Notice of Privacy Practices

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THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. THIS NOTICE ALSO DESCRIBES YOUR RIGHTS AND SOME OBLIGATIONS CANCER CARE NORTHWEST HAS REGARDING THE USE AND DISCLOSURE OF YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION.

PLEASE REVIEW THIS INFORMATION CAREFULLY.

For the purpose of this Notice, “we, our, us” means Cancer Care Northwest.

 

Our Responsibilities

• We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.
• We are required to let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy and security of your information.
• We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and provide you with a copy of it.
• We will not use or disclose your information other than as described in this notice unless you tell us in writing that we can. If you tell us we can, you can change your mind at any time. Let us know in writing that you changed your mind.
   

Who Will Follow This Notice

This notice applies to services at health care delivery sites owned by Cancer Care Northwest (CCNW) that are under the common ownership or control of Cancer Care Northwest.

• Any health care professional authorized to enter information into your medical record at any CCNW facility.
• All departments and units of CCNW.
• Any member of a volunteer group we allow to help you while you are at a CCNW facility.
• All CCNW employees and personnel, including contracted or agency staff.
   

Your Rights

When it comes to your protected health information, you have certain rights.

• Request a copy of your medical records
  • You have the right to request a copy of your medical records and other health information we have about you. You can ask us to send an electronic copy of your electronic medical record to someone of your choosing.
  • Usually, this includes treatment and billing records and does not include psychotherapy notes.
• Right to request CCNW to amend/correct certain protected health information
  • You can ask us to correct information about you that you think is incorrect or incomplete.
  • We may say “no” to your request, but we’ll tell you why in writing.
  • If we say “no” to your request, you may have the right to submit a written addendum to your record about information you think is incomplete or inaccurate. Request an accounting of certain disclosures
• Right to request restrictions
  • You can ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment, or our operations.
  • We are not required to agree to your request, and we may say “no,” such as if it would affect your care.
• Right to request nondisclosure to health plans for self-paid items or services
  • If you pay for a service or health care item out-of-pocket in full, you can ask us not to share that information for the purpose of payment or our operations with your health insurer. We will say “yes” unless a law requires us to share that information.
• Request confidential communications
  • You can ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, home or office phone) or to send mail to a different address.
  • We will say “yes” to all reasonable requests
• Request an Accounting of Disclosure
  • You can ask for a list of the times we’ve shared certain information about you for six years prior to the date you ask, who we shared it with, and why.
  • We’ll provide one accounting a year for free each year.
• Choose someone to act for you
  • If you have given someone medical power of attorney or if someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights and make choices about the information we maintain about you.
  • We may make sure the person has this authority and can act for you before we take any action.
• Receive a paper copy of this notice
  • You can ask for a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you have agreed to receive the notice electronically. We will provide you with a paper copy promptly.
• File a complaint if you believe your privacy rights have been violated
  • You can complain if you feel we have violated your rights by contacting us through the contact information at the end of this notice.
  • You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights.
  • We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

For more information, see: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/index.html

 

Uses and Disclosures of Your Health Information by Cancer Care Northwest

Your Choices: Some of your choices in the way that we use and share your information

• Share information with your family, close friends, or others who are involved in your care
• Share information in a disaster relief situation
• Raise funds

If you are not able to tell us your preference, for example, if you are unconscious, we may go ahead and share your information if we believe it is in your best interest. We may also share information to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.

In these cases, we will not share your information unless you give us written permission (signed consent):

• Marketing purposes where remuneration is received

• Limited information about you may be used to support communication about available products or services.
• If you do not wish to receive such materials, please call 1-509-228-1013

• Sale of your information
• Most sharing of psychotherapy notes
• Situations not described in this Notice that do not pose a threat to health or safety

In the case of fundraising:

• We may contact you for fundraising efforts, but you can tell us not to contact you again.
•  If you no longer wish to receive fundraising requests supporting Cancer Care Northwest, please call 1-509-228-1013.
• We respect your choice regarding fundraising communications, and your decision will have no impact on your treatment or payment for services at Cancer Care Northwest.

