Notice of Privacy Practices
Effective April 14, 2003
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
OUR PLEDGE TO PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY
(THIS NOTICE APPLIES TO RESEARCH SUBJECTS,
THERAPEUTIC AND CLINICAL TEST PATIENTS)
Stanford Medical School Blood Center (the Blood Center for purposes of this notice) in its role as an indirect healthcare provider understands that medical information about you is personal, and we are committed to protecting the privacy of your information. When you visit one of our donor centers or drawing locations, we create a record of the information given by you or by others concerning you, and of the care and services you receive at Stanford Blood Center. These records are created in order to provide you with quality care and services, and to comply with certain legal requirements. This notice applies to all electronic and paper records of your care and interactions generated by Stanford Blood Center, whether such record is made by Stanford Blood Center personnel or your personal physician.
This notice will tell you about the ways in which we may use and disclose your medical information. We also tell you your rights and obligations regarding the use and disclosure of medical information.
WHO WILL FOLLOW THIS NOTICE
This notice describes the Blood Center's practices and that of:
- Any health care professional authorized to enter information into your chart, file, or medical record;
- All Stanford Blood Center departments covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA);
- Any member of a volunteer group we allow to help you while you are being treated at Stanford Blood Center and
- All employees, staff and other Stanford Blood Center personnel
OUR LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY
The law requires us to:
- Make sure that any medical information that identifies you is kept private;
- Make available to you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to protected health information and
- Abide by the terms of the notice currently in effect.
INTERNET AND E-MAIL PRIVACY POLICY
Stanford Blood Center is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy describes the ways that personally identifiable and anonymous information about our donors is used and our information sharing practices.
Personal Information
Stanford Blood Center does not share, disclose or sell any personally-identifiable information (such as your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, etc.) collected online on Stanford Blood Center Web sites with other unaffiliated companies or organizations for marketing purposes outside of Stanford Blood Center and Give blood for life! programs.
E-mail Addresses
Stanford Blood Center collects e-mail addresses from our donors. We use this information to e-mail messages about current standings within the Give blood for life! program, news about blood and blood donation and reminders when donors are eligible to give blood. Stanford Blood Center also uses this information to facilitate communications with you through e-mail about scheduled appointment requests.
We provide customer lists and other information to third party companies that provide specialized services, such as e-mail message deployment, postal mailing, analysis, and other data processing. These companies work on our behalf and we do not provide our lists or other data to them for their own permanent use.
Any customer who receives e-mails based on the Give blood for life! program may opt-out at anytime by simply clicking on the remove link in the email message.
Internet Security
Stanford Blood Center uses encryption technology to protect certain information sent over the Internet. This encryption technology is called "Secure Sockets Layer" or SSL. SSL is an industry standard that encrypts transmissions between two parties and verifies the Web site server you are communicating with. You will notice that the "http://" has been replaced with "https://" in a Web site's address. This indicates that you are attached to a secure server using SSL technology. Additionally, if your browser is Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0, Netscape Navigator 4.0, or a higher version of either, a picture of a lock or a key should appear in the lower right hand corner of the browser's window.
Other methods such as firewalls, database encryption schemes and other technology and security procedures are used to protect the security of your personal information and prevent unauthorized access or improper use.
Use of Cookies
Some areas of the Stanford Blood Center Web site may use a feature of your Internet browser called a cookie. Cookies are files placed within your browser on your computer's hard drive by a Web server. Stanford Blood Center Web sites may use cookies to facilitate your Internet sessions, to maintain security. For example, Stanford Blood Center may use cookies to verify your identity and allow access through the Give blood for life! areas of the Web site. However, our cookies do not contain any information that is, in itself, personally identifying. Cookies stored on your hard drive by a Stanford Blood Center Web site are not accessible to other Web sites. If you choose not to enable cookies on your browser, you will not be able to use some of the features provided by the Give blood for life! areas of the Web site.
Children Stanford Blood Center Web sites are not directed to children under age 13, and Stanford Blood Center does not knowingly collect personal information from children under age 13.
Other information This Internet and E-mail Privacy Policy was last updated September 14, 2005, and replaces any previous Internet Privacy Policy from Stanford Blood Center. We may amend this Privacy Policy at any time, and when such a change is made, this will be reflected on the Web site. Any updates will be effective immediately when they are posted, and we encourage you to review this Privacy Policy from time to time to be aware of any such changes. Your continued use of the Stanford Blood Center Web site indicates your agreement to any such changes.
USE AND DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION (PHI)
The following sections describe different ways that we may use and disclose medical information without your specific written authorization. For each category of use or disclosure, we will explain what we mean and try to give some examples. To respect your privacy, we will try to limit the amount of information that we disclose to that which is the "minimum necessary". Not every use or disclosure will be listed. However, all of the ways we are permitted to use and disclose information will fall within one of the categories.
