Richmond University Medical Center Notice of Privacy Practices


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.

Richmond University Medical Center’s Responsibility

We at Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) are committed to protecting the privacy of information we gather about you while providing health-related services. We are required by law to protect the privacy of health information that may reveal your identity, and to provide you with a copy of this notice, which describes the health information privacy practices of RUMC, its medical staff, and affiliated health care providers that jointly provide health care services with RUMC. A copy of our current notice will be posted in our reception area. You can also obtain your own copy by accessing our website at www.rumcsi.org, calling our Privacy Office at 718-818-2402, or asking for one at the time of your next visit.

Changes to This Notice. RUMC will abide by the terms of the notice currently in effect. However, RUMC reserves the right to change the terms of the notice and to make new notice provision(s) effective for all health information that it maintains. RUMC will promptly post the revised notice on the RUMC web site: www.rumcsi.org.

Breach Notification. RUMC is required by law to notify affected individuals following a breach of unsecured protected health information. “Unsecured” means the protected health information has not been rendered unusable, unreadable or indecipherable to unauthorized individuals though the use of a technology or methodology specified by the Secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services.

Who Will Follow This Notice?

RUMC provides health care to patients jointly with physicians and other health care professionals, including those at Amboy Medical Practice, P.C. (known as Richmond Health Network).  RUMC, Richmond Health Network at all of its sites, Richmond Quality, LLC (an accountable care organization), and Visiting Nurse Association of Staten Island, Inc. and Subsidiaries (a certified home health agency) are designated as an “affiliated covered entity” under the federal law known as HIPAA and are collectively referred to in this notice as “RUMC.”  The privacy practices described in this notice will be followed by:

• Any health care professional who treats you at any RUMC location;
• All employees, medical staff, trainees, students or volunteers at any RUMC location; and
• Any business associates of RUMC (which are described further below).

How We May Use and Disclose Your Health Information

Exceptions to Patient Authorization. The following describes the ways in which RUMC may use and disclose your medical information without your authorization. Other uses and disclosures not covered by this notice will be made only with your written authorization. For each category, we will provide an example to help explain what we mean. The examples given are not exhaustive.

• Treatment. We may share your health information with doctors or nurses at RUMC who are involved in taking care of you, and they may in turn use that information to diagnose or treat you. A doctor at RUMC may share your health information with another doctor inside RUMC, or with a doctor at another RUMC facility, to determine how to diagnose or treat you. Your doctor may also share your health information with another doctor to whom you have been referred for further health care.
• Payment. We may use your health information or share it with others so that we may obtain payment for your health care services. For example, we may share information about you with your health insurance company in order to obtain payment after we have treated you, or to determine whether it will cover your treatment. We might also need to inform your health insurance company about your health condition in order to obtain pre-approval for your treatment, such as admitting you to RUMC for a particular type of surgery. Finally, we may share your information with other health care providers and payors for their payment activities.
• Health Care Business Operations. We may use your health information or share it with others in order to conduct our business operations. We may share your health information with other health care providers and payors for their business operations, including quality assurance, utilization review, medical review, internal auditing, accreditation, social services certification, licensing or credentialing activities of RUMC, certain medical research, and educational purposes.
• Appointment Reminders, Treatment Alternatives, Benefits and Services. In the course of providing treatment to you, we may use your health information to contact you with a reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or services at our facility. We may also use your health information in order to recommend possible treatment alternatives or health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.

Other Exceptions to Patient Authorization:

