officials when necessary to identify you or someone who has committed a crime against you
- To law enforcement officials when there is an immediate need for the information to prevent or solve a crime
- To public health authorities to report births, deaths, or a disease that we are required to report
- To people who may have been exposed to a communicable disease you have
- To report child abuse, elder abuse, or domestic violence as required by law
- To the FDA and other agencies to report an adverse event from the use of a drug or medical device
- To government agencies who have a right to the information for conducting investigations, audits, inspections, disciplinary proceedings or other administrative or judicial actions in order to determine our compliance with the law
- In response to subpoenas, search warrants, and other legal requests or directives which require us to produce and disclose your PHI
- To government military, defense, investigative, security, and other agencies who have a right to your PHI in order to protect citizens, officials of the United States or a foreign country, and to investigate or prevent terrorist activities
- To public health officials of the US or foreign countries to avert a serious threat to the safety and health of the people
- As required by worker’s compensation laws
- OTHER USES . Bedford Fire/EMS may use your PHI without your express consent or authorization for other unnamed uses if they can be reasonably said to fall within any of the categories listed above.
Revisions to the Notice: Bedford Fire/EMS reserves the right to amend this notice, but no amendments may go into effect until the amended notice has been posted.
Patient Rights:
- THE RIGHT TO COMPLAIN TO BEDFORD FIRE/EMS OR TO THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES OF THE USA IF YOU THINK BEDFORD FIRE/EMS HAS VIOLATED YOUR RIGHTS. If you file a complaint:
- Your complaint must be in writing, either on paper or by email
- If you address your complaint to Bedford Fire/EMS it must be to the Privacy Officer listed at the bottom of this notice
- If you address your complaint to the Secretary of Health and Human Services it must made to: Secretary of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C.
- Your complaint must describe the event you are complaining about in sufficient detail for the Privacy Officer to determine what you are complaining about
- Your complaint must be filed within 180 days of the occurrence you are complaining about or when you first learned of the event you are complaining about and notify Bedford Fire/EMS whether they or some other party violated the rules. The Secretary of Health and Human Services may extend the time for filing
- THE RIGHT TO VIEW AND COPY YOUR PHI . You can contact Intermedix, Inc. 866-398-8999 to request a copy of your PHI or if prior to 01/01/2005 you can contact our office during business hours and request to view and /or copy your medical information, subject to the exceptions provided by law:
- When disclosure to you would be contrary to law, would be harmful to you or to someone else
- Bedford Fire/EMS must inform you of why you were denied access to your PHI and tell you your rights to appeal our refusal
- Bedford Fire/EMS can charge you reasonable fees for copying your records, postage for mailing to you, and summarizing your records if you agree to a summary rather than a full set of records.
- Bedford Fire/EMS must provide your records to you within 30 days of your request if the records are in our possession, or 60 days if they are in the possession of a third party. If Bedford Fire/EMS cannot provide the records to you within this time we can have an additional 30 days but must let you know why we cannot furnish them and tell you when we will furnish them to you.
- THE RIGHT TO RESTRICT OUR USE OF YOUR PHI. You have the right to request that Bedford Fire/EMS restrict the use and disclosure of your PHI with certain exceptions, but we do not have to agree if any of the following exceptions apply:
- Bedford Fire/EMS is not required to agree with your request for restriction, but if your request is refused we must inform you why
- If your requested restrictions are agreed with by Bedford Fire/EMS it will be honored and Bedford Fire/EMS notify any other entities that we have disclosed your PHI to or will disclose your PHI to about your restrictions and require them to honor them
- When Bedford Fire/EMS is required by law to disclose your information
- When your PHI is needed for your treatment in an emergency
- THE RIGHT TO AMEND YOUR PHI . If you believe your PHI is incorrect, you can ask Bedford Fire/EMS to amend your PHI and if agreed by Bedford Fire/EMS it must be done within 60 days from your request. However, Bedford Fire/EMS can refuse your request if:
- Your records were not created by Bedford Fire/EMS
- Bedford Fire/EMS does not have access to your records or cannot obtain access to them
- Bedford Fire/EMS believes your records are correct
- Amendment would result in Bedford Fire/EMS being unable to obtain payment for services rendered to you
- THE RIGHT TO REQUEST AN ACCOUNTING OF BEDFORD FIRE/EMS USE AND DISCLOSURE OF YOUR PHI DURING THE LAST 6 YEARS BEGINNING ON APRIL 14, 2003, THE DATE WHEN HIPAA PRIVACY PROVISIONS TAKE EFFECT . However, Bedford Fire/EMS will not be required to account for use and disclosures prior to April 14, 2003. Bedford Fire/EMS does not have to account to you for disclosures made in connection with your treatment, for payment, health care operations or disclosures that Bedford Fire/EMS were required by law to make. You have the right to one free accounting in any 12 month period; for additional accountings we may charge a reasonable fee.
- THE RIGHT TO RECEIVE CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM BEDFORD FIRE/EMS. If you want Bedford Fire/EMS only to contact you at an alternative address, telephone number, or email address, you can make that request to Bedford Fire/EMS and we will abide by your request.
YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO OBTAIN A COPY OF THIS NOTICE IN WRITING BY CONTACTING ANY EMPLOYEE OF BEDFORD FIRE/EMS. If we maintain a web site, we will prominently post a copy of this Notice on our web site. www.bedfordfire.net
BEDFORD FIRE/EMS WILL NOT RETALIATE AGAINST YOU IN ANY WAY FOR EXERCISING ANY OF YOUR RIGHTS UNDER HIPAA.
If you have any questions or wish to exercise any of your rights listed in this Notice, please contact:
Bobby Sewell – Deputy Chief-EMS/Privacy Officer
Bedford Fire Department
1816 Bedford Rd.
Bedford, Texas 76021
Office 817-952-2500
Fax 817-952-2540
bsewell@ci.bedford.tx.us
Bedford Fire/EMS will ask you to sign an acknowledgement that you have received this notice. If you cannot do so, we will make a reasonable attempt at a later time to obtain your acknowledgment.
Effective Date of this Notice: April 14, 2003
Revised January 19, 2008