Privacy Policy
1. Purpose for Policy
LaMair – Mulock – Condon Co. (“Company”) places a high value on the privacy of its clients (“Clients”) and the expectation that information regarding Clients remains confidential and is made available only to persons who have a legitimate right to know. Company recognizes that all employees and temporary workers (“Employees”), as well as outside contractors, have an ethical and legal obligation to keep certain information about Clients confidential and to protect and safeguard this information against tampering and unauthorized use or disclosure.
2. Overview
This privacy policy concerns protected health information (“PHI”). PHI, as defined by federal law, means any individually identifiable health information of a Client, including, but not limited to: social security number, name, address, birth date, age, telephone number, subscriber number, policy number, e-mail address, fax number, and medical records.
PHI is not confined to written materials, facsimiles, or hard copy, but also includes information derived from any source, including, but not limited to: e-mail, computer data, data stored on electronic media, disks, or personal digital assistants (PDA), verbal communications or recordings, and visual observation. In general, PHI is not protected under HIPAA for group life, disability, workers comp, and long-term care.
3. Procedures
The following section outlines the basic procedures necessary to comply with this policy.
Disclosure of Information
- An Employee may access, discuss, use, and disclose PHI only for business as it relates to that employee’s specific job functions and/or responsibilities.
- Employees may disclose PHI only to those who have a legitimate, related business need to know or who have prior written authorization. PHI about a Client may only be shared for purposes of claims payment or healthcare operations.
- PHI must never be the subject of casual conversation either inside or outside of the workplace. PHI must not be discussed in lobbies, stairwells, elevators, restrooms, hallways, or any other public area where conversation could be easily overheard by visitors and Employees who do not have a need to know.
- Only “Minimally Necessary” PHI may be disclosed. “Minimally Necessary” means only that amount of PHI necessary to accomplish the intended purpose of the use or disclosure.
Access to Information
- PHI may only be accessed if related to specific job functions and responsibilities.
- Casual reading of PHI is not permitted.
- Employees with legitimate access to PHI will protect this information from casual or unauthorized access.
Security of PHI
- Employees may remove PHI from the facility only as it relates to specific job functions and/or responsibilities. It is the responsibility of each Employee to protect and safeguard all such information.
- Copies of PHI are to be destroyed after use by placing them in a covered recycling bin for destruction.
- Employees are encouraged to review PHI in a secure area and are responsible for records that are checked out to them. It is the responsibility of the Employee to protect and safeguard all records that are removed from the secure areas.
Breach of Confidentiality
- Any Employee who believes he/she has observed a breach of confidentiality is encouraged to address the person directly. If this is not an option, the Chief Privacy Officer or EBD Manager should be notified.
- Employees found to be in violation of this policy may be subject to disciplinary action, up to, and including termination and/or legal action. PHI is protected by federal and state laws and regulations that define civil and criminal penalties for violations of confidentiality.
Company will periodically conduct unscheduled audits to ensure compliance with this policy.
Safeguarding PHI
- In order to maintain confidentiality, any item containing PHI must be discarded according to the standards identified below:
| Item |
Examples |
Where/How Discarded |
| Paper |
Medical records, applications, census files, or any other paper-based document containing PHI |
Original hardcopies should be placed in a sealed recycle bin for destruction.
Electronic
copies stored in the Document Management System will be password
protected. |
| Electronic |
Disks,
e-mails, files, etc |
Disks
should be destroyed or re-formatted. Emails and electronic files should
be
purged from the system after use. Employees needing assistance in
disposing of
electronic files should contact a member of our IT staff. |
- Employees must not leave any PHI on fax machines, printers, or copiers.
- Employees are to clean their workspace of PHI at the end of their work day.
- Employees must exercise caution and discretion when leaving voicemail messages containing PHI.
- Employees are to escort visitors through work areas.
- Employees must exercise caution and discretion when e-mailing PHI.
- Employees must not store PHI on PDAs.
- Employees must secure all hardcopy mail and faxes containing PHI.
- Employee workstations will be programmed to auto-lock after 15 minutes of inactivity.
- Employees should refrain from loading PHI on pooled laptops. Information stored on laptops will be routinely purged.