At Kuma Hospital, we place importance on protecting the privacy of all of our patients, and have adopted various measures toward that end.
1. What is personal information?
Personal information refers to the name, address, and other information that can be used to identify a specific individual. Personal information will never be used beyond the range of the original purpose of use. The details are as shown in “Purposes for Use of Personal Information at Kuma Hospital.” We observe the laws related to protection of personal information to manage our patients’ information. In addition, we have appointed a person to be responsible for suitable handling of the personal information of patients, and who also provides staff training.
2. Calling patients by name
Kuma Hospital calls all outpatients and hospitalized patients by name, to ensure medical safety and prevent misidentification. In addition, from the perspective of patient service, we respond within a reasonable range to requests for room numbers, etc., made by telephone or by visitors. If for some reason you do not want to be called by name as an outpatient, etc., or to have your name posted on the hospital room or respond to queries, please inform us.
3. Changes in examination reservations, and insurance checks, etc.
On occasion, we may have an urgent need to notify the patient or family members of changes in treatment, outpatient reservations (examinations, test, treatment, guidance, etc.), or planned admittance to hospital, or to confirm medical benefits or proof of insurance, etc. If you do not wish the hospital name to be disclosed at such times, please specify a telephone number (cell phone, etc.) that will as much as possible go only to you.
4. Disclosure of personal information
By listing the personal information of our patients in medical records, etc., we can use it to continue providing the best medical care. This information is also used for medical and nursing insurance administration, for outpatient and hospital ward management, for accounting and bookkeeping, for medical safety measures, and for countermeasures to hospital infections, etc. Medical information is disclosed in response to patient wishes. If you wish disclosure, please consult with the attending doctor or come to the medical consultation room.
5. Purposes for use of personal information
To ensure that our patients all continuously receive the best possible medical care, we provide medical-related information to hospitals and clinics, etc., and also use it for education such as training of doctor, nurses and other medical staff. It is also used for student and trainee education. Such information may also be used in academic associations and research, etc., for development of medical knowledge. In such case, the information is presented in a way that individuals cannot be identified. For the purposes for use, see “Purposes for Use of Personal Information at Kuma Hospital.”
6. Crime prevention measures
At Kuma Hospital, we maintain a high awareness for crime prevention, mounting crime-prevention cameras throughout the facilities for continuous recording. If you see anyone or anything suspicious, please report it to the nearest staff member.
Purposes for Use of Personal Information at Kuma Hospital
Purposes for use of our patients’ personal information at Kuma Hospital are as follows.
1. Use at Kuma Hospital
- Medical care provided for our patients
- Medical insurance administration
- Hospital admissions and discharges, and other hospital ward management
- Accounting and bookkeeping
- Safety assurance, and analysis and reports of medical accidents, etc.
- Improvement of medical and welfare services
- Cooperation with in-house medical training
- In-house education and training, and case history research, for the purpose of improving medical quality
- Basic materials for maintenance and improvement of medical and nursing services and operations
- Provision of information to external audit institutions
- Course of treatment and prognosis surveys, satisfaction surveys, and questionnaire surveys for improvement of operations
- Presentations and reports for academic associations and medical journals, etc.
- Other management and administration operations related to our patients
Note that reports presented to academic associations, research societies, and academic journals, etc., of cases or events involving specific patients, users, or related people, always have the names, birthdates, addresses, and other information removed for anonymity. If such anonymity is impossible to maintain, the person’s consent will be obtained.
2. Use related to provision of information to other medical service providers and other organizations
- Cooperation with other hospitals, clinics, maternity centers, pharmacies, visiting nurse stations, nursing services, and vendors, etc.
- Responses to requests for verification from other medical institutions
- When requesting the opinions or advice of outside doctors, etc., for the medical care, etc., of our patients
- Consignment of laboratory testing, etc.
- Explanation of disease conditions to family, etc.
- Consignment of insurance administration
- Provision of receipts to screening payment institutions
- Response to verification request by screening payment institution or insurance carrier
- Notification to vendors of results related to health examinations received by consignment from the vendors
- Consultation or application, etc., to specialist medical groups or insurance companies, etc., regarding doctor’s liability insurance, etc.
- Other uses related to medical insurance administration for our patients
Notes
- If you cannot consent to any item above, please inform us.
- If no objections are raised, we will consider that you consent to all of the above items.
- Such objections may be withdrawn or changed at any time.
- For questions regarding protection of personal information, please come to the medical consultation room.
