HIPAA Notice

We understand the importance of privacy and are committed to maintaining the confidentiality of your medical information. We make a record of the medical care we provide and may receive such records from others. We use these records to provide or enable other health care providers to provide quality medical care, to obtain payment for services provided to you as allowed by your health plan and to enable us to meet our professional and legal obligations to operate this medical practice properly.

I. Uses and Disclosures of Protected Health Information (PHI)

The law permits us to use and disclose your health information for the following purposes:

• Treatment: We may 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.
• Payment: We may use and disclose medical information about you to obtain payment for the services we provide. For example, we may give your health plan the information it requires before it will pay us.
• Health Care Operations: We may use and disclose medical information about you to operate this medical practice. For example, we may use and disclose this information to review and improve the quality of care we provide, or the competence and qualifications of our professional staff.
• Reminders: We may use and disclose medical information to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment or that you are due for routine care.

II. Your Rights Regarding Your Health Information

You have the following rights with respect to your protected health information:

• Right to Inspect and Copy: You have the right to inspect and copy medical information that may be used to make decisions about your care. Usually, this includes medical and billing records.
• Right to Amend: If you feel that medical information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend the information.
• Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to request a list of certain disclosures we made of medical information about you for purposes other than treatment, payment and health care operations.
• Right to Request Restrictions: You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the medical information we use or disclose about you for treatment, payment or health care operations.
• Right to a Paper Copy of This Notice: You have the right to a paper copy of this notice. You may ask us to give you a copy of this notice at any time.

III. Our Legal Duty

We are required by law to protect the privacy of your information, provide this notice about our information practices, and follow the information practices that are described in this notice. We reserve the right to change our policies at any time. Before we make a significant change in our policies, we will change our notice and post the new notice in the waiting area.

IV. Complaints

If you are concerned that we have violated your privacy rights, or you disagree with a decision we made about access to your records, you may contact the person listed below. You may also send a written complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There will be no retaliation for filing a complaint.