Mercyhealth is committed to providing high-quality health care services in a cost-effective manner to improve the quality of life in the communities it serves through ethical and compliant behavior.
If you're a patient in Rock, Walworth and McHenry counties:
If you’re a patient in Winnebago, Ogle and Boone counties:
You have the right to personal and information privacy. At Mercyhealth you may:
- Refuse to talk with or see anyone not officially connected with Mercyhealth, including visitors, or persons officially connected with Mercyhealth but not directly involved in his/her care.
- Wear appropriate personal clothing and religious/symbolic items, as long as they do not interfere with diagnostic procedures or medical treatment.
- Expect to be interviewed and examined in surroundings that assure reasonable visual and auditory privacy. This includes the right to have a person of one’s own sex present during certain parts of a physical examination, treatment, or procedure performed by a health professional of the opposite sex. You have the right not to remain disrobed any longer than is required for completing the medical purpose for which he/she has been asked to disrobe.
- Expect that privacy will be maintained during hygiene activities.
- Expect that discussion, consultation, examination and treatment will be conducted discreetly and individuals not directly involved with your care will not be present without permission.
- Have access to, review and get copies of one’s medical record. You may also expect to have your medical record accessible only to individuals directly involved in the patient’s treatment, in the monitoring of quality patient care, by individuals given access, in writing, by the patient, the patient’s agent or legally authorized representative. You have a right to receive an accounting of any disclosures regarding your health information.
- Request a transfer to another patient room or treatment area if another patient or a visitor in the room is unreasonably disturbing.
Like most other texts, text messages from Mercyhealth are unencrypted. Unencrypted texts are not entirely secure and include some privacy and security risk.