For Treatment
We may use your medical information to provide you with medical treatment or
services. We may disclose medical information about you to doctors, nurses,
technologists, technicians, medical students, or Stanford Blood Center personnel
who are involved in taking care of you while you are at Stanford Blood Center.
For example, if we are drawing your blood for therapeutic purposes by request
of your physician, we may need to tell your doctor about your visits to the
Blood Center. Or if you are donating blood for your own use during elective
surgery, we may share the results of the infectious disease tests we perform
on your blood with your surgeon or physician.
We may disclose medical information about you to people outside Stanford Blood Center who may be involved in your medical care after you leave, such as family members. For example, if you have an adverse reaction to a blood donation, we might tell the person who is taking you home what happened and what to observe for.
For Payment
We may use and disclose medical information about you so that the treatment
and services you receive may be billed to you and payment may be collected
from you, an insurance company or a third party. For example, we may need
to give information about care that you received at Stanford Blood Center
to your health plan, so your health plan will pay us or reimburse you for
the activity.
For Healthcare Operations
- We may use and disclose medical information about you for Stanford Blood Center operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary to run the Blood Center and to make sure that all of our patients receive quality care. For example, we may use medical information to review our treatment and services and to evaluate the performance of our staff in caring for you.
- We may combine medical information about Stanford Blood Center patients to decide what additional services Stanford Blood Center should offer, what services are not needed, and whether certain new treatments are effective.
- We may disclose information to doctors, nurses, technologists, technicians, medical students, and other Stanford Blood Center personnel for quality assurance and learning purposes.
- We may combine the medical information we have with medical information from other Blood Centers to compare how we are doing and see where we can make improvements in the care and services that we offer. In this case, all identifiers are removed.
Appointment Reminders
We may use and disclose protected information to contact you as a reminder
that you have an appointment for a procedure at Stanford Blood Center.
Health-Related Benefits and Services
We may use and disclose medical information to tell you about health-related
benefits or services that may be of interest to you.
Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care
- We may release medical information about you to a friend or family member who is involved in your medical care.
- We may give information to someone who helps pay for your care.
- Unless there is a specific written request from you to the contrary, we may also tell your family or friends your condition and that you are a donor or patient at Stanford Blood Center (if we have a reason to believe these individuals are involved in your care).
- In addition, we may disclose medical information about you to an entity assisting in a disaster relief effort, so that your family may be notified about your condition, status and location.
Business Associates
The Blood Center may contract with outside companies to perform business services
for us, or seek accreditation with outside agencies. An example is the College
of American Pathologists (CAP). In certain circumstances, we may need to
share your medical information with such associates to they can perform services
on our behalf. The Blood Center will limit the disclosure of your information
to a business associate to the amount of information that is the minimum
necessary for the company to perform services for the Blood Center. In addition,
we will have a written contract in place with the business associate requiring
it to protect the privacy of your medical information.
Research
As an academic Blood Center under the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine,
Stanford University, we may under certain circumstances, use and disclose
medical information about you for research purposes. We generally ask for
your written authorization before using your medical information or sharing
it with others in order to conduct research. Under limited circumstances
we may use and disclose your medical information without your authorization.
All research projects, however, are subject to a special approval process.
This process evaluates a proposed research project and its use of medical
information, trying to balance the research needs with patient's need for
privacy of their medical information.
To Prevent a Serious Threat to Health or Safety
We may use and disclose certain information about you when necessary to prevent
a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of others.
Any disclosure, however, would only be to someone able to help prevent the
threat, such as law enforcement, or to a potential victim.
SPECIAL SITUATIONS THAT DO NOT REQUIRE US TO OBTAIN YOUR AUTHORIZATION
Workers Compensation
We may release medical information about you for Workers' Compensation or similar
programs. These programs provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness.
Public Health Risk
We may disclose medical information about you for public health activities.
For example, activities to:
- Prevent or control disease, injury or disability,
- Report deaths,
- Report the abuse or neglect of children, elders and dependent adults,
- Report reactions to medications or problems with products,
- Notify appropriate state registries, such as the Donor Deferral Registry, if you have a positive result on a reportable blood test,
- Notify people of recalls of products they may be using or
- Notify the appropriate government authority, if we believe a patient has been the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. We will only make this disclosure if you agree, or when required or authorized by law.
Health Oversight Activities
We may disclose medical information to a health oversight agency such as the
California Department of Health and Human Services for activities authorized
by law. These activities are necessary for the government to monitor the
health care system, government programs, and compliance with civil rights
laws. (For example, audits, investigations, inspections, and licensure.)
Lawsuits and Disputes
- If you are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose medical information about you in response to a court or administrative order.
- We may also disclose medical information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute.
