Patient Rights

Yale University is committed to protecting the privacy of your health information. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), we have formalized our practices related to maintaining the privacy and security of medical information. This website provides information on your rights as a patient of Yale University and how to act on these rights.

Right to be informed of our privacy practices

Our practices related to protecting the privacy of your health information are described in our Notice of Privacy Practices (NOPP). The NOPP describes how we use your information to provide treatment to you, to obtain payment for that treatment and for our internal operations. You will be given a copy of the NOPP at your first visit. We will also ask you to sign an acknowledgement indicating that you have been given a copy of our NOPP. Signing the acknowledgement is not required for us to continue to protect the privacy of your health information as described in the NOPP. We ask for your signature so that we can keep track of who has been given a copy of our NOPP.

• Yale Schools of Medicine and Nursing Notice of Privacy Practice
• Aviso sobre las Prácticas de Respeto a la Confidencialidad/Privacidad
• Yale Health Notice of Privacy Practice
• Yale Psychology Department Clinic
• Yale University Group Health Plan Notice of Privacy Practice

Right to request access to your health information

You have the ability to request a copy of your health information or to allow others to have access to your health information.

• Request Access Form
• Solicitación para acceso a PHI retenida en el expediente designado

If you would like some of your health records sent to someone else, for example to another physician or to your employer, you will need to complete our authorization form indicating that you agree to our releasing the information.

• Authorization Form

• Autorización para el Uso o la Revelación de Información de Salud Protegida (PHI)

If you would like to designate a Patient Spokesperson such as an adult family member or friend to have access to your Protected Health Information (PHI) in order to assist in your  care or payment for care see:

• Designation of a Patient Spokesperson

Right to amend your health information

If you believe that there is an error in our records, you can request that we correct them. We will review the information as requested and either make the correction or let you know why we think our information is correct.

• Request Amendment Form
• Solicitación para enmienda de la PHI retenida en el expediente designado

Right to request confidential communication of your health information

We normally send information relating to your care to the address and phone numbers you have provided. However, if you would like to have the information sent elsewhere to protect the confidentiality of the information, you may do so by completing this form:

• Request Confidential Communications of PHI

Right to request restrictions on the use and disclosure of your health information

You may request that we restrict who has access to your health information using our request restrictions form. We are required to accept your request if it relates to treatment that you have paid for in full and you request that we not share this information with your insurer. Note however, that some requests will not be possible for us to accept. We currently limit the information that we use to only that information which is necessary to provide quality medical care, to receive payment for that care, for managing our operations and to meet legal requirements such as reporting of communicable diseases. This means that only those individuals who need to have access to your records are allowed access and even then that they only examine those portions of your records which are needed to perform their job. Requests which would make it difficult to perform these functions mean that we would not be able to provide the best care to you and thus we can not accept them.

• Request Restrictions on my Health Information form

Right to request an accounting of people to whom we have disclosed your health information

HIPAA requires that we keep track of people, with few exceptions, who have been given access to your health information for purposes not related to your treatment, payment, our health care operations, or for whom you have not authorized us to provide access.

• Accounting of Disclosure Form

• Solicitación para una Cuenta de Revelaciones de la Información de Salud Protegida (PHI)

Ability to express concerns or to ask questions

If you have any concerns about the privacy of your health information or if you have questions about our procedures, you may contact our HIPAA Privacy Office at:

HIPAA Privacy Officer
PO Box 208255
New Haven, CT 06520–8255
203.432.5919
hipaa@yale.edu