We believe that patients who understand and participate in their treatment achieve better results. Please take a moment and familiarize yourself with your rights and responsibilities as a patient.
You have the right to:
- Know the risks, benefits and alternatives to proposed treatments or procedures
- Choose the physicians or other clinicians who will be providing care or treatment, as well as have information about them
- Receive information in easy to understand terms that will allow for an informed consent or refusal of the treatment or procedure
- Privacy regarding medical care
- Participate in the plan of care
- Formulate advanced directives and have staff and practitioners comply with those directives
- Reasonable responses to reasonable requests of service
- Leave the medical center against the advice of the physician
- Examine and receive an explanation of the bill for services regardless of the source of payment
- Select providers of goods and services after discharge
- Receive a Notice of Privacy Practices
- Request privacy protection
- Access protected health information in a reasonable time frame
- Amend protected health information
- Request an accounting of disclosures of protected health information
- Be free from any forms of restraint or seclusion as a means of convenience, discipline, coercion, or retaliation
- The least restrictive restraint or seclusion should be used only when necessary to ensure patient safety
- Receive care in a safe environment, free from all forms of abuse, neglect, harassment and/or exploitation
You have the responsibility to:
- Provide accurate and complete information concerning your present medical condition, past illnesses or hospitalization and matters concerning your health
- Tell your caregivers if you do not completely understand your plan of care
- Follow the caregivers' instructions
- Follow all medical center policies and procedures while being considerate rights of other patients, medical center employees and medical center properties
You also have the right to:
Lodge a concern with the state, whether have used the hospital's grievance process not. If you have concerns regarding the quality of your care, coverage decisions want to appeal a premature discharge, the State Quality Improvement Organization (QIO). Contact information for the state our QIO is located on the insert at the this booklet.
Patient Rights regarding problem resolution:
While you are a patient at River Region Health System, you may report a concern, complaint, or grievance by expressing your concerns to your physician, a nursing staff member, or any other employee involved in your care. You may also request to speak to the Patient Advocate at any time. If you have a concern related to any privacy issue, you should request that the Compliance Officer be notified to discuss the issue with you.
If you have a complaint and cannot resolve the problem with the administration of this facility, you may also contact the Bureau Director, Health Facilities Licensure & Certification Mississippi Department of Health, PO Box 1700, Jackson, Mississippi 39215. The telephone number is 1-800-227-7308.
If your concerns and questions cannot be resolved at this level, contact The Joint Commission at 1-800-994-6610 or send a fax to 1-630-792-5636. You may also send an email to complaint@jointcommission.org or send a letter to Office of Quality Monitoring, The Joint Commission, One Renaissance Boulevard, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181.