Media Guide
Media Representative
The media specialist can be contacted directly at 904-244-3268
to schedule access on campus, media interviews with a UF Health Jacksonville patient,
physician or employee during business hours from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For weekend
and evening inquiries, call the hospital's main number, 904-244-0411, and ask
to speak to the media representative on call.
Patient Conditions
In order to obtain a condition on a UF Health Jacksonville patient, call the Media
Line at 904-244-3268 and someone from the public relations department will be
able to assist you. If you leave a voice mail message, please leave your name, media
organization, phone number and first and last name of the patient.
Hospitals and health systems are responsible for protecting the privacy and confidentiality
of their patients and patient information. The Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) mandates regulations that govern privacy standards
for healthcare information.
UF Health Jacksonville provides all patients upon admission an option regarding inclusion
in our facility patient directory as required by federal law. Patients will be asked
in the admission/registration process if they would like to opt out of the facility
patient directory.
- If a patient chooses to opt out of the directory, no patient condition can be provided.
- If a patient chooses not to opt out of the directory, only a one-word condition
will be provided when the condition of an individual is requested. The correct first
and last name must be provided by the media agency in order to expedite condition
information. Patients must give written permission to be interviewed, photographed
or for issuing written statements about his/her condition.
- This HIPAA patient privacy law will delay your request for conditions on patients
arriving in our trauma center and emergency department as a patient must first be
approached about whether or not they wish to opt out of our facility patient directory
upon admission as stated above.
A patient's condition should be given as good, fair, serious or critical.
- Good - Vital signs are stable and within normal limits. Patient
is conscious and comfortable. Indicators are excellent.
- Fair - Vital signs are stable and within normal limits. Patient
is conscious but may be uncomfortable. Indicators are favorable.
- Serious - Vital signs are unstable and not within normal limits.
Patient is acutely ill. Indicators are questionable.
- Critical - Vital signs are unstable and not within normal limits.
Patient may be unconscious. Indicators are unfavorable.
- Undetermined - Patients who are still being assessed or who have
not yet been seen by a physician.
Release of Patient Information
Patients of public record are those patients whose cases include information reported
by public authorities like the police, patients who have been placed under arrest,
or any person brought to the hospital by the fire department or any law enforcement
agency. Prisoners are not considered public record patients.
- The media must have the patient's correct first and last name before any information
can be released. Only a one-word condition will be released. HIPAA regulations apply.
- Requests for information on circumstances or incidents resulting in a patient's
hospitalization will not be provided by the hospital and will be referred to the
appropriate public authority.
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