Our Duty to Safeguard Your Protected Health Information

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) protects sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge and the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) has issued the HIPAA Privacy Rule to implement the requirements of HIPAA.  

This notice explains how, when, and why we may use or disclose your Protected Health Information (“PHI”).  Except in specified circumstances, we must use or disclose only the minimum necessary PHI to accomplish the intended purpose of the use or disclosure.

Although we are required to follow the privacy practices described in this notice, LifeCare reserves the right to change its privacy practices and terms of this notice at any time.  You may request a copy of the new notice from any LifeCare Facility (identified below) or by navigating to the LifeCare website at www.lifecare-health.com.

What is Protected Health Information or PHI?

The Privacy Rule protects all “individually identifiable health information” held or transmitted by a Covered Entity or its Business Associate, in any form or media, whether electronic, paper, or oral.  The Privacy Rule calls this information Protected Health Information (or PHI) and is associated with of the following eighteen (18) identifiers: 1) name, 2) address (all geographic subdivisions smaller than state, including street address, city, county, and zip code), 3) all elements (except years) of dates related to an individual (including birthdate, admission date, discharge date, date of death, and exact age if over eighty-nine (89), 4) telephone numbers, 5) fax number, 6) email address, 7) social security number, 8) medical record number, 9) health plan beneficiary number, 10) account number, 11) certificate or license number, 12) vehicle identifiers and serial numbers, including license plate numbers, 13) device identifiers and serial numbers, 14) web URL, 15) internet protocol (IP) address, 16) finger or voice print, 17) photographic image – photographic images are not limited to images of the face, and 18) any other characteristic that could uniquely identify the individual.

Simply put, PHI means information created or received by LifeCare and transmitted or maintained in written, electronic, or any other from that relates to: (i) your past, present, or future health condition, (ii) the provision of health care to you, or (iii) your past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care.

Will LifeCare Have Access to my PHI?

Yes.  Your PHI will be obtained by your LifeCare physician, LifeCare’s office staff, and others outside of LifeCare that are involved in your care and treatment of the purpose of providing health care services to you.

When May LifeCare Use or Disclose my PHI?

The Privacy Rule permits LifeCare and its Business Associates to use or disclose PHI to carry out “treatment,” “payment,” and other “health care operations.”  LifeCare is not required to obtain an authorization from you or to notify you each time it uses or discloses your PHI for these purposes.  

The following, without limitation, are a few examples of the types of uses and disclosures of your PHI that LifeCare is permitted to make:

Treatment means the provision, coordination, or management of health care and related services by health care providers, including the coordination or management of health care by a health care provider with a third party (such as an insurer of LifeCare), consultation between providers with respect to a patient, and the referral of a patient for health care from one provider to another.  This includes the coordination and management of your health care with doctors, nurses, technicians, medical students, or other hospital personnel who are involved in taking care of patients at the hospital.  

For example:

1.   LifeCare may disclose your PHI, as necessary, to a home health agency that provides care to you;

2.  LifeCare may disclose PHI to other physicians who may be treating you;

3.  Your PHI may be provided to a physician to whom you have been referred to, to ensure the physician has the necessary information to properly diagnose or treat you;

4.  A LifeCare physician may need to notify a dietician if you have diabetes so LifeCare can arrange for appropriate meals; or

5.  LifeCare may disclose PHI to a pharmacy to facilitate the filling of your prescription.

Different departments of the hospital may also share your medical information to coordinate the different aspects of your care, such as prescriptions, lab work, and x-rays.  Additionally, LifeCare may disclose your PHI from time-to-time to another physician or health care provider (i.e., a specialist or laboratory) who, at the request of your LifeCare physician, becomes involved by assisting with your health care diagnosis or treatment.  LifeCare may also disclose medical information about you to people outside the hospital who may be involved in your medical care after you leave the hospital, such as family members, clergy, or others LifeCare uses to provide services that are part of your care.

