General Rule
Generally, we cannot use your health information in our office or disclose it outside of our office without your written permission. In some limited situations, the law allows or requires us to disclose your health information without either a written concent or authorization.
Uses or Disclosures With Consent
We will ask you to sign a consent form allowing us to use and disclose your health information for purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations of this office. We are allowed to refuse to treat you if you do not sign the concent form.
We may disclose information outside of our office for treatment purposes if, for example we refer you to another doctor, provide a prescription, or phone you to let you know that your glasses are ready. .We use your health information for payment purposes when, for example, we ask you about health plans that you may belong to, when we prepare billings or when we process payment by credit card. .We use and disclose your health information for health care operations. For example, we may use your information for financial or billing audits, personnel decisions, and the development of business plans.
Uses and Disclosures Without Consent or Authorization
In some situations, the law allows us to use or disclose health information without your permission. Some examples of such use or disclosures include: .State or federal laws requiring the reporting of certain information: .For public health purposes such as contagious disease reporting; .Disclosures for health oversight activities such as audits by Medicare, or violations of health care laws; .Disclosures for judicial and administrative proceedings, such as in response to subpoenas; .Uses or disclosures to prevent a serious threat to health or safety; .Uses or disclosures for health related research, .Uses or disclosures for specialized government functions, such as lawful national intelligence activities; .Disclosures relating to worker's compensation programs; .Disclosures to business associates who perform health care operations for us and who agree to keep your health information private.
Appointment Reminders
We may call to remind you of scheduled appointments, or inform you of services available at our office.
Other Disclosures
We will not make any other uses or disclosures of your health information unless you sign a written authorization form.
Your Rights Regarding Your Health Information
The law gives you many rights regarding your health information. You can:
Ask us to restrict our uses and disclosures for purposes of treatment (except emergency treatment), payment or health care operations. We do not have to agree to do this, but if we agree, we must honor the restrictions that you want. To ask for a restriction, send a written request to us. .Ask us to communicate with you in a confidential way, such as by phoning you at work rather than at home. We will accommodate these requests if they are reasonable, and if you pay us for any extra cost. .Ask to see or to get photocopies of your health information. You may have to pay us for any extra cost. .Ask to see or to get photocopies of your health information. You may have to pay for photocopies in advance. Except in certain limited situations, you will be able to review or have a copy of your health information within 30 days of asking us. .Ask us to amend your health information if you think that it is incorrect or incomplete. If we agree, we will send the corrected information to persons who we know got the wrong information and others that you specify. If we do not agree, you can write a statement of your position, and we will include it with your health information along with any rebuttal statement that we may write. .Get a list of the disclosures that we have made of your health information within the past six years, except disclosures for purposes of treatment, payment, or health care operations. .Get additional paper copies of this Notice of Privacy Practices upon request.
Our Notice of Privacy Practices
We reserve the right to change this notice at any time in compliance with and as allowed by law. If we change this Notice, the new privacy practices will apply to your health information that we already have as well as to such information that we may generate in the future.
Complaints
If you think that we have not properly respected the privacy of your health information, you are free to complain to us or to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights.