This notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information.

Please review it carefully.

If you have any questions about this notice, please contact the Health Information Management Department at 865-213-8400.

Who will follow this notice:

This notice describes our hospital’s practices and that of:

• Any health care professional authorized to enter information into your hospital chart.
• All departments and units of the hospital.
• Any member of a volunteer group we allow to help you while you are in the hospital.
• All employees, including contract personnel, and medical staff of Sweetwater Hospital and Home Health.
• The hospital, Home Health agency, and medical clinic(s) owned by or affiliated with Sweetwater Hospital Association
  may share medical information with each other for treatment, payment or hospital operations purposes described in this notice.

Our pledge regarding medical information:

We understand that medical information about you and your health is personal. We are committed to protecting medical information about you. We create a record of the care and services you receive at the hospital. We need this record to provide you with quality care and to comply with certain legal requirements. This notice applies to all of the records of your care generated by the hospital, whether made by hospital personnel or your personal doctor. Your personal doctor may have different policies or notices regarding the doctor’s use and disclosure of your
medical information created in the doctor’s office or clinic. This notice will tell you about the ways in which we may use and disclose medical information about you. We also describe your rights and certain obligations we have regarding the use and disclosure of medical information.
We are required by law to : Make sure that medical information that identifies you is kept private; Give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to medical information about you; and follow the terms of the notice that is currently in effect.

How we may use and disclose medical information about you:

The following categories describe different ways that we use and disclose medical information.
For each category of uses or disclosures, we will explain what we mean and try to give some
examples. Not every use or disclosure in a category will be listed. However, all of the ways we
are permitted to use and disclose information will fall within one of the categories.

For Treatment: We may use medical information about you to provide you with medical treatment
or services. We may disclose medical information about you to doctors, nurses, technicians,
healthcare students, or other Provider personnel who are involved in taking care of you at the
Provider. For example, a doctor treating you for a broken leg may need to know if you have
diabetes because diabetes may slow the healing process. In addition, the doctor may need to tell
the dietitian if you have diabetes so that we can arrange for appropriate meals. Different
departments of the Provider also may share medical information about you in order to coordinate
the different services you need, such as prescriptions, lab work, x-rays and clergy. We also may
disclose medical information about you to people outside the Provider involved in your medical
care upon discharge from Provider, such as family members or other healthcare professionals.

For Payment:We might use and disclose medical information about you so that the treatment and
services you receive at the Provider can be billed properly, whether payment is collected from
you, an insurance company, or a third party. For example, we might need to give your health
plan information about a surgery you underwent at Provider so your health plan will reimburse
you or us for the cost of the procedure. We also may tell your health plan about a treatment you
are going to receive to obtain prior approval or to determine whether your plan will cover the
treatment.

For Health Care Operations: We may use and disclose medical information about you for Provider
operations, and they are necessary to make sure that all of our patients receive quality care. For
example, we may use medical information to review our treatments and services and to evaluate
the performance of our staff in caring for you. We also might combine medical information
about many of the Provider's patients to decide what additional services the Provider should
offer, what services are not needed, and whether certain new treatments are effective. We also
might disclose information to doctors, nurses, technicians, healthcare students, and other
Provider personnel for review and learning purposes. We also may combine the medical
information we have with medical information from other providers to compare how we are
doing and see where we can make improvements in our care and service. We might remove
information that identifies you from this set of medical information so others can use it to study
healthcare and healthcare delivery without learning a patient's identity.

Appointment Reminders: We may use and disclose medical information to contact you as a
reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or medical care at the Provider.

Treatment Alternatives: We may use and disclose medical information to tell you about or recommend possible treatment options or alternatives that may be of interest to you.

Health-Related Benefits and Services: We may use and disclose medical information to tell
you about health and related benefits or services that could be of interest to you.

Provider Directory: We may include certain limited information about you in Provider's
directory while you are a patient here. This information may include your name, location,
general condition (e.g., fair, stable, etc.) and religious affiliation. The directory information,
except for your religious affiliation, also may be released to people who ask for you by name.
Your religious affiliation may be given to a member of the clergy, such as a priest or rabbi, even
if they do not ask for you by name. This is so your family, friends and clergy can visit and
generally know how you are doing.

Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care: We may release medical
information about you to a friend or family member who is involved in your medical care and we
also may give information to someone who helps pay for your care, unless you object and ask us
not to provide this information to specific individuals, in writing. In addition, we may disclose
medical information about you to an entity assisting in a disaster relief effort so that your family
can be notified about your condition, status, and location.

Community Disaster: In addition, we may disclose medical information about you to an entity assisting in a disaster relief effort so that your family can be notified about your condition, status and location.

As Required By Law: We will disclose medical information about you when required to do so
by federal, state, or local law.

To Avert a Serious Threat To Health or Safety: We may use and disclose medical information about you when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person. Any disclosure, however, would only be to someone able to help prevent the threat.

Special situations:

Organ and Tissue Donation: If you are an organ donor, we may release medical information to organizations that handle organ procurement or organ, eye or tissue transplantation or to an organ donation bank, as necessary to facilitate organ or tissue donation and transplantation.

Military and Veterans: If you are a member of the armed forces, we may release medical information about you as required by military command authorities. We may also release medical information about foreign military personnel to the appropriate foreign military authority.

Workers’ Compensation: We may release medical information about you for workers'
compensation or similar programs.

Public Health Risks: We may disclose information about you for public health activities. These activities generally include the following:

• To prevent or control disease, injury or disability;
• To report births and deaths;
• To report child abuse or neglect;
• To report reactions to medications or problems with products;
• To notify people of recalls of products they may be using;
• To notify a person who may have been exposed to a disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a disease or condition;
• To notify the appropriate government authority if we believe a patient has been the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. We will only make this disclosure if you agree or when required or authorized by law.

Health Oversight Activities: We may disclose medical information to a health oversight agency
for activities authorized by law. These oversight activities include, for example, audits,
investigations, inspections, and licensure. These activities are necessary for the government to
monitor the health care system, government programs, and compliance with civil rights laws.

Lawsuits and Disputes:If you are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose medical
information about you in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose
medical information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful
process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts have been made to tell you
about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.

Law Enforcement: We may release medical information if asked to do so by a law enforcement official:
In response to a court order, subpoena, warrant, summons or similar process;
To identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person;
About the victim of a crime if, under certain limited circumstances, we are unable to obtain the person’s agreement;
About a death we believe may be the result of criminal conduct;
About criminal conduct at the hospital; and
In emergency circumstances to report a crime; the location of the crime or victims; or the identity, description or location of the person who committed the crime.

Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors. We may release medical information to
a coroner or medical examiner. This may be necessary, for example, to identify a deceased
person or determine the cause of death. We also may release medical information about Provider
patients to funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties.

National Security and Intelligence Activities: We may release medical information about you to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security
activities authorized by law.

Protective Services for the President and Others: We may disclose medical information about you to authorized federal officials so they may provide protection to the President, other authorized persons or foreign heads of state or conduct special investigations.

Inmates: If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law
enforcement official, we may release medical information about you to the correctional
institution or law enforcement official. This release would be necessary for the correctional
institution to provide you with healthcare, to protect your health and safety or the health and
safety of others, as well as for the safety of the institution itself.

Your rights regarding medical information about you:
You have the following rights regarding medical information we maintain about you:
Right to Inspect and Copy. You have the right to inspect and copy medical information that may be used to make decisions about your care. Usually, this includes medical and billing records, but
does not include psychotherapy notes.

To inspect and copy medical information that may be used to make decisions about you, you must submit your request in writing to the Health Information Management Department. If you request a copy of the information, we may charge a fee for the costs of copying, mailing or other supplies associated with your request.

We may deny your request to inspect and copy in certain very limited circumstances. If you are denied access to medical information, you may request that the denial be reviewed. Another licensed health care professional chosen by the hospital will review your request and the denial. The person conducting the review will not be the person who denied your request. We will comply with the outcome of the review.

Right to Amend. If you feel that medical information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend the information. You have the right to request an amendment for as long as the information is kept by or for the hospital.
To request an amendment, your request must be made in writing and submitted to the Health Information Management Department. In addition, you must provide a reason that supports your request.

