The Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)

The HIPAA Privacy Regulations establish national standards regarding uses and disclosures of protected health information.

UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

Effective Date: April 14, 2003

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.

The University of Oklahoma is committed to protecting your medical information. We are required by law to:

• Maintain the privacy of your medical information
• Give you a Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your medical information
• Follow the terms of the Notice currently in effect

Click on the link below to view the Notice of Privacy Practices:

English Version

Spanish Version

What is this document ?

This Notice of Privacy Practices describes how we may use and disclose your medical information. It also describes your rights to access and control your medical information.

 
What does this Notice cover?

This Notice of Privacy Practices applies to all of your medical information used to make decisions about your care that we generate or maintain. Different privacy practices may apply to your medical information that is created or kept by other people or entities.

What parts of the University are covered by this Notice?

This Notice of Privacy Practices will be followed by all of the employees, students and volunteers associated with, and the constituent parts of, the health care components of the University which include:

• The College of Medicine and OU Physicians
• The College of Medicine - Tulsa and OU Physicians – Tulsa
• The College of Dentistry
• The College of Allied Health
• The College of Pharmacy
• The College of Public Health
• The College of Nursing
• George Nigh Rehabilitation Institute
• Goddard Health Center
• The General Clinical Research Center
• The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics

All of these health care components are referred to in this Notice as “OU Providers.” Certain administrative offices also are designated as health care components (e.g. the Office of Legal Counsel).

What will you do with my medical information?

The following categories describe the ways that we may use and disclose your medical information with your consent. Not every use or disclosure in a category will be listed.

If you do not consent, we cannot provide you with treatment except in an emergency situation or when we cannot communicate with you for some other reason. If you are concerned about a possible use or disclosure of any part of your medical information, you may request a restriction.

Treatment. We will use your medical information to provide you with medical treatment and services.

Example: Your medical information may be used by doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, technicians, students, or other University personnel who are involved in taking care of you.

We may disclose your medical information for the treatment activities of any other health care providers.

Example: We may send a copy of your medical record to another health care provider who needs to provide follow-up or additional care to you.

Payment. We may use medical information about you for our payment activities. Common payment activities include, but are not limited to:

• Determining eligibility or coverage under a plan
• Billing and collection activities

Example: Your medical information may be released to an insurance company to obtain payment for services or pre-approval of services. We may disclose medical information about you to another health care provider or covered entity for its payment activities.

Example: We may give your payment information to a hospital that provided a service to you at the request of an OU Provider in order for the hospital to bill for its services.

Operations. We may use your medical information for our operations. These uses are necessary to run our healthcare businesses and to make sure patients receive quality care. Common operation activities include, but are not limited to:

• Conducting quality assessment and improvement activities
• Reviewing the competence of health care professionals
• Training health care professionals
• Arranging for legal or auditing services
• Business management and planning
• Communicating with patients about services provided by OU Providers

Examples: (1) We may use your medical information to conduct internal audits to verify that billing is being conducted properly. (2) We may use your medical information to contact you for the purposes of conducting patient satisfaction surveys or to announce a new provider or service.

We may disclose medical information about you to another health care provider or covered entity for its operation activities under certain circumstances.

Example: We may disclose your medical information to your health plan for its utilization review analysis or to another provider for its quality assurance activities.  

Education. Educating and training health care professionals is one of our primary health care operations. We may use and disclose your medical information to current and prospective students as part of the training process.