OUR LEGAL DUTY
We are required by applicable federal and state law to maintain the privacy of your health information. We are also required to give you this Notice about our privacy practices, our legal duties, and your rights concerning your health information. We must follow the privacy practices that are described in this Notice while it is in effect. This Notice takes effect 04/15/03, and will remain in effect until we replace it.
We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of the Notice at any time, provided such changes are permitted by applicable law. We reserve the right to make the changes in our privacy practices and the new terms of our Notice effective for all health information that we maintain, including health information we created or received before we mad the changes. Before we make a significant change in our privacy practices, we will change this Notice and make the new Notice available upon request.
You may request a copy of our Notice at any time. For more information about our privacy practices, or for additional copies of the Notice, please contact us using the information listed at the beginning of this notice.
USES AND DISCLOSURES OF HEALTH INFORMATION
We use and disclose health information about you for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations.
Treatment: We may use and disclose your health information to a physician or other healthcare provider providing treatment to you.
Payment: We may use and disclose your health information to obtain payment for services we provide you.
Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose your health information in connection with our healthcare operations. Healthcare
operations include quality assessment and improvement activities, reviewing the competence or qualifications of healthcare professionals,
evaluating practitioner and provider performance, conducting training programs, accreditation, certification, licensing or credentialing
activities.
Your Authorization: In addition to our use of your health information for treatment, payment or healthcare operations, you may give us
written authorization to use your health information or to disclose it to anyone for any purpose. If you give us an authorization, you may
revoke it in writing at any time. Your revocation will not affect any use or disclosures permitted by your authorization while it was in
effect. Unless you give us a written authorization, we cannot use or disclose your health information for any reason except those
described in this Notice.
To Your Family and Friends: We must disclose your health information to you, as described in the Patient Rights section of this Notice.
We may disclose your health information to a family member, friend or other person to the extent necessary to help with your healthcare
of with payment for your healthcare, but only if you agree that we may do so.
Persons Involved in Care: We may use or disclose health information to notify, or assist in the notification of (including identifying or
locating) a family member, your personal representative or another person responsible for your care, of your location, your general
condition, or death. If you are present, then prior to use or disclosure of your health information, we will provide you with an
opportunity to object to such uses or disclosures. In the event of your incapacity or emergency circumstances, we will disclose health
information based on a determination using our professional judgment disclosing only heath information that is directly relevant to the
person s involvement in your healthcare. We will also use our professional judgment and our experience with common practice to make
reasonable inferences of your best interest in allowing a person to pick up filled prescriptions, medical supplies, x-rays, or other similar
forms of health information.
Marketing Health-Related Services: We will not use your health information for marketing communications without your written
authorization.
Required by Law: We may use or disclose your health information when we are required to do so by law.