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We care about our patients'
privacy and strive to protect the confidentiality
of your medical information at this practice.
New federal legislation requires that we
issue this official notice of our privacy
practices. You have the right to the confidnetiality
of your medical information, and this practice
is required by law to maintain the privacy
of that information.
Thsi practice is required
to abide by the terms of the Notice of Privacty
Practices currently in effect, and to provide
notice of its legal duties and privacy practices
with respect to protected health information.
If you have any questions about this Notice,
please contact the Privacy Officer of this
practice listed below:
TRACY SMITH, PRACTICE COORDINATOR
How We May Use
& Disclose Medical Information About
You
The following categories
describe different ways that we may use
and disclosed medical information without
your specific consent or authorization.
Examples are provided for each category
of uses or disclosures. Not all possible
uses or disclosures are listed.
For Treatment
We may use medical information
about you to provide you with medical treatment
or services. Example: In treating you for
a specific condition, we may need to know
if you have allergies that could influence
which medications we prescribe for the treatment
process.
For Payment
We may use and disclose
medical information about you so that the
treatment and services you receive from
us may be billed and payment may be collected
from you, an insurance company or a third
party. Example: We many need to send your
protected health information, such as you
name, address, office visit date and codes
identifying your diagnosis and treatment
to your insurance company.
For Health Care
Operations
We may use and disclose
medical information about you for health
care operations to assure that you receive
quality care. Example: We may use medical
information to review our treatment and
services and evaluate the performance of
our staff in caring for you.
Other Uses or Disclosure
That Can Be Made Without Your Consent or
Authorization
- As required during an investigation
by law enforcement agencies
- To avert a serious threat to public
health or safety
- As required by military command authorities
for their medical records
- To workers' compensation or similar
programs for processing of claims
- In response to a legal proceeding
- To a coroner or medical examiner for
identification of a body
- If an inmate, to the correctional institution
or law enforcement official
- As required by the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA)
- Other healthcare providers' treatment
activities
- Other covered entities' and providers'
payment activities
- Other cover entitites' healthcare operations
activities(to the extent permitted under
HIPAA)
- Uses and disclosures required by law.
- Uses and disclosures in domestic violence
or neglect sitiuations
- Health oversight activities
- Other public health activities
We may contact you to provide appointment
reminders or information about treatment
alternatives or other health-related benefits
and services that may be of interest to
you.
Uses and Disclosure of Protected
Health Information Requiring Your Written
Authorization
Other uses and disclosures
of medical information not covered by this
Notice or the laws that apply to us will
be made only with your written authorization.
If you give us authorization to use or disclose
medical information about you, you may revoke
that authorization, in writing, at any time.
If you revoke you authorization, we will
thereafter no longer use or disclose medical
information about you for the reasones covered
by your written authorization. We are unable
to take back any disclosures we have already
made with your authorization, and we are
required to retain our records of the care
we have provided you.
Click
here to read your Individual Rights regarding
this Privacy Policy.
Who Will Follow This
Notice
Any health care professional
authorized to enter information into your
medical record, all employees, staff and
other personnel at this practice who may
need access to your information must abide
by this Notice. All subsidiaries, business
associates (e.g. a billing service), sites
and locations of this practice may share
medical information with each other for
treatment, payment purposes or health care
operations described in this Notice. Except
where treatment is involved, only minimum
necessary information needed to accomplish
the task will be shared.
Changes To This Notice
We reserve the right to
change this Notice. We reserve the right
to make the revised or changed Notice effective
for medical information we already have
about you as well as any information we
receive in the future. We will post a copy
of the current Notice, with the effective
date on the posted copy.
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