HIPAA-Privacy-Practices

This summary is provided to assist you in understanding the attached Notice of Privacy Practices

The attached Notice of Privacy Practices contains a detailed description of how our office will protect your health information, your rights as a patient and our common practices in dealing with patient health information.  Please refer to that Notice for further information.

Uses and Disclosures of Health Information. We will use and disclose your health information in order to treat you or to assist other health care providers in treating you.  We will also use and disclose your health  information  in  order  to  obtain payment for our services or to allow insurance companies to process insurance claims for services rendered to you by us or other health care providers.  Finally, we may disclose your health information for certain limited operational activities such as quality assessment, licensing, accreditation and training of students.

Uses and Disclosures Based on Your Authorization. Except as stated in more detail in the Notice of Privacy Practices, we will not use or disclose your health information without your written authorization.

Uses and Disclosures Not Requiring Your Authorization. In the following circumstances, we may disclose your health information without your written authorization:

•     To family members or close friends who are involved in your health care;

•     For certain limited research purposes;

•     For purposes of public health and safety;

•     To Government agencies for purposes of their audits, investigations and other oversight activities;

•     To  government  authorities  to  prevent child abuse or domestic violence;

•     To the FDA to report product defects or incidents;

•     To   law   enforcement    authorities   to protect public safety or to assist in apprehending criminal offenders;

•     When required by court orders, search warrants, subpoenas and as otherwise required by the law.

P atient  Rights. As  our  patient,  you have the following rights:

•     To have access to and/or a copy of your health information;

•     To  receive  an  accounting  of  certain disclosures we have made of your health information;

•     To request restrictions as to how  your health information is used or disclosed;

•     To  request  that  we  communicate  with you in confidence;

•     To request that we amend  your health information;

•     To   receive   notice   of   our   privacy practices.

If you have a question, concern or complaint regarding our privacy practices, please   refer   to   the   attached   Notice   of Privacy Practices for the person or persons whom you may contact.

N OTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

T HIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION.

P LE ASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.  THE PRIVACY OF YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION IS IMPORTANT TO US.

We are required by applicable federal and state laws to maintain the privacy of your protected health information.  We are also required to give you this notice about our privacy practices, our legal duties, and your rights concerning your protected health information. We must follow the privacy practices that are described in this notice while t is in effect. This notice takes effect 9/23/13 and will remain in effect until we replace it.

We  reserve  the  right  to  change  our  privacy practices and the terms of this notice at any time, provided that such changes are permitted by applicable law.  We reserve the right to make the changes in our privacy practices and the new terms of our notice effective for all protected health information that we maintain, including medical information we created or received before we made the changes.

You may request a copy of our notice (or any subsequent revised notice) at any time.   For more information about our privacy practices, or for additional copies of this notice, please contact us using the information listed at the end of this notice.

Us es and Disclosures of Protected

Health Information

We will use and disclose your protected health information about you for treatment, payment, and health care operations.

Following are examples of the types of uses and disclosures of your protected health care information that may occur. These examples are not meant to be exhaustive, but to describe the types of uses and disclosures that may be made by our office.

T reatment: We will use and disclose your protected health information to provide, coordinate or manage your health care and any related services. This includes  the  coordination  or  management  of  your health care with a third party. For example, we would disclose  your  protected  health  information,  as necessary, to a home health agency that provides care to you. We will also disclose protected health information to other physicians who may be treating you. For example, your protected health information may be provided to a physician to  whom you have been referred to ensure that the physician has the necessary information to diagnose or treat you.

In addition, we may disclose your protected health information from time to time to another physician or health care provider (e.g., a specialist or laboratory) who,  at  the  request  of   your  physician,  becomes involved in your care by providing assistance with your health care diagnosis or treatment to your physician.

Pa y m ent: Your protected health information will be used, as needed, to obtain payment for your health care services. This may include certain activities that your health insurance plan may undertake before it approves or pays for the health care services we recommend for you, such as: making a determination of eligibility or coverage for insurance benefits, reviewing services provided to you for protected health necessity, and undertaking utilization review activities. For  example, obtaining approval for  a  hospital stay may require that your relevant protected health information be disclosed to the health plan to obtain approval for the hospital admission.

H ealth   Care   Operations: We   may   use   or disclose, as needed, your protected health information in order to conduct certain business and operational activities. These activities include, but are not limited to, quality assessment activities, employee review activities,  training  of  students,  licensing,  and conducting or arranging for other business activities.

We will share your protected health information with third party “business associates” that perform various activities (e.g., billing, transcription services) for the practice. Whenever an arrangement between our office and a business associate involves the use or disclosure  of  your  protected  health  information,  we will have a written contract that contains terms that will protect  the  privacy  of  your  protected  health information.

Sale of Health Information: We will not sell or exchange your health information for any type of financial remuneration without your written authorization.

F undraising Communications: We may use or disclose your health information for fundraising purposes, but you have the right to opt-out from receiving these communications.

Uses and Disclosures Based On Your Written Authorization: Other uses and disclosures of your protected health information will be made only with your authorization, unless otherwise permitted or required by law as described below.

You may give us written authorization to use your protected health information or to disclose it to anyone for any purpose.  If you give us an authorization, you may revoke it in writing at any time.  Your revocation will not affect any use or disclosures permitted by your authorization while it was in effect.   Without your written authorization, we will not disclose your health care information except as described in this notice.

Ot hers Involved in Your Health Care: Unless you object, we may disclose to a member of your family, a relative, a close friend or any other person you identify, your protected health information that directly relates to that person’s involvement in your health care. If you are unable to agree or object to such a disclosure, we may disclose such information as necessary if we determine that it is in your best interest based on our professional judgment. We may use or disclose protected health information to notify or assist in notifying a family member, personal representative or any other person that is responsible for your care of your location, general condition or death.