We may deny your request to inspect and copy in certain very limited circumstances. If you are
denied access to medical information, you may request that the denial be reviewed. Another
licensed health care professional chosen by the hospital will review your request and the denial.
The person conducting the review will not be the person who denied your request. We will
comply with the outcome of the review.
Right to Amend. If you feel that medical information we have about you is incorrect or
incomplete, you may ask us to amend the information. You have the right to request an
amendment for as long as the information is kept by or for the hospital.
To request an amendment, your request must be made in writing and submitted to the Health
Information Management Department. In addition, you must provide a reason that supports your
request.
We may deny your request for an amendment if it is not in writing or does not include a reason
to support the request. In addition, we may deny your request if you ask us to amend information
that:
Was not created by us, unless the person or entity that created the information is no longer
available to make the amendment;
Is not part of the medical information kept by or for the hospital;
Is not part of the information which you would be permitted to inspect and copy; or
Is accurate and complete.

Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to request an “accounting of
disclosures.” This is a list, compiled manually, of the disclosures we made of medical
information about you. To request this list or accounting of disclosures, you must submit your
request in writing to the Health Information Management Department. Your request must state a
time period which may not be longer than six years and may not include dates before April 14,
2003. The first list you request within a 12 month period will be free. For additional lists, we
may charge you for the costs of providing the list. We will notify you of the cost involved and
you may choose to withdraw or modify your request at that time before any costs are incurred.

Right to Request Restrictions: You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the
medical information we use or disclose about you for treatment, payment or health care
operations. You also have the right to request a limit on the medical information we disclose
about you to someone who is involved in your care or the payment for your care, like a family
member or friend. For example, you could ask that we not use or disclose information about a
surgery you had.
We are not required to agree to your request. If we do agree, we will comply with your request unless the information is needed to provide you emergency treatment.
To request restrictions, you must make your request in writing to the Health Information
Management Department. In your request, you must tell us (1) what information you want to
limit; (2) whether you want to limit our use, disclosure or both; and (3) to whom you want the
limits to apply, for example disclosures to your spouse.

Right to Request Confidential Communications: You have the right to request that we communicate with you about medical matters in a certain way or at a certain location. To request confidential communications, you must make your request in writing to the Health Information Management Department. We will not ask you the reason for your request. We will accommodate all reasonable requests. Your request must specify how or where you wish to be contacted.
Right to a Paper Copy of This Notice. You have the right to a paper copy of this notice. You may ask us to give you a copy of this notice at any time. Even if you have agreed to receive this notice electronically, you are still entitled to a paper copy of this notice.
You may obtain a copy of this notice at our website www.sweetwaterhospital.org.
To obtain a paper copy of this notice, contact the Health Information Management Department at 865-213-8400.

Fundraising Communication:
You have the right to opt out of fundraising communications.

Restricting certain disclosures of protected health information:
You have the right to restrict certain disclosures of protected health information (PHI) to a health plan when:

• The disclosure is for the purpose of payment or healthcare operations and is not otherwise required by law.
• The protected information pertains to a healthcare item or service which has been paid in full and out of pocket other than by the health plan, i.e. (if you pay for a service in full and out of pocket).

Breach:
You have the right to be notified of a breach of unsecured protected health information (PHI) in the event you are affected.

Changes to this notice:
We reserve the right to change this notice. We reserve the right to make the revised or changed notice effective for medical information we already have about you as well as any information
we receive in the future. We will post a copy of the current notice in the hospital. The notice will contain on the first page, in the top right-hand corner, the effective date. In addition, each time you register at or are admitted to the hospital for treatment or health care services as an impatient or outpatient, we will offer you a copy of the current notice in effect.

Complaints:
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the hospital or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. To file a complaint with the hospital, contact the Health Information Management Department, 865-213-8400.
You will not be penalized for filing a complaint.

Other uses of medical information:
Other uses and disclosures of medical information not covered by this notice or the laws that apply to us will be made only with your written permission. If you provide us permission to use or disclose medical information about you, you may revoke that permission, in writing, at any time. If you revoke your permission, we will no longer use or disclose medical information about you for the reasons covered by your written authorization. You understand that we are unable to take back any disclosures we have already made with your permission, and that we are required to retain our records of the care that we provided to you.

Revised 3/2026