1 - Access to Care

The patient shall be accorded reasonable access to treatment or accommodations that are available or medically indicated, regardless of race, disability, psychological, social, cultural, age, sex, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin, or ability/sources of payment for health care decisions. The patient has the right to exclude any or all family members from their health care decisions. The patient has the right to treatment for any emergency medical condition.

2 - Respect and Dignity

The patient has the right to considerate and respectful care at all times and under all circumstances with recognition of his/her personal dignity, values and beliefs. The patient has the right to wear appropriate personal clothing and religious or other symbolic items, as long as they do not interfere with diagnosis procedures or treatment . The practices of the patient’s family members are respected and accommodated. The patient has the right to be free from restraints of any form that are not medically necessary. The patient has the right to a prompt and reasonable response to a question or request. A healthcare facility shall respond in a reasonable manner to the request of patient’s healthcare provider for medical services.

3 - Security

The patient has the right to a safe and secure environment.

4 - Plan of Care

The patient has the right to participate in the development and implementation on his/her plan of care. The patient has the right to designate a healthcare surrogate to assume these responsibilities.
When the patient can not make decisions, a family member or Proxy is identified to participate in the patient’s care decisions.

5 - Informed Consent

1. The patient has the right to make informed decisions regarding his/her care. To the degree possible, this shall be based on a clear, concise explanation of his/her condition and of all proposed procedures, including the possibilities of benefits, risk of mortality or serious side effects, discomforts, potential benefits, problems related to recuperation and probability of success. The patient has the right to know who shall be responsible for authorizing and performing the procedures or treatment. The patient shall not be subjected to any procedure without his/her voluntary, competent, and informed consent or that of his/her legally authorized representative. Where medically significant alternatives for care or treatment exists, the patient shall be informed. The patient shall be informed if the hospital proposes to engage in or perform human experimentation or other research/educational projects affecting his/her care or treatment, and the patient has the right to refuse to participate in any such activity. Informed Consent for research projects should indicate the name of the person who provided the information, the date, address and the participant’s rights to privacy, confidentiality and safety.
2. The patient has the right to obtain from the practitioner responsible for coordinating his/her care, complete and current information concerning his/her diagnosis (to the degree known), the potential benefits, risks and alternatives of proposed treatments or procedures, and any known prognosis including unanticipated outcomes. This information shall be communicated in terms the patient shall reasonably be expected to understand. When it is not medically advisable to give such information to the patient, the information shall be made available to a legally authorized individual . The patient has the right to refuse this information.

6 - Advance Directives

The patient has the right to formulate advance directives and to have hospital staff and practitioners comply with these directives.

7 - Patient Participation in the Consideration of Ethical Issues

The patient has the right to participate in ethical questions related to his/her case, including resolution of conflict, withholding/withdrawing of life-prolonging procedures, and/or clinical trials. Participation by patient in clinical training programs or in the gathering of data for research purposes shall be voluntary.

8 - Personal Privacy

The patient has the right, within the law, to personal privacy and confidentiality.

• To refuse to talk with or see anyone not officially connected with the hospital, including visitors, or persons officially connected with the hospital but not directly involved in his/her care.
• To be interviewed and examined in surroundings designed to assure reasonable visual and auditory privacy. This includes the right to have a person of one’s own sex present during certain parts of a physical examination, treatment, or procedure performed by a health care professional of the opposite sex and the right not to remain disrobed any longer than shall be required for accomplishing the medical purpose of which the patient was asked to disrobe.
• To expect that any discussion or consultation involving his/her care shall be conducted discreetly and that individuals not directly involved in his/her care shall not be present without his/her permission.
• To request a transfer to another room if another patient or a visitor in the room is unreasonably disturbing him/her by their actions.
• To be placed in protective privacy when considered necessary for personal safety.

9 - Confidentiality of Information

• The patient has the right to inspect and to request an amendment to their medical record.
• The right to request a restriction on the hospital’s use of the medical record information, except disclosures as required by law.
• The right to request an accounting of their medical records disclosures except where exempted or excluded by law or except when omission is permitted by law
• The right to request to receive confidential communications by alternate means or at an alternative location.
• The right to request to amend their protected health information.
• The right to have his/her medical record read only by individuals directly involved in his/her treatment or the monitoring of its quality. Other individuals shall view the record only on the patient’s written authorization or that of his/her legally authorized representative, or as mandated by law.
• To expect all communications and other records pertaining to his/her care, including the source of payment for treatment, to be treated as confidential.

