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This page provides information about and links to:
Patient Rights
At New Milford Hospital, we are dedicated to providing our patients with excellence in health care services which meet their individual needs. We consider our patients an important part of the health care team and continually work to create an environment where effective communication is ongoing between patients, families and caregivers. Since we feel communication is so important to your satisfaction and recovery as a patient, we have outlined below some information concerning your patient rights and responsibilities.
As a patient at New Milford Hospital, you have the right to:
- Expect that the hospital will not discriminate in providing you care because of age, sex, sexual orientation, disability, religion, race, national origin or financial status
- Have your cultural, emotional, spiritual and personal values and beliefs respected
- Be treated with dignity and respect
- Request care, refuse care, or request a transfer for care services
- Have a family member or representative of your choice and your own physician notified promptly of your admission
- Be informed of your planned treatment so that you can make informed decisions
- Participate in all aspects of your care, including discharge planning
- Know the identity and professional status of your caregivers
- Personal privacy and confidentiality during your care and confidentiality of your care information
- Effective pain management
- A safe and secure environment
- Be free from all forms of abuse and harassment
- Be free from restraints and seclusion of any form that are not medically necessary
- Establish an advance directive and have your care wishes followed
- Communication services, if you are deaf or hard-of-hearing or access to a translator
- See your medical record, have it explained to you, request changes to your medical record and obtain a list of anyone who has received any of your health care information
- Full financial information
- Participate voluntarily in research and educational projects
- Full knowledge of your rights and responsibilities in receiving health care
You have the right to know who you should contact if you have any questions or concerns about your hospitalization, your patient rights or the care you are receiving. Patients are encouraged to immediately discuss any concerns with their physician, a hospital staff member, the vice president of patient care services at extension 7209 or the appropriate department manager. After discharge, comments or concerns may be expressed by completing the patient survey form that you will receive in the mail or by writing to: Quality Management Department, New Milford Hospital, 21 Elm Street, New Milford, CT 06776.
You have the right to file a formal complaint regarding the quality of your care in accordance with the hospital's patient complaint policy. This is available on request by contacting the office of the Senior Vice President and Executive Director's office at 860-210-5500.
Any complaints regarding premature discharge issues should be addressed with the director of clinical resource management at extension 4612.
If preferred, concerns regarding care or discharge issues may also be filed with: State of Connecticut Department of Public Health, 410 Capitol Ave., P.O. Box 340308, Hartford, CT 06134, (1-860-509-7400) or with Qualidigm (for Medicare patients), 100 Roscommon Dr., Suite 200, Middletown, CT 06457, 1-860-509-7400. For deaf persons who are teletypewriter users (TTY), please notify your nurse.
Patient Responsibilities
You, the patient, are responsible for:
- providing the hospital with accurate and complete information about your identity, past illnesses, hospitalizations, medications and other matters related to your health, injury or illness.
- reporting unexpected changes in your condition to the responsible practitioner.
- informing your physician or hospital staff whenever you have further questions or do not understand information about your care.
- reporting any care or safety concerns to your physician or a hospital staff member.
- telling your physician and/or nurse when you are in pain or your pain medication is not effective.
You are responsible for following the treatment plan recommended by the practitioner primarily responsible for your care. This includes following instructions of hospital personnel who are carrying out your planned care.
You are responsible for your actions if you refuse treatment, or do not follow the practitioner's instructions.
You are responsible for providing accurate and complete information about your insurance or other sources of payment and for assuring that the financial obligations of your health care are fulfilled as promptly as possible.
You are responsible for:
- following hospital rules and regulations as they relate to patient care or patient conduct.
- being considerate of other patients and ensuring that your visitors follow hospital rules and regulations pertaining to good visitation conduct.
- being respectful of the property of other persons and of the hospital.
If you feel that any of your rights have been violated, please contact our Quality Management Department at 350-7276.
