Have any of you visited the student health center here at the university before? If so, you had to sign a piece of paper stating they may disclose your Personal Health Information (PHI) to the universe. I doubt 99% of the students here on this campus bother to read it, but I believe if people read they would be horrified to know that the privacy policy is worse than the privacy of Microsoft's validation process. But I digress and give you a brief run down of what they are allowed to do with your information:

OTHER USES AND DISCLOSURES NOT REQUIRING AUTHORIZATION:

1. Business Associates: There are some services provided to our organization through contracts with business associates, such as laboratory and radiology services. We may disclose your health information to our business associates so that they can perform these services. We require the business associates to safeguard your information to our standards. (I am so glad they will demand their associates to take as much care of my information as they do.. what a joke.)
   
   
2. Notification: We may disclose limited health information to friends or family members identified by you as being involved in your care or assisting you in payment. We may also notify a family member, or another person responsible for your care, about your location and general condition.
   
   
3. Legally Required Disclosures & Public Health: We may disclose PHI as required by law, or in a variety of circumstances authorized by federal or state law. For example, we may disclose PHI to government officials to avert a serious threat to health or safety or for public health purposes, such as to prevent or control communicable disease (which may include notifying individuals that may have been exposed to the disease, although in such circumstance you will not be personally identified), federal or state health oversight agencies, child abuse or neglect, domestic violence, to an employer to evaluate work related injuries, and to public officials to report births and deaths.
   
   
4. Law Enforcement & Subpoenas: We may disclose PHI to law enforcement such as limited information for identification and location purposes, or information regarding suspected victims of crime, including crimes committed on our premises. We may also disclose PHI to others as required by court or administrative order, or in response to a valid summons or subpoena. (If you put your real address down, big brother can look up what your current UNR address is for all types of identification and location purposes, with no probable cause at all. Additionally, by administrative order from the school, records may be released).
   
   
5. Information Regarding Decedents: We may disclose health information regarding a deceased person to: 1) coroners and medical examiners to identify cause of death or other duties, 2) funeral directors for their required duties and 3) to procurement organizations for purposes of organ and tissue donation.
   
   
6. Research: We may also disclose PHI where the disclosure is solely for the purpose of designing a study, or where the disclosure concerns decedents, or an institutional review board or privacy board has determined that obtaining authorization is not feasible and protocols are in place to ensure the privacy of your health information. In all other situations, we may only disclose PHI for research purposes with your authorization. (Am I reading this right, or if privacy protcols are in the way of obtaining my information, they may disclose my PHI? I am not a contract lawyer, but that sounds really odd.)
   
   
7. Marketing & Fund Raising: We may contact you with information about treatment alternatives or other health related benefits and services that may be of interest to you. We may also contact you as part of a fund raising effort. (Does this even need an explanation?)
   
   
8. Directory information: We may disclose limited information regarding your name and location for directory purposes to those persons who ask for you by name or to members of the clergy. You may request that we not include your name in the directory. (I am very glad I can be included in another public database... thank you!)

1. The release of health information to other treating professionals outside the University System will be made with written authorization from the patient, which you have the right to revoke at any time, except to the extent we have already relied upon the authorization or in the event of an emergency.