Patient Rights and Responsibilities – Patients and Visitors – UAMS

Patient Rights and Responsibilities at UAMS

UAMS Medical Center, its physicians, nurses, and entire staff are committed to providing you with quality medical care as our patient. It is our policy to respect your individuality and your dignity. We support your right to know about your medical condition and your right to participate in the decisions that affect your well being. For this reason we have adopted the following policy regarding patient rights.

Should we not meet these goals, please let us know. Your comments will be of help to us and to future patients.

Your Rights
As a patient or when appropriate, the patient's representative as allowed by law, you have the right:

To be treated with dignity and receive considerate care that is respectful of your personal beliefs and cultural and spiritual values;
To impartial medical care regardless of race, creed, gender, national origin, religion/cultural beliefs, sexual preference, disability or financial status;
To information about your diagnosis, condition and treatment in terms that you can understand and to have your questions answered;
To an interpreter as necessary to understand all pertinent communications;
To have any restrictions on communications discussed with you;
To be free from any form of restraint as a means of coercion, discipline, convenience or retaliation by staff;
To be free from abuse or harassment;
To receive care in a safe environment while maintaining your personal privacy;
To have your family or representative of your choice and your own physician notified of your admission to the hospital;
To the confidentiality of records about your care unless a disclosure is allowed by law;
To access your medical records within a reasonable time frame and have them explained unless restricted by law;
To know the names of your primary physician and other practitioners providing your care;
To know that UAMS Medical Center is a teaching institution that participates in research;
To be informed and to give or withhold consent if our facility proposes to engage in or perform research associated with your care or treatment;
To expect reasonable continuity of care when appropriate and to be informed of available and realistic patient care options when care at our facility is no longer appropriate;
To obtain a full explanation of the bills related to your health care services;
To access state and community protective services;
To be involved in decisions about your medical care and receive information regarding outcomes of care, treatment and services;
To participate in the development and implementation of your treatment/care plan, discharge plan, and pain management plan;
To refuse treatment;
To exclude any or all family members from participating in your care decisions;
To formulate advance directives and have them followed;
To be involved with family and other decision-makers in resolving dilemmas about care decisions;
To pastoral counseling;
To appropriate assessment and management of your symptoms, including pain;
To express any concerns or grievances orally or in writing without fear of reprisal.

As a patient, or the patient's representative as allowed by law, you or your designees have the responsibility to:

Provide accurate information about your present illness and past medical history, including medications;
Ask questions when necessary to fully understand your health problems and proposed plan of action;
Follow through on the agreed plan of care and with discharge plans;
Follow the rules and regulations of the health care facility, including those regarding patient safety;
Be considerate of the rights and property of others;
Pay your bill and provide information for insurance claims and to work with our business office to make payment arrangements when necessary;
Follow instructions and advice of your healthcare team;
Keep your scheduled appointments or to cancel them in advance.

To express any concerns about the service you are receiving, you may speak to any staff member or call the following: 1-501-296-1039 for a patient representative or 0 and ask for the administrator on call. If you wish to submit a written grievance, you may address it to:

     Hospital Administration
     4301 W. Markham, Slot 557
     Little Rock, AR 72205

You may also contact the following outside agencies about your concerns regardless of whether you have first used UAMS’ grievance process:

To contact the Arkansas Department of Health:
    Phone: 501-661-2201
    Mailing address: Department of Health, 4815 West Markham, Little Rock, AR 72205

To contact the Joint Commission:
    Phone: 1-800-994-6610
    E-mail: complaint@jointcommission.org
    Mailing address: One Renaissance Blvd., Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181

We are committed to addressing your concerns in a timely manner.