Patient Privacy
Amberwell Health is committed to treating people with dignity, respect, and mutuality; protecting their rights; providing the best care possible; and assisting them in their recovery.
Privacy and Confidentiality
Amberwell Health policies and state and federal law protect the privacy of patient identities and information. In general, any disclosure of clinical information requires a written consent from you, or, if you are under the age of 18, a parent or guardian. Disclosures, however, can occur without written consent in certain specific circumstances, such as by judicial order or in a medical emergency. Amberwell staff are “mandated reporters” for child and elder abuse and have a duty to warn if it is felt that you are a danger to yourself or to someone else.
A Note for Families and Friends
All health care providers must comply with these federal regulations, which means that they must obtain formal permission to share information (including diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis), even if you are a spouse, parent, or guardian of an adult patient.
A patient provides permission by signing a release of information form. If a patient has not signed a release, then clinical staff cannot share any information. Please note, however, that you may share with clinicians any information that you think is important for the patient’s treatment and recovery.
Website Privacy
Amberwell Health understands that health is a very personal, private subject. We therefore are committed to protecting the privacy and security of all visitors to our website. Our data use policy will tell you what information we collect, how it is used and what your choices are. Please read this policy carefully.
News Media Policy
The our marketing & communications department manages all inquiries from members of the media seeking expert comment from Amberwell Health employees.
The media often asks Amberwell Health providers and employees to comment on a variety of topics, including the latest medical breakthroughs, scientific research, psychiatric healthcare policies, and feature stories. Amberwell Health enjoys a strong relationship with members of the media. In order to continue to ensure productive interaction with the media, we have established the following guidelines.
All interviews with members of the Amberwell Health staff must be arranged by a member of Amberwell Health ’s media relations team. When arriving on campus, all members of the media should go to Amberwell Atchison lobby, where they will be met by a member of the media relations team and then escorted to the interview/filming location.
To protect the privacy of Amberwell Health patients and families, an Amberwell Health media relations team member must escort all reporters, producers, film crews and photographers on any Amberwell Health campus. Any unauthorized members of the media will be asked to leave our campus.
Media questions regarding the location or status of a patient should be directed to the marketing & communications department. However, it is Amberwell Health policy not to confirm or deny the status of any current or former patients.
Reporters must identify Amberwell Health employees by their Amberwell Health title in stories related to the staff member’s work or role with Amberwell Health.
In compliance with the HIPAA privacy law, patients who agree to be interviewed or filmed must complete an Amberwell Health media release form prior to the interview. If the form is not completed by the time of the interview, the interview cannot take place.
Social Media Policy for Site Visitors
Thank you for participating with Amberwell Health in social networking communities such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram. We welcome and encourage open discussion on Amberwell Health’s social media sites, and look forward to any comments, stories, and experiences you want to share.
We do make reasonable efforts to monitor participation to ensure that you stay on topic, are courteous, and avoid making offensive comments. The information provided by Amberwell Health on these platforms is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended as an endorsement, or a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Please also be aware that once you post something online, there exists the potential for countless people to read your words, even years from now. As a result, we suggest that you exercise caution when posting medical information on any of our social media sites and that you not disclose personal identifiable information like your location, social security number, medical record number, financial information, etc.
Above is the plain English version. Here it is explained in legal language:
The opinions and or views expressed by users on Amberwell Health social media platforms, including, but not limited to, our blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages, represent the thoughts of individual bloggers and online communities, and not those necessarily of Amberwell Health or any of its corporate affiliates or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, research staff, medical staff, or members of its respective boards. The opinions and views expressed on these pages do not in any way reflect the views of the site they are posted on, other sites affiliated with the site, the staff involved with maintaining the site, or any members of the site.
While Amberwell Health makes every reasonable effort to monitor and/or moderate content posted on its social media platforms, we do not moderate all comments and cannot always respond in a timely manner to online requests for information, particularly outside of regular business hours.
Amberwell Health reserves the sole right to review, edit, and/or delete any comments it deems inappropriate. Comments including but not limited to the following may be deleted or edited by the moderators:
- Abusive or hurtful comments about a blogger, staff member, or any other participant on our sites and social media channels
- Off-topic and redundant comments, as well as spam (this includes promotion of events, groups, pages, websites, organizations, and programs not related to or affiliated with Amberwell Health)
- Comments that use profane or vulgar language or “hate speech” (for example, including but not limited to racial, ethnic, or gender bashing language)
- Personal attacks or defamatory statements or comments (i.e., making negative personal or untrue comments about a participant), instead of just criticizing his/her posting, opinion, or comments
- Comments that intentionally or unintentionally violate the privacy of our patients and their families
Information posted on our sites is not intended to be medical advice and should not be considered medical advice, nor is it intended to replace consultation with a qualified physician or other health care provider. All links to other websites found linked from Amberwell Health social media sites are provided as a service to readers, but such linkage does not constitute endorsement of those sites by Amberwell Health, and as such we are not responsible for the content of external third party websites.
By submitting content to any of Amberwell Health’s social media sites, you understand and acknowledge that this information is available to the public, and that Amberwell Health may use this information for internal and external promotional purposes and fundraising purposes. Please note that other participants may use your posted information beyond the control of Amberwell Health. If you do not wish to have the information you have made available via this site used, published, copied, and/or reprinted, please do not post on this page.
