Privacy Policy

SUMMARY OF NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

Following is a summary of ways that your health information may be used and shared with others by TRU Community Care and you’re your rights to access this information and/or limit TRU Community Care from sharing it with others. A full explanation is described in the attached Notice of Privacy Practices.

Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), TRU Community Care may use your health information for:

1. Providing Treatment: i.e. Coordinating care within our organization and with others involved in your care, such as your attending physician, hospital, assisted living, or nursing home staff, pharmacists, and suppliers of medical equipment.
2. Obtaining Payment: i.e. billing Medicare, Medicaid or another insurance company for services provided to you.
3. Conducting healthcare operations: examples include:

• Business management and general administrative activities
• Certification, licensing or credentialing activities
• Training and/or performance evaluation of staff, volunteers, students, interns and contracted personnel
• Reviewing and auditing medical records, including compliance, medical or legal reviews
• Fundraising for the benefit of TRU Community Care
• Community information mailings, including recognition of donations made in honor of people served by TRU
• Community Care, naming both donor and patient served
• When you are staying in the TRU Community Care Center, your name, general health status and where you are in the facility may be given to family members who ask for you by name; all other callers will be referred to the family for information
• To state or local agencies as required by law regarding risks to public health: Certain diseases, injuries and incidents of neglect, abuse or violence must be reported
• In cooperation with law enforcement agencies, health oversight agencies and judicial proceedings as required by law if your health information is directly related to an investigation, including investigations of abuse and neglect
• Coroners, funeral directors and organ, eye or tissue donation organizations

If your health information will be shared for purposes not related to treatment, payment or operations, TRU Community Care must obtain your written authorization.

Your rights with respect to your health information include the right to:

• Request restrictions on the way TRU Community Care uses and shares your health information
• Receive confidential communications in a certain way (per your request)
• Inspect, amend and/or copy your health information
• Request an accounting of agencies/individuals that TRU Community Care shared your health information with (other than for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations or certain other purposes) during the past six years

Please contact the TRU Community Care Privacy Officer at 303-449-7740 for any questions or concerns regarding the privacy of your health information

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 IT CAREFULLY.

USE AND DISCLOSURE OF HEALTH INFORMATION

TRU Community Care may use your health information, information, information that constitutes protected health information as defined in the Privacy Rule of the Administrative Simplification provision of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and the Final Omnibus Rule of 2013, for purposes of providing you treatment, obtaining payment for your care and conducting healthcare operations. TRU Community Care has established policies to guard against unnecessary disclosure of your health information.

THE FOLLOWING IS A SUMMARY OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH AND PURPOSES FOR WHICH YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED.

To provide treatment:TRU Community Care may use your health information to coordinate care within our organization and with others involved in your care, such as your attending physician, members of the TRU Community Care interdisciplinary team and other healthcare professionals who have agreed to assist TRU Community Care in coordinating care. For example, physicians involved in your care will need information about your symptoms in order to prescribe appropriate medications. TRU Community Care also may disclose your healthcare information to individuals outside of the organization involved in your care including family members, pharmacists, suppliers of medical equipment or other healthcare professionals.

To obtain payment: TRU Community Care may include your health information in invoices to collect payment from third parties for the care you may receive from our organization. For example, TRU Community Care may be required by your health insurer to provide information regarding your healthcare status so that the insurer will reimburse you or our organization. TRU Community Care also may need to obtain prior approval from your insurer and may need to explain to the insurer your need for care and the services that will be provided to you.

To conduct healthcare operations: TRU Community Care may use and disclose healthcare information for its own operations in order to facilitate the functions of the organization and as necessary to provide quality care to all of TRU Community Care’s patients. Healthcare operations include (but are not limited to) such activities as:

• Quality assessment and improvement activities
• Activities designed to improve management of comfort and reduce healthcare costs
• Protocol development, case management and care coordination
• Contacting healthcare providers and patients with information about treatment alternatives and other related functions that do not include treatment
• Professional review and performance evaluation
• Training programs including those in which students, trainees or practitioners in healthcare learn under supervision
• Training of non-healthcare professionals
• Accreditation, certification, licensing or credentialing activities
• Review and auditing, including compliance reviews, medical reviews, legal services and compliance programs
• Business planning and development including cost management and planning-related analyses and formulary development
• Fundraising for the benefit of TRU Community Care

For example, TRU Community Care may use your health information to evaluate its staff performance, combine your health information with other patients, disclose your health information to staff and contracted personnel for training purposes, or contact you or your family as part of general fundraising and community information mailings. You may choose to not be contacted for these reasons by contacting TRU Community Care’s Privacy Officer at 303-449-7740.

With your permission, TRU Community Care may disclose certain information about you including your name, your general health status and where you are in the TRU Community Care facility. TRU Community Care will not disclose such information without your permission.

