Hospital Facilities Policies – N.M. Code R. § 7.7.2.19

Policies

These requirements apply to all licensed public and private hospital facilities in New Mexico. Each hospital must have written policies regarding patient’s rights and responsibilities. The following requirements must be included in the written policies:

• Patients must not be denied care because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, or disability, among others;
• All patient medical records must be kept confidential;
• All medical records must be made available to patients and other authorized individuals, except for psychiatric records, which may be limited to treating professionals;
• All patients must be informed about who is responsible for their treatment;
• All patients and other authorized individuals must be informed about the patient’s status and course of treatment;
• All patients and other authorized individuals must be able to participate in the patient’s own treatment plan;
• All patients and other authorized individuals must be given the patient’s rights and responsibilities information when admitted for treatment;
• A patient’s consent must be obtained prior to the performance of any treatment;
• All patients may refuse treatment and must receive informed consent upon refusal;
• If research or experimentation is to occur, the patient must provide informed consent prior to participating;
• A patient may be transferred to another facility only after a full explanation for the transfer is provided, except in emergency situations;
• All patients must be provided with information stating the hospital’s policy for patient complaints;
• All patients have the freedom from physical or verbal abuse.

All hospitals must report all malignant neoplasms that are diagnosed by the hospital to the tumor registry. The report must be submitted to the University of New Mexico tumor registry within 6 months of the diagnosis.

A policy for compliance with all applicable state and federal reporting requirements must be adopted and updated as necessary; such federal requirements include, but are not limited to, the New Mexico Health Policy Commission, the National Practitioner Data Bank, and the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank.