|
| | Privacy policy
Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois collects personal information upon a visitor's request to subscribe to newsletters and announcements, and to follow up with requests for information and help. The information collected is not sold, rented or otherwise shared or provided to any individual or organization.
Use of e-mail
In requesting information from LCFS or in submitting a question to LCFS, visitors to our Web site may share information that they deem confidential. We welcome such interactions with our Web site visitors, but we do wish to point out that information sharing is not secure. Visitors should keep this in mind when sharing any personal information with us via e-mail.
If a visitor chooses to use e-mail, we will continue to communicate with them via e-mail but we will not divulge identifying or case-specific material. We will convey information about Agency services and to access LCFS services by calling our 800 number, 800 363-LCFS.
For those who have confidentiality concerns about communicating with us via e-mail, we recommend they contact us through our toll-free 800 number, 800 363-LCFS.
Copyright
Text, photos and other materials found on this Web site are property of Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois. This excludes materials that have the written or verbal consent of its legal owner.
Text, photos and other materials cannot be reproduced without prior written consent from LCFS.
Copyright © 2002, 2003
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
This Notice applies to all services provided by Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois ("LCFS") and to all of its sites throughout Illinois. Services include Family Counseling, Information and Referral, Adoption, Foster and Kinship Care, Home Based, Residential Treatment and Care, Hispanic Outreach, Fathers Centers, the Beneficial Society, Family Life Education, and Camp Wartburg. Throughout this Notice these services are included in the term "health care."
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY
This Notice is being provided to you in accordance with the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Regulations. If Illinois law provides you with greater access to information, or provides greater protection to that information, LCFS will follow the provisions of Illinois law.
In arrangements when we provide services to wards of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services or in arrangements with other state departments or courts, we will abide by their privacy standards and requirements to the extent that they do not conflict with those of LCFS.
Our Pledge Regarding Your Health Information:
We are committed to the protection of client health information in accordance with applicable law and accreditation standards regarding client privacy. Your health information obtained and in the custody of LCFS will be kept confidential except as permitted and required by law. In accordance with the law we pledge to you that this information will be shared to a minimum extent and only with individuals and organizations that need the information in order to provide the services for you or to meet other legal requirements. We will determine that these individuals and organizations subscribe to similar policies and procedures regarding use and disclosure of health information.
Purpose of This Notice
This Notice of Privacy Practices has been created by LCFS to inform you of how we may use your protected health information for treatment, payment and health care operations purposes, and as otherwise permitted by law.
Protected health information is information about you which can be used to identify you and which relates to your past, present, and future physical or mental condition, our provision of health care services to you, or the payment for health care services which we provide to you. This may include information about your family history, substitute care, individual therapy, and treatment.
We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your protected health information and to provide you with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with regard to accessing, amending, and controlling the use of your protected health information.
This Notice explains how, when, and why we may use and disclose your protected health information. With some exceptions, we will avoid using or disclosing any more of your protected health information than is necessary to accomplish the purpose of the use of disclosure.
We will abide by the terms of this Notice currently in effect. However, we reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice and our privacy policies at any time, in accordance with applicable law. Any change will apply to any of your protected health information that we already have. When we make any significant change in our policies, we will promptly change this Notice and make copies of the new Notice available to you in our offices throughout the agency. You may at any time request a copy of the current form of our Notice.
The Privacy Officer at our agency can be contacted if you have any questions or concerns regarding this Notice.
We use and disclose protected health information for many different reasons. For some of these uses or disclosures, we need your specific authorization. For some, we are permitted to disclose information without your specific authorization. Following are different categories of our uses and disclosures with examples of each.
Uses and Disclosures Relating to Treatment, Payment, and Health Care Operations
We may, by federal law, use and disclose your protected health information for the following reasons:
Your protected health information may be used and disclosed by us and other health care providers that are involved in your care and treatment or that of other family members for the purpose of providing you and/or family members with services required.
We may use and disclose your protected health information in order for us to obtain payment for health care and goods which we provide to you. We may also use and disclose your protected health information in the operations of our agency, such as for evaluating or reviewing the quality of our services and compliance with legal requirements.
Disclosure of your protected health information will be made only to persons who need to have the information to perform duties related to your care and services. The disclosure shall be limited to only that which is necessary.
Any third party individuals and organizations will be required to protect your protected health information as is required by policies of LCFS.
