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.
According to the federal law called HIPAA (Health Information Portability and Accountability Act), disclosures of information about you for some purposes do not need special consent. These disclosures are for the purposes of providing your medical care or for billing your insurer. Your healthcare provider may discuss your medical problems with other healthcare providers without special consent. We may contact your insurer about a claim without special consent. We may arrange for your care from a pharmacy without special consent.
There are some disclosures of your private information that are required by law, such as reporting certain diseases to the public health agencies and reporting victims of abuse or suspected infliction of harm to self or others.
We may not disclose your protected health information to family members, friends, or University personnel without your expressed consent (see next paragraph for exceptions). Consent may be provided verbally by instructing the health care provider to provide such information and to whom information should be provided. In the case of a student being incapacitated or unable to give consent health information will be shared with the emergency contact on the admission health document. Consent must be obtained for each new illness or injury.
We may disclose your protected health information pertaining to mental health issues to the Counseling Services providers for purposes of consultation. We may disclose immunization information to the Health Science majors.
You have the right to request and we have the right to accommodate any reasonable request for you to receive confidential information by alternative means or at alternative locations. For example, you might wish to receive a letter from us at an address not your usual residence, and we would try to accommodate you.
You have a right to inspect and receive a copy (for a fee) of your health information in this office. Western New England University Center for Health and Well-Being may deny access to records if there were a question of endangerment to you or to others by that access.
You have a right to request an amendment of your confidential information, but we have a right to deny that request in certain circumstances. You cannot amend a record we did not create.