Patient Rights and Responsibilities

At Jane Todd Crawford Hospital, we believe every patient deserves safe, respectful, compassionate, and individualized healthcare.

Patients receiving care through Jane Todd Crawford Hospital and its healthcare facilities have rights and responsibilities that support active participation in their care, promote communication with the healthcare team, and protect each patient’s dignity, privacy, and safety.

As a patient of Jane Todd Crawford Hospital, you have the right to:

Respectful and Nondiscriminatory Care

• Receive care that respects your dignity, individual needs, values, beliefs, and personal preferences.

• Receive access to healthcare services without discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, or any other status protected by applicable law.

• Receive considerate and respectful care that takes your cultural, psychosocial, emotional, and spiritual needs into consideration.

• Practice your cultural and spiritual beliefs as long as doing so does not interfere with your medical care or the rights, health, or safety of others.

• Receive care in a safe setting and be free from abuse, neglect, harassment, exploitation, and discrimination.

• Receive care that respects the dignity and value of each individual throughout the course of treatment.

Access to Care

• Receive medically appropriate care and services within the capabilities of Jane Todd Crawford Hospital.

• Receive appropriate emergency medical screening and stabilizing treatment as required by law without delay based on your ability to pay.

• Receive reasonable continuity and coordination of care, including appropriate planning when you are transferred, discharged, or referred to another healthcare provider or level of care.

• Be informed of appropriate care alternatives when Jane Todd Crawford Hospital can no longer meet your healthcare needs.

Information About Your Care

• Receive information about your health condition, diagnosis, treatment, and expected course of care in language and terms you can understand.

• Receive understandable information from your healthcare provider about the purpose, expected benefits, significant risks, and reasonable alternatives associated with proposed tests, treatments, procedures, or services.

• Know the names and professional roles of physicians, nurses, therapists, and other individuals involved in providing your care.

• Be informed about relationships Jane Todd Crawford Hospital may have with other healthcare providers, educational institutions, or organizations when those relationships may affect your care.

• Ask questions and receive understandable answers about your care.

Participation in Treatment Decisions

• Participate in developing and making decisions about your plan of care.

• Give informed consent before procedures or treatments when consent is required.

• Request or refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law and be informed of the potential medical consequences of refusing recommended care.

• Participate in decisions regarding tests, treatments, procedures, services, discharge planning, and other aspects of your healthcare.

• Receive appropriate assessment and management of pain based on your condition and individual needs.

• Request consultation regarding ethical questions or concerns related to your care.

Advance Directives

• Create an advance directive, such as a living will or designation of a healthcare surrogate, in accordance with Kentucky law.

• Have hospital staff and healthcare providers follow your valid advance directive as required by law and hospital policy.

• Receive information about advance directives upon request.

Research and Experimental Treatment

• Receive information and provide informed consent before participating in research or experimental treatment affecting your care.

• Refuse to participate in research or experimental treatment without that decision affecting the quality of your other medically appropriate care.

Privacy and Confidentiality

• Have your personal privacy respected during examinations, treatments, personal care, and discussions regarding your health.

• Expect that your medical, financial, and other protected health information will be kept confidential in accordance with applicable federal and state laws.

• Access your health information and request copies of your medical record as permitted by law.

• Request corrections or amendments to your health information in accordance with applicable law and hospital policy.

Communication and Visitors

• Identify individuals you would like to have involved in your care, when appropriate.

• Receive visitors of your choosing, including a spouse, domestic partner, family member, friend, or other support person, subject to your consent and any clinically necessary or reasonable restrictions.

• Withdraw or deny consent for visitation at any time.

• Receive equal visitation privileges consistent with your preferences and applicable law.

• Be informed of the reason for any clinically necessary restriction on visitation or communication.

• Have reasonable access to telephone communication, mail, and other forms of communication, subject to clinically necessary or safety-related restrictions.

• Have a family member, representative of your choice, and your physician notified promptly of your hospital admission when appropriate and requested.

Personal Safety and Freedom From Restraint

• Receive care in an environment that promotes personal safety.

• Be free from restraints or seclusion used for convenience, punishment, coercion, or retaliation.

• Have restraints or seclusion used only when clinically appropriate and in accordance with applicable law and hospital policy.

Personal Belongings

• Keep and use personal belongings when doing so is safe and consistent with your treatment plan.

• Be informed when an item must be restricted because it presents a safety concern, interferes with treatment, or creates an unreasonable risk of loss, theft, or harm.

Financial Information

• Receive information about hospital charges and obtain an understandable explanation of your bill.

• Ask questions regarding charges for services you receive.

• Receive information regarding available financial assistance or payment resources when applicable.

Hospital Policies

• Be informed of hospital policies and expectations that apply to your care and conduct while receiving services.

Questions, Concerns and Grievances

You have the right to express concerns, make recommendations, or file a grievance regarding your care without fear of retaliation, discrimination, or interference with your treatment.

We encourage patients and families to first discuss concerns with the healthcare team or department involved whenever possible so that issues may be addressed promptly.