When care and services are provided to wards of a public agency, LCFS will comply with the regulations of the public agency in regard to use and disclosure of protected health information, to the extent that they do not conflict with the privacy standards of LCFS.
Treatment
We will use and disclose your protected health information to coordinate and manage your health care and any related services. This includes the coordination of management of your care and services with another health care provider. For example, we would disclose your protected health information, as necessary, to co-therapists, medical personnel involved in your care, supervisors of treatment services, psychiatric consultants assigned to your treatment, and to direct care personnel.
Payment
Your health care information will be used, as needed, to obtain payment for your health care services. This may include certain activities that your health insurance plan or a governmental agency may undertake before it approves or pays for the health care services we are recommending for you. Also, this may include disclosure of protected health information, as needed, to personnel who are completing reports and who are otherwise pursuing payments for service.
Healthcare Operations
We may use or disclose, as needed, your protected health information in order to support our operational activities. These include, but are not limited to, quality assessment activities, employee review activities, and conducting or arranging for other operational activities.
For example, we may use your protected health information to evaluate the quality of the treatment that our staff has provided to you. We may also need to provide some of your protected health information to our accountants, attorneys, and consultants in order to make sure that we are complying with the law.
We may use or disclose your protected health information, as necessary, to contact you to remind you of your appointments,. We may use or disclose your protected health information, as necessary, to contact you to provide you with information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services.
When the information to be used or disclosed is more sensitive and detailed, we may obtain your authorization in advance.
Uses and Disclosures of Protected Health Information Based Upon Your Written Authorization
Other uses and disclosures of your protected health information for purposes other than treatment, payment, and health care operations will be made only with your written authorization, unless otherwise permitted or required by law as described below.
For example if you wish to have an insurance company have access to your protected health information which is in our files, you will need to sign a written authorization permitting us to disclose information. If you wish to have your protected health information submitted to another service agency to obtain supplemental services, you will be required to sign a written authorization permitting the disclosure.
You can revoke a written authorization permitting the disclosure at any time, in writing, except to the extent that we have taken an action already based on your authorization.
Uses and Disclosures for Which You have the Opportunity to Agree or Object
We may use or disclose your protected health information in the circumstances described in this section, without seeking an authorization, provided we first give you an opportunity to object to such use or disclosure. If you are present, we may either obtain your agreement to use or disclose your protected health information as herein described or we may provide you with an opportunity to object - and accept your failure to object as your agreement, or we may reasonably infer from the circumstances that you do not object. If you are not present or unable to agree or object to such use or disclosure of your health information, we may use our professional judgment to determine whether the use or disclosure of your protected health information is in your best interest.
All communications described in this section may be done
orally.
Individuals Involved in your Care. Unless you object, we may disclose your protected health
information to a family member, other relative or close personal friend or any
other individual identified by you as being a person who is directly involved
with your care or payment relating to your care or treatment.
Disaster Relief. Unless you object, we may use or disclose your protected
health information to a public or private entity authorized to assist in
disaster relief efforts for the purpose of coordinating with such entities the
notification of your family or other persons involved in your care.
- Notification of Family or Friends. Unless you object, we
may use or disclose your protected health information to notify or assist in
the notification of a family member, a personal representative, or other
person responsible for your care of your location and general condition.
Uses and Disclosures of Protected Health Information Which Do Not Require
Your Authorization or Opportunity to Object
We are permitted by law to make the following uses and disclosures of your
protected health information without having to obtain your authorization or
given you an opportunity to object:
When a Disclosure is Required by Federal, State, or Local Law, in Judicial
or Administrative Procedures, or by Law Enforcement.
For example, we may disclose
your protected health information if we are ordered to do so by a court, or if
a law requires that we report that sort of information to a government agency
or law enforcement authorities, such as in cases of suspected child or elder
abuse.
For Public Health Activities.
Under the law, we need to report
information about certain diseases and about any deaths to government agencies
that collect that information.
For Health Oversight Activities
We may disclose your protected
health information to governmental oversight agencies which have authority by
law to investigate and monitor activities and organizations, such as civil,
administrative, and criminal proceedings or activities.
For Research Purposes
We may use or disclose your protected health information
for research purposes, provided that the research has been approved by
appropriate oversight entities (Privacy Board or Institutional Review Board)
and sufficient privacy protections have been implemented.
