Our Commitment To Your Privacy
We understand that information about you and your health is very personal and we are committed to protecting the privacy of this information. Each time you visit a Miami Children’s Hospital facility we create a record of the care and services you receive. This record is necessary to provide you with high quality care and to ensure we are in compliance with certain legal requirements. This Notice applies to all of the records of your care created by any of the Miami Children’s Hospital facilities listed below, whether made by healthcare personnel or your physician.

  • Miami Children's Hospital
  • Dan Marino Center
  • Miami Children’s Hospital - South Dade Center
  • Miami Children’s Hospital - Miami Lakes Rehabilitation
  • MCH Research Institute, Inc.
  • Children’s Health Services, Inc.
  • MCH Pediatric Cardiology, LLC
  • MCH-Physician Hospital Organization, Inc.

In addition, Miami Children's Hospital, the independent contractor members of its Medical Staff, and other healthcare providers affiliated with Miami Children's Hospital have agreed, as permitted by law, to share your health information among themselves for purposes of treatment, payment or healthcare operations. This enables us to better address your healthcare needs.

This Notice will describe the ways in which we may use and disclose your medical information. We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice at any time. Any revision to this Notice will be applicable to all medical information we already have about you, as well as any of your medical information that we may receive, create, or maintain in the future. We will post a copy of our current Notice in prominent locations in each of our facilities, and it will also be posted on our web site at www.mch.com. A copy of the current Notice in effect will be available at the registration area of each facility.

How We May Use And Disclose Health Information About You

The following categories describe different ways that we use your health information within Miami Children’s Hospital and disclose your health information to persons and entities outside of Miami Children's Hospital. Each description is of a category of uses or disclosures. We have not listed every use or disclosure within the categories, but all permitted uses and disclosures will fall within one of the following categories.

Treatment - We may use health information about you to provide you with medical treatment and services. We may disclose health information about you to doctors, nurses, technicians, medical students, interns, or other personnel who are involved in taking care of you during your visit with us.

Payment - We may use and disclose health information about you so the treatment and services you receive at Miami Children's Hospital may be billed to and payment collected from you, an insurance company or a third party. This may also include the disclosure of health information to obtain prior authorization for treatment and procedures from your insurance plan.

Healthcare Operations - We may use and disclose health information about you for healthcare operations, including quality assurance activities; granting medical staff credentials to physicians; administrative activities, including Miami Children's Hospital financial and business planning and development; customer service activities, including investigation of complaints; and certain marketing and fundraising activities, etc. These uses and disclosures are necessary to Miami Children's Hospital to ensure all of our patients receive quality care.

Appointment Reminders - We may use your health information to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or medical care at Miami Children’s Hospital.

Health Related Products or Services - We may notify you of health related products and services that may be of interest to you.

Fundraising - We may use and/or disclose limited information about you and the dates you received treatment or services at Miami Children’s Hospital in an effort to raise funds to support Miami Children's Hospital. If you do not wish to be contacted for such fundraising purposes you should notify the Privacy Officer in writing.

Research That Doesn’t Involve Your Treatment - When a research study does not involve any treatment, we may disclose your health information to researchers when an Institutional Review Board has reviewed the research proposal, has established appropriate protocols to ensure the privacy of your health information, and has approved the research.

Directory Information – Miami Children’s Hospital has a “directory” of information about hospitalized patients available to anyone who asks for a patient by name. The directory information may include four items: 1) the patient’s name, 2) room number, 3) general condition (“serious, fair, good, etc.”), and 4) available to clergypersons only, religious affiliation. This directory information allows visitors to find your room and florists to deliver flowers to you. You will be asked to agree to have this information disclosed each time you come to a Miami Children’s Hospital facility. You have the right to refuse to have all or part of your information disclosed for such purposes. If you do refuse to have all your information released, we will not be able to tell your family or friends your room number or that you are in the hospital.

Individuals Involved in your care or payment for your care - We may disclose health information about you to a friend or family member who is involved in your medical care, unless you tell us in advance not to do so. In addition, we may disclose health information about you to an entity assisting in a disaster relief effort (such as the Red Cross) so that your family can be notified about your condition, status and location.

 
Special Situations That Do Not Require Your Authorization

The following disclosures of your health information are permitted by law without any oral or written permission from you:

 

Organ and Tissue Donation - If you are an organ donor, we may release health information to organizations that handle organ procurement or organ, eye or tissue transplantation, or to an organ donation bank as necessary to facilitate organ or tissue donation and transplantation.

Military and Veterans - If you are a member of the armed forces, we may release health information about you as required by military command authorities.

Worker’s Compensation - We may release health information about you for worker’s compensation or similar programs if you have a work related injury. These programs provide benefits for work related injuries.

Averting a Serious Threat to Health or Safety - We may use and/or disclose health information about you when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health or safety or the health and safety of another person or the public. These disclosures would be made only to someone able to help prevent the threat.

Public Health Activities - We may disclose health information about you for public health activities. These generally include the following:

  • To prevent or control disease, injury or disability.
  • To report births and deaths.
  • To report child abuse or neglect.
  • To report reactions to medications, problems with products or other adverse events.
  • To notify people of recalls of products they may be using.
  • To notify a person who may have been exposed to a disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a disease or condition.
  • To notify the appropriate government authority if we believe a patient has been the victim of abuse (including child 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 health information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law. These oversight activities include audits, investigations, inspections and licensure. These activities are necessary for the government to monitor the healthcare 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 health information about you in response to a court or administrative order. We may disclose health information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute.

