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HIPAA Privacy Rule’s notice of Privacy Practices by Mike Wheeler University Privacy Officer The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule specifies six individual rights.  To help individuals (our patients) understand these rights, HIPAA requires each health care provider to inform patients of these rights by the use of a Notice of Privacy Practices. A Notice of Privacy Practices is a summary of the Privacy Rule’s six individual rights. The notice also informs the patient of how the MUSC organization uses Protected Health Information (PHI) to perform treatment, payment, and health care operations. In other words, the notice describes how medical information about the patient is used and disclosed and how the patient can access information concerning these uses or disclosures. The MUSC organization’s Notice of Privacy Practices is a multiple page document that must be given to the patient at the first delivery of healthcare, including hospital admission, beginning on the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s implementation date of April 14.  The MUSC organization must obtain written acknowledgement from the patient that they received a copy of this Notice.  If this written acknowledgement from the patient cannot be obtained (emergency circumstances) the members of the MUSC organization’s workforce must document the good faith effort to deliver the Notice and obtain acknowledgement and the reason these attempts were unsuccessful. The MUSC organization’s Notice of Privacy Practices is complete and undergoing final review. Once approved, this notice will be posted on bulletin boards and the MUSC Web site.    Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.