privacy policy

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.

The Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA") is a federal program that requires that all medical records and other individually identifiable health information used or disclosed by us in any form, whether electronically, on paper, or orally, are kept properly confidential. This Act gives you, the patient, significant new rights to understand and control how your health information is used. HIPAA provides penalties for covered entities that misuse personal health information.

As required by HIPAA , we have prepared this explanation of how we are required to maintain the privacy of your health information and how we may use and disclose your health information.

We may use and disclose your medical records only for each of the following purposes: Treatment, payment, and healthcare operations.

 

--Treatment means providing, coordinating, or managing healthcare and related services by one or more healthcare providers. For example, a physical examination.

--Payment means such activities as obtaining reimbursement for services, confirming coverage, billing or collection activities and utilization review. For example, sending a bill for your visit to your insurance company for payment.

--Health care operations include the business aspects of running our practice including quality assessment and improvement activities, auditing functions, cost management analysis , and customer service. For example, internal quality assessments review.

We may also create and distribute de-identified health information by removing all references to individually identifiable information.

We may contact you to approve appointment reminders or information by removing all references to individually identifiable information.

Any other uses and disclosures will be made only with your written authorization. You may revoke such authorization in writing and we are required to honor and abide by that written request, except to the extent that we have already taken actions relying on your authorization.
You have the following rights with respect to your protected health information, which you can exercise by presenting a written request to the Privacy Officer.