Payment means your PHI will be used, as needed, to obtain reimbursement for your health care services provided by LifeCare.  This may include certain activities that your health insurance plan may undertake before it approves or pays for the health care services LifeCare recommends for you, such as determining eligibility or coverage for insurance benefits, reviewing services provided to you for medical necessity, and undertaking utilization review activities.  Another example is obtaining approval for a hospital stay, which may require relevant PHI to be disclosed to a health plan to obtain approval for the hospital admission.  Likewise, LifeCare may disclose your treatment to a health plan to obtain prior approval or to determine whether your plan covers the cost of treatment.

Health Care Operations means those other functions and activities that LifeCare performs in connection with providing health care.  These activities include, without limitation, quality assessment activities, employee review activities, training of medical students, licensing, credentialing, underwriting, auditing functions, and conducting or arranging for other business and administrative activities.  

For example, LifeCare may disclose your PHI to medical school or nursing students and other hospital personnel for review and learning purposes.LifeCare may use your medical information to review its treatment and services and to evaluate the performance of its staff in caring for patients.

LifeCare may also combine medical and demographic information about hospital patients to decide what additional services the hospital should offer, what services are not needed, and whether new treatments are effective.  In addition, LifeCare may use a sign-in sheet at the registration desk where you will be asked to sign your name and indicate your physician.  LifeCare may also call you by name in the waiting room when it is time for an appointment or meeting.  LifeCare will share your PHI with third parties that provide certain functions to LifeCare necessitating the use of PHI (i.e., billing, transcription, or translation services), commonly referred to as “Business Associates”.  Whenever an arrangement between LifeCare and a Business Associate involves the use or disclosure of your PHI, LifeCare will have a written contract with the Business Associate that contains terms to protect the privacy of your PHI.

When May LifeCare Use or Disclose my Protected Health Information?

For uses and disclosures beyond treatment payment, and health care operations purposes we are required to have your written authorization, unless the use or disclosure falls within one of the exceptions described below.  Authorization can be revoked at any time to stop future uses and disclosures except to the extent we have already undertaken an action in reliance upon your authorization.

Use and Disclosure Exceptions for Mental Health, Alcohol, or Drug Records:  The Privacy Rule provides that we may use and disclose your PHI from mental health, alcohol, or drug records without consent or authorization in the following circumstances:

·   When required by law:  We may disclose PHI when a law requires that we report information about suspected abuse, neglect, domestic violence, suspected criminal activity, or in response to a court order.  We must also disclose PHI to authorities that monitor compliance with these privacy requirements.

·   For public health activities:  We may disclose PHI when we are required to collect information about disease or injury, or to report vital statistics to the public health authority.

·   For health oversight activities:  We may disclose PHI to our central office, the protection and advocacy agency, or other agencies responsible for monitoring the health care system for such purposes as reporting or investigation of unusual incidents, and monitoring of the Medicaid program.

·   Relating to decedents: We may disclose PHI related to a death to coroners, medical examiners, or funeral directors, and to organ procurement organizations relating to organ, eye, or tissue donations or transplants.  For research purposes: in certain circumstances, and under supervision of the privacy board, we may disclose PHI to central office research staff and their designees to assist medical and psychiatric research.

·   To avert threat to health or safety:  In order to avoid serious threat to health or safety, we may disclose PHI as necessary to law enforcement or other persons who can reasonably prevent or lessen the threat of harm.

·   For specific government functions:  We may disclose PHI of military personnel, veterans in certain situations, to correction facilities in certain situations, to government benefit programs relating to eligibility and enrollment, and for national security reasons, such as protection of the President.

Will LifeCare Use or Disclose my PHI for Marketing Purposes?

While LifeCare does not anticipate using or disclosing your PHI for marketing purposes, under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, LifeCare may only make such uses or disclosures with your authorization, unless LifeCare communicates with you in person or provides you with some promotional gift of nominal value, in which case your authorization would not be required.  Additionally, LifeCare may send you information regarding its facilities and its other products and services LifeCare believes would be beneficial to you; however, you may contact LifeCare’s Privacy Officer (referenced at the end of this Notice) to request these materials not be sent to you.

Do I have the right to request additional restrictions on the uses or disclosures of my PHI?

Yes.  You have the right to request additional restrictions relating to LifeCare’s use or disclosure of your PHI beyond those otherwise required under the HIPAA Privacy Rule.  Although LifeCare is not legally required to grant these requests, it is your right to make such a request.  For additional information or to obtain the proper form for making such a request, please contact LifeCare’s Corporate Privacy Officer (referenced at the end of this Notice).

