Client’s Rights and Responsibilities

We believe that clients who understand and participate in their treatment achieve better results. Please take a moment and familiarize yourself with your rights and responsibilities as a client.

You have the right to:

• Know the risks, benefits and alternatives to proposed treatments or procedures
• Choose the clinicians who will be providing care or treatment, as well as have information about them
• Receive information in easy to understand terms that will allow for an informed consent
• Privacy regarding medical care
• Participate in the plan of care, including your treatment plan, notifying your family or physician of admission and discharge planning
• Pain management
• Refuse care, treatment, and services in accordance with law and regulation
• Be informed about the outcomes of care, treatment, and services
• Receive information and communication in an understandable manner and preferred language including provision of interpreter and translation services
• Receive information and communication to accommodate vision, speech, hearing, or cognitive impairments.
• Formulate advanced directives and have staff and practitioners comply with those directives
• Reasonable responses to reasonable requests of service
• Leave the office against the advice of the clinician
• Examine and receive an explanation of the bill for services regardless of the source of payment
• Select providers of goods and services after discharge
• Receive a Notice of Privacy Practices
• Request privacy protection
• Access protected health information in a reasonable time frame
• Amend protected health information
• Request an accounting of disclosures of protected health information
• Be free from any forms of restraint or seclusion as a means of convenience, discipline, coercion, or retaliation
• The least restrictive restraint or seclusion should be used only when necessary to ensure client safety
• Care regardless of your race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, ability to pay or disability and any other legally prohibited reasons.
• Receive care in a safe and dignified environment, free from all forms of abuse, neglect, harassment and/or exploitation
• Protection and respect of your rights if you are participating in a human research clinical trial.
• Have a support person during care provided it does not interfere with the rights of other clients or the care process.

You have the responsibility to:

• Provide accurate and complete information concerning your present medical condition, past illnesses or hospitalization and any other matters concerning your health
• Follow the clinician’s instructions
• Tell your caregivers if you do not completely understand your plan of care

You also have the right to:

Lodge a concern with state and regulatory agencies, whether you have used the grievance process or not. If you have concerns regarding the quality of your care or coverage decisions, you may contact the following regulatory agencies via phone, fax or mail:

New York Office of the Professions
1411 Broadway 10th floor
New York, NY 10018
Conduct@nysed.gov
1-800-442-8106