THE FOLLOWING IS A SUMMARY OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH AND PURPOSES FOR WHICH YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED

THIS IS MEANT TO BE A SUMMARY AND IS NOT AL ALL INCLUSIVE LIST):

For fundraising activities: TRU Community Care may use information about you including your name, address, phone number and the dates you received care from this agency in order to contact you or your family to raise money for TRU Community Care. If you do not want TRU Community Care to contact you or your family or use your name on our donor lists, please call our Privacy Officer (303-449-7740) and indicate that you do not wish to be contacted.

When legally required: TRU Community Care will disclose your health information when it is required to do so by any Federal, State or local law.

When there are risks to public health: TRU Community Care may disclose your health information for public activities and purposes in order to:

• Prevent or control disease, injury or disability, report disease, injury, vital events such as birth or death and the conduct of public health surveillance, investigations and interventions
• To report adverse events, product defects, to track products or enable product recalls, repairs and replacement and to conduct post marketing surveillance and compliance with requirements of the Food and Drug Administration
• To notify a person who has been exposed to a communicable disease or who may be at risk of contracting or spreading a disease
• To notify an employer about an individual who is a member of the workforce as legally required

To report abuse, neglect, or domestic violence: TRU Community Care is required to notify government authorities/local law enforcement if the agency believes a patient is a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. TRU Community Care will make this disclosure only when specifically required or authorized by law or when the patient agrees to the disclosure.

To conduct health oversight activities: TRU Community Care may disclose your health information to a health oversight agency for activities including audits, civil administrative or criminal investigations, inspections, licensure or disciplinary action. TRU Community Care may not disclose your health information is you are the subject of an investigation and your health information is not directly related to your receipt of healthcare or public benefits.

In connection with judicial and administrative proceedings:TRU Community Care may disclose your health information in the course of any judicial or administrative proceeding in response to an order of a court or administrative tribunal as expressly authorized by such order or in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process, but only when TRU Community Care makes reasonable efforts to either notify you about the request or to obtain an order protecting your health information.

For law enforcement purposes: TRU Community Care may disclose your health information to a law enforcement official for law enforcement purposes as follows:

• As required by law for reporting of certain types of wounds or other physical injuries pursuant to the court order, warrant, subpoena or summons or similar process
• For the purpose of identifying or locating a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person
• Under certain limited circumstances, when you are the victim of a crime
• To a law enforcement official if TRU Community Care has a suspicion that your death was the result of criminal conduct including criminal conduct at TRU Community Care
• In an emergency in order to report a crime

To Coroners and Medical Examiners: TRU Community may disclose your health information to coroners and medical examiners for purposes of determining your cause of death or for other duties, as authorized by law.

To Funeral Directors: TRU Community Care may disclose your health information to funeral directors consistent with applicable law and if necessary, to carry out their duties with respect to your funeral arrangements. If necessary to carry out their duties, TRU Community Care may disclose your health information prior to and in reasonable anticipation of your death.

For organ, eye, or tissue donation: If you notify TRU Community Care that you are an organ, eye, or tissue donor, TRU Community Care may use or disclose your health information to organ procurement organizations or other entities engaged in the procurement, banking or transplantation of organs, eye, or tissue for the purpose of facilitating the donation and transplantation.

For research purposes: TRU Community Care may, under very select circumstances, use your health information for research. Before TRU Community Care discloses any of your health information for such research purposes, the project will be subject to an extensive approval process. You may, however, authorize TRU Community Care to use your health information for research purposes at your own initiation. Such requests can be made in writing to the TRU Community Care Privacy Officer at 303-449-7740.

In the event of a serious threat to health or safety: TRU Community Care may, consistent with applicable law and ethical standards of conduct, disclose your health information if TRU Community Care, in good faith, believes that such disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety or to the health and safety of the public.

For specified government functions: In certain circumstances, Federal regulations authorize TRU Community Care to use or disclose your health information to facilitate specified government functions relating to military and veterans, national security and intelligence activities, protective services for the President and others, medical suitability determinations and inmates in law enforcement custody.

For Worker’s Compensation: TRU Community Care may release your health information for worker’s compensation or similar programs.

AUTHORIZATION TO USE OR DISCLOSE HEALTH INFORMATION

Other than is stated above, TRU Community Care will not disclose your health information other than with your written authorization. If you or your personal representative authorizes TRU Community Care to use or disclose your health information, you may revoke that authorization in writing at any time.

