1.03.05 Confidentiality
1.03.05 Confidentiality (Revised 10/2020)
OVERVIEW
Confidentiality is mandated between patients and healthcare providers, so it is expected between medics and their patients. However, Amerimed also expects employee interactions with each other to be held in confidence and it begins at the management level. Simply put, managers/supervisors should not discuss anything with their subordinates that do not directly involve them; likewise, managers/supervisors should not discuss with each other matters that do not directly involve them.
Many interoffice conflicts can be avoided if everyone will respect each other’s privacy. See 1.03.06 Conflict Resolution, Section A
SECTION A
Patient Confidentiality
Amerimed maintains compliance with The Health Information Portability Privacy Act (HIPAA) and all other federal, state, and local standards related to patient privacy. See 1.08.01 HIPAA
Associates are not permitted to provide patient related information to anyone outside of our organization other than receiving facilities without express written permission from the patient or their legal guardian. Should an associate be approached by anyone requesting such information, the requesting party should be referred to the company’s Custodian of Records.
Associates should not express personal opinions, medical or otherwise, with patients, families, friends or facility’s personnel, as to the condition of a patient and/or any health care facility’s decision regarding that patient’s care or lack thereof.
Associates are not to comment, openly disagree, or “second guess” a physician’s or nurse’s orders related to any patient encounters, during or after completion. Any problem(s) associated with medical care of a patient should be discussed with Medical Control and/or the associate’s immediate supervisor, and documented in an unusual occurrence report immediately following completion of the call, unless otherwise directed by a shift commander or manager..
Any patient paperwork or notes generated during patient encounters should be compiled with all supportive documentation for that call and sent to the Patient Accounts Department as per local protocol See 1.16.3 Patient Privacy Section B
SECTION B
Company Confidentiality
Associates of Amerimed shall not furnish to anyone not connected with Amerimed information pertaining to its associates, or the business of Amerimed. Any request for such information shall be referred to a member of management.
Privileged company information includes, but is not limited to:
Any information related to colleague’s employment status’, customer identities, locations or other information, contractual agreements, company practices, internal company documents, statistical information, financial information, strategic planning, and/or business development activities
The patient records area of the administrative offices is only accessible to those associates who require access to such information for billing or other administrative purposes. Associates should not be unaccompanied when in the records area.
Some positions in the company require individuals to be exposed to varying levels of privileged and propriety company information on a regular on-going basis. Therefore, the personnel occupying the following positions are required to agree to, and sign, the company’s Confidentiality Agreement.
SECTION C
Associate Confidentiality
Amerimed will not disclose privileged associate information to anyone without express written permission from the associate or legal representative or as required by law. Associate status, informal or formal corrective actions, and/or other company actions related to an associate will not be disclosed to any party other than that associate, management, the State Department of Labor and/or as per required legal or court proceedings.
Amerimed will only disclose status, period of employment, and eligibility for rehire to respond to reference checks from other agencies.
Amerimed will not tolerate discussion of information about any associate, group of associates, or organization that is malicious or damaging, or may reflect negatively on the company or its associates, whether intentional or well-meaning. See 1.3.6 Conflict Resolution, Section A
Any requests for any privileged information should be forwarded to associate’s immediate Shift Commander or Division Manager.
SECTION D
Social Media
Associates are not allowed to use the names or images of “Amerimed”, its affiliates, trademarks/logos, or discuss company business on the internet, even if it is a private page, without the permission of the OCE. See 1.16.05 Public or Media Interaction.