HIPAA Privacy Policy

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.

The Green County Health Department (HD) works with other
practitioners in delivering services to you. The practitioners include
doctors, dentists, nurses, and case managers who are not part of the
HD's workforce. All of these practitioners will follow this joint notice of
privacy practices in delivering service to you.

The HD and the practitioners involved in your care create a medical
record of your health information in order to treat you, receive payment
for services delivered, and to comply with certain policies and laws. The
uses and disclosures described in this notice are applicable to the
Health Department and all of the practitioners (collectively "we") who are
part of this joint notice of privacy practices while they are delivering
services at a Health Department facility or on behalf of the Health
Department. This joint notice does not apply to service providers who
are not part of the Health Department when they deliver services
elsewhere or only on their own behalf.

We are required by federal and state law to maintain the privacy of your PHI. We are
also required by law to provide you with this notice of our legal duties and privacy
practices. In addition, the law requires us to ask you to sign an acknowledgment
that you received this notice.

This is a list of some of the types of uses and disclosures of PHI that may occur:

Treatment
We obtain medical information about you in treating you. This medical information
is called "protected health information" (PHI). Your PHI is used by us to treat you.
For example, we refer to PHI in treating you at the health department. We may also
send your PHI to another physician or counselor to which we refer you for treatment.
We may also use your PHI to contact you to tell you about alternative treatments, or
other health-related benefits we offer. If you have a friend or family member involved
in your care, we may give them PHI about you.

Payment
We use your PHI to obtain payment for the services that we render. For example, we
send PHI to Medicaid, Medicare, or your insurance plan to obtain payment for our
services.

Health Care Operations
We use your PHI for our operations. For example, we may use your PHI in
determining whether we are giving adequate treatment to our clients. From time to
time, we may use your PHI to contact you to remind you of an appointment.

Legal Requirements
We may use and disclose your PHI as required or authorized by law. For example,
we may use or disclose your PHI for the following reasons:

Public Health
We may use and disclose your health care information to prevent or control
disease, injury or disability, to report births and deaths, to report reactions to
medicines or medical devices, to notify a person who may have been exposed to a
disease, or to report suspected cases of abuse, neglect or domestic violence.

Health Oversight Activities
We may use and disclose your PHI to state agencies and federal government
authorities when required to do so. We may use and disclose your health
information in order to determine your eligibility for public benefit programs and to
coordinate delivery of those programs. For example, we must give PHI to the
Secretary of Health and Human Services in an investigation into our compliance
with the federal privacy rule.

Judicial and Administrative Proceedings
We may use and disclose your PHI in judicial and administrative proceedings.
Efforts may be made to contact you prior to a disclosure of your PHI by the party
seeking the information.

Law Enforcement
We may use and disclose your PHI in order to comply with requests pursuant to a
court order, warrant, subpoena, summons, or similar process. We may use and
disclose PHI to locate someone who is missing, to identify a crime victim, to report
a death, to report criminal activity at our offices, or in an emergency.

Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety
We may use or disclose your PHI to stop you or someone else from getting hurt.

Work-Related Injuries
We may use or disclose PHI to an employer if the employer is conducting medical
workplace surveillance or to evaluate work-related injuries.

Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors
We may use or disclose PHI to a coroner or medical examiner in some situations.
For example, PHI may be needed to identify a deceased person or determine a
cause of death. Funeral directors may need PHI to carry out their duties.

Armed Forces
We may use or disclose the PHI of Armed Forces personnel to the military for
proper execution of a military mission. We may also use and disclose PHI to the
Department of Veterans Affairs to determine eligibility for benefits.

National Security and Intelligence
We may use or disclose PHI to maintain the safety of the President or other
protected officials. We may use or disclose PHI for the conduct of national
intelligence activities.

Correctional Institutions and Custodial Situations
We may use or disclose PHI to correctional institutions or law enforcement
custodians for the safety of individuals at the correctional institution, those that are
responsible for transporting inmates, and others.

Research
You will need to sign an authorization form before we use or disclosure PHI for
research purposes except in limited situations. For example, if you want to
participate in research or a clinical study, an Authorization form must be signed.

Fundraising
If we undertake any fundraising activities, we may contact you about the fundraising
activity. We do not engage in marketing activities, and need your authorization to do
so.

Complaints
If you feel that your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with
the Health Department by calling our Health Officer at 608-328-9500. We will not
retaliate against you for filing a complaint. You may also file a complaint with the
Secretary of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue, S.W.,
Washington, DC, 20201, if you feel your privacy rights have been violated.
We maintain a facility directory so that if family or friends ask us about your
condition, we can tell them general information and the fact that you are here. If you
do not want us to tell anyone you are here, please tell us now.

We are required to abide with terms of the notice currently in effect, however, we
may change this notice. If we materially change this notice, you can get a revised
notice on our Website at  www.greencountyhealth.org, or by stopping by our office
to pick up a copy. Changes to the notice are applicable to the health information we
already have.

If we seek help from individuals or entities who are not part of this notice in our
treatment, payment, or healthcare operations activities, we will require those
persons to follow this notice unless they are already required by law to follow the
Federal Privacy Rule.