M a rketing: We may use your protected health information to contact you with information about treatment alternatives that may be of interest to you. We may disclose your protected health information to a business associate to assist us in these activities.  If we are paid by a third party to make marketing communications   to   you   about   their   products   or services, we will not  make such communications to you without your written authorization.   Except as stated above, no other marketing communications will be sent to you without your authorization.

Research; Death; Organ Donation: We may use or disclose your protected health information for research purposes in limited circumstances.   We may disclose the protected health information of a deceased person to a coroner, protected health examiner, funeral director or organ procurement organization for certain purposes.

P ublic Health and Safety: We may disclose your protected health information to the extent necessary to avert a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety, or the health or safety of others.   We may disclose your protected health information to a government agency authorized to oversee the health care system or government programs or its contractors, and to public health authorities for public health purposes.

H ealth Oversight: We may disclose protected health information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law, such as audits, investigations and inspections. Oversight agencies seeking this information include government agencies that oversee the health care system, government benefit programs, other government regulatory programs and civil rights laws.

Abuse   or   Neglect: We   may   disclose   your protected   health   information   to   a   public   health authority that is authorized by law to receive reports of child abuse or neglect. In addition, we may disclose your protected health information if  we believe that you have been a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence to the governmental entity or agency authorized to receive such information. In this case, the disclosure  will  be  made  consistent  with  the requirements of applicable federal and state laws.

Foo d  and  Drug  Administration: We  may disclose your protected health information to a person or company required by the Food and Drug Administration   to   report   adverse   events,   product defects or problems, biologic product deviations, to track  products;  to  enable  product  recalls;  to  make  repairs or replacements; or to conduct post marketing surveillance, as required.

Criminal Activity: Consistent with applicable federal and state laws, we may disclose your protected health information, if we believe that the use or disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public. We may also disclose protected health information if it is necessary for law enforcement authorities to identify or apprehend an individual.

Required by Law: We may use or disclose your protected health information when we are required to do so by law.  For example, we must disclose your protected health information to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services upon request for purposes of determining whether we are in compliance with federal privacy laws.  We may disclose your protected health information when authorized by workers’ compensation or similar laws.

P rocess and Proceedings: We may disclose your protected health information in response to a court or administrative order, subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process, under certain circumstances. Under limited circumstances, such as a court order, warrant or grand jury subpoena, we may disclose your protected health information to law enforcement officials.

L a w Enforcement: We may disclose limited information to a law enforcement official concerning the protected health information of a suspect, fugitive, material witness, crime victim or missing person.   We may disclose the protected health information of an inmate or other person in lawful custody to a law enforcement official or correctional institution under certain circumstances.   We may disclose protected health information where necessary to assist law enforcement officials to capture an individual who has admitted to  participation in  a  crime or  has  escaped from lawful custody.

P a tient Rights

Access: You  have  the  right  to  look  at  or  get copies  of  your  protected  health  information,  with limited exceptions. You must make a request in writing to the contact person listed herein to obtain access to your  protected  health  information.  You  may  also request access by sending us a letter to the address at the end of this notice.  If you request copies, we will charge you 25 ¢ for each page, $15.00 per hour for staff time to locate and copy your protected health information, and postage if you want the copies mailed to you. If the Practice keeps your health information in electronic form, you may request that we send it to you or another party in electronic form.  If you prefer, we will prepare a summary or an explanation of your protected health information for a fee. Contact us using the information listed at the end of this notice for a full explanation of our fee structure.

Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to receive a list of instances in which we or our business associates disclosed your non-electronic protected health information for purposes other than treatment, payment, health care operations and certain other activities during the past six (6) years.  For disclosures of electronic health information, our duty to provide an accounting  only  covers  disclosures  after  January 1,

2011 [January 1, 2014] and only applies to disclosures for the three (3) years preceding your request. We will provide you with the date on which we made the disclosure, the name of the person or entity to whom we disclosed your protected health information, a description of the protected health information we disclosed, the  reason for  the  disclosure, and  certain other information.   If you request this list more than once in a 12-month period, we may charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee for responding to these additional requests.  Contact us using the information listed at the end of this notice for a full explanation of our fee structure.

Restriction Requests: You have the right to request that we place additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your protected health information. Except as noted herein, we are not required to agree to these additional restrictions, but if we do, we will abide by our agreement (except in an emergency).  We are required to accept and follow requests for restrictions of health information to insurance companies if you have paid out-of-pocket and in full for the item or service we provide to you.  Any agreement we may make to a request for additional restrictions must be in writing signed by a person authorized to make such an agreement on our behalf.  We will not be bound unless our agreement is so memorialized in writing.

Confidential  Communication: You  have  the right to request that we communicate with you in confidence about your protected health information by alternative means or to an alternative location.   You must make your request in writing. We must accommodate your request if it is reasonable, specifies the alternative means or location, and continues to permit us to bill and collect payment from you.

A m endment: You have the right to request that we amend your protected health information.  Your request must be in writing, and it must explain why the information should be amended.   We may deny your request if we did not create the information you want amended or for certain other reasons.  If we deny your request,  we  will  provide  you  a  written explanation. You may respond with a statement of disagreement to be appended to the information you wanted amended. If we accept your request to amend the information, we will  make  reasonable  efforts  to  inform  others, including people or entities you name, of the amendment and to include the changes in any future disclosures of that information.

E lectronic Notice: If you receive this notice on our website or by electronic mail (e-mail),  you  are entitle to receive this notice in written form.  Please contact us using the information listed at the end of this notice to obtain this notice in written form.

Notice of Unauthorized Disclosures: If the Practice causes or allows your health information to be disclosed to an unauthorized person, the Practice will notify you of this and help you mitigate the effects.