 

Cancer Care Northwest will typically use your information in the following ways:

Treatment: We may use and disclose your protected health information to provide you with medical treatment and services and share it with other professionals who treat you.

• This use and disclosure may be for continuity of care or to doctors, nurses, technicians, health care students, or other health system personnel who are involved in your care.
• We may use and disclose your health information to different departments to coordinate activities such as prescriptions, lab work and x-rays and to other health care providers who may be involved in your medical care, such as long-term care facilities, other hospitals or clinics, or remote health care providers such as the services offered by telemedicine providers who may reside in other communities, including communities outside of Washington and Idaho.
• Conduct research.
• Comply with law.

Appointment Reminders: We may use and disclose your health information to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or medical care at CCNW or another entity/health care provider for whom we schedule services.

Payment: As permitted by law. This includes billing for treatment and services you receive at a Cancer Care Northwest facility.

• We submit requests for payment to your health insurance company or other appropriate payer. The payer (or other business associate helping us obtain payment) requests information from us regarding the medical care given. We will provide information to them about you and the care given.
• In addition, we may use or disclose your information to collect payment or to obtain prior approval for treatment and services.

Health care operations: We can use and share your health information to run our business, improve your care, and contact you when necessary.

• Running our business includes activities such as scheduling, infection control, administering the health plan, and population health activities.
• We may also use and disclose your information to other individuals (such as consultants and attorneys) and organizations that help us with our business activities.
• We may also use your health information for internal purposes, like ensuring the quality of care, identifying training needs, reviewing outcomes, sending patient satisfaction surveys, and other administrative activities.
• We may also disclose your information to Business Associates, or companies that provide a service to us or on our behalf, and have provided satisfactory assurances that they will protect your health information.

Cancer Care Northwest may also use your information in the following ways:

Public Health and Safety: We may disclose your health information to agencies when necessary to support public health activities. These activities generally include the following:

• To prevent or control disease, injury, or disability.
• To report births and deaths.
• To report abuse or neglect.
• To report reactions to medications or problems with products.
• To notify people of recalls of products they may be using.
• To notify a person who may have been exposed to a disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a disease or condition.
• To notify the appropriate government authority if we believe a patient has been the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. We will only make this disclosure when required or authorized by law.

Research: We can use or share your information for health research.

Limited Data Set Information: We may disclose limited health information to third parties for purposes of research, public health and health care operations. This limited data set will not include any information that could be used to identify you directly.

De-Identified Information: We may use health information about you to create de-identified information. This is information that has gone through a rigorous process so that the risk that the information can identify you is very small. Sometimes we do this by removing 18 categories of individual identifiers that are specified in the federal HIPAA regulations, such as by removing name, Social Security number, date of birth, address and zip code. Other times, we may have an expert in statistics professionally determine that the risk of someone using the information to identify you is very small. Once health information is de-identified in compliance with HIPAA, we may use or disclose it for various purposes, such as research or development of new healthcare technologies. We may receive payment for the de-identified information.

Comply with the Law: We will share information about you if state or federal laws require it, including with the Department of Health and Human Services if it wants to see that we’re complying with federal privacy law.

Organ and Tissue Donation: We can share health information about you with organ procurement organizations.

Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors: We can share health information with a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director when a person dies.

Workers’ Compensation: We can use or share health information about you for workers’ compensation claims.

Government Requests and Law Enforcement: We can use or share health information about you:

• With health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law
• For special government functions such as military, national security, and Presidential protective services
• In limited circumstances, for law enforcement purposes or with a law enforcement official

Lawsuits and Disputes: We may disclose your health information in response to a court or administrative order, subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process, if you are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute.

Contacting You: We may use and disclose health information to reach you about appointments and other matters. We may contact you by mail, telephone, text, or email.

• For example, we may leave voice messages at the telephone number you provide us with, and we may respond to your email address.

Treatment Alternatives: We may use or disclose information to tell you about or recommend possible treatment options or alternatives.

Health-Related Benefits and Services: We may use or disclose information to tell you about health-related benefits, services, or medical education classes.

Inmates: We may disclose your health information to a correctional facility or law enforcement official if you are an inmate or in custody.

