Notice of Privacy Practices
This notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully.
Uses and Disclosures: We will use and disclose elements of your protected health information (PHI) in the following ways:
Without Your Signed Authorization:
For treatment, payment and health care operations
Example for treatment: Your physician refers you to a specialty doctor for continuing treatment. Your physician may send your medical records to the referring physician to help in the treatment plan for your condition.
Example for payment: A bill may be sent to a third party payer. The information on the bill may include information that identifies you, as well as your diagnosis, the procedures and supplies used.
Example for healthcare operations: Members of the medical staff, the Risk Manager, Quality Improvement Manager, or other quality improvement team member may use your health information to assess the care and outcome in your case and others like it. This information will then be used in an effort to continually improve the quality and effectiveness of the healthcare services that we provide. Another way we may use your health information is to conduct or arrange for a medical review, legal services or for an audit for compliance training.
When a release is required by law, including judicial proceedings, health oversight regulatory agencies and law enforcement
To medical examiners, coroners, funeral directors and research
In an emergency situation or to avert a serious threat to health or safety
To organ, tissue or other donation organizations if there is no indication in your record on how to harvest your organs
Under certain circumstances, we may use and disclose limited medical information about you for research or quality improvement purposes within our organization. For example, clinicians may request our clinical research staff to review your medical information to see if you would be eligible for a study.
To worker’s compensation and other programs providing benefits for work-related injuries or illnesses
Any other use or disclosure of protected health information not listed above will be made only with the individual’s written authorization. The individual has the right to revoke such authorization at any time.
Special Cases:
Appointment Reminders: We may contact you by paper, phone, or leave a message to remind you of an upcoming appointment or that your due for preventative service, or request that you call the office.
Treatment Alternatives: We may use or disclose your medical information to tell you about or recommend treatment options or alternatives.
Health-Related Benefits and Services: We may use your medical information to contact you and offer other health-related services or medical education that may be of interest to you.
Your Rights:
You have the following rights concerning your protected health information (PHI):
Request restricted access to all or part of your information. We are not required to grant all of your requests.
Request restricted access not to share treatment information with your insurance if you paid the health care organization in full.
To receive correspondence of confidential information by alternate means or location (Example: records to be mailed to a work address instead of the home address).
To inspect or receive copies of your protected health information. A processing fee for copies may apply.
To request changes to be made to your protected health information.
To receive an accounting of the disclosures by us of your protected health information in the six years prior to your request.
To get updates or reissue of this notice, at your request
The individual will submit all requests in writing to the health care organization
Healthcare Organization:
This organization is required to:
Maintain the privacy of your protected health information
Provide you with a notice as to our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to information we collect and maintain about you
Abide by the terms of the notice currently in effect
Notify you if we are unable to agree to a requested restriction
Accommodate reasonable requests you may have to communicate health information by alternative means
Notify you of a breach involving your unsecured protected health information (PHI)
We reserve the right to change our practices and to make the new provisions effective for all protected health information we maintain. Should our information practices change, we will provide you the revised notice.
We will not use or disclose your protected health information without your authorization, except as described in this notice.