Mitchell-Hollingsworth strives to ensure that rights as a resident of our facility are preserved. We provide our residents with a handbook on admission of the rights as a resident. We also have those rights posted in our facility. We have many questions asked when it comes to resident rights so we wanted to share a part of what is included in the handbook on admission. Last week’s blog covered the first section of our facility’s resident rights. This week is a continuation of those rights. If you have any questions at all about these, please feel free to call us at any time.

As a resident, you have a right to a dignified existence, self-determination, and communication with and access to persons and services inside and outside of the facility. You have a right to be free of interference, coercion, discrimination, and reprisal from the facility in exercising your rights. In order to protect your rights and to enhance the quality of care you receive; you should become familiar with your rights and all policies and rules governing your conduct and responsibilities during your stay in the facility. The facility will notify you and your responsible party of any change in your rights under federal or state law or applicable regulations.

MEDICAL CONDITION

You have the right to be fully informed of your medical condition in a language you can understand. In the event of a significant change in your physical, mental, or psychological status, an accident involving you which results in injury and has the potential for requiring physician intervention, a need to alter treatment significantly, or a decision to transfer or discharge you from the facility, the facility will inform you, consult with your physician, and notify your legal guardian, if one has been appointed. However, if your life is in jeopardy, you will be transferred immediately. You have the right to refuse to participate in experimental research and to refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law after being informed of the medical consequences of such refusal, and to formulate an Advance Directive as discussed in our handbook. You have the right to choose your personal attending physician, to be fully informed in advance about care and treatment and about any changes in your care and treatment that may affect your wellbeing, and to participate in planning such care and treatment (unless you have been adjudged to be incompetent or are otherwise incapacitated under state law).

MEDICAL RECORDS AND CONFIDENTIALITY OF YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION

Information contained in your medical records is confidential and will not be disclosed to unauthorized persons without your written authorization or the written authorization of your legal guardian, except as required or permitted by law or as set forth in our handbook.

The facility originates and maintains numerous medical, billing, and other related records which contain information identifying you and describing your health history, symptoms, examination and test results, diagnosis, treatment, and plans for future care. This information may be used and disclosed by the facility in the course of your treatment, in obtaining payment for services provided to you, and in the facility’s other health care operations. The facility will provide you with a copy of the facility’s “Notice of Information Practices” which provides a more complete description of the manner in which the facility may use and disclose protected health information about you.

Upon an oral or written request, you and your legal representative are entitled to review, within 24 hours of request (excluding weekends and holidays), all records maintained by the facility pertaining to you, including your current clinical records. After you or your legal guardian have reviewed your records, you and your legal guardian have the right to purchase copies of the records or portions of the records. Such copies will be provided within 2 business days after your request. The facility may charge you a reasonable fee for such copies.

NOTIFICATION OF CHANGES

You and your responsible party have the right to be informed of any changes in your room or roommate assignment, as well as any change in your rights under federal or state law or regulations. In the event that a decision is made to transfer or discharge you from the facility, the facility must inform you, consult with your physician, and notify your responsible party.

PERSONAL FUNDS

You have a right to manage your own personal funds. The facility will, at your written request or the written request of your responsible party, hold, safeguard, manage, and account for your personal funds deposited with the facility as follows:

• PETTY CASH- A small amount of cash will be retained in the business office during normal business hours and will be available to satisfy residents’ personal account withdrawal requests. If you need a large sum of money, please notify the business office as soon as possible so they can make the funds available for you. A small amount of cash will be retained at the Nurse’s station after hours and on weekends to satisfy a resident’s personal account withdrawal requests when the business office is closed.

• INTEREST-BEARING ACCOUNT- For funds in excess of Fifty Dollars ($50.00) ($100 for Medicare residents), the facility will deposit funds in an interest-bearing account that is separate from any of the facility’s operating accounts and that credits to you all interest earned on your account. The facility will maintain a system that assures a complete and separate accounting, according to generally accepted accounting principles, of your personal funds which are entrusted to the facility. The system maintained by the facility will preclude any commingling of your funds with the funds of the facility or with the funds of anyone else. Your individual financial records will be available to you through quarterly statements and upon the written request of you or your responsible party.

If the amount in your account, in addition to the value of your nonexempt resources, reaches the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) resource limit for one person, you may lose your eligibility to Medicaid benefits. If you receive Medicaid benefits, the facility will notify you when the amount in your account reaches Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) less than the SSI limit for one person as determined by federal law.

In the event of your death, the facility will promptly give a full accounting of any personal funds deposited by you with the facility to the individual administering your estate, and will pay the funds to the individual administering your estate within thirty days. The facility will assure the security of all personal funds deposited with the facility and will not impose a charge against personal funds for any item or service for which payment is made under Medicare or Medicaid.

The facility may, with your written authorization, withdraw funds from your personal account to pay for any and all charges by you to the facility, including charges for Non-covered items and service requested by you or your responsible party. All charges will be paid directly to the facility out of your trust account at the time that the charges become due.

PERSONAL PROPERTY

You have the right to retain your personal possessions, including some furnishings and appropriate clothing, as space permits, unless to do so would infringe upon the rights or health and safety of your or other residents. Because of the limited space available, please obtain permission from the facility before bringing furniture. You and your responsible party are responsible for the provision of certain personal comfort items, clothing and petty cash for incidental expenses. All your clothing and other personal items (i.e. eyeglasses, hearing aid, etc.) should be clearly marked to indicate you are the owner. It is your responsibility and your responsible party’s responsibility to notify the facility of any personal items, including but not limited to personal wheelchairs, walkers, and other special equipment, brought to or removed from the facility so that they may be appropriately labeled.