Incidental Disclosures: Certain incidental disclosures of your health information may occur as a byproduct of the lawful and permitted use and disclosure of your health information. Reasonable safeguards are in place to minimize these disclosures.

Blood Conservation Services: We may use or disclose your health information if you have indicated affiliations with certain organizations, and we believe you may be an ideal candidate who could benefit from blood conservation services.

Serious and imminent threats: We may share your information when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of you, the public, or another person.

 

Special Information Types

Washington, Idaho, and federal law provide additional confidentiality protections in some circumstances. Cancer Care Northwest generally may not release without specific authorization the following patient information:

• Washington — Specific sexually transmitted diseases
• Washington — Behavioral health records that are specially protected in some circumstances
• State and federal law — Substance Use Disorder records that may be specially protected
   

Other Uses and Disclosures of Your Protected Health Information

Other uses and disclosures of your protected health information not covered by our current Notice or applicable laws will only be made with your written permission. You may revoke any permission by submitting a request in writing to the Cancer Care Northwest Compliance Office at 509-228-1016. If you revoke your permission, we will no longer use or disclose your protected health information for the reasons covered by your written authorization unless required by law. You understand that we are unable to take back any uses or disclosures we have already made, while your permission was in effect, and that we are required to retain our records of the care that we provide to you.

Additional Privacy for Reproductive Health Care

Federal law prohibits us from using or disclosing your information when it is sought to investigate or impose liability on you, health care providers, or others who seek, obtain, provide, or facilitate lawful reproductive health care, or to identify persons for such activities. The rule prevents your healthcare information from being used or disclosed for purposes like:

• Conducting criminal, civil, or administrative investigations into your reproductive healthcare choices. 
• Imposing criminal, civil, or administrative liability on you for your reproductive healthcare. 
• Identifying you for the purposes mentioned above. 

When we receive a request for your information potentially related to reproductive health care, we must obtain a signed attestation from the requester that the use or disclosure is not for a prohibited purpose when the request relates to:

• Health oversight activities
• Judicial and administrative proceedings
• Law enforcement purposes
• Disclosures to coroners and medical examiners

For example, if we receive a lawful subpoena for medical records that include information related to reproductive health care, we must obtain a signed attestation from the requester that states the request is not for a prohibited purpose.

Additional Privacy for Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Treatment 

Although we are not a substance use disorder treatment program (a “SUD Program”), we may receive information from a SUD Program about your treatment. We may not disclose this information so that it can be used in a civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative proceeding against you unless

1. We have your written consent, or
2. A court order accompanied by a subpoena or other legal requirement compelling disclosure issued after we and you were given notice and an opportunity to be heard. In addition, if we use this information to raise funds for our benefit, we must first provide you with a clear and conspicuous opportunity to elect not to receive any fundraising communications.

 

Changes to This Notice

Cancer Care Northwest can change the terms of this Notice, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The new Notice will be available upon request at our facilities and on our website.

RELATION TO PERMISSIONS AND REQUIREMENTS UNDER FEDERAL AND STATE MEDICAL PRIVACY LAWS

This notice of privacy practices is intended to provide an explanation of your medical privacy rights and our responsibilities in plain, understandable language. The laws governing medical privacy themselves are highly complex. To improve readability, this notice summarizes our obligations and does not include every legal exception that may apply. If we have not included exceptions that are available under the law, this notice should not be read to suggest that the exceptions do not apply. Cancer Care Northwest does not intend for this notice to create greater obligations or restrictions on Cancer Care Northwest than those required by law.

Questions and Complaints

If you have general questions about this Notice, please contact the Cancer Care Northwest Compliance Office by phone: 1-509-228-1016, or compliance@ccnw.net.

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the Cancer Care Northwest Compliance Office, 1204 N Vercler Rd, Spokane Valley, WA 99216.

You also have the right to file a written complaint with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights by visiting http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/.

We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint, and the quality of your care will not be jeopardized.

 

Notice of Privacy Practices, Effective Date: May 1, 2022

Revised June 3, 2025

Download CCNW's Notice of Privacy Practices