Privacy - Heart Care Partners

Privacy

Heart Care Partners is required by law to maintain the privacy of your health information, to provide you with a notice of its legal duties and privacy practices, and to follow the information practices that are described in this notice. This notice applies to all health information and health records generated by the health care professionals, employees, contract staff, students and volunteers at Heart Care Partners. This notice explains how your health information may be used and/or disclosed and also describes the rights you have concerning your own medical information. Your health information will not be used or disclosed except as indicated in this notice. You have a right to request and receive a paper copy of this notice. Please review it carefully and let us know if you have questions.

Medical Information
Each time you visit a hospital, physician or other health care provider, a record of your visit is made. Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment and a plan for future care or treatment. This information is often referred to as your health or medical record. We understand that medical information about you and health is personal, and we are committed to protecting your medical information.

How Will We Use and Disclose Your Medical Information?
We may use your medical information to provide you with medical services and supplies. We may also disclose your medical information to others who need that information to treat you, such as doctors, nurses, medical and nursing students, technicians, therapists, emergency service and medical transportation providers, medical equipment providers, and others involved in your care. For example, it will allow your physician to have access to your hospital medical record to assist in your treatment at the hospital and for follow-up care.

We also may use and disclose your medical information to contact you to remind you of an upcoming appointment, to inform you about possible treatment options or alternatives, or to tell you about health-related services available to you.

Payment:
We may use and disclose your medical information to get paid for the medical services and supplies we provide to you. For example, your health insurance company may ask to see parts of your medical record before they will pay us for your treatment. We may provide this information to them according to the term set in your prior authorization.

Hospital Operations:
We may use and disclose your medical information if it is necessary to improve the quality of care we provide to patients, or to run the hospital. We may use your medical information to conduct quality-improvement activities, to obtain audit, accounting or legal services, or to conduct business management and planning. This helps evaluate the performance of our staff in caring for you.

Research:
We may use or disclose your medical information for research projects after your consent has been provided and the research project has been approved by the local ethics committee. These research projects must go through a special process that protects the confidentiality of your medical information.

Public Health:
We also may report certain medical information for public health purposes. For instance, we report communicable diseases to the health authorities, as required by law. We also may need to report patient problems with medications or medical products to the relevant authorities, or may notify patients of recalls of products they are using.

Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors:
We may disclose medical information concerning deceased patients to coroners, medical examiners and funeral directors to assist them in carrying out their duties.

Questions?
If you have general questions about this notice or would like additional information please contact (07) 3858 8600.