Handling of Personal Information

Handling of Personal Information by the Japanese Red Cross Society

The Japanese Red Cross Society is deeply aware that the Red Cross Movement is founded on your support and cooperation, and based on the philosophy of respecting the personality of individuals, we treat all personal information obtained during the course of our business as described below in accordance with the Act on the Protection of Personal Information and our internal regulations (the "Rules for the Protection of Personal Information Held by the Japanese Red Cross Society"), and respond to your trust.

We use personal information only for stated purposes.

When requesting your personal information, we shall clearly indicate the purpose of use and you can thus provide information based on your own will. We shall not use your personal information for any purpose other than the purpose of use without your consent.

We do not provide personal information to any third party.

No personal information shall be provided to any third party without your consent.

We disclose, correct, add or delete personal information upon request.

Upon receipt of your request, we shall disclose, correct, add, or delete your registered information after confirming your identity.

Exceptions

The Japanese Red Cross Society shall handle your personal information as described above. However, the above handling may not be applicable to either of the following two cases: (1) Laws or regulations require your personal information be handled otherwise; (2) Protection of life, body or property of the information supplier or a third party in an urgent and unavoidable circumstance requires your personal information be handled otherwise.

Secure management of personal information

The Japanese Red Cross Society has implemented strict security management measures to prevent leakage, loss, or damage to personal information received from you.
When we outsource the handling of personal information to an external contractor in the course of our business for unavoidable reasons, we always outsource it to a trusted contractor who has signed an agreement with the Japanese Red Cross Society for the protection of personal information.

Purpose of Use of Personal Information at the Hospital

The Hospital is committed to protecting the personal information of its patients.

The Hospital uses personal information for the following purposes and pays close attention to its handling. Please feel free to contact General Reception on the first floor of Ward A for anything you wish to discuss regarding our handling of personal information.

Purpose of use of personal information at the Hospital

1. Provision of medical care
   (1) Providing medical services at the Hospital
   (2) Collaboration with other hospitals, clinics, midwifery homes, pharmacies, home-visit nursing stations, nursing care service providers, etc.
   (3) Response to inquiries from other medical institutions, and other such bodies.
   (4) Seeking opinions and advice from doctors from other medical institutions for the treatment of our patients
   (5) Outsourcing of laboratory testing and other services
   (6) Explanation of medical conditions to family members and other support persons
2. Administrative work for invoicing medical expenses
   (1) Administrative work related to medical care, nursing care, workers’ compensation insurance, and public-funded medical care at the Hospital, and outsourcing of said work
   (2) Response to inquiries from screening centers for medical bills or insurers
   (3) Submission of receipts and response to inquiries to administrative agencies concerning public-funded medical care
   (4) Other uses for medical expense billings concerning medical care, nursing care, workers’ compensation insurance, and public-funded medical care
3. Management and operation of the Hospital
   (1) Accounting
   (2) Reporting medical accidents
   (3) Improving medical services for patients
   (4) Managing hospital wards including patient hospitalization and discharge
   (5) Other uses related to the management and operation of the Hospital
4. Notification of the results of employees’ medical examinations entrusted by private corporations
5. Consultation with or notification to a specialized medical organization, insurance company, etc. pertaining to medical liability insurance and other such matters
6. Basic materials for maintaining and improving medical and nursing care services and operations
7. Support for medical training conducted in the Hospital
8. Case studies in the Hospital aimed at improving the quality of medical care
9. Provision of information to external auditing agencies
10. Providing information to the Japanese Red Cross Society and the Chiba Prefecture Branch of the Japanese Red Cross Society

Supplementary notes

1. If there are any items stated above for which you do not agree to provide information to other medical institutions, please inform us to that effect.
2. Unless you make a request as stated above, we shall consider that you have given your consent to the provision of information.
3. Your requests can be withdrawn or changed at any time.

Preparation and Provision to a Third Party of Anonymously Processed Information

Preparation and provision to a third party of anonymously processed information

The Hospital prepares data called DPC data, which are collected and managed by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, to assess the impact of the introduction of DPC (Diagnosis Procedure Combination) and to review the DPC system in the future. In addition, we prepare statements of medical expenses (receipts) for expenses related to the medical care covered by health insurance in order to submit invoices of our expenses to screening centers for medical bills.

DPC data are composed of information from medical records and statements of medical expenses, and receipt data are composed of information on medical institutions, insurers, medical practices, medications, specified equipment, and other information.

By utilizing DPC data and receipt data, it is expected that the quality of medical care provided to patients will be improved and its efficient operation will be realized. For this purpose, the Hospital anonymizes these data to produce anonymously processed information and continuously provides said information to third parties. The anonymously processed information prepared and provided to a third party includes information on DPC data and receipt data. This set of information does not include the patient's name, address, or telephone number.

The Hospital prepares the anonymously processed information described above from various medical information and continuously provides it to third parties. Specific information prepared and provided to a third party is as follows.

Information contained in anonymously processed information provided to a third party that relates to individuals

1. DPC data (E file, F file, Form 1, D file)
2. Outpatient data in the E and F file formats
3. Electronic receipts (medical and DPC)

The name, address, and telephone number of an individual are not included. Information on the date of birth, postal code, and various insurance certificates are converted as follows.

• Date of birth: Converted to the birth month and year, and the patient’s age at time of hospitalization
• Postal code: Converted to the first three digits only (The last four digits are deleted.)
• Information on insurance certificates: Converted to the insurer number (*) only.

*The insurer number refers to the number assigned to the entity that operates the health insurance business.

How we provide anonymously processed information

After being encrypted, the anonymously processed information is uploaded to a server operated and managed by the receiving end, or mailed in the form of an external recording medium.

Security management of anonymously processed information

The anonymously processed information is deleted immediately after it is provided to a third party. The anonymously processed information is not stored or used by the Hospital.