Law Enforcement - We may disclose health information if asked to do so by law enforcement officials for the following reasons:

  • In response to a court order, subpoena, warrant, summons or similar process.
  • To identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person.
  • About the victim of a crime if, under certain circumstances, we are unable to obtain the person’s agreement.
  • About a death we believe may be the result of a criminal conduct.
  • About criminal conduct at our facility.
  • 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 Home Directors - We may disclose health information to a coroner or medical examiner. This may be necessary to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death of a person. We may also release health information about patients at our facility to funeral home directors as necessary to carry out their duties.

National Security and Intelligence Activities - We may disclose health information about you to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence and other national security activities authorized by law.

Inmates - If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under custody of a law enforcement official, we may disclose health information about you to the correctional institution or the law enforcement official. This is necessary for the correctional institution to provide you with healthcare, to protect your health and safety and the health and safety of others, or for the safety and security of the correctional institution

Legal Requirements - We will disclose health information about you without your permission when required to do so by federal, state or local law.

 
With Your Specific Written “Authorization”
Other uses and disclosures of health information not covered by this Notice or the laws that apply to us will be made only with your written permission (called “authorization”). If you authorize us to use or disclose health information about you, you may revoke that authorization in writing at any time. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclose health information about you for the reasons covered by your written authorization. You understand that we are unable to take back any disclosures we have already made with your permission, and that we are required to retain our records of the care that we provided to you.
 
Your Health Information Rights
Although your health record is the physical property of the Miami Children's Hospital entity that created it, the information belongs to you. You have certain rights with respect to your information as described below. If you wish to exercise your rights, you may complete preprinted forms at registration or you may write directly to:
 
Miami Children's Hospital
Health Information Management Department
Attention: Director
3100 S.W. 62nd Avenue
Miami, Florida 33155-3009
1.Right to request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your information. You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the medical information we use and/or disclose about you for treatment, payment or healthcare operations. Additionally, you have the right to request that we limit the information we disclose about you to someone who is involved in your care or the payment for your care. For instance, you can request that we refrain from disclosing information about a procedure that you had or a treatment you were given.

We are not required to agree to your request. However, if we do agree, we will comply with your request so long as the information is not necessary to provide you emergency care.

Your request must be in writing, as described above, and must include a description of the information you wish to limit, whether you want to limit the use, disclosure or both, and to whom you want the limitations to apply.

  
2.Right to request confidential communications. You have the right to request that we communicate with you about medical matters in a certain manner or at a certain location. For example, you may request that we limit our communications with you to contact at work or at home.

Your request must be in writing, as described above, and must specify the manner in which or the location at which you wish to be contacted. All reasonable requests will be accommodated.

  
3.Right to inspect and/or request a copy of your health record. You have the right to inspect and/or receive copy any medical information maintained about you that may be used to make decisions about your care. Typically, this will include your medical and billing records but does not include psychotherapy notes.

In order to inspect and/or receive a copy of your medical information, you must submit your request, in writing to Miami Children's Hospital’s Health Information Department at the address provided above. We may charge a reasonable fee for this service based on our cost of complying.

In very limited circumstances, we may deny your request to inspect and/or receive a copy of your information. However, if your request is denied, in some cases you may request that the denial be reviewed. Such reviews are performed by an independent licensed healthcare professional chosen by the Privacy Officer. We will comply with the outcome of the review.

  
4.

Right to request an amendment to your health record. If you believe the information we maintain about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may request that we amend the information. In order to request an amendment, you must submit a written request, as described above, indicating the specific information you wish to be amended and providing the reason supporting the request. Failure to put your request in writing or provide supporting reasoning is likely to result in a denial of your request.

We may also deny your request if you ask us to amend information that:

  • Is accurate and complete.
  • Is not part of the information which you would be permitted to inspect or receive a copy.
  • Is not part of the medical information maintained by Miami Children's Hospital.
  • Was not created by us, unless the individual or organization that created the information is no longer available to make the amendment.
  
5.Right to obtain an accounting of disclosures of your health information. You have the right to request an accounting of disclosures, which is a list of certain disclosures of your medical information made by Miami Children's Hospital other than disclosures allowed or required by law or authorized by you. The request for this accounting must be submitted in writing as described above. Your request must include the time period for which you are requesting an accounting, which may not exceed six years and not include dates prior to April 14, 2003. Fees may be imposed as allowed by law.
  
6.Right to obtain a copy of this Notice of Information Practices upon request. We will post a copy of the current Notice in our facilities, and it will also be posted on our web site at www.mch.com. A copy of the current Notice in effect will be available at the registration area of each facility.
 
COMPLAINTS OR CONCERNS
You may contact the Privacy Officer if you have a question about this privacy Notice or about your privacy rights. You should also contact the Privacy Officer if you have a complaint or concern that your rights have been violated.
 

Miami Children's Hospital Privacy Officer
3100 S.W. 62 Avenue
Miami, Florida 33155-3009.
Telephone: 1-800-521-8803

 
You may make also write to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.