Notice of Privacy Practices

We can use and share your health information, including mental health, chemical dependency treatment records, and HIV-related information, and share it with other professionals who are treating you, as authorized by law.

Some or all of your health information may be created and/or stored in an Electronic Health Record, which may be accessed by providers with authority or need, or when permissible by law to do so. We use and share your health information across all Rochester Regional Health clinical services so there is one Electronic Health Record for each patient in the system.

Example: Your physician or nurse may access your medical record for the purpose of treating you. If you are being treated for a specific injury, they may ask another provider about your overall health condition.

Example: If you see a physician for primary care at one Rochester Regional Health location and you are referred to a different location for a specialty service, your specialist will have access to the information entered by your primary care physician.

We can use and share your health information when performing a variety of business activities, which we call “health care operations”. These health care operations allow us to run our hospital and clinics, improve the quality of care we provide and contact you when necessary. Rochester Regional Health personnel across the system will have access to your Electronic Health Record so that we can conduct joint business operations.

Example: Rochester Regional Health personnel may access your Electronic Health Record to review and evaluate the skills, qualifications, and performance of health care providers taking care of you.

We can use and share your health information to bill and get payment from health plans or other entities.

Example: We give information about you to your health insurance plan so it will pay for your services. 

We may disclose your health information to a relative, close personal friend, or any other person you identify if that person is involved in your care and the information is relevant to your care. If the patient is a minor, we may disclose the minor’s health information to a parent, guardian, or other person responsible for the minor, except in limited circumstances.

We may include limited information about you in a hospital directory while you are at one of our hospitals. This information may include your name, location, and your religious affiliation. The directory information, except your religious affiliation, may be released to people who ask for you by name. You have the right to request that your name not be included in this directory.

We may contact you to remind you of appointments you’ve scheduled with us. We may also use or disclose your information to provide you with information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.

Example: We may e-mail you a newsletter or other information on health-related benefits of interest to you

We may disclose your health information to other health care providers and organizations who may potentially help coordinate and improve the services you receive. These communications help us manage your care and ensure that you get the necessary follow-up services to stay healthy.

Example: In order to develop your discharge plan, we may talk to a home health provider to see what services are available to help you manage your health at home.

We will use and disclose medical information about you whenever we are required by law to do so.

Example: State law requires us to report gunshot wounds and other injuries to the police and to report known or suspected child abuse or neglect to the Department of Social Services. We will comply with those state laws and with all other applicable laws.

We may share, store and/or transmit your health information, including sensitive information related to HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, mental health, drug and alcohol treatment, genetic testing, and reproductive health, electronically through the SHIN-NY. Rochester Regional Health currently participates with the following regional health information exchanges that connect to the SHIN-NY: Rochester RHIO; HealtheConnections; and HIXNY. If you are receiving treatment from another health care provider, that provider may be able to access some or all of your health information through the SHIN-NY if you provide consent, or in some cases without your consent in the event of a medical emergency. The SHIN-NY and regional health information exchanges must implement administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and security of your health information.

We may disclose information to a person or entity we contract with to perform some of our business functions. For example, we may disclose your health information to a billing service or to our attorneys. We require a business associate to appropriately safeguard your information with the same diligence that we would.

Greater Rochester Independent Practice Association (“GRIPA”) is an organization that helps to coordinate and manage health care in order to manage cost and reduce duplicate or unnecessary services. We may share your health information with GRIPA to help coordinate your care. This may include certain sensitive information. Such disclosures are permitted based on the treatment, payment, or health care operations exceptions, and in some instances based on your consent.

We can share health information about you for certain situations such as:

• Preventing disease
• Helping with product or device recalls
• Reporting adverse reactions to medications
• Reporting abuse and neglect
• Preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety

We can use or share your information for health research if the research organization has satisfied certain conditions protecting the privacy of health information.

We can share health information about you with organ procurement organizations.

We can share health information with a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director when an individual dies.

We can use or share health information about you:

• For workers’ compensation claims
• For law enforcement purposes to the extent authorized by law
• With health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law
• For special government functions such as military, national security, and presidential protective services
• To the Department of Corrections in some circumstances

We can share health information about you to a court pursuant to a court order, or to an administrative agency when authorized by law.

• Share information with your family, close friends, or others involved in your care
• Share information in a disaster relief situation
• Include your information in a hospital directory
• Opt-out of our national record locator service

If you are not able to tell us your preference, for example, if you are unconscious, we may go ahead and share your information if we believe it is in your best interest. We may also share your information when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.

• We may use limited identifying information from patient lists to send you material in connection with our fundraising efforts. If we do, we will tell you how to opt-out of receiving any future fundraising materials.

We will follow federal and state laws that provide additional protection to the following types of information:

• Records from Substance Use Disorder treatment programs
• Clinical records from mental health programs
• HIV/AIDS related information
• Certain information related to minors

Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder treatment information is subject to enhanced protections under state and federal law, which we follow. Treatment of these conditions is increasingly done on an integrated basis in our Behavioral Health clinics and we encourage Behavioral Health providers to coordinate and manage care of patients seen at multiple sites. If you are a patient of one of these clinics, we will ask for your permission to disclose your information for treatment and care coordination purposes to Behavioral Health providers at other clinics where you have an established treatment relationship.

