Privacy Policy

New Foundations Home for Children, Inc. is required by law to protect the privacy of your child’s Protected Health Information (or “PHI”). PHI is information that identifies your child, his/her health care or payment for health care, or information about your child’s past, present, or future medical condition(s). We are required by law to provide you with this notice explaining our legal duties and privacy practices concerning your child’s PHI.

We must follow this notice and only use/disclose PHI as described in this Notice. We may change the terms of this Notice and make the new Notice effective for all New Foundations PHI. You may receive a copy of our current Notice by contacting your child’s Human Services Professional (HSP) or the Admissions Coordinator.

For questions about this Notice or our Privacy Practices, or if you are writing about your child’s PHI, including requests for restrictions on its use or disclosure, about your child’s Privacy Rights listed below, or to make a complaint about our Privacy Practices, you may contact our Human Resources Manager or Quality Improvement Manager at 2300 Standridge Road, Anderson, SC 29625.

NEW FOUNDATIONS HOME FOR CHILDREN, INC.
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

Effective April 14, 2003

You may also make a complaint to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). If you believe that your child’s privacy rights have been violated, you may write the Office of Civil Rights, Medical Privacy, Complaint Division, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue, SW, HHH Building, Room 509H, Washington, D.C., 20201. If you make a complaint, there will not be retaliation by New Foundations Home for Children, Inc.

General Guidelines for How We Use Your Child’s PHI

When New Foundations provides care to your child, we need to gather, use, and share your child’s PHI. Your child’s PHI may identify him her by name, address, date of birth, social security number, etc…, and include his/her diagnoses, care provided, and other care and payment information. New Foundations shares your child’s PHI with New Foundations staff members involved in his/her care. Certain information may also be shared for the purpose of Payment and Operations. New Foundations also may share your child’s PHI with other entities involved with your child’s care. We may also share your child’s PHI with Business Associates providing services to New Foundations by written agreement; in so doing, we also require that they agree to protect your child’s PHI privacy.

When it will not compromise your child’s care, we will try to accommodate your request to restrict PHI disclosure and limit it to the minimum necessary to accomplish the purpose for the disclosure. Unless permitted in this Notice, we cannot use/share your child’s PHI unless authorized to do so by you. You may cancel an Authorization in writing, and New Foundations will no longer share your child’s PHI for that purpose. However, we cannot take back any release made with your Authorization, and we must keep records of your child’s care.

Some Specific Disclosures

Care: New Foundations may share your child’s PHI that is needed for New Foundations’ and other providers’ care. Such information may include your child’s diagnoses, medications, care plan, etc…. This would include PHI needed for care coordination, consultation, and referral to other care providers.

Payment: New Foundations may share PHI to bill/be paid for services rendered to your child.

Operations: New Foundations may use/share PHI for its Operations. For example, we may share your child’s PHI internally to ensure that he/she receives the most appropriate services. We also may sometimes share PHI for operations of agencies and organizations with healthcare accrediting or licensing authority.

Keeping You Informed: We may send you mail/ call you with updates concerning your child’s progress and meeting dates. Unless you indicate otherwise, we may also leave you messages regarding your child.

Use or disclosure of the following protected health information does not require your consent or authorization:

Uses and disclosures required by law—like files court-ordered by a judge
Uses and disclosures about victims of abuse, neglect or domestic violence
Uses and disclosures for health and oversight activities—like correcting records or correcting records already disclosed
Uses and disclosures for judicial and administrative proceedings—like a claim of breach of ethics
Uses and disclosures for law enforcement purposes—like if a client makes a serious threat to harm another person
Uses and disclosures for research purposes—like using client information in research, with confidentiality always maintained
Uses and disclosures to avert a serious threat to health or safety—like sharing client information with hospital staff in the event that the client is suicidal
Uses and disclosures for National Security and Protection for the President—like
sharing information with authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities authorized by law.
Uses and disclosures regarding persons under law enforcement custody—like
sharing information with law enforcement/correctional institutions as needed for healthcare /safety/security reasons.

Privacy Rights Concerning Your Child’s Medical Record

You have the right to the following:

To request a paper copy of this Notice
To request how you would like for New Foundations to communicate with you regarding your child’s care.
To request restrictions on the use/sharing of your child’s PHI
To have access to/ request to copy your child’s PHI
To request an amendment to your child’s PHI
To request an accounting of disclosures to your child’s PHI
To file a complaint as described on the first page of this notice