Disclosure of Personal Health Information for Fundraising

Consent For Fundraising

The hospital may only collect, use or disclose personal health information about a patient for the purposes of fundraising if:

The patient gives express consents or consent is implied and the information consists only of the patient’s name and contact information.

• Consent may be implied only if the hospital had at the time of providing service to the patient posted or made available a notice of information practices that describes that unless the patient requests otherwise – name and contact information may be disclosed for fundraising purposes, together with information on how the patient can easily “opt out” from receiving any future solicitations and
• The patient has not opted out.

Contact Information

Means the patient’s name and mailing address only.

• When contacting or attempting to contact the patient, the hospital or a person conducting the fundraising on behalf of the hospital, must not reveal any information about the patient’s health care or state of health.

Solicitations and Opt-out Option

All solicitations for fundraising must provide the patient with an easy way to opt-out from receiving any future solicitations.

Transfer of Personal Health Information To Others

Service providers, for example mail service providers, must comply with the rules in the Act that apply to them. They must only use the information for the stated purpose and no other purpose. They must notify the hospital if the information they handle is stolen, lost or accessed by unauthorized persons or used, disclosed or disposed of in an unauthorized manner.