You have certain rights to your PHI, and how it can be used or shared. You have the right to:
- Get a copy of health and claims records. You can ask to see, or get a copy of your PHI. We will provide a copy or a summary of your health and claims records. There may be some information and records we may not disclose as allowable by law, or we may not be able to provide certain information in some forms, formats, or media. We may charge a reasonable fee, for copying and mailing your PHI.
L.A. Care does not keep a complete copy of your medical records, please contact your healthcare provider if you want to look at, or get a copy of, or change an error in your medical records. - Ask us to correct health and claims records. If you believe there is a mistake in your PHI, you can ask us to correct it. There may be some information we may not be able to change, e.g. the doctor’s diagnosis, and will tell you that in writing. If someone else gave us the information, e.g. your doctor, then we will let you know, so you can ask him/her to correct it.
- Request that we communicate with you confidentially. You can ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, home or office phone) or to send mail to a different address. Not all requests may be agreed to, but we will grant a reasonable request.
- Ask us to limit what we use or share. You can ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment, or our operations. By law, we are not required to agree to your request, and we may say “no” if it would affect your care, payment of claims, key operations, or noncompliance with rules, regulations, or government agency, or law enforcement requests, or a court or administrative order.
- Get a list of those with whom we’ve shared Your PHI. You can ask us for a list (accounting) of the times we’ve shared your health information, who we shared it with, and a brief description of the reason. We will provide you with the list for the period you request. By law, we will provide the list for a maximum of six (6) years prior to the date of your written request. We will include all the disclosures except for those about treatment, payment, and health care operations, and certain other disclosures, such as when we shared the information with you, or with your permission. We’ll provide one accounting a year for free, but may charge a reasonable free for any additional requests.
- Get a copy of this privacy notice. You can get a paper copy of this notice by calling us.
- Choose someone to act for you. If you have given someone medical power of attorney or if someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights and make choices about your PHI.
We may ask that you or your designee provide us with some information and documents, e.g. copy of the court order granting guardianship.
You or your guardian will need to fill out a written authorization, please contact L.A. Care Member Services at 1-888-839-9909 (TTY: 711) to find out how to do this.