As a patient at Valley Regional Hospital, you have both rights and responsibilities.

• Patient Responsibilities are important guidelines established by the hospital’s governing body to ensure the health and safety of all our patients.
• Patient Rights are protected by state law and work to preserve and protect your privacy, wishes, and dignity.
• If you believe your rights have been violated, there are multiple avenues for you to discuss Issues of Compliance.
  
  

Patient Responsibilities

As a natural outgrowth of our organizational values and mission, the Board of Trustees, the medical staff, the employees, and other support staff of Valley Regional Hospital jointly affirm and recognize the following responsibilities of patients:

• In recognition of their human dignity, all patients have a right to courteous treatment and impartial access to quality medical care.
• All patients have the right to be informed of alternative treatments and to choose among the alternatives, including the right to refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law, and to be informed of the medical consequences of their actions. All patients are responsible for their own actions if they refuse treatment or do not follow doctors’ recommendations.
• All patients have the right to every consideration of privacy concerning their medical care. Patients are responsible for being considerate of the privacy of other patients. Telephones, televisions, radios and lights should be used in a manner
  agreeable to others.
• All patients are assured confidential treatment of their medical record by state and federal law. These statutes and regulations control the release of information contained in one’s medical record.
• All patients have the right to continuity of care, transfer, and consultation with other medical specialties.
• All patients have the right to examine and receive an explanation of their bill, regardless of the source of payment. Patients have the responsibility to provide information necessary for claim processing and to be prompt in payment of their bills.
• All patients have the right to know the rules and regulations that apply to patient care and conduct and are responsible for following those rules and regulations.
• All patients have a right to receive an explanation of their treatment program and to ask for further clarification if the course of treatment is not understood. Patients have the responsibility to cooperate in their treatment program.
  

Patient’s Bill of Rights (Section 151:21)