The facility does not have storage space for personal items belonging to persons who no longer reside at the facility. In the event, you are discharged from the facility, or pass away while a resident of the facility, you or your responsible party should make arrangements to promptly remove your personal items form the facility. The facility will retain your personal items for a maximum of thirty (30) days after you leave the facility. If you or your responsible party do not remove your personal items within that time, the facility will dispose of the items not removed.

The facility strongly discourages you from keeping valuable jewelry, papers, large sums of money, or other personal items considered of value in the facility. The facility will take ordinary precautions to protect your property in the facility, but will not assume any responsibility for the loss of the same for any reason.

When cleaning your room. Pease use the following guidelines:

1. Please leave only seasonal clothing (spring/summer or fall/winter). Due to limited space, there is not enough room to store out of season or unused clothes.

2. Please throw away or remove from resident’s room reading materials that are old and no longer used.

3. Please remove any excess powder, lotion, shampoo, cologne, soap, hair brushes, etc.

4. Please remove excessive artificial flower arrangements. Also, please remove spent fresh floral arrangements. Leftover vases will be removed by the facility unless requested otherwise. These vases are used by the Activities Department.

5. Make sure all snacks left in resident rooms are in sealed plastic containers to prevent insect problems.

6. Please remove old corsages, cards and outdated holiday decorations such as Christmas and Easter decorations. Leave only current decorations.

7. Please remove excessive pictures.

8. Please remove excessive damaged furniture in bedrooms.

9. We ask that you do not tape things to the walls because this pulls paint off the walls.

10. Please do not set anything on air conditioner and heater units.

11. Please do no set anything other than live plants in the window sills.

12. Please do not put anything other than suitcases on the top of closets.

13. When new clothing is brought in, please borrow a waterproof laundry marker at the nurse’s station and put the residents name inside the garment, or request assistance with this.

We hope that you will help in our effort to keep the building neat and clean. We want to make it a pleasant environment for all the residents. Many residents have expressed a desire to keep their rooms neat and attractive. We would appreciate your help in this.

PRIVACY

You have the right to personal privacy, including privacy in accommodations, medical treatment, written and telephone communications, personal care, visits, and meetings of family and resident groups. Whenever possible, the facility will provide private rooms, if requested, either as accommodations or for group meetings. The facility cannot, however, guarantee that a private room will be available.

REFUSAL OF CERTAIN TRANSFERS

You have the right to receive advance notice about any change in your roommate or room assignment and to receive an explanation of the need for such a change. You have a right to refuse a transfer to another room in the facility under certain limited conditions. You have the right to refuse a transfer to another room within the facility, if the purpose of the transfer is to relocate you from the distinct part of the facility that is a skilled nursing facility to a part of the facility that is not a skilled nursing facility, or to relocate you form the part of the facility that is not a skilled nursing facility to a distinct part of the facility that is a skilled nursing facility. Under certain circumstances, your decision to refuse a transfer to another room may result in a substantial charge to you which will not be covered by Medicaid or Medicare.

RELIGIOUS SERVICES

Attendance at religious services is strictly voluntary. Any resident who desires his or her minister to conduct a service at the facility should place their request with the facility’s Director of Pastoral Services. If you desire to counsel with a minister, the social services designee or the Director of Pastoral Services will contact a minister of your choice.

RESTRAINTS

You have the right to be free from any physical or chemical restraints imposed for purpose of discipline or convenience and not required to treat your medical symptoms. If the shift supervisor determines it is necessary to use a physical restraint to immediately protect you from injuring yourself or others, the facility will select the least restrictive restraint possible. Your physician will be notified as soon as possible. Under no circumstances will the facility use chemical restraints without a specific order form a physician.

CHEMICAL RESTRAINTS

Psychotropic medications will be administered only with an order from your physician. If chemical restraints are ordered routinely, you will be monitored closely for adverse effects and changes in your physical and mental status.

A licensed member of the facility’s personnel shall determine usage on a “PRN” basis in accordance with the physician’s orders. This decision must be fully documented on the nurse’ s notes according to the following criteria:

1. Danger to self or others (combative or aggressive behavior)

2. Behavior that deviates from the resident’s normal behavior that constitutes emotional discomfort

The documentation also shall include the name and dosage of the medication, dosage time, and route of administration. Follow-up documentation is required. The physician shall be notified of persistent problems and/or within 8 hours after an emergency dose of any psychotropic dug is administered if your inappropriate behavior has not improved. Continued use shall be revised at least quarterly by the facility consultant pharmacist.

PHYSICAL RESTRAINTS The facility will only apply physical restraints to prevent injury to yourself or others with a physician’s order. The physician’s order should include the type of restraint to be used, when it is to be used, and when the restraint is to be released. The restraints are routinely released every 2 hours for 10 minutes for a change in position, or for giving personal care.

SELF ADMINISTRATION OF DRUGS

You may self-administer drugs if the facility’s interdisciplinary team has determined that this practice is safe.

SURVEY RESULTS

You have the right to examine the results of the most recent standard survey of the facility conducted by federal or state surveyors, and any plan of correction in effect with respect to the facility. You also have the right to receive information from agencies acting as client advocates and to contact these agencies.

TELEPHONE

You have the right to reasonable access to a telephone where private calls can be made without being overheard. There is a telephone at the facility which has been specially adapted for residents who are hearing impaired. The locations of the facility’s telephones are shown on the map of the facility which is in our handbook.

WORK

You have the right to refuse to perform services for the facility. You may, however, perform services for the facility, if you so choose, your physician approves, and positions are available. If you perform services for the facility, you will be paid for those services at the prevailing rate, unless you agree in writing to perform the services on a voluntary basis.

For more information or a copy of our resident’s rights, please contact our facility at 256-740-5400.