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Harris County
Hospital District Media Procedures
The Harris County Hospital District’s
communications office is dedicated to
cooperating with the media and its partner
institutions to promote the dissemination of
important health and medical information to the
public.
In order to ensure that all media opportunities
are handled in an appropriate, prompt, and
efficient manner that complies with HIPAA and
other laws, the hospital district is
implementing the following procedures:
1. A representative of Harris County Hospital
District must be present whenever a member of
the media is at an HCHD facility, even if the
hospital district staff did not initiate the
interview.
2. Media representatives and other personnel
from partner institutions must secure approval
from HCHD communications staff before
arranging a media interview in an HCHD facility,
including clinics, hospitals, school-based
clinics, and any other property operated or
controlled by the hospital district.
3.
In compliance with the HIPAA
privacy law, patients who agree to be
interviewed or filmed must complete a hospital
district media release prior to the interview.
If the form is not completed by the time of the
interview, the interview cannot take place.
4. We request that news segments
or interviews involving HCHD personnel that take
place on HCHD property identify the personnel or
the property correctly and completely. For
instance:
“Dr. Smith, a Baylor surgeon practicing at Ben
Taub General Hospital …” or
“Hospitals, such as LBJ General Hospital, are
experiencing an overflow of non-emergent
patients in their emergency centers …”
5. Media crews, reporters,
videographers and photographers who enter any
hospital district property without clearance or
escort from a member of the HCHD communications
staff will be detained by security until the
communications office can be contacted. This is
to ensure the confidentiality of our patients.
6.
The Harris County
Hospital District reserves the right to deny
media entrance to its facilities if the above
requirements are not met, or if media presence
will be disruptive to the patient care
environment or other normal operating
procedures.
7. These procedures also apply
to all patient interactions filmed,
photographed, or otherwise recorded for
educational purposes.
The Harris County Hospital District
communications staff is available 24 hours a
day, seven days a week. To reach the on-call
representative after regular business hours,
please page them at 713-566-6430 or
1-800-254-3489.
Bryan
McLeod
Manager of Corporate Communications
713-566-4399
John
F. Martinez
PR/Communications Specialist II
713-566-6486
Nicole Aguilar Benningfield
PR/Communications Specialist I
713-566-6761 |
