The hospital respects, protects, and promotes patient rights.

(1)

The hospital develops and implements written policies to protect and promote patient rights.

(2)

The hospital informs each patient, or when appropriate, the patient's representative (as allowed, under state law) of the patient’s rights in advance of providing or discontinuing patient care whenever possible.

(3)

The patient has the right to receive care in a safe setting.

(4)

The hospital prohibits discrimination based on age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, language, physical or mental disability, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression. Note: This includes prohibiting discrimination through restricting, limiting, or otherwise denying visitation privileges. The hospital allows all visitors to have full and equal visitation privileges consistent with patient preferences.

(5)

The hospital respects the patient’s right to personal privacy. Note 1: This element of performance (EP) addresses a patient's personal privacy. For EPs addressing the privacy of a patient’s health information, refer to Standard IM.12.01.01. Note 2: For hospitals that use Joint Commission accreditation for deemed status purposes and have swing beds: Personal privacy includes accommodations, medical treatment, written and telephone communications, personal care, visits, and meetings of family and resident groups, but this does not require the facility to provide a private room for each resident.

(6)

The hospital provides the patient, upon an oral or written request, with access to medical records, including past and current records, in the form and format requested (including in electronic form or format when available). If electronic is unavailable, the medical record is provided in hard copy or another form agreed to by the hospital and patient. The hospital does not impede the legitimate efforts of individuals to gain access to their own medical records and fulfills these electronic or hard-copy requests within a reasonable time frame (that is, as quickly as its recordkeeping system permits).

(7)

The hospital develops and implements policies and procedures for patient visitation rights. Visitation rights include the right to receive visitors designated by the patient, including but not limited to a spouse, a domestic partner (including a same-sex domestic partner), another family member, or a friend. The patient also has the right to withdraw or deny consent for visitors at any time. Note 1: For hospitals that use Joint Commission accreditation for deemed status purposes: The hospital's written policies and procedures include any restrictions or limitations that are clinically necessary or reasonable that need to be placed on visitation rights and the reasons for the restriction or limitation. Note 2: For hospitals that use Joint Commission accreditation for deemed status purposes: The hospital informs the patient (or support person, where appropriate) of the patient's visitation rights, including any clinical restriction or limitation on such rights.