Patient Rights and Responsibilities

The Board of Commissioners, medical staff, and employees of KVH Hospital recognize and affirm the following rights and responsibilities of our patients.

Patient Rights

• The right to be cared for with dignity and respect and to treatment that is available and medically indicated regardless of race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, age, marital status, disability, source of payment or ability to pay.
• The right to spiritual care and to have your personal, cultural and spiritual values and beliefs supported when making a decision about treatment.
• The right to access to an interpreter or communication aid if you do not speak English, English is your second language, or you are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities.
• The right to receive safe patient care in a safe environment, and freedom from abuse or neglect.
• The right to immediate access to protective services.
• The right to personal and informational privacy and confidentiality to the extent authorized by them, the courts or the law.
• The right to be informed of and agree or disagree to, and participate in, the development and implementation of your plan of care, including the right to a support person to provide input in your plan of care decisions.
• The right to refuse care or treatment including the resolution of problems regarding care decisions; and the right to leave the hospital and be informed of the expected consequences of such decisions.
• The right to be informed of unanticipated outcomes of care, treatment and services. The right to be informed of experimental or research based treatments and the right to refuse such treatment.
• The right to verbal and/or written complaint resolution, without fear of retribution, denial, or alteration in safe quality care and service; and the right to complaint resolution in a timely and responsive manner.
• The right to formulate an Advance Directive (including Mental Health Advance Directives); such as a Physician Order for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form, Living Will or Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, and to have caregivers follow your wishes regarding your end of life care.
• The right to request no resuscitation or life-saving treatment.
• The right to organ and tissue donation options with input from your physician(s) and, when indicated, under the direction of family or surrogate decision makers.
• The right to examine and receive an explanation of the patient’s hospital/clinic bill, regardless of payment source.
• The right to receive or restrict visitors as you choose, unless visitors could compromise your treatment plan or clinical condition. These visitors may include, but are not limited to, a spouse, a state-registered or non-state registered domestic partner, other family members or friends regardless of their race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
• The right to be informed of the reason for any restrictions or limitation on visitors, should visitors need to be restricted.
• The right to have a support person for making decisions on your behalf regarding your receipt of visitors, or visitor restrictions should you become incapacitated.  The support person does not need to be an authorized surrogate decision maker or provide documentation of patient representation by a legal document unless there is a conflict between two visitors or there is a dispute as to who the patient support person is.

Patient Responsibility

• Provide accurate and complete information about present illnesses, past complaints, hospitalizations, medications and other matters relating to their health.
• Promptly report changes in their condition to their nurse and/or the physician.
• Follow their collaboratively agreed upon plan of care.
• Comply with hospital policies designed to ensure the safety of patients, staff and visitors.
• Understand their acceptance of responsibility for their actions if they choose to refuse medically recommended treatment or instructions.
• Ensure their financial obligation to the organization and medical providers is fulfilled as required under hospital policy.
• Respect and protect to the extent of their ability the property, materials and equipment of other persons and that of the organization.
• Be considerate of the rights of other patients and hospital personnel by actively participating, to the extent they are able, in controlling personal visitor noise, smoking, lights, telephone, television, and radio to avoid disturbing others or violating organizational policy.
• Adhere to and respect organizational rules and regulations affecting patient care and conduct.

Corporate Compliance – Code of Conduct 
KVH Hospital is committed to providing high quality care and promoting the health of our patients and community members. These services shall be provided with a high ethical standard. 

KVH Hospital has adopted a Code of Conduct and a Corporate Compliance Program to guide the organization in carrying out our daily activities within appropriate ethical and legal standards. These guidelines apply to our interaction with patients, families, physicians, other healthcare practitioners and providers, employees, volunteers, payers, subcontractors, independent contractors, vendors and consultants. 

KVH Hospital has established a hotline telephone number available to all employees, physicians, patients and others who work with us. One may call the hotline with questions concerning ethical or legal conduct or to report potentially improper actions. The hotline allows a caller to report concerns anonymously and reports are kept confidential. Calls to the hotline are not traced and no caller will be subject to retaliation or reprisal from KVH.

An open line of communication between the Corporate Compliance officer and hospital personnel is important to the successful implementation of the Corporate Compliance Program and in reducing the potential for fraud, abuse or waste of healthcare resources.KVH Hospital’s hotline number is 509.933.7570. 

KVH Hospital Grievance Process 
Verbal concerns may be expressed to staff or management. You may also file a grievance by filling out a Care and Service Report and returning it to: 

Care and Service Coordinator 
KVH Hospital
603 South Chestnut St.
Ellensburg, WA 98926 

You also have the right to contact the Washington State Department of Health at (800) 633-6828. Patients covered by Medicare may contact Livanta LLC at (877) 588-1123.