10 - Communication

The patient has the right to access people outside the hospital by means of visitors and by verbal and written communications, within the confines of applicable laws and regulations.
Hearing, speech, and verbally impaired individuals have the right to access assertive devices needed to accomplish this communication. When the patient does not speak or understand the predominant language of the community, he/she shall have access to an interpreter. This is particularly true where language barriers are a continuing problem.When the hospital restricts a patient’s visitors, mail, telephone calls or other forms of communication, the restrictions are evaluated for their therapeutic effectiveness and these restrictions are fully explained to the patient/family and determined with their participation. All restrictions are documented in the patient’s medical record.

11 - Identity

The patient has the right to know the identity, professional status and qualifications of individuals providing services to him/her and to know which physician or other practitioner shall be primarily responsible for his/her care. This includes the patient’s right to know of the existence, of any professional relationship among individuals/institutions that are treating him/her as well as the relationship to any other health care or educational institutions involved in his/her care.

12 - Consultation

The patient, at his/her own request and expense, has the right to consult with a specialist for a second opinion.

13 - Refusal of Treatment

The patient shall have the right to refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law. The patient’s legally authorized representative shall be granted this right when the patient is unable to participate in his/her own decisions per hospital policy. The patient also has the right to refuse treatment and refusal will not compromise his/her access to services. Any such refusal shall be documented in the patient’s medical record.

14 - Pain Management

All patients have a right to appropriate assessment and management of pain as follows:

1. At time of initial evaluation the patient shall be informed that relief of pain is an important part of their care and respond quickly to reports of pain.
2. On initial evaluation and as part of regular assessments the patients will be asked about presence, quality, and intensity of pain and use this self report as the primary indicator of pain.
3. The patient will be involved in establishing a goal for pain relief and develop and implement a plan to achieve that goal along with his/her physician and nurse.
4. The patient/family will be supplied with educational materials about pain upon admission.

15 - Transfer and Continuity of Care

A patient shall not be transferred to another facility unless he/she has received a complete explanation of the risks, benefits and alternatives to such a transfer and the transfer is acceptable to the receiving facility. The patient or his/her legally authorized representative has the right to be informed by the practitioner responsible for his/her care of any continuing health care requirements following discharge from the hospital. Transfer should be made promptly and with every effort to ensure patient safety. Decisions made regarding patient’s transfers should focus on the patient’s care needs and should not be solely motivated by economics.

16 - Hospital Charges

The patient has the right to request prior to provision on medical services a reasonable estimate of charges for such services. Such reasonable estimate shall not preclude the hospital from exceeding the estimate or making additional charges based on changes in the patient’s condition or treatment needs.Regardless of the source of payment for his/her care, the patient has the right to request and receive an itemized and detailed explanation of his/her total bill for services rendered in the hospital. Patients, who are eligible for third party insurance coverage including Medicare, have the right to know, upon request and in advance of treatment, weather the hospital accepts the insurance/ Medicare assignment rate. The patient has the right to timely notice prior to termination of his/her eligibility of any third party payer for the cost of his/her care. The patient has the right to be given, upon request, full information and necessary counseling on the availability of known financial resources for the patient’s health care.The patient has the right to receive a copy of the itemized bill and an explanation of charges upon request.

17 - Billing Discrepancies

The patient has the right to a satisfactory completion and resolution of all billing discrepancy questions. Billing discrepancies may be addressed directly to the Patient Accounts representative for investigation and resolution.

18 - Hospital Rules and Regulations

The patient shall be informed of the hospital rules and regulations applicable to his/her conduct as a patient. Patients are entitled to information about the hospital’s mechanism for the initiation, review and resolution of patient grievances.

19 - Protective Services

The patient has the right to access protective services needed to maintain or assure their well being. When protective services are appropriate, a written list of names addresses and phone numbers of pertinent state client advocacy is given to the patient.

20 - Support Services

The patient has the right to know what patient support services are available in the facility.

21 - Patient Responsibilities

The patient shall be responsible for the following:

1. The patient, to the best of his/her knowledge, shall be responsible for providing accurate and complete information about present complaints, past illnesses and hospitalization, medications and other matter relating to his/her health.
2. The patient shall be responsible for reporting unexpected changes in his/her condition to the responsible practitioner.
3. The patient shall be responsible for communicating that he/she clearly comprehends the medical plan.
4. The patient shall be responsible for following the treatment plan recommended by doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals.
5. The patient shall be responsible for following the rules and regulations that were given upon admission affecting patient care and conduct.
6. The patient shall be responsible for the consequences if treatment is refused or if the practitioner’s instructions are not followed.
7. The patient shall be responsible for acknowledging the rights to other patients and facility personnel.
8. The patient shall be responsible for his/her behavior, control of noise and number of visitors.
9. The patient shall be responsible for insuring that the property of others shall be respected.
10. The patient shall be responsible for fulfilling the financial obligations of his/her healthcare as promptly as possible.