PURPOSE
To comply with the requirements of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights, Standards for Privacy of Individually Identified Health Information, concerning the Notice of Privacy Practices.

POLICY
The privacy practices of the agency are described in the Notice of Privacy Practices.
Personal-Touch Holding Corp. and its Subsidiaries provide and use its Notice of Privacy Practices in accordance with Privacy Rule requirements. The Notice of Privacy Practices is given to all patients no later than the date of the first service delivery. The Notice of Privacy Practices is reviewed with all current employees annually and all new employees during their orientation. The Notice of Privacy Practices and any subsequent revisions shall be retained for seven (7) years from the date of its creation or when it was last in effect, whichever is later.

PROCEDURE

  1. The Notice of Privacy Practices is written in plain language and its content is in accordance with Privacy Rule requirements.
  2. The Notice of Privacy Practices describes the uses and disclosures of Protected Health Information (PHI) and patients’ rights with respect to their health information.
  3. Patients are provided with a copy of Personal-Touch Holding Corp. and its Subsidiary’s Notice of Privacy Practices as soon as practicable upon admission.
  4. A good faith effort is made to obtain written acknowledgment that the patient has received a copy of the Notice of Privacy Practices.
  5. Workforce members receive training related to Personal Touch’s privacy practices as detailed in the Notice of Privacy Practices.
  6. Notice of Privacy Practices is posted on its website (www.pthomecare.com) and is available to patients and employees through the website for download. Hard copies are provided to any individual on request.
  7. The Notice of Privacy Practices is revised whenever there are changes to federal or state privacy laws and regulations or to the company’s privacy practices. Revisions to the notice will not be implemented prior to the effective date of the revised notice and distribution of the revised notice to workforce members, patients, and business associates.
  8. Patients will be notified of any breach in protected health information.