Your Rights & Responsibilities

Ensuring Our Patients Know Their Rights

These rights and responsibilities apply to all patients, including the neonate, child, adolescent and adult.

Patient Rights

“Patient” refers to patient and/or personal representative.

Human Dignity

Recognizing the basic rights of human beings is always of great importance. It is our intention to always respect the patient’s inherent dignity. As a hospital, we have a prime responsibility to assure that your rights are preserved while under our care. To this end, the patient will be routinely consulted on matters relating to his or her care, medical treatment, and discharge. If a patient is unable to speak on his or her own behalf, an appropriate family member or the personal representative/agent will be consulted.

Nondiscrimination

In accordance with Title VI and VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964 and their implementing regulations, as well as Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, the patient shall be granted impartial access to treatment or accommodations which are available or medically indicated regardless of race, creed, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion or source of payment.

We provide (1) free aids and services to people with disabilities to communicate effectively with us, such as qualified sign language interpreters and written information in other formats, and (2) free language services to people whose primary language is not English, such as qualified interpreters and written information in other languages.

If you need these services, call 1-870-508-7770. If you believe that BRMC has failed to provide these services or discriminated in another way on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex, you can file a grievance with one of the following:

• Civil Rights Coordinator
  624 Hospital Drive, Mountain Home, AR 72653
  Tel: 870-508-7555; Email: civilrights@baxterregional.org
• U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
  200 Independence Ave. SW, Room 509F, HHH Bldg.
  Washington, D.C. 20201 Tel: 1-800-368-1019;
  Web: https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/portal/lobby.jsf

Pain Relief

The patient has the right to expect assessment of their pain and a process of mutual planning to address the management of pain. A patient also has the right to receive information about pain and pain relief measures.

Request or Refusal of Treatment

The patient has the right to participate in the development and implementation of his or her plan of care and to request or refuse treatment. The patient has the right to refuse treatment, based on his or her own personal, moral or religious beliefs — to the extent permitted by law — and to be informed of the medical consequences of his or her refusal.

Advance Directives, Religious Beliefs

A patient has the responsibility of informing his or her physician and the hospital of any advance directives (such as a “Living Will”) or religious beliefs that he or she wishes to have honored.

The patient has the right to formulate an advanced directive, which may include delegation of the right to make decisions about the patient’s care to a representative, as well as designation of a support person. The regulation further requires that notice be given to the patient concerning the hospital’s advance directives policy.

Information

The patient, or the patient’s personal representative/agent, has the right to receive, from the patient’s care treatment team, complete and current information concerning his or her diagnosis, treatment and any known prognosis. This information should be communicated in terms the patient can reasonably understand.

Identity

The patient has the right to know the identity and professional status of individuals providing service to him or her.

Privacy and Confidentiality

The patient has the right, within the law, to personal privacy and confidentiality. All communication and records pertaining to his or her care are confidential and read only by individuals directly involved in treatment, payment or operations of the hospital.

A family member or representative of the patient’s choice must be promptly notified of the patient’s admission to the hospital. Patients have the right to designate visitors who shall receive the same visitation privileges as the patients’ immediate family members, regardless of whether the visitor is legally related to the patient.

Your privacy is important to us. Our full Notice of Privacy Practices can be accessed here. If you have any questions, please contact our Privacy Officer at (870) 508-1015 or risk@baxterregional.org.

Consent

The patient has the right

• Not to be subjected to any procedure without voluntary, competent consent or the consent of a personal representative except in an emergency.
• To be informed of, and voluntarily give or refuse consent of participation in, any human experimentation or other research/educational projects affecting his/her care or treatment.
• To advanced directives.

Safety

The patient has the right to expect reasonable safety in the medical center’s practice and environment. This includes the right to be free from physical or mental abuse and corporal punishment. The patient has the right to be free from restraint or seclusion, of any form, imposed by staff as means of coercion, discipline, convenience or retaliation. Restraints will only be used when necessary to ensure the immediate physical safety of the patient, staff or others and must be discontinued at the earliest possible time.

Communication

The patient has the right of access to people outside the hospital by means of visitors and by verbal and written communication. When the patient does not speak or understand the predominant language of the community, he or she should have access to an interpreter.

Continuity of Care

The patient has the right to expect reasonable continuity of care and assistance in locating alternative services when indicated. The patient has the right to choose home health or nursing home care at discharge.

Transfer

The patient has the right not to be transferred to another facility unless he or she has received a complete explanation of the need for the transfer, the alternatives to such a transfer, and acceptance by another physician.

Hospital Charges

The patient has the right to request, examine and receive an itemized and detailed explanation of his or her bill, regardless of the source of payment. The patient has the right to notice of termination of his eligibility for reimbursement by any third-party payer for the cost of his or her care.

Smoke Free

According to Arkansas law, all hospitals must be smoke-free (Ark Code Ann. § 20-27-704 et seq). Smoking on the BRMC campus could result in a Class C misdemeanor. We appreciate the cooperation of all patients and visitors in keeping BRMC smoke-free.

Patient Grievance

A patient’s grievance will be addressed, in a timely manner, by the department head/patient care unit manager where the patient is located, Patient Experience Specialist at (870) 508-5484 or the Risk Manager at (870) 508-1015. A written grievance/complaint may be addressed to any of the four contacts above and sent to Baxter Health, 624 Hospital Drive, Mountain Home, AR 72653.

A patient may contact the Arkansas Department of Health, regardless of whether he or she used the medical center’s grievance process, at (501) 661-2201 or Arkansas Department of Health, 5800 West Tenth, Suite 400, Little Rock, AR 72204.

All patient’s grievance will be addressed in accordance with state and federal guidelines.

Patient Responsibilities

If a patient lacks the capacity to exercise these responsibilities on his or her behalf, the obligation falls to appropriate family members or a personal representative.

Provision of Information

A patient has the responsibility to provide, to the best of his or her knowledge, accurate and complete information about matters relating to his or her health. A patient is also responsible for making known whether or not he or she clearly understands the medical treatment plan and what is expected of him or her.

Compliance with Instructions

A patient is responsible for following the treatment plan recommended by the practitioner primarily responsible for his or her care. The patient is also responsible for following the instructions of treatment team.

Refusal of Treatment

The patient is responsible for the consequences if he or she refuses recommended treatment or does not follow the practitioner’s instructions.

Hospital Charges

The patient is responsible for assuring that the financial obligations of his or her care are fulfilled as promptly as possible.

Hospital Rules and Regulations

The patient is responsible for following rules and regulations affecting patient care and conduct.

Respect and Consideration

The patient is responsible for considerate behavior toward other patients, visitors, and hospital personnel and for respect of rights and property.

Patient Conflicts

Patient care conflicts regarding admission, treatment, and discharge issues will be addressed by the department head, nurse leader or the administrative staff member who is responsible for the service. Depending on the nature of the conflict, the issue may instead be addressed by the attending physician, the Chief of Services or the Chief of Staff. The final authority for addressing patient complaints and patient care conflicts is the medical center’s Chief Executive Officer.

Medicare and Observation Patients and Outpatients in a Bed

Medicare does not cover the cost of home oral medications administered to patients who are in the hospital in the status of Observation or Outpatient in a Bed. The hospital must bill the patient if oral medications are administered by the nurse while the patient is in the hospital. See Medicare 2008 handbook, page 26, and heading: What’s NOT covered by Part A and Part B? “Prescription Drugs. Most prescription drugs aren’t covered by Part A or Part B.”