Privacy Notice

Boulder Community Hospital Joint Notice of Privacy Practices

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GAIN ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION.  PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

Who Will Follow This Notice?

• Health care practitioners who treat you at any of Boulder Community Hospital’s locations, including employees, volunteers, and members of the Hospital Medical Staff,
• All departments and operating units of our organization,
• All medical practices operated by the Hospital

Rather than have you read and sign different notices for each health care practitioner that treats you at each of our operating locations, this Joint Notice of Privacy Practices describes the privacy practices followed by all our practitioners.

Unless your physician is affiliated with one of the BCH medical practices, this notice does not apply to the use and disclosure of your medical information in connection with treatment you receive at your physician’s office. Your personal physician may have different policies regarding your medical information and may provide you with a separate notice. If your physician is affiliated with one of the BCH medical practices, this notice will apply to your medical information created or maintained at that office.

Our Pledge Regarding Medical Information

We understand that your medical information is personal and we are committed to its protection. We create a record of the care and services you receive to ensure that we are providing quality care and to comply with legal requirements. This notice applies to all your health information that we maintain, whether created by our staff or others.

We are required by law to give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, to follow the terms of this Privacy Notice, and to maintain the privacy of your medical information.

For each category of use or disclosure, we will try to give some examples, not every use or disclosure in the category will be listed.

For Treatment. We may use your medical information to provide you with medical treatment or services. For example, a doctor treating you for a broken leg may need to know if you have diabetes because diabetes may slow your healing. Also, the doctor may need to provide information to the dietician so we can arrange for appropriate meals.  Different health professionals may also share your medical information in order to coordinate the different services you need. We may disclose your medical information to people outside the hospital who may be involved in your medical care after you leave the hospital.

For Payment.  We may disclose your medical information so that treatment and services you receive may be billed to a third party. For example, your health plan may need to know about surgery you received so they will pay us for the surgery. We may also disclose your medical insurance information to obtain prior approval from your health plan. You may request a restriction that your health insurance company not be billed and that no health information be provided to the insurance company. You will then be responsible for payment of those services.

For Healthcare Operations Purposes. We may use and disclose your medical information for our internal operations, such as business management, and administrative activities, legal and auditing functions, and insurance-related activities. For example, we may use medical information to make sure that all of our patients receive quality care, such as reviewing our processes or to evaluate the performance of those caring for you. We may also disclose information to doctors, nurses, technicians, and other personnel for review and learning purposes. We may remove information that identifies you from this set of information so others may use it to study healthcare and healthcare delivery without learning a specific patient’s identity.

BCH participates in the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization ("CORHIO") which arranges for the electronic exchange of health information among health care providers in Colorado. BCH may exchange your health information electronically through CORHIO for the purposes described in this Notice. You have the right to request that your information not be included in this exchange.

Hospital Directory.  We may disclose certain information about you in the hospital directory while you are a patient. This is so your family, friends, and clergy can visit you at BCH and generally know how you are doing. Limited information such as your name, location in the hospital, your general condition, (e.g. fair, stable, etc.) and religious affiliation, will be released to people who ask for you by name. Your religious affiliation may be given to a member of the clergy even if they do not ask for you by name. You may request to be a confidential patient and not be included in the Hospital Directory. If you choose to do this, no information will be given to any of the above-mentioned people, and your name will not be listed in our directory.

Individuals Involved In Your Care or Payment of Your Care.  We may release your medical information to a friend or family member who is involved in your medical care, or to someone who helped pay for your care.

Contacts. We may contact you to provide appointment reminders, information about treatment alternatives, or other health related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.

Fundraising Activities.  We may contact you in an effort to raise money for BCH. We will only use limited information, such as your name, address, and dates of service. If you do not want us to contact you, you must notify our Patient Representative in writing at the address below.

Worker's Compensation.  We may release medical information about you for worker’s compensation or similar programs, which provide benefits for work related injuries or illnesses.

Drug & Alcohol Treatment Records.  Specific rules apply to the release of drug and alcohol program records, and the hospital must obtain specific authorization to release those records as required by Federal regulation 42 CFR, Part 2.

Miscellaneous.  We may use or disclose your medical information without your prior authorization for several other reasons. Subject to certain requirements, we may give out your medical information without prior authorization for public health purposes, abuse or neglect reporting, health oversight audits or inspections, research studies, funeral arrangements, Coroner’s investigations, organ donation, and emergencies. We also may disclose medical information when required by law in response to a request from law enforcement in specific circumstances, for military or national security purposes, in response to valid judicial or administrative orders or to avoid a serious health threat. Additional specific rules may apply to mental health records.

Other Disclosures.  Other uses and disclosures not described above will be made only with your written authorization. You may revoke your authorization at any time unless we have relied on your authorization or your authorization was required as a condition of obtaining health care services.

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