Columbus Regional Health wants all patients to feel welcome, respected, safe, and valued.
Our patients represent many races, ethnicities, genders, religions, and abilities. We strive to ensure we are meeting patient needs, providing an excellent patient experience and are inclusive of all persons and regardless of whether they are insured or are unable to pay for services. As a county hospital, patients are not required to have a social security number or insurance when receiving services from our organization.
It is important to ensure that during this heightened level of awareness, concern, and uncertainty around immigration and deportation enforcement, that our patients feel safe to come for healthcare services without fear. Our organization is not legally allowed under the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) laws to share your protected health information with state or federal immigration agencies.
Our mission is to make sure you receive high-quality, safe medical care. A complete and accurate medical history is important to have to achieve the highest quality of care for the patient. To provide you with the safest care, it is very important that patients avoid using any other medical record or identity other than their own.
Why Accurate Medical Information Matters:
- Better Treatment: When all your medical history is in one place, doctors can see your past treatments, test results, and medications. This helps them make the best decisions for your care.
- Faster Care: If your records are in one file, your doctors can quickly find the information they need to create a plan for your care.
- Safer Care: If you use different names or identities, your records may be split into different medical records, or incomplete. If more than one person is receiving care under another person’s identity, medical decisions can lead to your harm or death. It causes medical mistakes, like getting the wrong medication, blood type, or missing an important diagnosis.
Risks of Using Different Identities:
- Wrong Medications or Treatments: If your records are not in one place, or you are using another person's identify or medical information, doctors could receive wrong information such as past or current medications.
- Wrong Allergies or Blood Transfusions: You may receive a medication that you have a severe allergic reaction to, causing other medical issues. If you need a blood transfusion and the wrong blood type is in your medical record, it can lead to death.
- Duplicate Tests: You might have to repeat tests that you already did, which takes extra time and money.
- Delays in Care: In an emergency, doctors need quick access to your medical history. If your records are not together, it could be dangerous.
What You Can Do:
- Always use the same name and date of birth when you go to a doctor, clinic, or hospital.
- We ask all patients to present an official ID for safety purposes. This helps caregivers confirm that the correct patients record is being used to make medical decisions. Your ID does not have to be a United States identification. It can be documentation from your native land.
- Tell the receptionist if your name has ever been recorded differently. Ask them to confirm other demographics to ensure they have not selected the wrong patient.
- Ask us for financial assistance. Our organization provides those that have financial hardships with the ability to apply for charity assistance. We can also provide you with community programs that may assist you.
Thank you for trusting us with your care.