Affordable Care Act, Parity Act

Our first and foremost concern is that patients feel secure and safe in their treatment process. Patients have the right to confidentiality, and each patient is treated as an individual with a unique treatment process. Our patients have the right to be treated with respect, care, and compassion by our knowledgeable and conscientious staff.

Patient Rights and Responsibilities

As a patient, you have the right to:
1. Receive considerate and respectful care, and be made comfortable. You have the right to have your cultural,
psychosocial, spiritual, and personal values, beliefs and preferences respected.
2. Have notification of your admission to a hospital sent promptly to a family member (or other representative of
your choosing) and your own physician.
3. Know the name of the physician who has primary responsibility for coordinating your care and the names and
professional relationships of other physicians and non-physicians who will see you.
4. Receive information about your health status, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, prospects for recovery and
outcomes of care (including unanticipated outcomes) in terms you can understand. You have the right to effective
communication and to participate in the development and implementation of your plan of care. You have the
right to participate in ethical questions that arise in the course of your care, including issues of conflict resolution,
withholding resuscitative services, and forgoing or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.
5. Make decisions regarding your medical care, and receive as much information about any proposed treatment
or procedure as you may need in order to give informed consent or to refuse a course of treatment. Except in
emergencies, this information shall include a description of the procedure or treatment, the medically significant
risks involved, alternate courses of treatment or non-treatment and the risks involved in each, and the name of
the person who will carry out the procedure or treatment.
6. Request or refuse treatment, to the extent permitted by law. However, you do not have the right to demand
inappropriate or medically unnecessary treatment or services. You have the right to leave the facility even against
the advice of physicians, to the extent permitted by law.
7. Be told about any human experimentation that the facility or your personal physician proposes to engage in
that might affect your care or treatment. You have the right to refuse to participate in such research projects.
8. Reasonable responses to any reasonable requests made for service.
9. Appropriate assessment and management of your pain, and to be given information about pain and pain relief
measures. You have the right to participate in decisions about your pain management. You may request or reject
the use of any or all modalities to relieve pain, including opiate medication, if you suffer from severe chronic
intractable pain. The doctor may refuse to prescribe the opiate medication, but if so, must inform you that there
are physicians who specialize in the treatment of severe chronic intractable pain with methods that include the
use of opiates.
10. Formulate advance directives. This includes designating a decision maker if you become incapable of
understanding a proposed treatment or become unable to communicate your wishes regarding care. Staff and
practitioners who provide care will comply with these directives. All patients’ rights apply to the person who has
legal responsibility to make decisions regarding medical care on your behalf.
11. Respect for your personal privacy. Case discussion, consultation, examination and treatment are confidential
and should be conducted discreetly. You have the right to be told the reason for the presence of any individual.
You have the right to have visitors leave prior to an examination and when treatment issues are being discussed.
Privacy curtains will be used in semi-private rooms.
12. Confidential treatment of all communications and records pertaining to your care. You will receive a separate
“Notice of Privacy Practices” that explains your privacy rights in detail and how Scripps may use and disclose
your protected health information.
13. Receive care in a safe setting, free from mental, physical, sexual or verbal abuse and neglect, exploitation or
harassment. You have the right to access protective and advocacy services including notifying government agencies
of neglect or abuse.
14. Freedom from restraints and seclusion of any form used as a means of coercion, discipline, convenience or retaliation
by staff.
15. Reasonable continuity of care and to know in advance the time and location of appointments as well as the
identity of the persons providing the care.
16. Be informed by the physician, or a delegate of the physician, of continuing health care requirements and options
following discharge. You have the right to be involved in the development and implementation of your discharge
plan. Upon your request, a friend or family member may be provided this information also.
17. Know which rules and policies apply to your conduct while a patient.
18. Designate visitors/support individuals of your choosing, if you have decision-making capacity, whether or not the individual is related by blood or marriage, unless:
• No visitors are allowed.
• The facility reasonably determines that the presence of a particular visitor would endanger the health or safety
of a patient, a member of the health facility staff or other visitor to the health facility, or would significantly
disrupt the operations of the facility.
• You have told the health facility staff that you no longer want a particular person to visit.
However, a health facility may establish reasonable restrictions upon visitation, including restrictions upon the
hours of visitation and number of visitors.
19. Have your wishes considered, if you lack decision-making capacity, for the purposes of determining who may
visit. The method of that consideration will be disclosed in the hospital policy on visitation. At a minimum, the
hospital shall include any persons living in your household.
20. Examine and receive an explanation of your bill regardless of the source of payment.
21. Exercise these rights without regard to age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, language, physical or mental disability,
socioeconomic status, sex (including pregnancy), marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity
or expression, or any other basis prohibited by federal, state or local law.

Patient Responsibilities

The following patient responsibilities have been identified to facilitate safe delivery of care, treatment and services.
As a patient you have the responsibility to:
1. Provide information. Patients and families, as appropriate, must provide, to the best of their knowledge, accurate
and complete information about present complaints, past illnesses, hospitalization, medications, and other matters
relating to their health. Patients and their families must report perceived risks in their care and unexpected changes
in their condition.
2. Ask questions. Patients and families, as appropriate, must ask questions when they do not understand their care,
treatment, or service or what they are expected to do.
3. Follow instructions. You must follow the care, treatment, and service plan adapted for your specific needs by your
practitioner and healthcare team. You should express any concerns about your ability to follow the proposed care
plan or course of care, treatment and services. Your practitioner will explain any consequences for not following
the proposed course of treatment.
4. Follow facility policy. Patients and their families must follow policies as explained in your handbook and as
explained by our staff.
5. Accept consequences. Patients and their families are responsible for the outcomes if they do not follow the care,
treatment, and service plan.
6. Show respect and consideration. Patients and families must be considerate of the facility staff and property as
well as other patients and their property, and for assisting in the control of noise and the number of visitors.
7. Meet financial commitments. Patients and their families should promptly meet any financial obligation agreed
to by providing information necessary for your insurance processing and when necessary, working with a financial
representative to arrange payment.
8. Recognize the effect your lifestyle has on your personal health. Your health depends not just on your professional
medical care but also on the decisions you make in your daily life. You can ask your care provider if you need
assistance in making healthier decisions.
9. Express safety concerns. Notify your care providers if you have any safety or privacy concerns or questions
regarding your care or environment.

source: https://www.scripps.org/sparkle-assets/documents/patient_rights_and_responsiblities_12-2010.pdf