Important information for your health.  
 
St. Joseph Heritage Medical Group physicians are committed to partnering with you in maintaining your good health.  As a patient, you have the right to:

1.       Exercise these rights without regard to gender, sexual orientation or cultural, economic, educational  or religious background.

2.       Receive information about our medical group, its services, and health care providers.

3.       Be treated with professionalism, respect, courtesy and dignity.

4.       Have all matters considered in privacy and confidentiality.

5.       Participate in decisions about your healthcare and treatment, as well as receive adequate information about your diagnosis and proposed treatment plan from your healthcare provider.

6.       Have a candid discussion of appropriate or medically necessary treatment options for your condition, regardless of cost or benefit coverage.

7.       Refuse any procedure or treatment if you so desire and be told what effect this may have on your health.

8.       Be informed of test results in a timely manner.

9.       Obtain a second opinion by another St. Joseph Heritage Medical Group provider.

10.    Have access to acute medical care twenty-four (24) hours a day, through emergency room coverage, every day of the year if you have a life threatening medical condition.

11.    Have the physician whom you visit focus his or her best efforts on your behalf in order to make a diagnosis and develop a proposed treatment plan based on the information available at the time of the visit.

12.    Receive complete information about our fees upon request.

13.    Right to voice complaints or appeals about the medical group or the care provided

14.    Know that the Medical Group specifically does not reward practitioners or other individuals conducting utilization review for issuing denials of coverage, service or decisions that result in under utilization.

15.    Have the right to submit to the provider an amendment to the medical record if upon review the patient believes any item or statement is incorrect or incomplete.

16.    Have the right to be represented by parents, guardians, designated family members or other conservators for those who are unable to fully participate in their treatment decisions.

17.    Patients have the right to access services and information in alternative format  (inclusive of oral and written) in the language that is prevalent to the Provider Group population.