Patient Rights

St. Clair Hospital encourages you to discuss any concerns you may encounter with those directly involved in your care or you may contact the Patient Representative at 412.942.1835.

A patient or the patient’s representative can submit a written or verbal complaint or grievance by clicking here. St. Clair Hospital procedure notwithstanding, you may address your concern with the PA Department of Health or The Joint Commission:

The Joint Commission Office of Quality Monitoring

At 1-800-994-6610 by e-mailing [email protected], or visit the website.

Patient Rights and Responsibilities

St. Clair Hospital is committed to providing you with a high level of quality health care services. As a patient, you or your legally responsible party have the
right to care without discrimination in regard to age, race, color, culture, national origin, ancestry language (including limited English proficiency), religious
creed, education, sex or sexual orientation, marital status, gender identity or expression, AIDS or HIV status, union membership, disability, income, or who pays the bill.

For a complete copy of your patient rights, please download a copy Patient Rights and Responsibilities (PDF) of Patient Rights and Responsibilities. As a patient, it is your responsibility to read these rights and assert them, if necessary.

Peer Review Organizations

Peer review organizations (PRO’s) are groups of doctors who are paid by the federal government to review medical necessity, appropriateness and quality of Hospital treatment furnished to Medicare patients. Peer review organizations will respond to your request for review and appeal of written notices stating that Medicare will no longer pay for your hospital stay.

If You Think You Are Being Asked to Leave the Hospital Too Soon

If you decide to appeal, do so immediately — either call or write the PRO.Ask a hospital representative for a written notice of explanation immediately, if you have not already received one. The Hospital’s written notice is necessary if you decide to appeal to the PRO. The written notice must describe how you appeal. If you lose the appeal, you may be billed for all costs of stay beginning with the third day after you receive the written notice. The appeals process can take up to three working days from the time that your appeal request is received. Thus, if you appeal and lose, you may have to pay for at least one day of hospital cost. Remember, without a written notice, you have no right to appeal. The Peer Review Organization for this area is:

Livanta

BFCC-QIO Program
9090 Junction Dr., Suite 10
Annapolis Junction, MD 20701
1.866.815.5440

Confronting Decisions about Death and Life Support

St. Clair Hospital offers a copy of the booklet entitled “Confronting Decisions about Death and Life Support (PDF)” to address the issues regarding a patient’s rights to choose medical treatments and to make decisions concerning such measures as life-support, cardiac resuscitation, and artificial feeding. Much of the information contained herein is based on the 1983 report of the President’s Commission entitled “Deciding to Forego Life-Sustaining Treatment”, the 1990 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Living Will Law and the 1998 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Public Welfare, Medical Assistance Bulletin. Although confronting these issues can be troubling, patients and families can learn to frankly discuss their concerns and openly express their feelings before encountering the need to make these kinds of difficult decisions.

For information regarding advance directives and for a copy of the advance directive form, please click here. (PDF)

Patient’s Privacy

Your health is an intensely personal matter. As your health care provider, we recognize that and work hard to assure your privacy. As part of our ongoing efforts to protect your privacy and keep your personal health information confidential, we’ve updated our privacy policy and will begin making it available to you when you come to our facilities for care. To learn more about St. Clair Hospital’s HIPAA privacy notice, please download a copy, Notice of Privacy Practices (PDF) or Notice of Privacy Practices – Spanish (PDF).