Baptist Health Privacy Policy

Baptist Health Privacy Policy Main Content

Our Commitment to Patient Privacy

Each time a patient sees a physician, is admitted to a hospital, undergoes outpatient testing, fills a prescription with a pharmacist or sends a claim to a health plan, a record is made of the patient's health information. Until 1996, the confidentiality of patient health information was protected by a patchwork of state laws, which, some people argued, left gaps in the protection of patients' privacy and confidentiality. As part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA"), Congress recognized the need for national standards for patient privacy. As a result of HIPAA's mandate, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”) issued national patient privacy and security standards in 2000. In follow up to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (the “HITECH Act”), which was passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, DHHS updated those national patient privacy and security standards in 2013.

The privacy of patient health information has always been a high priority of Baptist Health, and Florida law has for many years included significant patient privacy protections. This section of our web site is intended to provide our patients and their families with information about their privacy rights and our commitment to protect those rights. The information in this section of our web site will be updated in the event that our privacy practices change in the future.