Patient Rights and Responsibilities

UHS is dedicated to your health.

Our staff values your active participation in your health care and encourages you to exercise your rights and responsibilities.

As a patient, you have the right to: 

Access to Respectful Care

Health care providers listen to and honor patient and family perspectives and choices. Patient and family knowledge, values, beliefs, and cultural backgrounds are incorporated into the planning and delivery of care.

You will receive necessary care regardless of your:

  • Race
  • Sex, gender identity, and gender expression
  • Color
  • Religion or creed
  • National origin or ancestry
  • Age
  • Marital status
  • Sexual orientation
  • Disability
  • Height or weight
  • Veteran status 

As a Patient at UHS, You Have the Right to:

  • Receive reasonable accommodations if you are a person with special needs.
  • Receive reasonable accommodations for your religious practices.
  • Receive considerate and respectful care in a smoke-free environment.
  • Give or refuse consent for recordings, photographs, films or other images to be produced, unless it is for identification, diagnosis or treatment.
  • Receive supportive and useful information, including time relevant exposures that may occur, including COVID-19, in accordance to state and local requirements, or the organization's polices.
  • Speak alone with anyone you wish unless your health care provider determines it is not in your best medical interest.
  • Accept or refuse visits from anyone you choose unless the visitor’s presence compromises your or others’ rights, safety, or health. This includes family members, a spouse, a domestic partner (including a same-sex domestic partner) or any other type of visitor. You have the right to withdraw (cancel) a consent to visitation at any time. If the patient is a minor, it is the parents or legal guardians who have this right. 
  • Receive proper assessment and management of pain.
  • Give or refuse consent for recordings, photographs, films, or other image to be produced, unless it is for identification, diagnosis, or treatment. 
  • Be free from restraint of any form of seclusion that is not medically necessary.
  • Be free from coercion (intimidation), unwarranted discipline, or retaliation by staff.  
  • Be free from mental, physical, sexual, and verbal abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
  • Have privacy. Information regarding examination, treatment, and discussion will be kept confidential. An exception may be made when doing so might result in physical harm to you or someone else. 
  • Respect other people's privacy, therefore cell phones and other technology items, may have the capability video/record.  Hence, unless expressed permission is obtained from UHS, no recording or video recording is allowed throughout the Health Service. 
  • Approve or refuse release of records, except when required by law. You have the right to access your health record, request an amendment to the record, or obtain copies. 
  • Receive marketing and advertising materials that appropriately present the competency or capabilities of UHS.

Involvement in Care Decisions

UHS patients and families are encouraged to participate in the care and the decision-making at the level with which they are comfortable. As such, patients can: 

  • Receive information about your diagnosis, health status, condition, treatment, prognosis, and unanticipated outcomes of care.
  • Know who is taking care of you and their professional titles. 
  • Receive education about safe use of medications, medical equipment, potential food-drug interactions and counseling on nutrition and modified diets.
  • Be involved in the planning, completion and review of your plan of care, including pain management and your plan of care for after you leave UHS. 
  • Receive the information needed to consent to a treatment, including the potential risks and benefits of that treatment. 
  • Refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law. It is our responsibility to discuss with you the possible results of your refusal.
  • Participate in health care decisions and have UHS provide you with information on advance directives and comply with your wishes in accordance with the law. 
  • Request treatment. However, your right to make decisions about health care does not mean you can demand treatment or services that are not medically necessary or appropriate.
  • Receive information about research procedures that we suggest as part of your care. You have the right to refuse to participate in research without risking your access to continuing care.

Your Medical Records

Patients are notified of any time-relevant COVID-19 exposure within the facility in accordance with state and local requirements (if any) and with the organization’s policies for infection prevention and control. Our health care providers communicate and share information with patients and families in ways that are supportive and useful. In addition, you can:

  • See your medical record at a time suitable for both you and the staff. After discharge you may request and obtain a copy of your medical record for a reasonable fee. To request a copy of your medical record, call the Release of Information Unit at 734-936-3275.
  • Request changes to your protected health information (PHI). You have the right to ask that your information not be given out. To make this request, contact the Release of Information Unit at 734-936-3275.
  • Expect confidentiality, privacy, and security of your records, both personal and medical. We may use or disclose PHI without your permission as described in our Notice of Privacy Practices, for example, to coordinate your care or submit a claim to your insurance company. 
  • Have a variety of other rights related to your medical records that are explained in Michigan Medicine Notice of Privacy Practices. You may obtain a copy of the Notice of Privacy Practices at www.uhs.umich.edu/article/confidentiality

Concerns About Billing or Your Ability to Pay

  • You can request an explanation about all items on your bill. If you have a question about billing, insurance, or financial assistance, call 734-764-7380.

Concerns About Care or Service

UHS values collaboration among patients, family members, and providers. We listen to our patients and families to let us know how we can improve. It is our aim to provide our patients and families with health care information in a manner and form that you can understand. We want you to be safe and receive the best medical care that we can provide. We also want to hear from you about what went well, or what could have been improved about your care while at UHS. We encourage our patients and families to:

  • Express any concerns you may have regarding your care or service. We encourage you to inform your health care team of any specific needs you have and to communicate concerns or compliments to the individuals or department involved.
  • Speak up to identify uncomfortable situations or confusion about the care provided or planned, or if you have any safety concerns. Legal guardians and visitors also have this right. 

As a Patient, You Have the Responsibility to:

  • Provide a complete and accurate medical history. This history should include all prescribed, over-the-counter medications, and supplements that you are taking.
  • Tell us about all treatments and interventions you are receiving.
  • Follow the suggestions and advice your health care providers prescribe in a course of treatment. If your refusal of treatment prevents us from providing appropriate care according to ethical and professional standards, we may need to end our relationship with you after giving you reasonable notice.
  • Be considerate of the rights of other patients and UHS personnel and property.
  • To adhere to COVID-19 related policies and procedures, which may include directions provided by staff.
  • Make appointments and arrive on time. You must call in advance when you cannot keep a scheduled appointment. Cancellations or missed appointments may result in administrative charges and or loss of patient privileges. 
  • Provide information regarding your health insurance coverage and promptly pay bills for services received at UHS.

UHS is a diverse place that endorses a culture of equity and inclusion. In order to reinforce these values, UHS does not tolerate harassment, discrimination, or abusive behavior. UHS does not assign staff to patients on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, height, weight, or veteran status of either the patient or staff. A patient’s preference based on stereotyped characterizations shall not be honored. However, accommodations can be made for legitimate bodily privacy concerns.

Ways to Give Feedback:

  • Online: www.uhs.umich.edu/contact
  • On paper: “Comments Please!” forms
  • By phone: 734-764-8320
  • By e-mail: [email protected] (note e-mail is not secure)
  • File a complaint with any of the following organizations regardless of whether your concern is resolved to your satisfaction by UHS:

Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA)
Bureau of Community and Health Systems 
P.O. Box 30664
Lansing, MI 48909
800-882-6006 (toll-free)

Livanta
Medicare Quality of Care Complaints
BFCC-Q10 Program
10820 Guilford Road, Suite 202
Annapolis Junction, MD 20701-1105
888-524-9900 (toll-free)
Region 5: OH, IN, IL, MI, MN, WI