Medical Information Privacy

Administrative Procedure 5.501

Elgin Community College is committed to keeping its employees' personal information private. This Administrative Procedure applies to ECC's employee benefit plans that are covered by state or federal law or that are self-funded, including medical and dental insurance plans, employee assistance plans, and prescription drug programs. In this Administrative Procedure all such programs are referred to as Benefit Plans.

ECC's Benefit Plans are required by federal and state law to protect the privacy of employees' health information and other personal information, and to provide employees with notice about the College's policies and protections. When the Benefit Plans use or disclose protected health information, the Benefit Plans must respect the privacy of that information.

ECC's Benefit Plans will not use an employee's protected health information (PHI), which is broadly defined as individually identifiable health information collected electronically, orally, or by paper. PHI includes information such as the patient’s name, social security number, telephone number, medical record number, or address.  ECC’s Benefit Plans will not disclose an employee’s PHI without the employee's permission, except for reasons related to:

• Claims processing and payment.
• Legal compliance.
• Judicial and administrative proceedings.
• Public health and safety.
• Administration of workers' compensation program.

ECC's Benefit Plans may also disclose an employee's protected health information when it is necessary to do so in order to file claims with other insurance carriers.

ECC's Benefit Plans will not use or disclose an employee's protected health information for any purpose other than the purposes described in this Administrative Procedure without the employee's written approval. An employee may rescind such approval at any time by notifying the Human Resources Department in writing.  

ECC's Benefit Plans may disclose protected health information about an employee to a relative, a friend, or any other person the employee identifies, provided the information is directly relevant to that person's involvement with the employee's health care or payment for the employee's care. For example, if a family member or a caregiver calls ECC's Benefits Specialist with knowledge of an employee's protected health information, the Benefits Specialist may confirm it or answer questions about it. The employee has the right to stop or limit this type of disclosure, and may do so by contacting the Human Resources Department.  

Employees have the right to request additional restrictions with regard to who can access or view their protected health information. While the Benefit Plans will carefully consider all requests for restricted access, ECC is not required to approve them.

Employees have the right to confidential communications about their protected health information.  

Employees have the right to review and copy their protected health information. A reasonable number of documents will be duplicated free-of-charge. Employees who wish to have an excessive number of documents duplicated with be charged the standard ECC document duplication rate.

Employees have the right to make corrections to their protected health information. If a doctor or another person created the information the employee wants to change, the employee must ask that person to change the information.

Employees have the right to know to whom their protected health information is disclosed. If an employee requests an accounting of this more than once during any 12-month period, the Benefit Plans will charge the employee a reasonable fee for each additional accounting statement.

Employees have the right to a paper copy of this Administrative Procedure. Employees who want one should contact the Human Resources Department.  

All requests mentioned in this Administrative Procedure must be submitted in writing to the Human Resources Department.

Employees who want more information about their privacy rights, do not understand their privacy rights, are concerned that ECC's Benefit Plans have not respected their privacy rights, or disagree with a decision that the Plans made about who can see their protected health information, should contact the Human Resources Department. Employees may also file written complaints with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ECC will not take any action against employees who file a complaint with the Secretary of Health and Human Services or the Human Resources Department.

Finally, this Administrative Procedure may be changed at any time. If this Administrative. Procedure is changed, it may affect all of the protected health information maintained by the Benefit Plans, including any information created or received before the new Administrative Procedure becomes effective. Employees will be notified whenever this Administrative Procedure is revised.