Media Guidelines and Contacts
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Our media relations team is here to support inquiries about St. Luke’s hospitals, clinics, providers, patients, programs, and national health care topics. We aim to make access to our facilities and expert staff easy and efficient—while ensuring full compliance with HIPAA and American Hospital Association guidelines.
We’re also available to coordinate interviews with our experts on a wide range of topics, including cancer, children’s health, clinical research, diabetes, heart health, lifestyle medicine, men’s and women’s health, orthopedics, and primary care.
Media Guidelines
St. Luke’s is happy to work with media partners, while still focusing on our top priority: protecting patient privacy and private health information. We follow the privacy requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. Patients must give specific authorization for the disclosure of their protected health information. News media must adhere to the following guidelines:
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- Media escorts: All media will be accompanied and escorted by a member of the media relations team or an appropriate St. Luke’s representative at all times while on St. Luke’s property. Please arrange for an escort before arriving on campus.
- Interviews: All requests for St. Luke’s patient, physician and staff interviews must be coordinated through the St. Luke’s media relations team. This includes media requests made directly by a patient or a patient’s family or representative.
- Photographs, video and audio recordings: All photography, video and audio recordings must be coordinated through the St. Luke’s media relations team.
- Release of patient information to the media: Certain limited information can be released about patients if they are not listed as a privacy patient, and if the inquiry specifically contains the patient’s name. Written consent by the patient is required to release any additional information about a patient’s medical treatment or condition. The media relations team will work to support media requests in a timely manner.
- Disaster/crisis: If a disaster or major crisis occurs, patient care is the first priority. Recognizing urgency and deadlines, we will work with the media to provide up-to-date information and accommodate requests as soon as possible.
Media Contacts
- Office phone: (208) 814-0015
- Email: [email protected]
- After hours: (208) 814-1000; ask for the Magic Valley administrative supervisor
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Additional Resources
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More on Disaster Guidelines
Patient care is our first priority in the event of a disaster or major crisis. St. Luke’s public relations team will work with the media to provide up-to-date information and accommodate requests as soon as possible.
All media requests for information and interviews must be made to St. Luke’s public relations team. All members of the media on St. Luke’s property must be accompanied and escorted at all times by a member of the public relations team or an appropriate St. Luke’s representative. Please arrange for an escort before arriving on campus.
When Reporting to a St. Luke’s Facility
- All members of the media are required to check in with St. Luke’s public relations team representative and show media identification or identify the media outlet they represent.
- A St. Luke’s public relations representative will escort media personnel to a designated media staging area. Media personnel will be given identification to fill out and wear at all times while on St. Luke’s premises, if they do not have a picture identification badge from their own organization.
- A member of the St. Luke’s public relations staff will act as official hospital spokesperson, unless a specific subject matter expert is necessary, in which case, an appropriate spokesperson will be designated by St. Luke’s.
- The St. Luke’s public relations staff will release information in scheduled intervals or as news occurs. Information will be distributed to media personnel verbally, in print and/or email. Updates will also be posted on the St. Luke’s website.
- To expedite access and information flow, media personnel will be asked to remain in the designated media staging location at all times, except for meals and personal necessity, unless escorted by a St. Luke’s media relations representative to pre-approved interview locations.
- Media personnel who attempt to circumvent the designated process by obtaining unauthorized interviews, unauthorized filming of patients or employees, or by releasing directly-related information not confirmed by St. Luke’s public relations staff will be asked to leave the media staging area and St. Luke’s property.
- St. Luke's adheres to HIPAA regulations and the American Hospital Association Guidelines for release of information.
More on Release of Patient Information
HIPAA and Idaho law generally prevent the hospital, physicians, and other health care providers from disclosing any “protected health information” about a patient without the patient’s prior consent. “Protected health information” includes any information about a patient’s health, health care or payment, including the patient’s condition, treatment or facts giving rise to the their health care.
- HIPAA does allow the hospital to disclose to the media certain limited information from the hospital’s directory unless the patient objects. [45 C.F.R. § 164.510(a).] Under this limited exception, the hospital may only disclose the following information if the media representative asks for the patient by first and last name:
- Whether the patient is in the hospital. Although the hospital can disclose whether the person is a patient at the hospital, it cannot disclose to the media where the patient is located in the hospital.
A description of the patient’s general condition, e.g., whether the patient’s condition is “undetermined,” “good,” “critical,” or the patient has been “treated and released.” The hospital may not disclose any specific medical information about the patient. [45 C.F.R. § 164.510(a)(1)(C).]
The hospital may not provide this information if the patient has objected to such disclosures or if the hospital determines that it is not in the best interests of the patient to disclose the information.