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Active
Body Chiropractic, Ltd.
Dr. Jeff Heddles
Dr. Dylan Drynan
PRIVACY NOTICE TO PATIENTS
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW YOUR MEDICAL
INFORMATION MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW
YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THAT INFORMATION.
PLEASE REVIEW THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY.
ORGANIZED HEALTH CARE ARRANGEMENT (use if providers share space
and personnel)
This Practice includes the health care providers whose names appear
at the top of this Notice. Although they share office space, medical
personnel, office staff, equipment and supplies, they are not legally
related, in that they are not partners, owners, or employees with
or of each other. However, for purposes of compliance with the HIPAA
Privacy Rules, they are deemed to be an Organized Health Care Arrangement,
which means: that they operate as an integrated unit; that they
will share protected health information in order to carry out treatment
(including coverage for each other), payment for treatment and health
care operations; that this Notice is provided as a joint notice
made by each of them; and, that each of them will abide by the terms
of this Notice.
POLICY STATEMENT
This Practice is committed to maintaining the privacy of your protected
health information ("PHI"), which includes information
about your medical condition and the care and treatment you receive
from the Practice and other health care providers. This Notice details
how your PHI may be used and disclosed to third parties for purposes
of your care, payment for your care, health care operations of the
Practice, and for other purposes permitted or required by law. This
Notice also details your rights regarding your PHI.
USE OR DISCLOSURE OF PHI
The Practice may use and/or disclose your PHI for purposes related
to your care, payment for your care, and health care operations
of the Practice. The following are examples of the types of uses
and/or disclosures of your PHI that may occur. These examples are
not meant to include all possible types of use and/or disclosure.
1. Care - In order to provide care to you, the Practice will provide
your PHI to those health care professionals, whether on the Practice's
staff or not, directly involved in your care so that they may understand
your medical condition and needs and provide advice or treatment
(e.g., your physician). For example, your physician may need to
know how your condition is responding to the treatment provided
by the Practice.
2. Payment - In order to get paid for some or all of the health
care provided by the Practice, the Practice may provide your PHI,
directly or through a billing service, to appropriate third party
payers, pursuant to their billing and payment requirements. For
example, the Practice may need to provide your health insurance
carrier with information about health care services that you received
from the Practice so that the Practice can be properly reimbursed.
3. Health Care Operations - In order for the Practice to operate
in accordance with applicable law and insurance requirements and
in order for the Practice to provide quality and efficient care,
it may be necessary for the Practice to compile, use and/or disclose
your PHI. For example, the Practice may use your PHI in order to
evaluate the performance of the Practice's personnel in providing
care to you.
AUTHORIZATION NOT REQUIRED
The Practice may use and/or disclose your PHI, without a written
Authorization from you, in the following instances:
1. De-identified Information - Your PHI is altered so that it does
not identify you and, even without your name, cannot be used to
identify you.
2. Business Associate - To a business associate, which is someone
who the Practice contracts with to provide a service necessary for
your treatment, payment for your treatment and health care operations
(e.g., billing service or transcription service). The Practice will
obtain satisfactory written assurance, in accordance with applicable
law, that the business associate will appropriately safeguard your
PHI.
3. Personal Representative - To a person who, under applicable law,
has the authority to represent you in making decisions related to
your health care.
4. Public Health Activities - Such activities include, for example,
information collected by a public health authority, as authorized
by law, to prevent or control disease, injury or disability. This
includes reports of child abuse or neglect.
5. Federal Drug Administration - If required by the Food and Drug
Administration to report adverse events, product defects or problems
or biological product deviations, or to track products, or to enable
product recalls, repairs or replacements, or to conduct post marketing
surveillance.
6. Abuse, Neglect or Domestic Violence - To a government authority
if the Practice is required by law to make such disclosure. If the
Practice is authorized by law to make such a disclosure, it will
do so if it believes that the disclosure is necessary to prevent
serious harm or if the Practice believes that you have been the
victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. Any such disclosure
will be made in accordance with the requirements of law, which may
also involve notice to you of the disclosure.
7. Health Oversight Activities - Such activities, which must be
required by law, involve government agencies involved in oversight
activities that relate to the health care system, government benefit
programs, government regulatory programs and civil rights law. Those
activities include, for example, criminal investigations, audits,
disciplinary actions, or general oversight activities relating to
the community's health care system.
8. Judicial and Administrative Proceeding - For example, the Practice
may be required to disclose your PHI in response to a court order
or a lawfully issued subpoena.
9. Law Enforcement Purposes - In certain instances, your PHI may
have to be disclosed to a law enforcement official for law enforcement
purposes. Law enforcement purposes include: (1) complying with a
legal process (i.e., subpoena) or as required by law; (2) information
for identification and location purposes (e.g., suspect or missing
person); (3) information regarding a person who is or is suspected
to be a crime victim; (4) in situations where the death of an individual
may have resulted from criminal conduct; (5) in the event of a crime
occurring on the premises of the Practice; and (6) a medical emergency
(not on the Practice's premises) has occurred, and it appears that
a crime has occurred.
