Use and Disclosure of PHI Without
Your Authorization. Americus Ambulance Service is permitted to use
PHI without your written authorization, or opportunity to object
in certain situations, including:
- For Americus Ambulance’s use in treating you or in obtaining
payment for services provided to you or in other health care
operations
- For the treatment activities of another health care provider
- To another health care provider or entity for the payment activities
of the provider or entity that receives the information (such
as your hospital or insurance company)
- To another health care provider (such as the hospital to which
you are transported) for the health care operations activities
of the entity that receives the information as long as the entity
receiving the information has or has had a relationship with
you and the PHI pertains to that relationship;
- For health care fraud and abuse detection or for activities
related to compliance with the law
- To a family member, other relative, or close personal friend
or other individual involved in your care if we obtain your verbal
agreement to do so or if we give you an opportunity to object
to such a disclosure and you do not raise an objection. We may
also disclose health information to your family, relatives, or
friends if we infer from the circumstances that you would not
object. For example, we may assume you agree to our disclosure
of your personal health information to your spouse when your
spouse has called the ambulance for you. In situations where
you are not capable of objecting (because you are not present
or due to your incapacity or medical emergency), we may, in our
professional judgment, determine that a disclosure to your family
member, relative, or friend is in your best interest. In that
situation, we will disclose only health information relevant
to that person's involvement in your care. For example, we may
inform the person who accompanied you in the ambulance that you
have certain symptoms and we may give that person an update on
your vital signs and treatment that is being administered by
our ambulance crew
- To a public health authority in certain situations (such as
reporting a birth, death or disease as required by law, as part
of a public health investigation, to report child or adult abuse
or neglect or domestic violence, to report adverse events such
as product defects, or to notify a person about exposure to a
possible communicable disease as required by law
- For health oversight activities including audits or government
investigations, inspections, disciplinary proceedings, and other
administrative or judicial actions undertaken by the government
(or their contractors) by law to oversee the health care system
- For judicial and administrative proceedings as required by
a court or administrative order, or in some cases in response
to a subpoena or other legal process
- For law enforcement activities in limited situations, such
as when there is a warrant for the request, or when the information
is needed to locate a suspect or stop a crime
- For military, national defense and security and other special
government functions
- To avert a serious threat to the health and safety of a person
or the public at large
- For workers’ compensation purposes, and in compliance
with workers’ compensation laws
- To coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors for
identifying a deceased person, determining cause of death, or
carrying on their duties as authorized by law
- If you are an organ donor, we may release health information
to organizations that handle organ procurement or organ, eye
or tissue transplantation or to an organ donation bank, as necessary
to facilitate organ donation and transplantation
- For research projects, but this will be subject to strict
oversight and approvals and health information will be released
only when there is a minimal risk to your privacy and adequate
safeguards are in place in accordance with the law
- We may use or disclose health information about you in a way
that does not personally identify you or reveal who you are.
Any other use or disclosure
of PHI, other than those listed above will only be made with your
written authorization, (the authorization must specifically identify
the information we seek to use or disclose, as well as when and
how we seek to use or disclose it). You may revoke your authorization
at any time, in writing, except to the extent that we have already
used or disclosed medical information in reliance on that authorization.
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