With your consent, the practice is permitted by federal privacy laws to make uses and disclosures of your health information for purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations. Protected health information is the information we create and obtain in providing our services to you. Such information may include documenting your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment and applying for future care or treatment. It also includes billing documents for those services.
Your Health Information Rights
The health record we maintain and billing records are the physical property of the practice. The information in it, however, belongs to you. You have a right to:
- Request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your health information by delivering the request in writing to our office. We are not required to grant the request but we will comply with any request granted;
- Request that you be allowed to inspect and copy your health record and billing record —you may exercise this right by delivering the request in writing to our office;
- Appeal a denial of access to your protected health information except in certain circumstances;
- Request that your health care record be amended to correct incomplete or incorrect information by delivering a written request to our office;
- File a statement of disagreement if your amendment is denied, and require that the request for amendment and any denial be attached in all future disclosures of your protected health information;
- Obtain an accounting of disclosures of your health information as required to be maintained by law by delivering a written request to our office. An accounting will not include internal uses of information for treatment, payment, or operations, disclosures made to you or made at your request, or disclosures made to family members or friends in the course of providing care;
- Request that communications of your health information be made by alternative means or at an alternative location by delivering the request in writing to our offices; and,
- Revoke authorizations that you made previously to use or disclose information except to the extent information or action has already been taken by delivering a written revocation to our office.
Our Responsibilities
- Maintain the privacy of your health information as required by law;
- Provide you with a notice of our duties and privacy practices as to the information we collect and maintain;
- Abide by the terms of this Notice;
- Notify you if we cannot accommodate a requested restriction or request; and
- Accommodate your reasonable requests regarding methods to communicate health information with you.
We reserve the right to amend, change, or eliminate provisions in our privacy practices and access practices and to enact new provisions regarding the protected health information we maintain. If our information practices change, we will amend our Notice. You are entitled to receive a revised copy of the disclosure by calling and requesting a copy or by visiting our office.
To Request Information or File a Complaint
If you have any questions, would like additional information, or want to report a problem regarding the handling of your information, you may contact our office. Additionally, if you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a written complaint at our office by delivering the written complaint to any of our office staff. You may also file a complaint by mailing it or e-mailing it to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Other Disclosures and Uses
- Unless you object, we may use or disclose your protected health information to notify, or assist in notifying, a family member, personal representative, or other person responsible for your care, about your location, and about your general condition, or your death.
- Using our best judgment, we may disclose to a family member, other relative, close personal friend, or any other person you identify, health information relevant to that person's involvement in your care or in payment for such care if you do not object or in an emergency.
- We may disclose to the FDA your protected health information relating to adverse events with respect to products and product defects, or post-marketing surveillance information to enable product recalls, repairs, or replacements.
- If you are seeking compensation through Workers Compensation, we may disclose your protected health information to the extent necessary to comply with laws relating to Workers Compensation.
- As required by law, we may disclose your protected health information to public health or legal authorities charged with preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability.
- We may disclose your protected health information to public authorities to report abuse or neglect.
- If you are an inmate of a correctional institution, we may disclose to the institution, or its agents, your protected health information necessary for your health and the health and safety of other individuals.
- We may disclose your protected health information for law enforcement purposes as required by law, such as when required by a court order or in cases involving felony prosecutions, or to the extent an individual is in the custody of law enforcement.
- Federal law allows us to release your protected health information to appropriate health oversight agencies or for health oversight activities.
- We may disclose your protected health information in the course of any judicial or administrative proceedings as allowed or required by law, with your consent, or as directed by a proper court order.
- Other uses and disclosures besides those identified in this Notice will be made only as otherwise authorized by law or with your written authorization and you may revoke the authorization as previously provided.