Legal
HIPAA Notice of
Privacy Practices
How we protect and use your protected health information
In This Notice
Our Legal Responsibilities
We are required by law to give you this notice. It provides you with how we may use and disclose protected health information about you and describes your rights and our obligations regarding the use and disclosure of that information. We shall maintain the privacy of protected health information and provide you with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your protected health information.
We have the right to change these policies at any time. If we change our privacy policies, we will notify you of these changes immediately. This current policy is in effect unless stated otherwise. If the policy is changed, it will apply to all your current and past health information.
You may request a copy of our notice any time.
How We May Use or Disclose Your Protected Health Information
The following examples describe ways that we may use your protected health information. Not every use or disclosure in a particular category will be listed.
Treatment
We may use and disclose your protected health information to provide you treatment. This includes disclosing your protected health information to other medical providers, trainees, therapists, medical staff, and office staff that are involved in your health care. For example, your medical provider might need to consult with another provider to coordinate your care. Also, the office staff may need to use and disclose your protected health information to other individuals outside of our office such as the pharmacy when a prescription is called in.
Payment
Your protected health information may also be used to facilitate payment or reimbursement to you from an insurance company or another third party. Our payment activities include, without limitation, determining your eligibility for benefits and obtaining payment from insurers that may be responsible for providing coverage to you, including Federal and State entities. This may include providing an insurance company your protected health information for a pre-authorization for a medication we prescribed.
Health Care Operations
We may use or disclose your protected health information in order to operate this medical practice. These activities include training students, care management, quality improvement activities, evaluating our own performance, resolving any complaints or grievances you may have, reviewing cases with employees, utilizing your information to improve the quality of care, and contacting you by telephone, email, or text to remind you of your appointments. If we have to share your protected health information to third party "business associates" such as a billing service, we will have a written contract that contains terms that will protect the privacy of your protected health information. We may also use and disclose your protected health information for marketing activities. You can contact us at any point to stop receiving marketing information. We will not use or disclose your protected health information for any purpose other than those identified in this policy without your specific, written Authorization.
Appointment Reminders
We may contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment for your initial visit, follow up visit, or lab work via text, phone or email. We may also contact you to provide information about treatment alternatives or other health-related services that may be of interest to you.
Others Involved in Your Health Care
We may disclose protected health information about you to your family members or friends if we obtain your verbal agreement to do so, or if we give you an opportunity to object to such a disclosure and you do not raise an objection. If you are unable to agree or object to such a disclosure, we may disclose such information as necessary if we determine that it is in your best interest based on our professional judgment if there is an urgent or emergent need.
Research
We will not use or disclose your health information for research purposes unless you give us authorization to do so.
Public Health Risks
We may disclose your protected health information, if necessary, in order to prevent or control disease, report adverse events from medications or products, prevent injury, disability or death. This information may be disclosed to healthcare systems, government agencies, or public health authorities.
Victims of Abuse, Neglect or Domestic Violence
We may disclose your health information to an appropriate government agency if we believe you are a victim of abuse, neglect, domestic violence and you agree to the disclosure or the disclosure is required or permitted by law.
Health Oversight Activities
We may disclose protected health information to health oversight agencies for audits, investigations, inspections or licensing purposes. These disclosures might be necessary for state and federal agencies to monitor healthcare systems and compliance with civil law.
Required by Law
We will disclose protected health information about you when required to do so by federal, state and/or local law.
Workman's Compensation
We may disclose your protected health information to workman's comp or similar programs.
Lawsuits
We may disclose your protected health information in response to a court action, administrative action or a subpoena.
Law Enforcement
We may disclose your health information to a law enforcement agency to respond to a court order, warrant, summons or similar process, to help identify or locate a suspect or missing person, to provide information about a victim of a crime, a death that may be the result of criminal activity, or criminal conduct on our premises, or, in emergency situations, to report a crime.
Deceased Individuals
We may disclose your health information to a coroner, medical examiner or a funeral director as necessary and as authorized by law.
Incidental Uses and Disclosures
Incidental uses and disclosures of your health information sometimes occur and are not considered to be a violation of your rights. Incidental uses and disclosures are by-products of otherwise permitted uses or disclosures which are limited in nature and cannot be reasonably prevented.
Obtaining Your Authorization for Other Uses and Disclosures
Certain uses and disclosures of your health information will be made only with your written authorization, including uses and/or disclosures: (a) of psychotherapy notes (where appropriate); (b) for marketing purposes; and (c) that constitute a sale of health information under the Privacy Rule. If you give us your authorization, you may revoke it at any time, in which case we will no longer use or disclose your health information for the purpose you authorized, except to the extent we have relied on your authorization to provide your care.
Your Rights Regarding Your Protected Health Information
Access to Medical Records
You have the right to access and receive copies of your protected health information that we use to make decisions about your care. You must submit a written request to obtain your protected health information. We reserve the right to charge you a fee for the time it takes to obtain and copy the protected health information. We may deny a request for access under certain circumstances if there is a potential for harm to yourself or others.
Amendment
If you believe the protected health information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend the information. You will need to submit a written request as to why you feel the health information should be amended. We may deny your request if we believe the protected health information is accurate and complete.
Accounting of Disclosures
You have the right to receive a list of instances in which we disclosed your personal health information unless the disclosure was used for treatment, payment, healthcare operations, or was pursuant to a valid authorization. You must submit a written request. We will provide you with the dates of the disclosure, the name of the individual or entity we disclosed the information to, a description of the information disclosed, the reason why it was disclosed, and any additional pertinent information.
Restriction Requests
You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the protected health information we use or disclose about you for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations. We shall accommodate your request except where the disclosure is required by law. We require this be a written request.
Confidential Communication
You have the right to request that we communicate with you about healthcare matters in a certain way and at a certain location. We must accommodate your request if it is reasonable and allows us to continue to collect payments and bill you.
Paper Copy of This Notice
You may request a hard copy of this practice policy if you reviewed and signed it via electronic means.
Complaints
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with our office or with 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 upon request.
Changes to This Notice
Your Provider may change the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices at any time. If the terms of the Notice are changed, the new terms will apply to all of your health information, whether created or received before or after the date on which the Notice is changed.
For more information, visit: www.hhs.gov/hipaa
Other State and Federal Laws
We may ask you for consent to share certain medical information. This consent is required by applicable state law for some disclosures and allows us to be certain that we can share your medical information for all of the reasons explained in this notice.
As a Management Services Organization ("MSO") providing administrative and management services to independently owned professional practices operated by licensed providers including physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, Anora Health Corp. may use and disclose your medical records, on behalf of the Professional Corporations, for purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations, as permitted by law.
This Notice of Privacy Practices applies to the following organizations: Anora Health Corp.