To Avert Serious Threat to Health or Safety
We may disclose your protected
health information if we believe the use or disclosure is necessary to prevent
or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or
the public, and the disclosure is made to a person(s) able to prevent or
lessen the threat including the target of the threat; or disclosure is
necessary for law enforcement authorities to identify or apprehend an
individual.
- For Special Government Activities
If you are a member of the Armed
Forces, we may use and disclose your protected health information for
activities deemed necessary by appropriate military command authorities.
Possible exception may be for information concerning drug/alcohol
abuse or treatment, and HIV status (for which we may need your specific
authorization).
We may disclose your protected health information to
authorized federal officials for the conduct of lawful intelligence and other
national security activities authorized by the National Security Act or the
provisions
Note: Your protected health information will not be
used for agency fund-raising purposes without your specific authorization.
Emergencies
We may use or disclose your protected health information without your authorization or acknowledgment of receipt of this Notice in order to treat you or assist with coordinating your treatment in an emergency situation. As soon as reasonably practical after treatment has been provided to you, we will seek your authorization for treatment and acknowledgment of receipt of this Notice of Private Practices. Upon completion of the treatment, we will request that the health care provider discontinue any further disclosure of your protected health information.
Your Rights
You have the following rights with respect to your
protected health information:
The Right to Request Restriction of Uses and Disclosures.
You have
the right to request that we restrict the use or disclosure of your protected
health information to carry out treatment, payment, or health care operations
– and to family members, other relatives, or persons directly involved in your
care or payment.
We are not required to agree to any such
restrictions, but, if we do, we must document our agreement and comply with
such restrictions, other than in an emergency or certain other circumstances
permitted or required by law.
We can terminate our agreement
to restrict disclosure of your protected health information a) if you agree in
writing, or b) if you agree orally and this is documented, or c) if we inform
you of the action except such termination is effective only after you have
been informed.
The Right to Confidential Communications.
You have the right to
request that we provide you with an alternative means of communication in the
event you tell us that our customary methods of communication may not preserve
the confidentiality of your information. You may request that we send such
communications to you to alternative locations.
This request must be
made by you, in writing, to our Privacy Officer.
The request
must specify how or where you wish to be contacted. We will attempt to
accommodate all reasonable requests.
The Right to Access Your Protected Health Information
You have a
right to inspect and copy your protected health information which is in our
possession. Under certain circumstances, we may deny your request. Depending
upon the circumstances, our denial of your request for access may be granted a
review by a licensed care professional who was not involved in the original
decision. This may necessitate a revised decision.
To request access to your health information in our
custody, you must submit your request in writing to our Privacy Officer. If
you request a copy of your information, we may charge a fee for the cost of
copying, postage, or other costs involved in granting your request. You will
not be permitted to remove our records from the premises.
The Right to Amend, Correct, or Update your Information.
You have
the right to request that we amend your health information in our custody. We
may deny your request if a) we did not create the information, b) the
information is not maintained by or in our custody, c) you do not have the
right to access such information, or d) we have determined that such
information is accurate and complete.
You must
submit your request for an amendment to your health information in writing to
our Privacy Officer and explain the basis for your request.
- The Right to an Accounting of the Disclosure that We Have Made of Your
Protected Health Information.
You have the right to get a list of
certain types of disclosure that we have made of your protected health
information. This list would not include uses or disclosures to treatment,
payment, or health care operations, disclosures to you or with your written
authorization, or disclosures to your family for notification purposes or due
to their involvement in your care. This list would not include any disclosures
made for national security purposes, to corrections or law enforcement
authorities if you were in custody at the time, or made prior to April 14,
2003. You may not request an accounting for more than a six year period.
Your request for an accounting must be made in writing to our Privacy
Officer. Your first request in any twelve month period will be provided free
of charge. Additional requests will be charged a fee related to the cost of
producing the information.
Complaints
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated or that we have not complied with this Notice of Privacy Practices, you may file a written complaint with our Privacy Officer, Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois, 7620 W. Madison Street, River Forest, IL 60305. You may also file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, D.C. 20201. We will not penalize or charge you for filing a complaint with our Privacy Officer or with the Department.
This Notice of Privacy Practices is effective as of April 14, 2003.
If requested, a copy of this Notice can be given to you
directly, by mail, or in the form of an electronic copy.
|