Patient Rights and Responsibilities

At Prisma Health, our goal is to provide you and your family with excellent care. As our patient, you are important to us. We want your stay to reflect our commitment to your care, comfort and dignity.

Patient rights

As a patient in a Prisma Health hospital, you have rights that we are committed to protecting and promoting.

Your rights include the following:

1. Have access to care within the capacity and capability of the hospital regardless of race; color; national origin; religion; age; sex; physical, mental or other disability; medical condition; sexual orientation; gender identity; gender expression; pregnancy; social, cultural or educational background; ancestry; marital status; citizenship; or veteran status.
2. Have access to appropriate aids and services, including qualified interpreters and written information in various formats, for people with disabilities. You also have access to language assistance services, including translated documents and oral interpretation to people whose primary language is not English. All services are timely and offered for free.
3. Wear appropriate personal clothing and religious or other symbolic items, as long as they do not interfere with your treatment or procedures.
4. Have the hospital, after consultation with you, promptly notify a family member, or other representative of your choice, and your physician of your admission to the hospital.
5. Considerate and respectful care, and to give us feedback about your care.  
6. Participate in the development and implementation of your inpatient treatment/care plan, outpatient treatment/care plan, discharge plan and pain management plan.  
7. Know the identity and professional status of those involved in your care, including if the caregiver is a student or trainee or is professionally associated with other individuals or health care organizations involved in your care.
8. Make informed decisions about your care. This includes being informed of your health status, being involved in care planning and treatment, and being able to request or refuse treatment. This right, however, is not to be mistaken for a mechanism to demand the provision of treatment or services deemed medically unnecessary or inappropriate.
9. Formulate advance directives (such as a living will or durable power of attorney for health care) with the expectation that the hospital staff and practitioners will honor the directive to the extent permitted by law and hospital policy.
10. Full and equal visitation in accordance with the visitor policy.
11. Receive care in a safe setting and to be free from all forms of abuse or harassment.
12. Personal privacy including privacy during toileting, bathing or being examined. Unless you consent, people not involved in your care will not be present during your examination or treatment.
13. Be free from restraints of any form unless they are medically necessary or, in the case of an emergency, when there is an imminent risk of an individual physically harming himself/herself or others and less restrictive interventions are determined to be ineffective.
14. Know if this hospital has relationships with other health care facilities, educational institutions or other outside parties that may influence your care.
15. Consent or decline to take part in clinical research — and your decision will not otherwise affect your care.
16. Examine and receive an explanation of your bill, regardless of your source of payment.
17. Receive a “Notice of Beneficiary Discharge Rights,” “Notice of Non- coverage Rights” and “Notice of the Beneficiary Right to Appeal a Premature Discharge” if you are a Medicare patient.
18. Confidentiality of your medical records to the extent specified in the Notice of Privacy Practices.
19. Access information contained in your clinical records within a reasonable time frame.
20. To voice a concern about your stay and be involved in resolving dilemmas about care, treatment and services. Your concerns are very important to us, and we would appreciate the opportunity to resolve them. If you have a concern/grievance, please speak with the staff or request to speak with the unit/department supervisor/manager. If you would rather express the concern/grievance to a patient liaison, ask a member of your care team for the appropriate number. Staff are available at any time during your stay and will seek prompt resolution to your concern/ grievance. If you want to contact an outside agency before the hospital representative, you may contact the Joint Commission at 1-800-994-6610 or patientsafetyreport@jointcommission.org, KeyPro (Quality Improvement Organization) at 1-888-317-0751, Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care Inc. (AAAHC) at 847-853-6060 or www.aaahc.org, or the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)/South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) at 803-545-4370 to report a grievance, regardless of whether you have first utilized the hospital’s grievance procedure. A “patient grievance” is a formal or informal written or verbal complaint regarding the patient’s care (when the complaint is not resolved at the time of the complaint by staff present), abuse or neglect, issues related to the hospital’s compliance with the CMS Hospital Conditions of Participation, or a Medicare beneficiary billing complaint related to rights and limitations provided by 42 CFR 489.

Patient responsibilities

As a patient in our facility, you have responsibilities.

You and your family/ guests are responsible for the following:

1. You are responsible for providing accurate information about your health, including past illnesses, hospital stays and the use of medicine.
2. You are responsible for asking questions when you do not understand information or instructions.
3. If you believe you cannot follow through with your treatment, you are responsible for telling your doctor.
4. You and your visitors are responsible for being considerate and respectful of the needs and the property of others and of the hospital.
5. You are responsible for providing information for insurance and for working with the hospital to obtain payment when needed.
6. You are responsible for letting your health care team know if you have an advance directive, such as a living will or durable power of attorney for health care decisions.
7. You are responsible for following hospital rules and regulations about patient care and conduct.
8. You are responsible for the consequences of refusing treatment or failing to follow the instructions of your health care team.

View or download this information as a PDF »