Community Health Center Patient Rights & Responsibilites

Pursuant to Chapter 111 Section 70E of the General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, an act providing certain rights to patients and residents in clinics and health centers (approved May 23, 1979; Amended 1989).

Every patient of Harbor Health and all its divisions shall have the right to:

1. Upon request, to obtain from the facility in charge of his care the name and specialty, if any, of the physician or other person responsible for his care or the coordination of his care;
2. To confidentiality of all records and communications to the extent provided by law;
3. To have all reasonable requests responded to promptly and adequately within the capacity of the facility;
4. Upon request, to obtain an explanation as to the relationship, it any, of the facility of any other health care facility or educational institution insofar as said relationship relates to his care or treatment:
5. To obtain from a person designated by the facility a copy of any rules or regulations of the facility which apply to his conduct as a patient or resident:
6. Upon request, to receive from a person designated by the facility any information which the facility has available relative to financial assistance and free health care;
7. Upon request, to inspect his medical records and to receive a copy thereof in accordance with section seventy, and the fee for said copy shall be determined by the rate of copying expenses;
8. To refuse to be examined, observed, or treated by students or any other facility staff without jeopardizing access to psychiatric, psychological, or other medical care attention;
9. To refuse to serve as a research subject and to refuse any care or examination when the primary purpose is educational or informational rather than therapeutic;
10. To privacy during medical treatment or other rendering of care within the capacity of the facility;
11. To prompt life saving treatment in an emergency without discrimination on account of economic status or source of payment and without delaying treatment for purposes of prior discussion of the source of payment unless such delay can be imposed without material risk to his health, and this right shall also extend to those persons not already patients or residents of a facility if said facility has a certified emergency care unit;
12. To informed consent to the extent provided by law; and
13. Upon request to receive a copy of the bill or other statement of charges submitted to any third party by the facility for the care of the patient or resident.
14. To privacy during medical treatment or other rendering of care within the capacity of the facility:
15. To refuse to be examined, observed, or treated by students or any other facility staff without jeopardizing access to psychiatric, psychological or other medical care and attention;
16. To refuse to serve as a research subject, and to refuse any care or examination when the primary purpose is educational or informational rather than therapeutic.
17. To prompt life saving treatment in an emergency without discrimination on account of economic status or source of payment and without delaying treatment for purposes of prior discussion of the source of payment unless such delay can be imposed without material risk to his health;
18. Upon request, to obtain an explanation as to the relationship, if any, of the physician to any other health care facility or educational institutions insofar as said relationship relates to his care or treatment, and such explanation shall include said physician’s ownership or financial interest, if any, in the facility or other health care facilities insofar as said ownership relates to the care or treatment of said patient or resident;
19. Upon request, to receive an itemized bill including third party reimbursements paid toward said bill, regardless of the sources of payment; and
20. In the case of a patient suffering from any form of breast cancer, to complete information on all alternative treatments which are medically viable.

Any person whose rights under this section are violated may bring, in addition to any other action allowed by law or regulation, a civil action under sections sixty B to sixty E, inclusive, of chapter two hundred and thirty-one.

No provision of this section relating to confidentiality of records shall be construed to prevent any third party reimburser from inspecting and copying, in the ordinary course of determining eligibility for or entitlement to benefits, any and all records relating to diagnosis, treatment, or other services provided to any person, including a minor or incompetent, for which coverage, benefit or reimbursement is claimed, so long as the policy or certificate under which the claim is made provides that such access to such records is permitted. No provision of this section relating to confidentiality of records shall be construed to prevent access to any such records in connection with any peer review or utilization review procedures applied and implemented in good faith.

No provision herein shall apply to patients whose religious beliefs limit the forms and qualities of treatment to which they may submit.

No provision shall be construed as limiting any other right or remedies previously existing at law.