PRIVACY POLICY

OUR PLEDGE REGARDING MEDICAL RECORDS

The privacy of your medical information is important to us. We understand that your medical information is personal and we are committed to protecting it. We create a record of the care and services you receive at our organization. We need this record to provide you with quality care and to comply with certain legal requirements. This notice will tell you about the ways we may use and share medical information about you. We also describe your rights and certain duties we have regarding the use and disclosure of medical information.

OUR LEGAL DUTY

Law requires us to :

Keep your medical information private.
Give you this notice describing our legal duties, privacy practices, and your rights regarding your medical information.
Follow the terms of the notice that is now in effect.

We have the right to:

Change our privacy practices and the terms of this notice at any time, provided that the changes are permitted by law.
Make the changes in our privacy practices and the new terms of our notice effective for all medical information that we keep, including information previously created or received before the changes.

Notice to change Privacy Practices:

Before we make important changes in our privacy practices, we will change this notice and make the new notice available upon request.

YOUR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS

You have the right to:

Look at or get copies of your medical information. You may request that we provide copies in a format other that photocopies. We will use the format you request unless it is not practical for us to do so. You must make your request in writing. You may get the form to request access by using the contact information listed at the end of this notice. You may also request access by sending a letter to our organization. If you request copies, we reserve the right to charge you a reasonable fee for processing.
Receive a list of all the times we or our business associates shared your medical information for purposes other than treatment, payment, and health operations.
Request that we place additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your medical information. We are not required to agree to these additional restrictions, but if we do, we will abide by our agreement.
Request that we communicate with you about your medical information by different means or to different locations. Your request that we communicate your medical information to you by different means or at different locations must be made in writing to our organization.
Request that we change your medical information. We may deny your request if we did not create the information you want changed or for certain other reasons. If we deny your request, we will provide a written explanation. You may respond with a statement of disagreement that will be added to the information you wanted changed. If we accept your request to change the information, we will make reasonable efforts to tell others, including people you name, of the change and to include the changes in any future sharing of that information.
If you have received this notice electronically, and wish to receive a paper copy, you have the right to obtain a paper copy by making a request in writing.

USE AND DISCLOSURE OF YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION

The following section describes different ways that we use and disclose medical information. Not every use of disclosure is listed. However, we have listed all of the different ways we are permitted to use and disclose medical information. We will not use or disclose your medical information for any purpose not listed below, without your specific written authorization. Any specific written authorization you provide may be revoked at any time by writing to us.

For Treatment: We may use medical information about you to provide you with medical treatment or services. We may disclose medical information about you to doctors, nurses, technicians, medical students, interns, or other people who are taking care of you. We may also share medical information about you to your other health care providers to assist them in treating you.

For Payment: We may use and disclose your medical information for payment purposes.

For Health Care Operations: We may use and disclose your medical information for our health care operations. This might include measuring and improving quality, evaluating the performance of employees, conducting training programs, and getting the accreditation, certificates, licenses and credentials we need to serve you.

Victims of Abuse, Neglect, or Domestic Violence: We may disclose medical information to appropriate authorities if we reasonably believe that you are a possible victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence or the possible victim of other crimes. We may share your medical information if it is necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health or safety of others. We may share medical information when necessary to help law enforcement officials capture a person who has admitted to being part of a crime or has escaped from legal custody.

Workers Compensation: We may disclose health information when authorized and necessary to comply with laws relating to workers compensation or other similar programs.

Health Oversight Activities: We may disclose medical information to an agency providing health oversight activities authorized by law, including audits, civil, administrative, or criminal investigations or proceedings, inspections, licensure or disciplinary actions, or other authorized activities.

Law Enforcement: Under certain circumstances, we may disclose health information to law enforcement officials. These circumstances include reporting required by certain laws (such as reporting of certain types of wounds), pursuant to certain subpoenas or court orders, reporting limited information concerning identification and location at the request of a law enforcement official, reports regarding suspected victims crimes at the request of a law enforcement official, reporting death, crimes on our premises, and crimes in emergencies.

QUESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS

If you have any questions about this notice or if you think that we may have violated your privacy rights, please contact us. You may also submit a written complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will provide you with the address to file your complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will not retaliate in any way if you choose to file a complaint.