Vendors - Patient Privacy

Dear Steward Vendor,

The mission of Steward Health Care System LLC (Steward) is to serve the needs of our communities by delivering the highest quality care with compassion and respect. We accomplish this mission in an environment governed by complex local, state and federal rules and regulations.

Steward is committed to behaving and doing business honestly, responsibly and in accordance with laws and regulations. As a Steward vendor, you are an important part of our commitment to ethical and legal business practices and prevention of violations of federal and state, fraud, waste, and abuse laws.

As part of doing business with Steward, please review and abide by the information provided below.

Code of Conduct
As a Steward Vendor, you are required to abide by the Steward Code of Conduct. The Code provides general guidance and outlines expectations with respect to compliance standards and ethical business operations. A copy of the Code is here.

Key Compliance Laws
Please review and consider the ‘Overview of Key Health Care Laws’ provided that describes a few of the key laws that often govern the relationship between Steward, its vendors, Steward clinicians and patients.

Patient Privacy
As a health care provider, many of the services, functions or activities vendors provide involve the access, use or disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI). In addition, even vendors who do not perform activities or services directly using PHI may interact with patients or PHI in the course of performing work for Steward. These are considered ‘incidental’ uses and disclosure. Please review and consider the ‘Overview of Key Privacy Concepts’ to ensure our patients’ privacy is protected. 

If you are a business associate of Steward, you are also obligated to follow the requirements set forth within your agreement with Steward.

Should you have any questions about the information provided, please contact your Steward Business Owner for further discussion. 

Thank you,
Steward Health Care
Office of Corporate Compliance and Privacy