Patient Care
Quality of care & services
We enrich lives by providing compassionate care and amazing service to every life we touch. OSU Medicine Service Standards
Safety
• Be aware of environment
• Be intentional in your actions
• Ensure accuracy
• Mitigate potential hazards
Courtesy
• Welcome and actively engage in a friendly and respectful manner
• Be responsive, polite and helpful
• Demonstrate care and concern
Efficiency
• Respond to needs in a timely manner
• Organize and prioritize your work
• Be available and respect others’ time
• Be innovative
Presentation
• Be professional
• Have a clean and neat appearance
• Maintain a clean and organized work area
• Remember what you represent at all times
We are committed to delivering the highest quality of patient care
in an honest and ethical manner.
We recognize the importance of maintaining an environment that promotes integrity, well-being, comfort, dignity and respect of our patients. We strive to provide an atmosphere where patients feel valued and cared for.
We demonstrate compassion and care to the communities we serve. We provide health education, health promotion and illness prevention programs as part of our efforts to improve the quality of life for our patients and our communities.
We share in the continuing responsibility to serve our patients and communities and to maintain our good name and reputation in all that we do. We will succeed only if our reputation for honesty, integrity, quality of service and excellent care is beyond measure.
Patient Rights
• We provide safe, comprehensive health care in a manner which acknowledges the uniqueness
and dignity of each patient.
• We encourage patients and families to communicate openly with their health care
team, participate in their treatment choices and promote their own safety by being
well informed and actively involved in matters and decisions relating to their medical
care.
• We follow all applicable laws and regulations related to patient rights.
• We make reasonable efforts to provide interpretation services for patients and their
representatives with communication barriers.
• We provide patients and their representatives with the information necessary to
make informed decisions about their care.
• We give patients and their representatives timely access to their medical records
in accordance with HIPAA regulations.
• We provide care and services that are medically necessary and appropriate.
• We provide care in a respectful and dignified manner, without regard to race, ethnicity,
color, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, national origin, age, disabilities
or religion.
• We provide a process for patients and their representatives to express grievances
or file complaints.
Patient Privacy
We protect the privacy and confidentiality of patient medical information, financial
information and personally identifiable information. We recognize that our patients
are more likely to share all information necessary for the provision of excellent
care if they trust us to protect that information.
We comply fully with the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH).
We also comply with CFR 42 Part 2 privacy and confidentiality requirements in our
OSU Addiction Recovery Clinic.
OSU-CHS HIPAA POLICIES
Some of the ways we protect our patients’ Protected Health Information (PHI) are:
• We only use and disclose PHI as allowed by HIPAA, and we obtain a signed patient
authorization when required.
• We only use and disclose the minimum necessary PHI to perform our job duties.
• We limit discussion of patient information in public areas where we may be overheard.
• We verify patient demographic information using three (3) identifiers before releasing
patient information and before accessing a patient chart; we double-check every page
before giving papers to patients.
• We do not take pictures of patients for personal use or disclosure or post patient
information on social media.
• We use shred bins for proper disposal of written PHI and never throw PHI in a trash
can.
• We do not share passwords.
• We never leave computers or other devices that contain PHI unlocked when unattended.
Research
We adhere to an expectation of responsible and ethical behavior in research. Responsible
conduct in research helps maintain the public’s trust in research.
We encourage a research culture which is innovative, open and transparent. We act
with integrity when planning, conducting and reporting research.
When conducting research on human subjects, we minimize harms and risks and maximize
benefits; we respect human dignity, privacy and autonomy; and we strive to distribute
the benefits and burdens of research fairly.
• We seek the approval of the appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) before
conducting research, as required by regulations and OSU policies.
• We strictly follow research protocols.
• We identify and manage conflicts of interest related to research.
• We protect the rights of research participants and obtain informed consent for human
subject research when required by the IRB.
• We protect the information of participants involved in human subject research.
• We take special precautions with vulnerable populations.
• We disseminate complete and accurate research results.
• We promptly report observed or suspected research misconduct.
• We strive to avoid bias in experimental design and data interpretation.