Beginning
on April 14, 2003, ambulance service providers will be required to provide
notice of their privacy practices to patients.
The following information and document links provides information that
you can use to provide patients with the privacy practices of your operation
and, if necessary, to obtain their signature acknowledging that they have
reviewed the notice. These documents
will meet the privacy notice requirements of HIPAA.
For
non-emergency trips, privacy notice must be given to individuals with the
provider making a
good
faith attempt to get a signed acknowledgement from him or her, and if unable to
do so, the
provider
must keep a written record of the attempt and the reason why the
acknowledgement was
not
obtained (e.g., patient was unconscious or in an agitated mental state).
In
emergency treatment situations, which would include responding to an emergency
dispatches, the
provider
is required to provide notice to the individual as soon as practicable after
the emergency
treatment
situations ends. However, the requirement for making a good faith effort to
obtain a written acknowledgement does not apply in emergency situations. In an emergency situation, therefore, you
need only keep a record of how you provided the privacy notice to the
individual. It may be practical in your operation to have an arrangement with
the hospital to have the notice delivered to the individual when he or she is
stabilized as part of the facility's HIPAA privacy notice requirements.
SAMPLE AUTHORIZATION (*.PDF format)
HIPAA DECISION TREE -- (*.PDF format) a flow chart for use in determining whether particular arrangements have with third parties (e.g., billing agents) require you to enter into a Business Associate Agreement with that party under the Privacy regulations.
BUSINESS ASSOCIATE AGREEMENT TEMPLATE (*.PDF format) -- a template for such an agreement if you determine it is required under the regulations.
Page, Wolfberg & Wirth, LLC Overview of HIPAA Privacy
Minimum Necessary Standard of HIPAA Privacy Rule (word format)