YOUR RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION

You have the following rights regarding your health information that TRU Community Care maintains:

• Prohibition on the sale of protected health information (PHI): TRU Community Care may not sell your protected health information without your permission
• Right to opt out of receiving fundraising communications:TRU Community Care may contact you or your family as part of general fundraising and community information mailings. You may choose to not be contacted for these reasons by contacting TRU Community Care’s Privacy Officer at 303-449-7740.
• Right to request restrictions: You may request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of your health information. You have the right to request a limit on TRU Community Care’s disclosure of your health information to someone who is involved in your care or the payment of your care. However, TRU Community Care is not required to agree to your request. If you wish to make a request for restrictions, please contact the TRU Community Care Privacy Officer at 303-449-7740.
• Right to receive confidential communications: You have the right to request that TRU Community Care communicates with you in a certain way. For example, you may ask that TRU Community Care only conducts communications pertaining to your health information with you privately with no other family members present. You also have the right to request that TRU Community Care send your PHI to another individual. If you wish to receive or share confidential communications, please contact the TRU Community Care Privacy Officer at 303-449-7740. TRU Community Care will not request that you provide any reasons for your request and will attempt to honor your reasonable requests for confidential communications.
• Right to inspect and copy your health information: You have the right to inspect and copy your health information, including billing records. You have the right to request and receive electronic copies of your health records. A request to inspect and copy records containing your health information may be made to the TRU Community Care Privacy Officer at 303-449-7740. All such requests must be in writing. If you request a copy of your health information, TRU Community Care may charge a reasonable fee for copying and assembling costs associated with your request. Following appropriate requests, TRU Community Care will provide the requested records within 30 days. If TRU Community Care is not able to provide records within 30 days, TRU Community Care is entitled to a one-time 30 extension.
• Right to request information be sent to another: You have the right to ask TRU Community Care to send your protected health information to another individual. This request must be in writing, made to the TRU Community Care Privacy Officer at 303-449-7740.
• Right to amend healthcare information: If you or your personal representative believes that your health information records are incorrect or incomplete, you may request that TRU Community Care amend the records. That request may be made as long as the information is maintained by TRU Community Care. A request for an amendment of records must be made in writing to the TRU Community Care Privacy Officer at 303-449-7740. TRU Community Care may deny the request if it is not in writing or does not include a reason for the amendment. The request may also be denied if your health information records were not created by TRU Community Care, if the records you are requesting are not part of TRU Community Care’s records, if the health information you wish to amend is not part of the health information you or your representative are permitted to inspect and copy, or if, in the opinion of TRU Community Care, the records containing your health information are accurate and complete.
• Right to an accounting: You or your representative have the right to request an accounting of disclosures of your health information made by TRU Community Care for certain reasons, including reasons related to public purposes authorized by law and certain research, any reason other than for treatment, payment, or health operations. The request for an accounting must be made in writing to the TRU Community Care Privacy Officer at 303-449-7740. The request should specify the time period for the accounting starting on March 1, 2007. Accounting requests may not be made for periods of time in excess of six years. TRU Community Care would provide the first accounting you request during any 12 month period without charge. Subsequent accounting requests may be subject to a reasonable cost-based fee.
• Right to limit information to insurance company if self-paying: If you are self-paying for services provided by TRU Community Care, you have the right to ask TRU Community Care to not disclose treatment information to your health plan.
• You have the right to be notified following a breach of unsecured PHI: TRU Community Care takes extensive precautions to protect your health information. In an unforeseen circumstance, if there is reason to believe that the integrity of our systems has been breached, you will be notified by TRU Community Care.
• Right to a paper copy of this notice: You and your representative have a right to a separate paper copy of this Notice at any time, even if you or your representative has received this Notice previously. To obtain a separate paper copy, please contact the TRU Community Care Privacy Officer at 303-449-7740. (You or your representative may also obtain a copy of the current version of TRU Community Care’s Notice of Privacy Practices at www.TRUCOMMUNITY.org).

Uses and disclosures not described in the Notice of Privacy Practices will be made only with your or your representative’s authorization.

DUTIES OF TRU COMMUNITY CARE

TRU Community Care is required by law to maintain the privacy of your health information and to provide to you and your representative this Notice of its duties and privacy practices. TRU Community Care is required to abide by terms of this Notice as may be amended from time to time. TRU Community Care reserves the right to change the terms of its Notice and to make new Notice provisions effective for all health information it maintains. If TRU Community Care makes significant changes to its Notice, TRU Community Care will provide a copy of the revised Notice to you or your appointed representative. You or your personal representative has the right to express complaints to TRU Community Care and to the Secretary of Health and Human Services if you or your Representative believe that your privacy rights have been violated. Any complaints to TRU Community Care should be made in writing to the TRU Community Care Privacy Officer, 2594 Trailridge Drive, Lafayette, CO 80026. TRU Community Care encourages you to express any concerns you may have regarding the privacy of your information. You will not be retaliated against in any way for filing a complaint. TRU Community Care will maintain medical records for six years from the completion of service to the patient. Records older than six years will be destroyed in a confidential manner.

CONTACT PERSON

TRU Community Care’s contact person for all issues regarding patient privacy and your rights under the Federal privacy standards is the TRU Community Care Privacy Officer; 2594 Trailridge Drive, Lafayette, CO 80026; 303-449-7740.

EFFECTIVE DATE

This Notice is effective March 1, 2013.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE, PLEASE CONTACT THE TRU COMMUNITY CARE PRIVACY OFFICER AT 303-449-7740.