Mental Health Resources

Your Rights to Confidentiality

Arundel Lodge takes confidentiality very seriously. We follow very strict rules from the United States and Maryland Governments about when we can release your medical record—your protected health information.

The Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule establishes a foundation of Federal protection for personal health information, carefully balanced to avoid creating unnecessary barriers to the delivery of quality health care. The Rule generally prohibits this program from using or disclosing your protected health information unless authorized by you, except as follows:

First, we are required by law to disclose your protected health information in certain circumstances, for example, to report abuse and neglect, and to warn about dangerous behavior. Second, we are authorized to disclose your protected health information without your consent when we use that information for treatment, payment, or the health care operations of the program.

You can also request a copy of our notice at any time. For more information about our privacy practices, contact our human resources office.

Human Resources
Arundel Lodge, Inc.
2600 Solomons Island Road
Edgewater, MD 21037
443-433-5900, ext. 5931

Complaints

If you are concerned that we have violated your privacy rights, or you disagree with a decision we made about access to your records, you may contact the person listed below. You also may send a written complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

If you have any questions or complaints, please contact:

Human Resources
Arundel Lodge, Inc.
2600 Solomons Island Road
Edgewater, MD 21037
443-433-5900, ext. 5931

Uses and Disclosures of Protected Health Information

The following are examples of the types of uses and disclosures of your protected health care information that the provider is permitted to make. These examples are not meant to be exhaustive, but to describe the types of uses and disclosures.

Treatment: We will use and disclose health information to provide, coordinate, or manage your health care and any related services. For example, your protected health information may be provided to a doctor to whom you have been referred to insure that the doctor has the necessary information to diagnose or treat you.

Payment: Your protected health information will be used, as needed, in activities related to obtaining payment for your health care services. For example, obtaining approval for a hospital stay may require that your relevant protected health information be disclosed to your health insurance company to obtain approval for the hospital admission.

Healthcare Operations: We may use or disclose, as needed, your protected health information as it relates to business activities. For example, when we review employee performance, we may need to look at what an employee has documented in your medical record.

Business Associates: We will share your protected health information with third party ‘business associates’ that perform various activities (e.g. billing, transcription services). Whenever an arrangement between us and a business service involves the use or disclosure of your protected health information, we will have a written contract that contains terms that will protect the privacy of your protected health information.

Marketing: We may use or disclose certain health information in the course of providing you with information about treatment alternatives, health-related services, or fundraising. You may contact us to request that these materials not be sent to you.

Written Authorization

Other uses and disclosures of your protected health information will be made only with your written authorization, unless otherwise permitted or required by law as described below. You may revoke this authorization, at any time, in writing.

Opportunity to Object

We may use and disclose your protected health information in the following instances. You have the opportunity to object. If you are not present or able to object, then your provider may, using professional judgment, determine whether the disclosure is in your best interest.

Facility Directories: Unless you object, we will use and disclose in our facility directory your name, the location at which you are receiving care, your condition (in general terms), and your religious affiliation. All of this information, except religious affiliation, will be disclosed to people that ask for you by name. Members of the clergy will be told your religious affiliation.

Others Involved in Your Healthcare: Unless you object, we may disclose to a member of your family, a relative, a close friend or any other person you identify, your protected health information that directly relates to that person’s involvement in your health care.

Emergencies: In an emergency treatment situation, your provider shall try to provide you a Notice of Privacy Practices as soon as reasonably practicable after the delivery of treatment.

Communication Barriers: We may use and disclose your protected health information if your provider attempts to obtain acknowledgement from you of the Notice of Privacy Practices but is unable to do so due to substantial communication barriers and the provider determines, using professional judgment that you would agree.