Patient Privacy & Confidentiality

Your Privacy Concerns

WVU Medicine Uniontown Hospital staff respects your privacy concerns. We hope to enhance the quality of your visit by honoring the privacy of information choices that you've selected.

The following information will explain what you can expect with each of your options. We will do our best to protect your privacy, but we ask for your understanding and cooperation.

WVU Medicine Uniontown Hospital maintains the strictest confidentiality in providing your care. Consultations, examinations and discussions about your treatment are held in strict privacy by our staff. All records pertaining to your care are considered to be confidential, unless you instruct us otherwise.

Release of Information
Controlling the Release of Information is a very important practice. Admitting staff will ask if you want your name, location and condition released to the general public. If you agree to this, anyone asking for you by your full name will be given your location/room number and may also be given your condition in general terms.

Release of Information also means that you will receive phone calls and visitors (unless specific arrangements are otherwise made with your nurses’ station). Members of the clergy will also be able to access your religious affiliation under this option.

No Release of Information
If you choose No Release of Information, WVU Medicine Uniontown Hospital will not release your name, location/room number or condition to anyone. Inquires about you will be answered, "I'm sorry, but I have no information on that person." No Release of Information also means that you will not receive any phone calls or visitors.

In addition, No Release of Information means that members of the clergy will not be given your name. Patients choosing not to release information must provide the Admissions Office with written authorization for denial to release information. We ask for your understanding and cooperation as we make every effort to protect your privacy.

 

Any concerns about your privacy options can be discussed with your nurse or the Director of Patient Care Services on your unit.

Notice of Privacy Practices

This notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review carefully.

Who will follow this notice?
The information practices in this notice will be followed by:

  • Any health care professional who is allowed to enter information into your health record (such as nurses or members of the hospital’s medical staff);
  • All departments of Fayette Regional Health System;
  • All employees, staff and volunteers of the organization;
  • Any business associate with whom we share health information.

The above individuals may share medical information with each other for treatment, payment or health care operations purposes described in this notice.

Our Pledge Regarding Medical Information
We realize that medical information about you and your health is personal. We are committed to protecting that information. We create a record of the quality care and services you receive to comply with regulatory requirements.

In order to protect the privacy of all patients, we do not permit photography, video or audio recording without prior approval. This notice applies to all the records of your care that we keep, whether created by the organization's personnel or another physician.

Another physician may have different policies or notices regarding that physician's use and disclosure of your medical information maintained in his/her office.

We are required by law to: 

  • Make sure that medical information about you is kept private
  • Give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to medical information about you; and
  • Follow the terms of the notice that is currently in effect.

How we may use and disclose medical information about you

  • Treatment – We may use and disclose medical information about you for treatment (such as sending medical information about you to a specialist as part of a referral).
  • Payment – We may use medical information about you for payment (such as sending a bill, which may contain information about a procedure that you had, to your insurance company).  You may pay your medical services in full and request that Uniontown Hospital not share information about your treatment with your health plan.
  • Health Care Operations – We may use medical information about you for normal health care operations (such as comparing patient data to improve quality of care, combining information about many patients to decide which services the organization should offer, or for accreditation purposes).
  • Hospital Directory – If you are admitted to the hospital, we may include certain limited information about you in our hospital directory, unless you tell us otherwise. We will only list your name, location, general condition (good, fair, etc.), and religious affiliation. We will release all but your religious affiliation to anyone who asks for you by name. Your religious affiliation may be disclosed to a clergy member, even if they don’t ask for you by name.
  • Federal Privacy Rule  We may use or disclose medical information about you without your prior authorization for limited purposes permitted under the Federal Privacy Rule. Subject to certain requirements we may release medical information about you for public health purposes (such as reporting disease, injury, or vital events), for health product recalls, abuse or neglect reporting, health oversight activities (such as audits or investigations to determine compliance with relevant laws), research that has received the necessary approval, to a coroner or medical examiner as required, funeral arrangements, organ donation, worker’s compensation purposes, if you are an inmate of a correctional institution, or in an emergency. We may disclose medical information when required by law or certain judicial or administrative proceedings such as in response to a court order or subpoena.
  • Contact  – We may contact you for appointment reminders, or to tell you about treatment options.
  • Health Options  – We may contact you to tell you about our health-related products and services that may be of interest to you.
  • Fundraising   If you are treated at the hospital, we may use such information as name, address, phone number, and dates you received service to contact you for fundraising purposes. 
  • Business Associates – We may disclose medical information about you with third parties called Business Associates that perform various services for us.
  • Family  – We may disclose medical information about you to a family member or friend who is involved in your care, or to a disaster relief organizations so that your family may be contacted.
  • Military or Veteran  – If you are a member of the armed forces, we may release information to the military or veterans’ authorities.
  • Health and Safety  – We may release medical information to prevent a serious threat to the health or safety of another person or the public, for certain national security or intelligence activities, or to protect the President or other authorized persons or heads of state.

Other Uses of Medical Information
Other uses and disclosures not covered in this notice will be made only with your authorization (i.e. most uses and disclosures of psychotherapy notes: marketing for which the hospital receives a direct or indirect payment from the company whose product/service is being marketed).

If you do permit a use or disclosure, you may later change your mind and cancel your permission in writing.

Please understand that we cannot take back any disclosures we had already made while we had your permission.

Changes to this Notice
We reserve the right to change this notice. Changes will apply to medical information we already hold. We will post a copy of the notice in our facilities and on our website. 

You will be asked to acknowledge in writing your receipt of this notice.

Your Rights Regarding Medical Information About You

  • Except under limited circumstances, you have the right to inspect and copy medical information about you by submitting a written request, except under limited circumstances. If you request a copy, we may charge a fee for the costs of copying, mailing and related supplies. If we deny your request to inspect and copy, you may submit a written request for review of that decision.
  • If you feel that medical information about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may submit in writing a request to amend the record. We may deny your request if the information was not created by us, is not part of the medical record maintained by us, or if we determine that the information is accurate. If your request is denied, you will receive a written explanation of the denial and information about further rights you would have at that point.
  • You have a right to obtain a list of the disclosures of your medical information other than for treatment, payment, health care operations, or where you specifically permitted a disclosure. Your request must state a time period not longer than six years and may not be prior to April 14, 2003. The first disclosure list in a 12-month period is free; for additional lists, we may charge for the costs of providing the list. We will notify you of the fee ahead of time.
  • You have the right to request (in writing) a restriction or limitation on the medical information we use or disclose for treatment, payment, or health care operations or to someone involved in your care except as required by law or in an emergency. We will consider your request but we are not legally required to accept it (unless you have previously paid for your service in full in order to obtain a restriction).  We will inform you of our decision regarding your request.
  • You have the right to request that medical information about you be communicated in a confidential manner, such as a different address. You must submit the request in writing.
  • You have the right to receive a paper copy of this notice, even if you received a copy electronically.
  • You have the right to be notified of a data breach as required by law.
  • You have the right to ask for a copy of your electronic medical record in an electronic form.
  • You have the right to opt out of fundraising communications from WVU Medicine Uniontown Hospital and WVU Medicine Uniontown Hospital cannot sell health information without your permission.
  • If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact Health Information Management at WVU Medicine Uniontown Hospital.

If you have any questions about this notice, please contact the Compliance Officer:

500 West Berkeley Street
Uniontown, PA 15401

1-855-236-2041

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated you may submit, in writing, a complaint to the Compliance Officer:

500 West Berkeley Street
Uniontown, PA 15401

Compliance Hotline: 1-855-236-2041

You may also submit a complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights.

You will not be penalized for filing a complaint.