Patient Bill of Rights & Responsibilities

CommonSpirit Health Hospitals support the rights of all patients across the lifespan including geriatric, adult, adolescent, pediatric, infant and neonatal populations. These rights may be exercised through the patient individually or through their authorized surrogate decision maker.

You have the right to:

1. Be informed of your patient rights in advance of receiving or discontinuing care when possible.
2. Receive care, treatment and visitation regardless of disability,national origin, culture, age, color, race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation. No one is denied examination or treatment of an emergency medical condition because of their source of payment.
3. Give informed consent for all treatment, procedures, and/or production of recordings, films or other images when used for other than identification, diagnosis or treatment.
4. Be informed of your health status/prognosis, including unanticipated outcomes of care and the treatment and services related to serious preventable adverse events.
5. Participate in all areas of your care plan, treatment, care decisions, and discharge plan.
6. Receive appropriate assessment and prompt management of your pain.
7. Be treated with respect and dignity.
8. Experience personal privacy, comfort and security to the extent possible during your stay.
9. Be free from restraints or seclusion imposed as a means of coercion, discipline, convenience or retaliation by staff.
10. Experience confidentiality of all communication and clinical records related to your care. You will receive a copy of our Notice of Privacy Practices to inform you how your personal medical information can be used and disclosed and your rights related to your medical information.
11. Have access to telephone calls, mail, and other communication devices. Any restrictions to access will be discussed with you, and you will be involved in the decision when possible or appropriate.
12. Choose a “visitor” who may visit you, including but not limited to, a spouse, a domestic partner (including a same-sex domestic partner), another family member, or a friend, and you have the right to withdraw or deny such choice at any time. You also have the right to select an identified “support person” who can make visitation decisions should you become incapacitated.
13. If hospitalized, have the right to designate at least one post-discharge caregiver who will assist you with basic tasks following your discharge and, along with you or your authorized surrogate decision maker, provide consultation on your discharge plan. Designating a post-discharge caregiver does not mean the person you have designated is obligated to care for you.
14. Be communicated with in a manner you can understand which takes into account your age, language, understanding and ability including, but not limited to, access to
    
    interpreter services and communication aides, at no cost. Such communication will include communication with your companion. 
15. Have access to pastoral/spiritual care.
16. Receive care in a safe setting.
17. Be free from all forms of abuse, neglect, mistreatment, or exploitation.
18. Have access to protective services (e.g., guardianship, advocacy services, and child/adult protective services).
19. Request medically necessary and appropriate care and treatment.
20. Refuse any drug, test, procedure, or treatment and be informed of the medical consequences of such a decision.
21. Consent to or refuse to participate in teaching programs, research, experimental programs, and/or clinical trials.
22. Receive information about Advance Directives. Set up or provide Advance Directives and have them followed. Designate an authorized surrogate decisionmaker as permitted by law and as needed.
23. Participate in decision-making regarding ethical issues, personal values or beliefs.
24. If hospitalized, have a family member or representative of your choice and your physician promptly notified of your admission to the hospital, upon request.
25. Know the names, professional status and experience of your caregivers.
26. Have access to your medical records within a reasonable timeframe.
27. Be examined, treated, and if necessary, transferred to another facility if you have an emergency medical condition or are in labor, regardless of your ability to pay.
28. Request and receive, prior to the initiation of non-emergent care or treatment, the charges (or estimate of charges) for routine, usual, and customary services and any co-payment, deductible, or non- covered charges, as well as the facility’s general billing procedures including receipt and explanation of an itemized bill. This right is honored regardless of the source(s) of payment.
29. Be informed of the hospital’s complaint and grievance procedure and whom to contact to file a concern, complaint or grievance. Note: If you have financial issues or questions, please contact Consumer Operations at 303-486-5400. Toll free: 800-953-0104.
    • Our priority is for you to have a positive patient experience. If your concerns are not being resolved with your immediate care giver or the department manager or administrative staff, please call the Patient Care Representative/Advocate or access the hospital operator by dialing “0”.
    • You may also contact The Health Facilities Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the Utah Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Civil Rights directly regardless of whether you first used the hospital’s complaint and grievance process.
    • The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
      4300 Cherry Creek Drive South
      Denver, CO 80222-1530
      Phone: 303-692-2827
      
      Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services
      Central Office
      503 S. Kansas Ave.
      Topeka, Kansas 66603
      Hotline: 800-842-0078
      Email: [email protected]
      
      Utah Department of Health and Human Services
      Multi-Agency State Office Building
      Health Facilities Licensing
      195 North 1950 West
      Salt Lake City, Utah 84116
      Phone: 801-538-4242
      
      The Office for Civil Rights
      Department of Health and Human Services
      999 18th Street, South Terrace, Suite 417
      Denver, Colorado 80202
      Phone: 303-844-2024
      TDD 303-844-3439
      Fax: 303-844-2025
    • If you received care in a hospital, emergency department, home care of hospice and if after speaking with one of their representatives your complaint remains unresolved, you may contact The Joint Commission or DNV Healthcare by mail to:
      
      Office of Quality and Patient Safety, The Joint Commission
      One Renaissance Boulevard
      Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
      Online to: www.jointcommission.org using the “Report a Patient Safety Event link in the “Action Center” on the home page of the website’
      By fax to: 630-792-5636
      
      DNV Healthcare USA Inc.
      Attn: Hospital Complaints 
      4435 Aicholtz Road, Suite 900 
      Cincinnati, OH 45245
      Online: Complaint Report
    • You also have the right to file a complaint with the appropriate oversight boards including the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners, the Colorado Dental and Podiatry Boards and the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies. For Kansas hospitals, this includes the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, the Kansas Board of Nursing and the Kansas office of Health Occupations Credentialing. The Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing provides supervision in Utah. Contact information will be provided by a hospital representative upon request.
    • If you received care in one of our accredited mammography programs, and had a serious grievance* that you feel was not adequately addressed by the facility, you may fax, e-mail, or mail to:
      
      Director, Breast Imaging Accreditation Programs
      American College of Radiology
      1891 Preston White Drive 
      Reston, VA 20191-4397
      
      *A serious grievance is defined by the FDA as “a report of a serious adverse event, which means an event that significantly compromises clinical outcomes or one for which a facility fails to take appropriate corrective action in a timely manner.”

You have the responsibility to:

1. Ask questions and promptly voice concerns.
2. Give full and accurate information as it relates to your health, including prescription and non-prescription medications.
3. Report changes in your condition or symptoms, including pain, and request assistance of a member of the health care team.
4. Educate yourself. Learn about the medical tests that are being performed and understand your treatment plan.
5. Follow your recommended treatment plan.
6. Be considerate of other patients and staff.
7. Secure your valuables.
8. Follow facility rules and regulations.
9. Respect property that belongs to the facility or others.
10. Understand and honor financial obligations related to your care, including understanding your own insurance coverage.