A formal grievance may also be submitted to:

Jane Todd Crawford Hospital
Attn: Risk Management
290 Industrial Park Road
Greensburg, KY 42743
Phone: 270-932-4211

Filing a grievance with Jane Todd Crawford Hospital does not prevent you from contacting the appropriate state regulatory agency.

Complaints regarding a licensed healthcare facility may also be submitted to:

Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services
Office of Inspector General
Division of Health Care – Southern Branch
116 Commerce Avenue
London, KY 40744
Phone: 606-330-2030
Fax: 606-330-2054
Email: SEBComplaints-Reports@ky.gov

You may contact the state agency directly regardless of whether you have first used Jane Todd Crawford Hospital’s grievance process.

Additional Rights of Swing Bed Patients

Patients receiving skilled nursing-level care through the Jane Todd Crawford Hospital Swing Bed Program have additional rights applicable to their care.

As a Swing Bed patient, you have the right to:

Dignity and Self-Determination

• Be treated with dignity and respect and participate in decisions affecting your care and daily life.

• Exercise your rights without interference, coercion, discrimination, or retaliation.

• Communicate with and have reasonable access to individuals and services both inside and outside the hospital.

Information About Your Health and Care

• Receive information about your health status in language you can understand.

• Be informed in advance about your care and treatment, including significant changes to your care plan that may affect your health or well-being.

• Participate in developing and revising your individualized plan of care to the extent permitted by law.

• Request, refuse, or discontinue treatment and be informed of the potential consequences of those decisions.

• Refuse participation in experimental research.

• Create and maintain an advance directive in accordance with applicable law.

Choice of Healthcare Provider

• Choose your attending physician, provided the physician is appropriately licensed, meets applicable requirements, and is able to provide the services necessary for your care.

Financial Information

• Receive information about services available through the Swing Bed Program and any charges for those services.

• Be informed of services or items not covered by Medicare, Medicaid, another payer, or the applicable reimbursement rate when required.

• Receive appropriate written information regarding changes to applicable charges.

Privacy and Confidentiality

• Have personal privacy respected during medical treatment, personal care, visits, telephone calls, and other communications.

• Have your personal and medical records maintained securely and confidentially in accordance with applicable law.

• Approve or refuse the release of personal and health information except when disclosure is permitted or required by law.

Communication and Visitation

• Send and receive personal mail and other communications privately.

• Have reasonable access to stationery, postage, and writing materials at your own expense.

• Receive visits from family members, relatives, friends, and other individuals you choose, subject to reasonable clinical and safety restrictions.

• Deny or withdraw consent for a visitor at any time.

• Have access to authorized representatives of government and regulatory agencies as provided by law.

Personal Possessions

• Keep and use appropriate personal belongings and clothing as space permits, unless doing so would interfere with the rights, health, or safety of you or others.

Rooming With a Spouse

• Share a room with your spouse when both individuals are receiving Swing Bed services in the facility, space and clinical circumstances permit, and both individuals agree to the arrangement.

Freedom From Abuse

• Be free from verbal, sexual, physical, and mental abuse; neglect; exploitation; corporal punishment; and involuntary seclusion.

Services and Activities

• Refuse to perform services for the facility.

• Perform services voluntarily when appropriate and when the arrangement complies with applicable regulatory requirements, including documentation in the care plan and appropriate compensation when required.

Transfer and Discharge

• Participate in planning for your discharge or transfer.

• Receive appropriate information regarding the reason for a transfer or discharge.

• Receive required notice of a planned transfer or discharge except when circumstances recognized by law require a more immediate transfer.

• Receive appropriate preparation and information to support a safe transition to another healthcare setting or back to the community.

Patient Responsibilities

Providing safe and effective healthcare is a partnership between patients, families, and the healthcare team. As a patient of Jane Todd Crawford Hospital, you have the responsibility to:

Participate in Your Care

• Participate in developing and carrying out your plan of care to the best of your ability.

• Ask questions when you do not understand information or instructions about your care.

• Tell your healthcare team if you believe you will be unable to follow the recommended treatment plan.

Provide Accurate Information

• Provide complete and accurate information, to the best of your knowledge, about your health history, medications, allergies, current symptoms, previous treatments, and other information relevant to your care.

• Notify your physician, nurse, or other healthcare provider of unexpected changes in your condition.

Follow Safety and Hospital Policies

• Follow hospital policies and reasonable instructions related to safety, infection prevention, smoking or tobacco use, visitation, and other hospital operations.

• Follow safety precautions recommended by your healthcare team.

Respect Others

• Treat hospital employees, healthcare providers, other patients, and visitors with courtesy and respect.

• Be considerate of the privacy, comfort, and needs of others, including helping maintain a quiet and respectful healing environment.

• Respect hospital property and the property of others.

Financial Responsibilities

• Provide accurate insurance and financial information needed to properly process your healthcare charges.

• Ask questions if you do not understand your financial obligations or hospital bill.

• Meet applicable financial obligations associated with your care or communicate with the hospital when assistance may be needed.

Our Commitment to You

Jane Todd Crawford Hospital is committed to protecting the rights, dignity, safety, and privacy of every patient we serve. We encourage patients and families to ask questions, participate actively in healthcare decisions, and communicate openly with members of the healthcare team.