Releasing Patient Information
General reports are given to your family and friends when they call to inquire about your condition. Their call will be referred to the appropriate nursing unit where we will confirm your name and give a one-word status on your condition.
If you don't want this information released, please notify your nursing staff or specify that you are opting out of our patient directory when you are admitted.
If you choose not to be listed in the patient directory, then we will not be able to acknowledge that you are a patient in this hospital. We also will not be able, therefore, to accept cards, flowers, or phone calls for you. Please read our privacy notice, which is given at admission.
Privacy Protection Policy
It is the policy of New Milford Hospital to protect and safeguard the privacy of any and all personal information including social security numbers of our patients, employees and staff members.
"Personal Information" means information that can be associated with a particular individual through one or more identifiers, including, but not limited to: a social security number, a driver's license number, a state identification card, an account number, a credit or debit card number, an alien registration number, a passport number or a health insurance identification number. This does not include publicly available information that is lawfully made available to the general public from federal, state or local government records or widely distributed media.
Collection and Use of Personal Information & Social Security Numbers: The hospital collects and uses personal information and social security numbers for: the proper identification of patients and patient related health care operations as well as personnel related health care operations.
Storage of Personal Information & Social Security Numbers: All documents containing personal information and social security numbers will be stored in a locked or secured area. All electronic documents containing personal information and social security numbers will only be maintained on secured, authorized-access computer stations. All staff members will take all necessary precautions to protect and secure documents containing personal information and social security numbers when not in use.
Access to Personal Information & Social Security Numbers: Only staff members who have a legitimate business reason will have access to any documents containing personal information and social security numbers. Access to this information will be granted to staff members by Department Managers having responsibility for the gathering, use, storage, transporting or transmission of such data information. All staff members will be vigilant in safeguarding personal information and social security numbers. Any and all personal information or social security numbers transmitted electronically for business or health care operations purposes will be sent through a secure connection or with the data encrypted.
Destruction of Personal Information & Social Security Numbers: Records that contain personal information and social security numbers will be maintained in accordance with federal and state laws. Any and all documents containing personal information and social security numbers will be destroyed as follows: paper documents will be shredded and electronic documents will be erased or made unreadable, computer equipment that contains such information will have all such information erased or made unreadable prior to that equipment being used for another purpose or another person without authorized access to such information or destroyed in such a manner that none of this information remains or is readable.
Policy Violation: Any individual who, upon investigation, has improperly used or failed to properly protect and safeguard the privacy of any patient's, employee's or staff member's personal information or social security number is subject to corrective or disciplinary action, including termination. The improper use of personal information or social security numbers may also result in civil penalties or criminal prosecution under State law.
Medical Records Request
 Patients treated at New Milford Hospital may request a copy of their completed medical record by submitting a signed Authorization to Release Protected Health Information (F014144) form.
If copies of your medical record are sent directly to you, there will be 65 cents per-page copy fee, plus the cost of first-class postage and sales tax. If copies are going directly to a physician or hospital, there is no charge.
Wallet Medication Card
 New Milford Hospital (NMH) has created a wallet medication card that could save someone's life. The card is designed to help patients gather and keep with them a complete list of medicines that they take (prescriptions, vitamins, over-the-counter and herbals with full names, dose, and how often taken). The information helps hospital physicians avoid possible interactions or other issues when prescribing medications for patients who are admitted, transferred and discharged.
NMH's new program addresses a key initiative of both the national Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) program to improve patient safety and the overall patient experience and a national patient safety goal of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). The IHI initiative, called the 100,000 Lives Campaign, includes a component that focuses specifically on reducing medication errors.
Studies have demonstrated that the process of keeping an accurate and complete listing of any non-prescription or prescribed medicines, vitamins or herbals - whether ordered by a patients primary physician, the hospital, a nursing home, specialist or clinic - can reduce medication errors by 70%. The process also saves time - at least 20 minutes - during admissions, transfers and discharges.
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