Eastern Washington Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

EWCDHH Policy

Use of E-mail

Purpose:  Eastern Washington Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (EWCDHH) has adopted this E-mail Policy to comply with federal and state requirements to protect the security of electronic health information, as well as to fulfill our duty to protect the confidentiality and integrity of confidential information as required by law, professional ethics, and accreditation and demonstrate competence in the requirements of this policy.

Attachments: A. Client Consent Form

POLICY

    1.    The e-mail system is a part of EWCDHH's business equipment. Please be aware of the following:

        a.   E-mail can be immediately broadcast worldwide and be received by many intended and unintended recipients.

        b.   Recipients can forward e-mail messages to other recipients without the original sender's permission or knowledge.

        c.   Users can easily misaddress an e-mail.

        d.   E-mail is easier to falsify than handwritten or signed documents.

        e.   Backup copies of e-mail may exist even after the sender or the recipient has delete his or her copy.

        f.   E-mail containing information pertaining to a client services constitute a part of the client's service records.

        g.   All e-mail may be discoverable in litigation regardless of whether it is in a client's service record.

 

    2.    EWCDHH encourages the business use of e-mail to increase productivity. The e-mail system and all messages generated by or handled by e-mail, including back-up copies, are part of the business equipment of EWCDHH, are owned by the facility, and are not the property of the users of the system. Consequently, e-mail users do not have a right to privacy in their use of the computer system or its e-mail component. EWCDHH reserves the right to monitor, audit, delete, and read e-mail messages. The network administrator may override users passwords. Although it is the policy of EWCDHH not to regularly monitor the contents of e-mail communications, it may monitor the contents and usage to support operational, maintenance, auditing, security, and investigative activities. Users should use e-mail with the knowledge that EWCDHH cannot guarantee that e-mail messages will be private. E-mail communications can be forwarded, intercepted, printed and stored by others. Use of the e-mail system constitutes consent to this policy.

    Generally ,e-mail users should restrict their use of the e-mail system to proper business purposes relating to the mission and activities of EWCDHH and related administrative matters, such as billing. A user may, however, use e-mail for personal purposes, such as communicating a change in work schedule to a significant other or family members, under the following conditions:

        a.   Personal use does not involve significant use of the facility's resources, such as work time, computer time, costs, and the like, and does not preempt any business activity or interfere with the user's or other's productivity.

        b.   Users must not transmit confidential or proprietary information to unauthorized recipients. Proprietary information is information that belongs to EWCDHH.

        c.   Users must not transmit obscene, offensive, harassing, or hostile messages to any recipient. No person shall enter, transmit, or maintain messages with derogatory or inflammatory remarks about an individual's race, age, disability, religion, national origin, physical attributes, sexual preference, or health condition. No person shall enter, maintain, or transmit any abusive, profane or offensive language.

        d.   Transmission must not involve any illegal or unethical activity.

        e.   Transmission must not involve or disclose any activity that could adversely affect EWCDHH, its officers, employees, or agents.

        f.   Transmission does not involve solicitation. Employees may not use the EWCDHH e-mail system to solicit for outside business ventures, organizational campaigns, or political or religious causes.

    3.    The e-mail system must employ user-IDs and associated passwords to isolate the communications of different users. Users must never share passwords or reveal them to anyone else. If users must share data, they must use message-forwarding facilities, public directories on local area network servers, and other authorized information-sharing mechanisms. Employees may not intercept or disclose or assist in intercepting and disclosing, e-mail communications.

PROCEDURES

    1.    Because some information is intended for specific individuals and may not be appropriate for general distribution, users should exercise caution when forwarding messages. Users must not forward sensitive information, including client information, to any party outside the [Name of EWCDHH] system without the prior approval of their supervisor. Senders may not engage in blanket forwarding of messages to parties outside the EWCDHH system unless the sender has obtained the prior permission of the Executive Director.

    2.    Users should periodically purge from their personal e-mail storage areas that are not part of client service record and EWCDHH no longer needs for business purposes. After a specified period, the information staff will delete e-mail messages backed up to a separate data storage media to free scarce storage space.

    3.    EWCDHH staff will make all e-mail messages sent or received that concern client service delivery part f that client's service record and will treat such e-mail messages with the same degree of confidentiality as other parts of the client service record. The EWCDHH Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Supervisor will decide whether particular  e-mail message will constitute part of a client's service record. Staff must use their best efforts to limit information that is contained in an outgoing client e-mail to only necessary information - recognizing the need to remain as general as possible.

    4.    Clients must consent to the use of e-mail for confidential service information. "Attachment A", our client e-mail consent form, shall be used by EWCDHH and reviewed with each client that communicates with EWCDHH by e-mail. Clients shall be directed to use only the ewcdhh@ewcdhh.org e-mail, and staff shall respond to client e-mails through that specific e-mail address, to ensure confidentiality of client service information.

    5.    Users must immediately report, pursuant to the EWCDHH Critical Incident Policy, all violations of the e-mail policy. Employees, volunteers, interns and Board of Director Members who violate this policy are subject to penalties, including employee discipline up to and including termination from employment, professional discipline, removal from the Board of Directors, removal from EWCDHH premises, and/or criminal prosecution.

    6.    All employees, interns, volunteers and Board of Director/Committee members shall be trained on this EWCDHH policy.

THIS POLICY SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE APRIL 14TH,2003.

