Aspirus and all its entities, like all health care providers, are subject to various state and federal rules and regulations which also affect its relationship with vendors. Several measures are in place to ensure patients' rights are protected including:
Non-Discrimination
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits health care providers from making decisions in patient admissions, treatment, accommodations, personnel assignments, or referrals on the basis of race, color, or national origin; section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 prohibits discrimination on the basis of age. Therefore, all Services provided to Aspirus and its patients shall be provided without regard to race, color, national origin, disability, age, religion, sex, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.
False Claims Act/Whistleblower Protection
The Federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 contains provisions to combat fraud and abuse in government health care programs. Aspirus' False Claims Act/Whistleblower Protection policy provides information regarding federal and state false claims laws, administrative remedies under the laws, and Aspirus' program for detecting and preventing fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs. Vendors are expected to abide by the policy when performing work and shall make the policy available to employees involved in performing services for Aspirus.
HIPAA
Contractors of Aspirus who perform work involving the use or disclosure of protected health information must enter into a Business Associate Agreement with Aspirus. The Business Associate Agreement imposes safeguards on individually identifiable health information used or disclosed by our business associates. The Aspirus standard Business Associate Agreement can be viewed here.