1900 Hospital Blvd Gainesville, TX 76240 Phone (940) 665-1751 map

Protecting Your Privacy

A new federal law designed to protect your right to privacy went into effect April 14, 2003.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a set of privacy standards that protects against the misuse of your personal health information. All medical records and other individually identifiable health information used by your healthcare provider, health plan, or a healthcare clearing house, in any form (paper, electronic, or oral), is covered by this law.

“Patient privacy continues to be a top priority at our hospital,” says Michelle McAfee, RN, Director of Health Information Management, Quality/Risk Management and HIPAA Compliance Officer for North Texas Medical Center (NTMC). “The HIPAA privacy regulations help ensure that patient privacy is a top priority for all providers and organizations that have access to your health information.”

NTMC provides the following overview of the HIPAA regulations to help you understand your medical right to privacy.

The HIPAA regulations require that all healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearing houses:

• Adopt and implement privacy practices and post a notice outlining these practices, including information about how your health information can be used. Patients receiving care at NTMC for the first time will receive and acknowledge the notice before care is provided (with the exception of emergency care).

• Allow you to examine and obtain a copy of your medical record and request changes to your record.

• Implement security measures to ensure that your records are not readily available to those who do not need them.

• Provide only the minimum necessary amount of personal health information. This does not apply when information is provided for treatment purposes -- physicians and other clinicians need access to your full medical record to provide the best possible care.

• Train employees so that they understand the privacy procedures.
“NTMC staff continues to work diligently to ensure compliance with the extensive HIPAA regulations,” McAfee says. “Every employee of every department is affected by this law,” explains McAfee. “It continues to be an adjustment for friends, family and neighbors to realize that the ‘caring inquiries’ they used to be able to extend to those who work in healthcare now have to go unanswered. All patient information is highly secured and the health care worker can lose their job and be fined for what may seem to be the most harmless admission,” stated McAfee.

• Designate an employee to be responsible for ensuring that privacy procedures are implemented and followed.
Michelle McAfee is the appointed representative for NTMC.

If you feel that your privacy rights have been violated, you have the right to file a formal complaint with the healthcare provider, health plan, or the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Our number one priority has always been to provide the best possible healthcare services to our patients,” says McAfee. “Our commitment to quality includes all aspects of the health care setting, including our patient’s right to privacy under the law”.

For more information on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), contact McAfee at 940-612-8634 or to view a copy of North Texas Medical Center’s Privacy Policy, go to the hospital website at www.ntmconline.net