1. The patient shall be treated with consideration, respect, and full recognition of the patient’s dignity and individuality, including privacy in treatment and personal care and including being informed of the name, licensure status, and staff position of those with whom the patient has contact.
2. The patient shall be fully informed of a patient’s rights and responsibilities and of all procedures governing patient conduct and responsibilities.  This information must be provided orally and in writing before or at admission, except for emergency admissions.  Receipt of the information must be acknowledged by the patient in writing. When a patient lacks the capacity to make informed judgments the signing must be by the person legally responsible for the patient.
3. The patient shall be fully informed in writing in language that the patient can understand, before or at the time of admission and as necessary during the patient’s stay, of the facility’s basic per diem rate and of those services included and not included in the basic per diem rate.  A statement of services that are not normally covered by Medicare or Medicaid shall also be included in this disclosure.
4. The patient shall be fully informed by a healthcare provider of his or her medical condition, healthcare needs, and diagnostic test results, including the manner by which such results will be provided and the expected time interval between testing and receiving results, unless medically inadvisable and so documented in the medical record, and shall be given the opportunity to participate in the planning of his or her total care and medical treatment, to refuse treatment, and to be involved in experimental research upon patient’s written consent only.  For the purposes of this paragraph “healthcare provider” means any person, corporation, facility, or institution either licensed by this state or otherwise lawfully providing healthcare services, including but not limited to, a physician, hospital, or other healthcare facility, dentist, nurse, optometrist, podiatrist, physical therapist, or psychologist, and any officer, employee, or agent of such provider acting in the course and scope of employment or agency related to or supportive of healthcare services.
5. The patient shall be transferred or discharged after appropriate discharge planning only for medical reasons, for the patient’s welfare or that of other patient’s, if the facility ceases to operate, or for nonpayment for the patient’s stay, except as prohibited by Title XVIII or XIX of the Social Security Act.  No patient shall be voluntarily discharged from a facility because the patient becomes eligible for Medicaid as a source of payment.
6. The patient shall be encouraged and assisted throughout the patient’s stay to exercise the patient’s rights as a patient and citizen.  The patient may voice grievances and recommend changes in policies and services to facility staff or outside representatives free from restraint, interference, coercion, discrimination, or reprisal.
7. The patient shall be permitted to manage patient’s personal financial affairs.  If the patient authorizes the facility in writing to assist in this management and the facility so consents, the assistance shall be carried out in accordance with the patient’s rights under this subdivision and in conformance with state laws and rules.
8. The patient shall be free from emotional, psychological, sexual and physical abuse and from exploitation, neglect, corporal punishment and involuntary seclusion.
9. The patient shall be free from chemical and physical restraints except when a physician authorizes them in writing for a specific and limited time necessary to protect the patient or others from injury.  In an emergency, restraints may be authorized by the designated professional staff member in order to protect the patient or others from injury.  The staff member must promptly report such action to the physician and document same in the medical records.
10. The patient shall be ensured confidential treatment of all information contained in the patient’s personal and clinical record, including that stored in an automatic data bank, and the patient’s written consent shall be required for the release of information to anyone not otherwise authorized by law to receive it.   Medical information contained in the medical records at any facility licensed under this chapter shall be deemed to be the property of the patient.  The patient shall be entitled to a copy of such records, for a reasonable cost, upon request.
11. The patient shall not be required to perform services for the facility.  Where appropriate for therapeutic or diversional purposes and agreed to by the patient, such service may be included in a plan of care and treatment.
12. The patient shall be free to communicate with, associate with, and meet privately with anyone, including family and resident groups, unless to do so would infringe upon the rights of other patients.  The patient may send and receive unopened personal mail.  The patient has the right to have regular access to the unmonitored use of a telephone.
13. The patient shall be free to participate in activities of any social, religious, and community groups unless to do so would infringe upon the rights of other patients.
14. The patient shall be free to retain and use personal clothing and possessions as space permits, provided it does not infringe on the rights of other patients.
15. The patient shall be entitled to privacy for visits and, if married, to share a room with his or her spouse if both are patients at the same facility and where both patients consent, unless it is medically contraindicated and so documented by a physician.  The patient has the right to reside and receive services in the facility with reasonable accommodation of individual needs and preferences, including choice of room and roommate, except when the health and safety of the individual or other patients would be endangered.
16. The patient shall not be denied appropriate care on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, or source of payment, nor shall any such care be denied on account of patient’s sexual orientation.
17. The patient shall be entitled to be treated by the patient’s physician of choice, subject to reasonable rules and regulations of the facility regarding the facility’s credentialing process.
18. The patient shall be entitled to have the patient’s parents, if a minor, or spouse, or next of kin, or a personal representative, if an adult, visit the facility, without restriction, if the patient is considered terminally ill by the physician for the patient’s care.
19. The patient shall be entitled to receive representatives of approved organizations as provided in RSA 151:28.
20. The patient shall not be denied admission to the facility based on Medicaid as a source of payment when there is an available space in the facility.

Issues of Compliance

If you have concerns or comments regarding your stay, please contact the Nurse Manager/Supervisor or call the Quality Improvement Department at ext. 3452 or ext. 3414 or you may contact the State of NH, Department of Health and Human Services 129 Pleasant Street, Concord, NH 03301-3587 Attn: Robert Ehlers or call 1-800-852-3345 ext. 4967.

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare organizations standards deal with organization quality, safety-of-care issues, and the safety of the environment in which care is provided. Anyone believing that he or she has pertinent and valid information about such matters may request a public information interview with the Joint Commission's field representatives at the time of the annual survey. Information presented at the interview will be carefully evaluated for relevance to the accreditation process. Requests for a public information interview must be made in writing and should be sent to the Joint Commission no later than five working days before the survey begins. The request must also indicate the nature of the information to be provided at the interview. Such requests should be addressed to:

Division of Accreditation Operations
Office of Quality Monitoring
Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
One Renaissance Boulevard
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181

Or
Faxed to 630-792-5636

Or
E-mailed to complaint@jcaho.org

The Joint Commission's Office of Quality Monitoring will acknowledge in writing or by telephone requests received 10 days before the survey begins. An Account Representative will contact the individual requesting the public information interview prior to survey, indicating the location, date, and time of the interview and the name of the surveyor who will conduct the interview.

If you would like information to help you complete Advance Directives (Living Will or Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare) please let the Nurse Manager/Supervisor know.  They will send a Case Management Representative to help you.

You have the right to have your family be given the opportunity to consider organ and tissue donation whenever a death occurs.