HIPAA Volunteer Compliance Agreement

The Friendly Home intends to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of protected health information of both patients and employees, as required by HIPAA, professional ethics, accreditation standards, licensure requirements, and any other legal requirements. Volunteers are expected to follow The Friendly Home policies, guidelines, and standards for workforce performance expectations, which are mandated by HIPAA. Violation of these rules and standards will constitute grounds for disciplinary action up to and including termination, professional discipline, and criminal prosecution. Volunteers are required to comply with all relevant standards, including the following:

• A volunteer must not disclose to others employee or patient protected health information for any purpose other than treatment, payment, or health care operations, and only with the others having a legitimate need to know such information.
• A volunteer must not discuss a patient’s protected health information in a public area or outside of the Friendly Home’s premises.
• A volunteer must secure protected health information to avoid inadvertent disclosure.
• A volunteer must not intentionally access or disclose protected health information in a manner inconsistent with Hospital policies and procedures, for personal gain, curiosity, concern, or any other reason not permitted by HIPAA.
• A volunteer must report to his or her supervisor their knowledge of any breach in HIPAA confidentiality standards.

The Friendly Home will not take disciplinary action against any volunteer who makes an internal complaint, participates in an investigation, or makes a disclosure to a federal or state oversight agency or public health authority authorized by law to oversee the relevant conduct of the Friendly Home or to an appropriate health care accreditation organization, when the employee is acting in good faith on the belief that The Friendly Home has engaged in conduct that is unlawful or otherwise violates professional or clinical standards.