Patient Rights and Responsibilities

North Central Surgical Center Hospital shows its support of patient rights through its interactions with patients and involving them in decisions about their care, treatment, and services.

 

As a patient, you have the right to:

  • Respectful and considerate care in a safe environment that supports your personal dignity
  • Receive, upon or prior to admission, information about the hospital’s Patient Rights
  • Formulate an Advance Directive
  • Be involved in decisions about your care, treatment, and services
  • Give Informed Consent or refuse care, treatment, and services as allowed by law and regulations
  • Give or deny consent for recording or filming
  • Information about the physician/practitioner providing care, treatment, and services, and to ask and be informed of the existence of business relationships among the hospital, educational institutions and other health care providers or payers that may influence your care, treatment, and services
  • Be transferred to another facility when medically appropriate, legally permissible, or at your request
  • Have a family member/representative and your physician notified of your admission
  • Have a family member, friend, or other support individual be present for emotional support during the course of your stay
  • Receive or deny visitors
  • Be informed about outcomes of care, treatment, and services
  • Effective communication and receiving information and all communications in a manner you understand
  • Make a complaint or file a grievance concerning the quality of your care, or any other issue
  • Confidentiality, privacy, and security
  • Be free from mental, physical, sexual, and verbal abuse, neglect, and exploitation
  • Access protective and advocacy services
  • Pain management
  • Participate in consideration of ethical issues that arise during your care
  • Access the information contained in your medical record
  • Have these rights extended to your guardian, next of kin, or legally authorized responsible person if you are unable to speak for yourself
  • Be free from discrimination based on age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, language, physical or mental disability, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression
  • Request a discharge planning evaluation to help you obtain assistance with your care after discharge

 

As a patient, you have a responsibility to:

  • Provide accurate and complete information about your medical history and current condition
  • Participate in and follow your treatment plan, and accept the consequences of refusing treatment or not following your treatment plan
  • Ask questions if you don’t understand something that you have been told regarding your care
  • Tell us if you have a preferred language for discussing healthcare other than English
  • Respect and show consideration for the rights of others by complying with hospital policies regarding noise, smoking, and conduct of visitors
  • Participate in education and discharge planning activities
  • Fulfill the financial obligations of your healthcare

 

Complaints, Concerns, or Grievances

  • North Central Surgical Center provides for and welcomes the expression of complaints/grievances and suggestions at any time by the patient, patient’s family, and/or designated. This feedback allows us to understand and improve the care environment.
  • Patients can file a complaint/grievance with any staff member or the facility’s CEO. In the absence of the CEO, senior management will address the complaint/grievance. The grievance process begins with the facility CEO. If the patient is still not satisfied, the process is given to the Patient Care Committee. In the event the problem is still not resolved, a complaint can be registered by phone or in writing to:

 

Texas Department of State Health Services Health Facility Licensing and Compliance Division

1100 West 49th Street, Austin, TX 78756 Or call 1-888-973-0022

 

  • A complainant may also contact the state directly, bypassing any internal
  • A complainant may provide his/her name, address, and phone number or register an anonymous complaint. All complaints are confidential.
  • A complainant may also contact The Joint Commission to register a complaint, which will be confidential and may be done anonymously:

 

The Joint Commission Office of Quality Management One Renaissance Boulevard Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181

FAX (630)792-5636

EMAIL complaint@jointcommission.org

 

  • To voice a complaint regarding the quality of care, a complainant may contact:

 

TMF Health Quality Institute Bridgepoint I 5918 West Courtyard Drive; Suite 300

Austin, TX 78730-5036

1-800-725-9216

EMAIL patientsafety@tmf.org

 

Discrimination or Retaliation Standards

As a recipient of Federal financial assistance, North Central Surgical Center Hospital does not exclude, deny benefits to, or otherwise discriminate against any person on the grounds of race, color, or national origin or based on disability or age in admission to, participation in, or receipt of the services and benefits under any of its programs and activities, whether carried out by North Central Surgical Center Hospital directly or through a contractor or any other entity with which North Central Surgical Center Hospital arranges to carry out its programs and activities. In accordance with Health and Safety Code (HSC), §161.134(j) and

  • 161.135(h), North Central Surgical Center Hospital prominently posts for display in a public area of the hospital that non-employees, employees/staff are protected from discrimination or retaliation for reporting a violation of the law.