• Fundraising. To support our business operations, we may use and disclose to our Foundation demographic information about you, including information about your age and gender, where you live or work, the dates on which you received treatment, the department of service and your treating physician, in order to contact you to raise money to help us operate. You have the right to opt out of receiving these communications. If you do not wish to be contacted for fundraising efforts, please contact the Privacy Office at [email protected] or by calling 718-818-2402.  If you decide to opt out, that decision will not affect your ability to obtain health care at RUMC.  Even if you opt out, you still may receive general fundraising materials from us that are not based on PHI about you.
• As Required by Law. We may use or disclose your health information if we are required by law to do so. We also will notify you of these uses and disclosures if notice is required by law.
• Research. In most cases, we will ask for your written authorization before using your health information or sharing it with others in order to conduct research. However, under some circumstances, we may use and disclose your health information without your written authorization if we obtain approval through a special process to ensure that research without your written authorization poses minimal risk to your privacy. Under no circumstances, however, would we allow researchers to use your name or identity publicly.
• Business Associates. We may disclose your health information to contractors, agents and other business associates who need the information in order to assist us with obtaining payment or carrying out our business operations. For example, we may share your health information with a billing company that helps us to obtain payment from your insurance company. If we do disclose your health information to a business associate, we will first enter into a written agreement to make sure that company properly protects your health information.
• Facility Directory. Unless you object, we may include certain limited information about you in the facility directory while you are an inpatient at our facilities. This information may include your name, location at RUMC, your general condition, (e.g., fair, critical, etc.) and your religious affiliation. This is so your family and friends can visit you in the RUMC facility and generally know how you are doing. The directory information, except for your religious affiliation, may only be given 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 they do not ask for you by name. If you do not want to be included in the facility directory, please inform the admitting staff.
• Family and Friends Involved in Your Care. If you do not object, we may share your health information with a family member, relative, or close personal friend who is involved in your care or payment for that care. In some cases, we may need to share your health information with a disaster relief organization that will help us notify these persons.
• Health Information Exchanges.  RUMC participates in Healthix, New York’s downstate health information exchange (“HIE”).  Healthix permits other health care providers treating you to electronically access information about treatment you received at RUMC, even if those providers are not part of RUMC, in order to coordinate your health care.  If you would like your health information from RUMC or from other providers to be shared through Healthix, you must opt in to having Healthix share your information by submitting an opt in form.  Forms and information about Healthix are available at Consent Forms – Healthix and FAQs – Healthix. 

Other Exceptions to Patient Authorization:

• Public Health Activities. We may disclose your health information to authorized public health officials (or a foreign government agency collaborating with such officials) so they may carry out their public health activities. For example, we may share your health information with government officials that are responsible for controlling disease, injury or disability.
• Victims of Abuse, Neglect or Domestic Violence. We may release your health information to a public health authority that is authorized to receive reports of abuse, neglect or domestic violence.
• Health Oversight Activities. We may release your health information to government agencies authorized to conduct audits, investigations, and inspections of our facility.
• Product Monitoring, Repair and Recall. We may disclose your health information to a person or company that is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration for the purpose of tracking medical devices or recalling defective or dangerous products.
• Lawsuits and Disputes. We may disclose your health information if we are ordered to do so by a court or administrative tribunal that is handling a lawsuit or other dispute.  We may also disclose health information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts first have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.
• Law Enforcement. We may use and disclose your health information for law enforcement purposes to a law enforcement official if required by law, or where permitted by law, or in response to a valid court order or court-ordered subpoena. Also, we may disclose health information if it is: necessary for law enforcement authorities to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person; about the victim of a crime if, under certain limited circumstances, we are unable to obtain the person’s agreement; about a death or injury we believe may be the result of criminal conduct; about suspected criminal conduct at RUMC or on RUMC property; 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.
• To Avert a Serious and Imminent Threat to Health or Safety. We may use your health information or share it with others when necessary to prevent a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety, or the health or safety of another person or the public. National Security and Intelligence Activities or Protective Services. We may disclose your health information to authorized federal officials who are conducting national security and intelligence activities or providing protective services to the President or other important officials.
• Military and Veterans. If you are in the Armed Forces, we may disclose health information about you to appropriate military command authorities for activities they deem necessary to carry out their military mission.
• Inmates and Correctional Institutions. If you are an inmate or a law enforcement officer detains you, we may disclose your health information to the prison officers or law enforcement officers if necessary to provide you with health care, or to maintain safety, security and good order at the place where you are confined.
• Workers’ Compensation. We may disclose your health information for workers’ compensation or similar programs that provide benefits for work-related injuries.
• Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors. In the unfortunate event of your death, we may disclose your health information to a coroner or medical examiner. We may also release this information to funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties.
• Organ Procurement Organizations. We may use and disclose your health information to organ procurement organizations and other entities engaged in the procurement, banking, or transplantation of organs for the purpose of tissue donation and transplant.

