How We May Use and Disclose Information about You

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The following categories (listed below) describe different ways that we use and disclose your PHI. For each category of uses or disclosures we will explain what we mean and give you some examples. Not every use or disclosure in a category will be listed. However, all of the ways we are permitted to use and disclose information fall within the categories below.

For Treatment

We are permitted to use and disclose your PHI to doctors, nurses, technicians, medical students or other personnel who are involved in taking care of you at BCM or provide you with medical treatment or services. For example, a doctor treating you for a broken leg may need to know if you have diabetes because diabetes may slow the healing process. In addition, the doctor may need to tell the dietitian if you have diabetes so that the dietitian can arrange for appropriate meals. Different departments of BCM also may share your PHI in order to coordinate the different services that you need, such as lab work, x-rays, and prescriptions. We also may disclose your PHI to health care providers outside BCM who may be involved in your medical care, such as physicians who will provide follow-up care, physical therapy organizations, medical equipment suppliers, and skilled nursing facilities.

For Payment

We are permitted to use and disclose your PHI so that the treatment and services you receive at BCM may be billed to (and payment may be collected from) your insurance company or a third party. For example, we may need to give your health plan information about the surgery you received at BCM so your health plan will pay us or reimburse you for the surgery. We also may tell your health plan about a treatment you are going to receive to obtain prior approval or to determine whether your plan will cover the treatment.

For Health Care Operations

We are permitted to use and disclose your PHI for our business operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary to run BCM and to make sure that all of our patients receive quality care. For example, we may use PHI to review our treatment and services and to evaluate the performance of our staff in caring for you. We also may disclose information to faculty physicians, nurses, technicians, house staff (including residents and interns), medical students, and other BCM personnel to conduct training programs. We also may combine certain PHI about several BCM patients as part of a study to determine what additional services BCM should offer, what services are not needed, and whether certain new treatments are effective. We also may remove all information that identifies you from a set of PHI so that others may use that information to study health care and health care delivery without learning who the specific patients are.

To Business Associates for Treatment, Payment and Health Care Operations

We are permitted to disclose your PHI to our business associates in order to carry out treatment, payment or health care operations. For example, we may disclose your PHI to a company we hire to bill insurance companies on our behalf to help us obtain payment for the health care services we provide.

Hospital Directory

Unless you express an objection, we are allowed to include certain limited information about you in the Patient Directory while you are a patient in a BCM hospital. This information may include your name, your location at BCM (for example, Intensive Care Unit, Labor & Delivery), your general condition (for example, fair, stable, good) and your religious affiliation. The directory information, except for your religious affiliation, also may be released to people who ask for you by name. Your religious affiliation may be given to a member of the clergy, such as a priest or rabbi, even if the clergy member does not ask for you by name. The purpose of the Patient Directory is to allow your family, friends and clergy to visit you at BCM and know how you are doing. If you cannot provide your objection to these uses and disclosures because of incapacity or an emergency treatment circumstance, we may use or disclose some or all of this information if that disclosure is consistent with what you have told us previously and if the disclosure is in your best interest as determined in the exercise of our professional judgment.

Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care

We may release your PHI to a family member, other relative or close personal friend who is involved in your medical care if the PHI released is directly relevant to the person’s involvement with your care. We also may release information to someone who helps pay for your care. We also may tell your family or friends that you are at BCM and what your general condition is. In addition, we may disclose your PHI to a group assisting in a disaster relief effort so that your family can be notified about your location and general condition.

Appointment Reminders

We may use and disclose medical information to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or medical care at BCM.

Treatment Alternatives

We may use and disclose medical information to give you information about treatment options or alternatives that may be of interest to you.

Health-Related Benefits and Services

We may use and disclose medical information to tell you about health-related benefits, educational programs, or services that may be of interest to you.

Fund raising Activities

We may use certain allowable PHI to contact you, with your permission, in an effort to raise money for BCM and its operations. This limited PHI includes demographic information about you (for example, your name, address, phone number), and the dates you received treatment or services at BCM. If you do not want us to contact you for our fund raising efforts, please contact the Office of Development at 713-798-8675.

Special Situations

As Required by Law

We will disclose your PHI when required to do so by federal, state, or local law.

Public Health Activities

We may disclose your PHI for public health activities. For example, public health activities generally include:

preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability;
reporting births and deaths;
reporting child abuse or neglect;
reporting reactions to medications or problems with products;
notifying patients of recalls of products they may be using;
notifying a person who may have been exposed to a disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a disease or condition; or
notifying the appropriate government authority if we believe a patient has been the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. We will only make this disclosure if you agree or when required or authorized by law.

Health Oversight Activities

We may disclose PHI to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law such as audits, investigations, inspections and licensure. These activities are necessary for the government to monitor the health care system, government programs, and compliance with civil rights laws.

Lawsuits and Disputes

If you are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose your PHI in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose your PHI in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.

Law Enforcement

We may release PHI if asked to do so by a law enforcement official:

in response to a court order, subpoena, warrant, summons or similar process;
to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person, but only if limited information (e.g., name and address, date and place of birth, Social Security number, blood type and RH factor, type of injury, date and time of treatment, and date and time of death, if applicable) is disclosed;
about the victim of a crime if, under certain limited circumstances, we are unable to obtain the victim’s agreement;
about a death we believe may be the result of criminal conduct;
about criminal conduct we believed occurred on BCM’s premises; and
in emergency circumstances to report a crime; the location of the crime or victims; or the identity, description or location of the person who committed the crime.

Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors

We may release PHI about patients of BCM to a coroner or medical examiner to identify a deceased person or to determine the cause of death. We may also release PHI about patients of BCM to funeral directors as necessary to help them carry out their duties.

Organ and Tissue Donation

We may release PHI to organizations that handle organ procurement or organ, eye or tissue transplantation or to an organ donation bank to facilitate organ or tissue donation and transplantation.

Research

Under certain circumstances, we may use and disclose your PHI for research purposes. For example, a research project may involve comparing the health and recovery of all patients who received one medication to those who received another for the same condition. Most research projects, however, are subject to a special approval process. This process requires an evaluation of the proposed research project and its use of PHI, and balances these research needs with our patients' need for privacy. Before we use or disclose PHI for research, the project will have been approved through this special approval process. However, this special approval process is not required when we allow researchers who are preparing a research project to look at information about patients with specific medical needs, so long as the PHI they review does not leave BCM.

To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety

We may use and disclose your PHI when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person. Any disclosure, however, would only be to law enforcement in order to help prevent the threat.

Armed Forces and Foreign Military Personnel

If you are a member of the armed forces, we may release your PHI as required by military command authorities. We may also release PHI about foreign military personnel to the appropriate foreign military authority.

National Security and Intelligence Activities

We may release your PHI to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities authorized by law.

Protective Services for the President and Others

We may disclose your PHI to authorized federal officials so they may provide protection to the President of the United States, other authorized persons or foreign heads of state, or to conduct special investigations.

Inmates

If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law enforcement official, we may release your PHI to the correctional institution or law enforcement official under specific circumstances such as (1) for the institution to provide you with health care; (2) to protect your health and safety or the health and safety of others; or (3) for the safety and security of the correctional institution.

Workers' Compensation

We may release your PHI for workers' compensation or similar programs. These programs provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness.