Privacy Policy

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 this Notice about our privacy practices, and 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 November 24, 2003 and remains in effect until we replace it. We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of this 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 made 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 this Notice, please contact us using the information listed in this Notice.


USES AND DISCLOSURES OF HEALTH INFORMATION
We use and disclose health information about you for treatment and payment of said treatment.


TREATMENT
We may use or 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 to you.


YOUR AUTHORIZATION
In addition to our use of your health information for treatment or payment, 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 health information to a family member, friend, or other person to the extent necessary to help with your healthcare or 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 or another person responsible for your care, of your location, your general condition, or death. If you are present, then prior to use of disclosure of your health information, we will provide you with an opportunity to object to such uses or disclosure. In the event of your incapacity or emergency circumstances, we will disclose health information based on determination using our professional judgment disclosing only health 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 copies, reports or other similar forms of information.


CORONERS, MEDICAL EXAMINERS AND FUNERAL DI RECTORS
We may release medical information to a coroner or medical examiner. This may be necessary, for example, to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We may also release health information about consumers as necessary to carry out their duties.


LAWSUITS AND DISPUTES
If you are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose health information about you in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the request (which may include written Notice to you) or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.

NATIONAL SECURITY
We may disclose to military authorities the health information of Armed Forces personnel under certain circumstances. We may disclose to authorized federal official’s health information required for lawful intelligence, counterintelligence and other national security activities. We may disclose to correctional institution or law enforcement officials having lawful custody or protected health information of inmate or patient under certain circumstances.


APPOINTMENT REMINDERS
We may use or disclose your health information to provide you with appointment reminders (such as voice-mail messages, postcards or letters.)


REQUIRED BY LAW
We may use or disclose your health information when we are required to do so by law.


ABUSE OR NEGLECT
We may disclose your health 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 disclose your health information to the extent necessary to avert a serious threat to your health or safety or the health or safety of others.


PATIENT RIGHTS ACCESS
You have the right to look at or get copies of your health information, with limited exceptions. You may request that we provide copies in a format other than photocopies. We will use the format you request unless we cannot practicably do so. You must make a request in writing to obtain access to your health information. You may obtain a form to request access by using the contact information listed in this Notice. We will charge you a reasonable cost-based fee for expenses such as copies and staff time. You may also request access by sending us a letter to the address in this Notice. If you request copies, we will charge you $.10 cents for each page, $25.00 per hour for staff time to locate and copy your health information, and postage if you want the copies mailed to you. If you request and alternative format, we will charge a cost-based fee for providing your health information in that format. If you prefer, we will prepare a summary or an explanation of your health information for a fee. Contact us using the information listed in this Notice for a full explanation of our fee structure.


DISCLOSURE ACCOUNTING
You have the right to receive a list of instances in which we or our business associates disclosed your health information for purposes other than treatment, payment and certain other activities, for the last 6 years, but not before April 14, 2003. If you request this accounting more than once in a 12-month period, we may charge you a reasonable, cost based fee for responding to these additional requests.


RESTRICTIONS
You have the right to request that we place additional restrictions on our use of disclosure of your health information. We are not required to agree to these additional restrictions, but if we do, we will abide by our agreement (except in an emergency).


ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION
You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your health information by alternative means, or to alternative locations. You must make your request in writing. Your request must specify the alternative means or location and provide satisfactory explanation how payments will be handled under the alternative means or location you request.


AMENDMENT
You have the right to request that we amend your health information. Your request must be in writing, and it must explain why the information should be amended. We may deny your request under certain circumstances.


QUESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS
If you want more information about privacy practices or have questions or concerns, please contact us. If you are concerned that we may have violated your privacy right, or you disagree with a decision we made about access to your health information or on response to a request you made to amend or restrict the use of disclosure of your health information or to have us communicate with you by alternative means or locations, you may complain to us using the contact information listed at the end of this Notice. You may also submit a written complaint to the Office for Civil Rights. We will provide you with the address to file your complaint with the Office for Civil Rights upon request.


We support your right to the privacy of your health information. We will not retaliate in any way if you choose to file a complaint with the Privacy
officer or with the Office for Civil Rights.