Policies

Medical care. You have the right to quality care and treatment. Your care and your treatment will be consistent with available resources and generally accepted standards. These standards include:

• Timely access to specialty care
• Pain assessment and management

Respectful treatment. You have the right to considerate and respectful care. This includes recognition of your:

• Personal dignity
• Psychosocial, spiritual, and cultural values
• Belief systems

Privacy and security. You have rights to reasonable safeguards for your protected health information, including its:

• Confidentiality
• Integrity
• Availability

Both federal law and regulation govern your rights. You also have similar rights for other personally identifiable information. This applies to electronic, written, and spoken form. These rights include your right to be informed—to the extent required by federal law and regulation—when privacy breaches happen.

Confidentiality limits. Sometimes your provider must report sensitive disclosures that you make. These sensitive disclosures include:

• Sexual assault or harassment
• Domestic violence
• Substance misuse or abuse
• Intent to harm yourself or others

To make a report, your provider doesn’t need your permission or consent. But they should tell you about these limits on confidentiality before you make a sensitive disclosure to them during your visit.
 
Provider information. You have the right to know your health care team. You can ask for their names and professional credentials.
 
Explanation of care. You have the right to a clear, easily understood explanation of your:

• Diagnosis
• Treatment options
• Procedures
• Prognosis

Your provider will consider the exact needs of a vulnerable person when developing a treatment plan. A vulnerable person is a person who:

• Has compromised decision-making
• Is otherwise unable to make medical treatment decisions

If your provider can’t give information to you, your provider will share it with a designated representative.
 
Informed consent. You have the right to necessary information—in non-clinical terms—to make informed decisions on:

• Consent or refusal for treatments
• Participation in clinical trials or other research investigations

This information must include:

• Any and all potential complications
• Risks
• Benefits
• Ethical issues
• Potential alternative treatments, as may be available

You can find information on TRICARE network covered services on the TRICARE website.
 
Research projects. You have the right to know if your military hospital or clinic wants to perform research that relates to your care or treatment. You can refuse to participate in a research project. And you can withdraw your consent for participation at any time.

You can also find information on cancer clinical trials on the TRICARE website.
 
Filing grievances. You have the right to:

• Make recommendations
• Ask questions
• File grievances

To do this, you can reach out to the patient relations representative or the Patient Relations Office. If your concerns aren’t resolved, you have the right to call The Joint Commission at 1-800-994-6610. You can also file a complaint online.
 
Safe environment. You have the right to care and treatment in a safe environment.
 
Military hospital or clinic rules and regulations. You have the right to be informed of rules and regulations that relate to patient or visitor conduct.
 
Transfer and continuity of care. When medically permissible, you may be transferred to another:

• Military hospital
• Military clinic
• Private sector facility/provider

When medically permissible, you may be transferred to another military hospital or clinic only after you’ve received complete information, an explanation about the need for the transfer, and any alternatives.
 
Charges for care. You have the right to understand the charges for your care and your obligation for payment.
 
Advance directive. You have the right to make your health care wishes known. This includes when you may be:

• Unable to communicate
• Unable to make decisions for yourself

Chaperones and standbys. You have the right to a chaperone or standby during physical exams and treatments. You can request a different chaperone or standby. For example, you can request someone of a different sex. When possible, military hospital or clinic staff will try to honor your request or help you reschedule your visit. You should keep in mind that there may be some emergency situations when urgency requires an exception to having a chaperone or standby present.

Maximize healthy habits. You should exercise, avoid smoking, and maintain a healthy diet.
 
Providing information. You’re responsible—to the best of your knowledge—for providing accurate, complete, and up-to-date information about your health. This includes:

• Complaints
• Past illnesses
• Hospitalizations
• Medications
• Other health matters

You should let your provider know if you understand your diagnosis, treatment plan, and prognosis. If not, let your provider know you have questions.
 
Respect and consideration. You’re responsible for being considerate of the rights of staff and others. You should respect the property of others and of the military hospital or clinic.
 
Adherence with medical and dental care. You’re responsible for following your medical and nursing treatment plan. This includes follow-up care that your provider recommends for you. You should:

• Keep your appointments
• Be on time
• Tell your provider in advance if you can’t keep your appointment

You’re responsible for your actions if you refuse treatment. You’re also responsible for your actions if you choose not to follow your provider’s instructions.
 
Medical records. You’re responsible for returning your medical records to the military hospital or clinic. Your records will be filed and maintained. Your medical records for care at a military hospital or clinic are the property of the U.S. government.
 
Military hospital and clinic rules and regulations. You’re responsible for following rules and regulations that affects patient care and conduct.
 
Refusal of treatment. You’re responsible for your actions if you refuse treatment. You’re also responsible for your actions if you don’t follow your provider’s instructions.
 
Health care charges. You’re responsible for promptly paying your health care charges.

• If you have other health insurance, you must tell the military hospital or clinic.

Follow the rules of your other health insurance. This includes referral and authorization rules.

Call the medical center for specific ward visiting hours and information.
Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center: 800-393-0865

If you’re a member of the religious community, we encourage you to visit patients who belong to your church or religious group. However, you’re not allowed to do general visitation by going from bed to bed, ward to ward, or unit to unit.

You may bring small amounts of candy, fruit, and other food items if the nursing staff says they are appropriate for a patient's diet. You may not bring fresh fruit and flowers to patients who are receiving critical care, and you can’t eat or drink in those units.

You must follow hand-hygiene policy guidelines, which require you to practice good hand hygiene when you enter and exit patient rooms, and at other times as directed by staff.

You must follow guidelines on infection-control signs and report to the nurses' station for instructions before you enter a patient's room.

If you have a communicable disease, you won't be allowed to visit patients inside the medical center.

You're not allowed to bring weapons, cameras, or other prohibited items into the medical center, except when you're conducting official business authorized by the Director or their designee. If you have questions about what qualifies as official business, please contact the facility's Director.

Our staff may ask you to leave the room when they’re caring for patients. If a staff member asks you to leave a patient's room, you may continue your visit in the day room, waiting area, or any other public area of the facility.

Relatives and friends may visit patients who are seriously ill or in hospice care at any time of day, unless the staff doctor says no.

In general, you won't be allowed to visit patients who are in restraints. If the treatment team decides that your visit could have a positive effect on the patient, then you may have a supervised visit with the patient when a staff member removes the restraints. Our staff will document how the patient responds to you and other visitors.

In extreme circumstances, children under 12 may visit with the permission of the physician and the charge nurse. An adult must accompany children at all times.

Children under the age of 16 may visit patients in psychiatric units with the doctor’s permission.

Our doctors may limit, restrict, or deny visits for the medical well-being of a patient.  We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. 

You can't bring weapons, alcohol, or illegal drugs into the building.  Because the VA medical center is federal property, all visitors and bags may be searched.  

The Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center has a police service. Our officers provide 24-hour patrols of the facility and parking lots.

• For emergencies, please call 911.
• For non-emergencies, please call 224-610-3703 for the Lovell Federal health care police (24 hrs).

Report all suspicious or criminal activity, vehicle accidents, and personal property losses to the VA Police while on the facility grounds as soon as possible. The medical center is federal property, and therefore all persons and bags are subject to search. In addition, weapons, alcohol, and illegal drugs are not permitted.

The medical center respects the patient's right to make decisions about his or her care, treatment and services, and to involve the patient's family in care, treatment, and services decisions to the extent permitted by the patient or surrogate decision-maker. 

"Family" is defined as a group of two or more persons united by blood, or adoptive, marital, domestic partnership, or other legal ties. The family may also be a person or persons not legally related to the individual (such as significant other, friend or caregiver) whom the individual considers to be family. A family member may be the surrogate decision-maker, as defined in VHA Handbook 1004.02, if authorized to make care decisions for the individual, should he or she lose decision-making capacity or choose to delegate decision making to another. 

The medical center allows a family member, friend or other individual to be present with the patient for emotional support during the course of their stay. The medical center allows for the presence of a support individual of the patient's choice, unless the individual's presence infringes on others’ rights or safety, or is medically or therapeutically contraindicated. The individual may or may not be the patient's surrogate decision-maker or legally authorized representative. 

The hospital prohibits discrimination based on age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, language, physical or mental disability, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression.

Visit the Joint Commission page to report concerns you have about the quality of patient care.