• Marketing purposes
• Sale of your information
• Some sharing of psychotherapy notes, if we maintain psychotherapy notes

Other than the uses and disclosures described in this Notice, we will not use or disclose your health information without your written authorization. You may revoke your authorization at any time by submitting a written request to the Privacy Contact listed at the end of this Notice. This revocation will not be applicable to uses and disclosures that we may have acted upon prior to your revocation of the authorization.

• You can ask to see or get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record and other health information we have about you for as long as we maintain the data. Ask us how to do this.
• We will provide a copy or a summary of your health information, within the timeframes required by law. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.
• You can direct us to send an electronic or paper copy of your health information to a third party. In most cases, we will send an electronic copy without charge to you. Ask us how to do this.

• You can ask us to correct health information about you that you think is incorrect or incomplete. Ask us how to do this.
• We may say “no” to your request, but we’ll tell you why in writing within 60 days.

• You can ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, home or office phone) or to send mail to a different address.
• We will say “yes” to all reasonable requests

• You can ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment, or our operations. In most cases, we are not required to agree to your request, and we may say “no” if it would affect your care.
• If you pay for a service or health care item out-of-pocket in full, you can ask us not to share that information for the purpose of payment or our operations with your health insurer. We will say “yes” unless a law requires us to share that information.

• You can ask for a list (accounting) of the times we’ve shared your health information for six years prior to the date you ask, who we shared it with, and why.
• We will include all the disclosures except for those about treatment, payment, health care operations, and certain other disclosures (such as any you asked us to make). We’ll provide one accounting a year for free but will charge a reasonable, cost-based fee if you ask for another one within 12 months.

• You can ask for a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you have agreed to receive the notice electronically. We will provide you with a paper copy promptly.

• If you have selected someone to make health care decisions on your behalf, or if someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights and make choices about your health information.
• We will make sure the person has this authority and can act for you before we take any action

• We are required by law to notify individuals affected by a breach of unsecured (i.e. unencrypted) protected health information. We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information

• You can complain if you feel we have violated your rights by contacting the Privacy Contact for the applicable Affiliate listed at the end of this Notice.
• You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights using the following contact information:

  Office for Civil Rights U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
  Room 509F, HHH Building Washington, D.C. 20201
  Toll-Free: 1-877-696-6775
  http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/index.html">Website
  mailto:OCRComplaint@hhs.gov">Email

• We will not take any action against you or change our treatment of you in any way if you file a complaint.

Privacy Contact for Rochester, Finger Lakes, and WNY Sites:
Rochester Regional Health
Chief Privacy Officer
Call Center: (585) 922-LINK (922-5465)
Toll-free: 1-877-922-5465 
mailto:link@rochesterregional.org">Email

• Rochester Regional Health
• ACM Medical Laboratory, Inc.
• Behavioral Health Network, Inc. d/b/a Rochester Mental Health Center
• DrugScan, Inc.
• DSI Medical Services, Inc.
• Genesee Region Home Care Association, Inc.
  • d/b/a Hildebrandt Hospice Care Center
  • d/b/a Rochester Regional Health Home Care
  • d/b/a Rochester Regional Health Hospice Care
• Genesee Region Home Care of Ontario County, Inc.
  Greater Rochester Immediate Medical Care, PLLC d/b/a Rochester Regional Health Immediate Medical Care
• GRHS, LLC d/b/a Rochester Surgery Center
• Independent Living for Seniors, Inc. d/b/a ElderONE
• Newark-Wayne Community Hospital d/b/a DeMay Living Center; Friends for the Day
• North Park Nursing Home, Inc. d/b/a Edna Tina Wilson Living Center
• Park Ridge Apothecary, Inc.
  • d/b/a Clifton Springs Pharmacy
  • d/b/a Genesee Campus Apothecary
• Park Ridge Nursing Home, Inc. d/b/a Park Ridge Living Center; Wegmans Family Cottages; Adult Day at Park Ridge
• PRCD, Inc.
• Reed Eye Associates
• Rochester Regional Health Home Infusion Pharmacy, LLC
• Rochester General Health System
• Rochester Medicine, PLLC d/b/a Rochester Regional Health Occupational Medicine
• The Rochester General Hospital
  • d/b/a Riedman Pharmacy
  • d/b/a Rochester General Research Institute
  • d/b/a The General Apothecary
  • d/b/a Wilson Pharmacy
• The Unity Hospital of Rochester
  • d/b/a Unity Living Center
  • d/b/a Unity Specialty Hospital
• The Clifton Springs Sanitarium Company d/b/a Clifton Springs Hospital & Clinic; Clifton Springs Nursing Home Toxicology Holdings Corp.
• United Memorial Medical Center
• Unity Aging Services, Inc.
• Unity Health System
• Unity Linden Oaks Surgery Center, LLC d/b/a Linden Surgery Center
• Western New York Medical Practice, P.C.
• • d/b/a Valley View Family Practice
  • d/b/a Jefferson Family Medicine
  • d/b/a Nephrology Associates
• Westfall Surgery Center

• St. Lawrence Health System, Inc.
• Canton-Potsdam Hospital
• Canton-Potsdam Medical Practice, PLLC
• Gouverneur Hospital
• Massena Hospital