 

Eastern Washington Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

E-Mail Informed Consent

Eastern Washington Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (EWCDHH) provides clients the opportunity to communicate with EWCDHH by e-mail at ewcdhh@ewcdhh.org only. Transmitting information by e-mail, however, has a number of risks, both general and specific, that clients should consider before using e-mail.

Risk Factors

Among general e-mail risks are the following:

1. E-mail can be immediately broadcast worldwide and be received by many intended and unintended recipients.

2. Recipients can forward e-mail messages to other recipients without the original sender’s permission or knowledge.

3. Users can easily misaddress an e-mail.

4. E-mail is easier to falsify than handwritten or signed documents.

5. Backup copies of e-mail may exist even after the sender or the recipient has deleted his or her copy.

Among specific client e-mail risks are the following:

1. E-mail containing information pertaining to a client must be included in the client’s EWCDHH record. Thus, all individuals who have access to the EWCDHH client record will have access to the e-mail messages.

2. Employees do not have an expectation of privacy in e-mail they send or receive at their place of employment. Thus, clients who send or receive e-mail from their place of employment risk having their employer read their e-mail.

3. If a client’s employer or others, such as insurance companies, read an employee’s e-mail which may contain specific information, particularly medical and mental health, sexually transmitted diseases, or alcohol and drug abuse information, they may discriminate against the employee/client. For example, they may fire the employee, not promote the employee, deny insurance coverage, and the like. In addition, the employee could suffer social stigma from the disclosure of such information.

4. EWCDHH clients have no way of anticipating how soon EWCDHH and its employees will respond to a particular e-mail. Although EWCDHH and its employees will endeavor to read and respond to appropriately addressed e-mail promptly, EWCDHH cannot guarantee that any particular e-mail message will be read and responded to within any particular period of time. Thus, clients should not use e-mail in an emergency.

Conditions for the Use of E-mail

It is the policy of EWCDHH that EWCDHH will make all e-mail messages sent or received that are about the services of EWCDHH, related to a client, part of that client’s service record and will treat such e-mail messages with the same degree of confidentiality as we would other portions of the client’s record. EWCDHH will use reasonable means to protect the security and confidentiality of e-mail information. Because of the risks above, EWCDHH cannot, however, guarantee the security and confidentiality of e-mail communication.

Clients must consent to the rules about using e-mail for communicating with EWCDHH by e-mail after having been informed of the above risks. Consent to the use of e-mail by a client or EWCDHH is based on the client knowing:

1. All e-mails to or from the client will be made a part of the client’s service record. As a part of the service record, other people, such as other EWCDHH services staff and interns, representative payee staff, and the like, and other places, such as funding source staff, and the county, state and federal government agencies that fund us, can look at e-mails we copy and put in a client service record.

2. EWCDHH may forward e-mail messages to EWCDHH staff as we need to for us to help the client. EWCDHH will not, however, send the e-mail outside EWCDHH without the consent of the client or if the law says we can.

3. If the client sends an e-mail to the ewcdhh@ewcdhh.org email address, EWCDHH staff will try to read the e-mail right away and respond, if we think we need to. But, EWCDHH cannot say that anyone at EWCDHH will read the e-mail message right away. Because EWCDHH cannot assure clients that EWCDHH staff will read e-mail messages right away, clients must not use e-mail in an emergency.

4. If a client wants an answer to their email, and EWCDHH does not answer in a reasonable time, the client is responsible for following up to see whether EWCDHH got the e-mail and is going to answer.

5. Because some client information is so sensitive that unauthorized disclosure can be very damaging, clients should not use e-mail for communications about diagnosis or treatment of AIDS/HIV infection; other sexually transmissible or communicable diseases, such as syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes, and the like; mental health or developmental disability; or alcohol and drug abuse.

6. Because employees do not have a right of privacy in their employer’s e-mail system, clients should not use their employer’s e-mail system to send or get information from or to EWCDHH.

7. EWCDHH cannot guarantee that e-mails will be private. EWCDHH will take reasonable steps to protect the confidentiality of client e-mail but is not liable for improper disclosure of confidential information not caused by EWCDHH’s gross negligence or wanton misconduct.

8. If the client consents to the use of e-mail, he/she is responsible for telling EWCDHH of any types of information the client does not want to be sent by e-mail other than those set out in paragraph 3, above.

9. The client is responsible for protecting his/her password or other means of access to e-mail sent or received from EWCDHH to protect confidentiality. EWCDHH is not liable for breaches of confidentiality caused by the client.

10. Any use of e-mail by the client to send to or get information from EWCDHH gives informed consent to use email. A client may withdraw consent to the use of e-mail at any time by e-mail or written communication to ewcdhh@ewcdhh.org or to EWCDHH, 1206 N. Howard Street, Spokane, WA 99201, attention: Executive Director. Consent shall be effective upon acknowledgment by EWCDHH, except to they extent that there has been reliance by EWCDHH on the consent.

11. EWCDHH will not respond in any way to e-mails from clients not sent to the ewcdhh@ewcdhh.org address. This is to help clients and staff be sure the e-mail gets to the right staff at EWCDHH. Client use of e-mail communication is a privilege and can be withdrawn by the Executive Director of EWCDHH, at his/her discretion, should a client not follow this or other EWCDHH policy, laws, or if a client abuses the email system.

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Client Signature

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WITNESS

             

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