Requirement for Written Authorization. Your written authorization is required before RUMC may share certain health information about you in certain circumstances. We will obtain your specific authorization before using or disclosing these types of information, as we are required to do by such applicable State and Federal laws. Still, we may be permitted to use and disclose such information under special circumstances, as permitted under the law. For each category, we will provide an example to help explain what we mean. The examples given are not exhaustive.

• Most Sharing of Psychotherapy Notes. With limited exceptions, we will ask for your written authorization before we use or disclose notes recorded (in any medium) by a health care provider who is a mental health professional documenting or analyzing the contents of conversation during a private counseling session or a group, joint, or family counseling session and that are separated from the rest of your medical record.
• Marketing. We may use and disclose your medical information to tell you about health-related benefits or services that may be of interest to you.  However, if we will receive payment from a third party in exchange for making such communications about the third party’s product or service to you, we will obtain your written authorization before sending you such communications, unless the communication either describes a drug you currently are being prescribed and the payment we receive for that communication is reasonable, or the communication is made to you face-to-face. You may elect not to receive any communications from us that encourage you to purchase or use any particular product or service by notifying the Privacy Office in writing.
• Sale of Protected Health Information. We may not sell lists of our patients or enrollees to third parties without obtaining authorization from each person on the list.

Substance Use Disorder Treatment Information. If we receive or maintain any information about you from a substance use disorder treatment program that is covered by 42 CFR Part 2 (a “Part 2 Program”) through a general consent you provide to the Part 2 Program to use and disclose the Part 2 Program record for purposes of treatment, payment, or health care operations, we may use and disclose your Part 2 Program record for treatment, payment, and health care operations purposes as described in this notice. If we receive or maintain your Part 2 Program record through a specific consent you provide to us or another third party, we will use and disclose your Part 2 Program record only as expressly permitted by you in your consent as provided to us.

In no event will we use or disclose your Part 2 Program record, or testimony that describes the information contained in your Part 2 Program record, in any civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative proceedings by any Federal, State, or local authority against you, unless authorized by your consent or the order of a court after it provides you notice of the court order.

Your Rights to Access and Control Your Health Information

Right to Inspect and Copy Records. You have the right to inspect and obtain a copy of your health information (copying fees may be imposed). However, such requests may be denied as permitted under law. You have a right to appeal such denials. To exercise your right, please write to or e-mail the Health Information Management (HIM) Office.

Right to Amend Records. You have the right to request an amendment to your health information. However, RUMC may deny your request to amend your health information under certain circumstances.  If we deny your request for an amendment, you may submit in writing a statement of disagreement and ask that it be included in your medical record. All requests for amendments must be in writing and provide a reason for supporting your request for an amendment. To exercise your right, please write to or e-mail the HIM Office.

Right to an Accounting of Disclosures. You have the right to request that we provide you with an accounting of disclosures we have made of your health information. An accounting is a list of disclosures. This list will not include disclosures of your health information made for treatment, payment, or operations; disclosures made to you; or disclosures made pursuant to an authorization signed by you. To exercise your right, please contact the HIM Office.

Right to Request Additional Privacy Restrictions. You have a right to request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of your health information. However, RUMC is not required to agree to such request. You must communicate your request in writing by using the proper form. To exercise your right, please contact the Privacy Office.

Right to Request Confidential Communications. You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your medical matters in a more confidential way by requesting that we communicate with you by alternative means or at alternative locations. For example, you may ask that we contact you at home instead of at work. To exercise your right, please contact the Privacy Office.

Right to Revoke Your Prior Authorization. You have a right to revoke your authorization (your permission) to use or disclose your health information except to the extent that action has already been taken in reliance on your prior authorization. To exercise your right, please contact the Privacy Office.

Right to Receive a Copy of This Notice. You have the right to a paper copy of this notice, upon request. You may also obtain a copy of this notice from our website at www.rumcsi.org.

All requests to exercise your above rights must be made to either the:

How to File a Complaint

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a privacy complaint with RUMC or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. To file a privacy complaint with RUMC, please contact the Privacy Office at 355 Bard Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10310 or at [email protected] or call 718-818-2402. No one will retaliate or take action against you for filing a privacy complaint.