Law Enforcement
We may release medical information, if asked to do so by a law enforcement
official:
- In response to a court order, subpoena, warrant, summons or similar process,
- To identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person,
- About the victim of a crime if, under certain limited circumstances, we are unable to obtain the person's agreement,
- About a death we believe may be the result of criminal conduct,
- About criminal conduct at Stanford Blood Center or
- In emergency circumstances to report a crime, the location of the crime or victims, or the identity, description or location of the person who committed the crime.
Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors
- We may release medical information to a coroner or medical examiner. This may be necessary, for example, to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death.
- We may release medical information about patients of the Stanford Blood Center to funeral directors, as necessary, to carry out their duties.
Organ and Tissue Donation
If you are a potential organ donor, we may release medial information to organizations
that handle organ, eye, or tissue procurement or transplantation. The procurement
or transplantation organization needs you to authorize actual donations.
Military and Veterans
- If you are a member of the armed forces, we may release medical information about you, as required by military command authorities.
- We may release medical information about foreign military personnel to the appropriate foreign military authority.
National Security and Intelligence Activities
We may release medical information about you to authorized federal officials
for intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities
authorized by law.
Inmates
If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of
a law enforcement official, we may release medical information about you
to the correction institution or law enforcement official. This release may
be necessary for the institution to provide you with health care; to protect
your health and safety or the health and safety of others; or for the safety
and security of the correctional institution.
Protective Services for the President and Others
We may disclose medical information about you to authorize federal officials
so they may provide protection to the President, other authorized persons
or foreign heads of state, or to conduct special investigations.
As Required by Law
We will disclose medical information about you when required to do so by federal,
state or local laws that are not specifically mentioned in this notice.
YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
Right to Inspect and Obtain a Copy of Your Medical Records
You have the right to inspect and copy medical
information that may be used to make decisions about your care. Usually,
this includes medical and billing records, but may not include some
mental health information. If you request a copy of the information,
we may charge a fee for the costs of copying, mailing or other supplies
associated with your request.
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures
If you are classified as a patient, you have the right to request a list of
the disclosures we made of medical information about you other than our own
routine uses for treatment, payment, and health care operations (as those
functions are described above and with other expectations pursuant to the
law). Your request must state a time period, which may not be longer than
6 years and may not include anything dated before April 14, 2003. Your request
should indicate in what form (electronic or paper) you want the list.
Right to Amend
If you feel that medical information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete,
you may ask us to amend the information. You have the right to request an amendment
for as long as the information is kept by or for Stanford Blood Center.
We may deny your request for an amendment if you ask us to amend information that:
- Was not created by us, or on our behalf;
- Is not part of the medical information kept by or for Stanford Blood Center;
- Is not part of the information which you would be permitted to inspect and copy or
- Is accurate and complete
If we deny any part of your request, we will provide you a written explanation of our reasons.
Right to Request Restrictions
You have the right to request restrictions on certain uses or disclosure of
your medical information. For example, you may request that your name not
appear on a list of blood donors or patients of the Blood Center. We are
not required to agree to your request. If we do agree, we will comply with
your request unless the information is needed to provide you emergency treatment
or comply with the law.
In your request, you must tell us:
- What specific information you want to limit,
- Whether you want to limit our use, disclosure, or both and
- To whom you want the limits to apply (For example, disclosures to your spouse).
Right to Request Confidential Communications
You have the right to request that we communicate with you about medical matters
in a certain way or at a certain location. For example, you can ask that
we only contact you at work or by mail.
Your request must specify how or where you wish to be contacted. We will accommodate all reasonable requests
Right to a Paper Copy of This Notice Upon Request
You have the right to a copy of this Notice. It is available in our Internet
site or by requesting
it from the Privacy Officer.
OTHER USES OF MEDICAL INFORMATION
Other uses and disclosures of medical information, not covered by this notice or the laws that apply to us, will be made only with your written authorization. If you provide us authorization to use or disclose medical information about you for purposes not covered in this notice, you may revoke that permission, in writing, at any time. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclose medical information about you for the activities covered by your written authorization. Stanford Blood Center is unable to take back any disclosures we have already made with your authorization, or that we are required to retain as a record of the care that we provided to you.
CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE
We reserve the right to update our privacy practices and update this notice accordingly. We reserve the right to make the revised or changed notice effective for medical information we already have about you, as well as any information we receive in the future. The effective date of the notice will appear on the first page. If at any time you would like to obtain another copy of our notice, you may request one.
COMPLAINTS
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the Blood Center or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201).
CONTACT INFORMATION
To obtain information about how to request a copy of your medical records, receive an accounting of disclosures of, amend, request restrictions or request confidential communications of your medical information, to file a complaint or if you have questions regarding this Notice of HIPAA Privacy Practices, please contact:
Privacy Officer
Stanford Blood Center
800 Welch Road.
Palo Alto, CA 94304(650) 723-7994