May I request certain confidential communications of my PHI be made to me at alternative locations?

Yes.  LifeCare may communicate your PHI to you in a variety of ways, including by mail, telephone, or secure electronic means.  If you believe that LifeCare’s communications to you by the usual means will endanger you or your health care and you would like LifeCare to make its communications that involve PHI to you at an alternate location, you may contact your treating LifeCare facility identified below to obtain the appropriate request form.  LifeCare will only accommodate reasonable requests and may required information as to how payment, if any, will be handled.

Do I have the right to inspect and copy my PHI?

Yes, subject to certain limitations.  You have the right to request and obtain access to inspect and copy your PHI maintained by LifeCare unless the information is (i) psychotherapy notes; or (ii) not required to be accessible under the HIPAA Privacy Rule or other applicable law.  For example, you do not have a right to access information compiled by LifeCare in anticipation of, or for use in, a civil, criminal, or administrative proceeding.  Additionally, LifeCare may deny your request to inspect and copy in certain limited circumstances.
LifeCare may charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee for copying (including the cost of supplies and labor) any PHI required to be copied to adequately respond to your access request, as well as any postage costs and costs associated with preparing an explanation or summary of the PHI necessary to adequately respond to your access request (unless otherwise precluded by applicable State or other law).  If you would like to request access to your PHI, please contact your treating LifeCare facility identified below so that you can complete the appropriate forms.

Do I have the right to request an amendment to my PHI?

Yes.  You have the right to request that LifeCare amend your PHI.  LifeCare reserves the right to deny or partially deny requests for amendments that are not required to be granted under the HIPAA Privacy Rule.  For example, LifeCare may deny a request for amendment when your PHI is accurate and complete.  If you would like to request an amendment of your PHI, please contact your treating LifeCare facility identified below so that you can complete the appropriate forms.

Do I have the right to an accounting of disclosures of my PHI made by LifeCare?

Yes.  You have the right to request and obtain a property accounting of disclosures LifeCare has made of your PHI in the six (6) years prior to the date on which the account is requested.  Your request should indicate in what form you want the accounting (i.e., on paper or electronically).  LifeCare is not required, however, to account for all uses and disclosures of PHI made by LifeCare.  For example, LifeCare is not required to provide an accounting for disclosures made for treatment, payment, or health care operations purposes or for disclosures made with your authorization.  Additionally, LifeCare reserves the right to limit its accounts to disclosures made after the compliance date of the HIPAA Privacy Rule.

You have the right to receive this notice.

You have a right to receive a paper copy of this Notice and/or electronic copy by email upon request.  Please contact LifeCare’s Corporate Privacy Officer for more details.

Our Locations

When contacting one of our locations regarding your medical records or PHI, please contact the Health Information Management (HIM) Department.

LifeCare Corporate Office
15305 Dallas North Tollway
Addison, TX 75001
www.lifecare-health.com/cast

LifeCare Hospital of Dallas
1950 Record Crossing Road
Dallas, TX 75235
(214) 640-9600

LifeCare Hospital of Fort Worth
6201 Overton Ridge Boulevard
Fort Worth, TX 76132
(817) 222-8300

LifeCare Hospital of Plano
6800 Preston Road
Plano, TX 75024
(214) 473-8822

How to complain about our privacy practices.

If you feel we may have violated your privacy rights, or you disagree with a decision we made about access to your PHI, you may file a complaint with LifeCare’s Corporate Privacy Officer by submitting your complaint: (1) to the LifeCare Compliance Hotline online at lifecare.ethicspoint.com or by calling +1 (844) 904-0414, (2) submitting your complaint via email to legal@lifecare-health.com, or (3) mailing your complaint to LifeCare Management Services at 15305 Dallas Parkway, Tower III, Suite 1000, Addison, TX 75001, Attention: LifeCare Privacy Officer.

You may also file a written complaint with the Secretary of HHS at 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201 or by calling +1 (877) 696-6775.  

No retaliatory action will be taken against you if you make such complaints.

Effective Date: 

This notice is effective as of September 30, 2019.