01
Treatment
We use medical information about you to provide your medical care. We disclose medical information to our employees and others who are involved in providing the care you need. For example, we may share your medical information with other physicians or other health care providers who will provide services that we do not provide. 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. We may also disclose medical information to members of your family or others who can help you when you are sick or injured, or after you die.
02
Payment
We use and disclose medical information about you to obtain payment for the services we provide. For example, we give your health plan the information it requires before it will pay us. We may also disclose information to other health care providers to assist them in obtaining payment for services they have provided to you.
03
Health Care Operations
We may use and disclose medical information about you to operate this medical practice to review and improve the quality of care, evaluate the competence of our staff, obtain authorizations from your health plan, conduct medical reviews, and perform legal services and audits (including fraud detection, compliance programs, and business management). We may share your medical information with our business associates (such as our billing service) under written contracts that require them to protect the confidentiality and security of your protected health information. We may also share information with other health care providers, clearinghouses, or health plans for their quality assessment, patient-safety, population-health, protocol-development, case-management, training, accreditation, certification, licensing, or fraud-and-abuse compliance activities, and within organized health care arrangements (OHCAs) for any of the OHCAs’ health care operations.
04
Appointment Reminders
We may use and disclose medical information to contact and remind you about appointments. If you are not home, we may leave this information on your answering machine or in a message left with the person answering the phone.
05
Sign-In Sheet
We may use and disclose medical information about you by having you sign in when you arrive at our office. We may also call out your name when we are ready to see you.
06
Notification & Communication With Family
We may disclose your health information to notify or assist in notifying a family member, your personal representative, or another person responsible for your care about your location, your general condition, or, unless you had instructed us otherwise, in the event of your death. In the event of a disaster, we may disclose information to a relief organization. We may also disclose information to someone involved with your care or who helps pay for your care. If you are able and available to agree or object, we will give you the opportunity to object before making these disclosures.
07
Marketing
Provided we do not receive any payment for making these communications, we may contact you to give you information about products or services related to your treatment, case management, or care coordination, or to direct or recommend other treatments, therapies, providers, or settings of care that may be of interest to you. We may describe products or services provided by this practice and tell you which health plans this practice participates in. We may also encourage you to maintain a healthy lifestyle, get recommended tests, or participate in a disease-management program. We will not otherwise use or disclose your medical information for marketing purposes or accept any payment for other marketing communications without your prior written authorization.
08
Sale of Health Information
We will not sell your health information without your prior written authorization. The authorization will disclose that we will receive compensation for your health information if you authorize us to sell it, and we will stop any future sales of your information to the extent that you revoke that authorization.
09
Required by Law
As required by law, we will use and disclose your health information, but we will limit our use or disclosure to the relevant requirements of the law.
10
Public Health
We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information to public health authorities for purposes related to: preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability; reporting child, elder, or dependent-adult abuse or neglect; reporting domestic violence; reporting to the FDA problems with products and reactions to medications; and reporting disease or infection exposure.
11
Health Oversight Activities
We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information to health oversight agencies during audits, investigations, inspections, licensure, and other proceedings, subject to the limitations imposed by law.
12
Judicial & Administrative Proceedings
We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information in the course of any administrative or judicial proceeding to the extent expressly authorized by a court or administrative order, or in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process.
13
Law Enforcement
We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information to a law enforcement official for purposes such as identifying or locating a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person, complying with a court order, warrant, grand jury subpoena, and other law enforcement purposes.
14
Coroners
We may, and are often required by law, to disclose your health information to coroners in connection with their investigations of deaths.
15
Organ or Tissue Donation
We may disclose your health information to organizations involved in procuring, banking, or transplanting organs and tissues.
16
Public Safety
We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information to appropriate persons in order to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a particular person or the general public.
17
Proof of Immunization
We will disclose proof of immunization to a school that is required to have it before admitting a student where you have agreed to the disclosure on behalf of yourself or your dependent.
18
Specialized Government Functions
We may disclose your health information for military or national security purposes or to correctional institutions or law enforcement officers that have you in their lawful custody.
19
Workers’ Compensation
We may disclose your health information as necessary to comply with workers’ compensation laws. We are also required by law to report cases of occupational injury or occupational illness to the employer or workers’ compensation insurer.
20
Change of Ownership
In the event that this medical practice is sold or merged with another organization, your health information / record will become the property of the new owner, although you will maintain the right to request that copies of your health information be transferred to another physician or medical group.
21
Breach Notification
In the case of a breach of unsecured protected health information, we will notify you as required by law. If you have provided us with a current e-mail address, we may use e-mail to communicate information related to the breach.
