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.
We understand the importance of privacy and are committed to maintaining the confidentiality of your medical information. We make a record of the medical care we provide and may receive such records from others. We use these records to provide or enable other health care providers to provide quality medical care, to obtain payment for services provided to you as allowed by your health plan and to enable us to meet our professional and legal obligations to operate this medical practice properly. We are required by law to maintain the privacy of protected health information and to provide individuals with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to protected health information. This notice describes how we may use and disclose your medical information. It also describes your rights and our legal obligations with respect to your medical information. If you have any questions about this Notice, please contact our Privacy Officer at the number listed above.
How this Medical Practice May Use or Disclose Your Health Information This medical practice collects health information about you and stores it in a chart. By law, the medical practice is required to ensure that your protected health information (referred to in this Notice of Privacy Practices as “PHI,” “medical information” or “health information”) is kept confidential. PHI consists of information created or received by the medical practice that can be used to identify you. It contains data about your past, present or future health or condition, the provision of health care services to you, or the payment for such services. The medical practice can use or disclose your PHI under the following circumstances:
1. employees and others within the medical practice who are involved in providing the care you need. In addition, we may share your medical information with other physicians or other health care providers who are not part of the medical practice and who will provide services to you. Or, we may share this information with a pharmacist who needs it to dispense a prescription to you, or a laboratory that performs a test.
Treatment. We may use or disclose your PHI in order to provide your medical care. For example, we disclose medical information to our
2. company if required to obtain payment for services that we provide to you.
Payment. We may use and disclose PHI to obtain payment for the services we provide. For example, we might send PHI to your insurance
3. Unless you request otherwise, our staff will leave messages at these numbers with either appointment information or requests to contact us. We may also contact you to discuss your treatment, treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits or services we offer that may be of interest to you.
Appointment Reminders. We will use the home and work numbers that you provide to us in order to make or confirm your appointments.
4. disclose this information to review and improve the quality of care we provide, or the competence and qualifications of our professional staff. We may also use and disclose this information as necessary for medical reviews, legal services and audits (including fraud and abuse detection and compliance programs) and business planning and management. Under HIPAA, we may share your PHI with our "business associates" that perform administrative or other services for
Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose your PHI as needed to operate this medical practice. For example, we may use and
us. An example of a business associate is our billing services company. We have a written contract with each of these business associates that contains terms requiring them to protect the confidentiality of your PHI.
5. responsible for your care, the PHI directly relevant to that person’s involvement in your care or about your location, your general condition or death. In the event of an emergency, we may disclose information to public service organizations to facilitate your care. We may also disclose information to someone who is involved with your care or helps pay for your care. If you are able and available to agree or object, we will give you the opportunity to object prior to making these disclosures, although we may disclose this information in a disaster even over your objection if we believe it is necessary to respond to the emergency circumstances. If you are unable or unavailable to agree or object, our health professionals will use their best judgment in communication with your family and others.
Notification and Communication with Family. We may disclose to a family member, your personal representative or another person
6. the law. For example, we may use or disclose PHI when the law requires us to report abuse, neglect or domestic violence, respond to judicial or administrative proceedings, respond to law enforcement officials or report information about deceased patients.
Required by Law. As required by law, we will use and disclose your PHI, but we will limit our use or disclosure to the relevant requirements of
7. activities such as: preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability; reporting child, elder or dependent adult abuse or neglect; and reporting to the Food and Drug Administration problems with products and reactions to medications.
Public Health. We may, and are sometimes required by law to disclose your health information to public health authorities for public health
8. during the course of audits, investigations, inspections, licensure and other proceedings, subject to the limitations imposed by federal and California law.
Health Oversight Activities. We may, and are sometimes required by law to disclose your health information to health oversight agencies
9. or judicial proceeding to the extent expressly authorized by a court or administrative order. We may also disclose information about you in response
Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your PHI in the course of an administrative