10. Coroner or Medical Examiner - The Practice may disclose your
PHI to a coroner or medical examiner for the purpose of identifying
you or determining your cause of death, or to a funeral director
as permitted by law and as necessary to carry out its duties.
11. Organ, Eye or Tissue Donation - If you are an organ donor, the
Practice may disclose your PHI to the entity to whom you have agreed
to donate your organs.
12. Research - If the Practice is involved in research activities,
your PHI may be used, but such use is subject to numerous governmental
requirements intended to protect the privacy of your PHI such as
approval of the research by an institutional review board and the
requirement that protocols must be followed.
13. Avert a Threat to Health or Safety - The Practice may disclose
your PHI if it believes that such disclosure is necessary to prevent
or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety
of a person or the public and the disclosure is to an individual
who is reasonably able to prevent or lessen the threat.
14. Specialized Government Functions - When the appropriate conditions
apply, the Practice may use PHI of individuals who are Armed Forces
personnel: (1) for activities deemed necessary by appropriate military
command authorities; (2) for the purpose of a determination by the
Department of Veteran Affairs of eligibility for benefits; or (3)
to a foreign military authority if you are a member of that foreign
military service. The Practice may also disclose your PHI to authorized
federal officials for conducting national security and intelligence
activities including the provision of protective services to the
President or others legally authorized.
15. Inmates - The Practice may disclose your PHI to a correctional
institution or a law enforcement official if you are an inmate of
that correctional facility and your PHI is necessary to provide
care and treatment to you or is necessary for the health and safety
of other individuals or inmates.
16. Workers' Compensation - If you are involved in a Workers' Compensation
claim, the Practice may be required to disclose your PHI to an individual
or entity that is part of the Workers' Compensation system.
17. Disaster Relief Efforts - The Practice may use or disclose your
PHI to a public or private entity authorized to assist in disaster
relief efforts.
18. Required by Law - If otherwise required by law, but such use
or disclosure will be made in compliance with the law and limited
to the requirements of the law.
AUTHORIZATION
Uses and/or disclosures, other than those described above, will
be made only with your written Authorization, which you may revoke
at any time.
APPOINTMENT REMINDER
The Practice may, from time to time, contact you to provide appointment
reminders. The reminder may be in the form of a letter or postcard.
The Practice will try to minimize the amount of information contained
in the reminder. The Practice may also contact you by phone and,
if you are not available, the Practice will leave a message for
you.
TREATMENT ALTERNATIVES/BENEFITS
The Practice may, from time to time, contact you about treatment
alternatives, or other health benefits or services that may be of
interest to you.
YOUR RIGHTS
You have the right to:
1. Revoke any Authorization, in writing, at any time. To request
a revocation, you must submit a written request to the Practice's
Privacy Officer.
2. Request restrictions on certain use and/or disclosure of your
PHI as provided by law. However, the Practice is not obligated to
agree to any requested restrictions. To request restrictions, you
must submit a written request to the Practice's Privacy Officer.
In your written request, you must inform the Practice of what information
you want to limit, whether you want to limit the Practice's use
or disclosure, or both, and to whom you want the limits to apply.
If the Practice agrees to your request, the Practice will comply
with your request unless the information is needed in order to provide
you with emergency treatment.
3. Receive confidential communications of PHI by alternative means
or at alternative locations. You must make your request in writing
to the Practice's Privacy Officer. The Practice will accommodate
all reasonable requests.
4. Inspect and copy your PHI as provided by law. To inspect and
copy your PHI, you must submit a written request to the Practice's
Privacy Officer. In certain situations that are defined by law,
the Practice may deny your request, but you will have the right
to have the denial reviewed. The Practice can charge you a fee for
the cost of copying, mailing or other supplies associated with your
request.
5. Amend your PHI as provided by law. To request an amendment, you
must submit a written request to the Practice's Privacy Officer.
You must provide a reason that supports your request. The Practice
may deny your request if it is not in writing, if you do not provide
a reason and support of your request, if the information to be amended
was not created by the Practice (unless the individual or entity
that created the information is no longer available), if the information
is not part of your PHI maintained by the Practice, if the information
is not part of the information you would be permitted to inspect
and copy, and/or if the information is accurate and complete. If
you disagree with the Practice's denial, you have the right to submit
a written statement of disagreement.
6. Receive an accounting of disclosures of your PHI as provided
by law. To request an accounting, you must submit a written request
to the Practice's Privacy Officer. The request must state a time
period which may not be longer than six years and may not include
the dates before April 14, 2003. The request should indicate in
what form you want the list (such as a paper or electronic copy).
The first list you request within a 12 month period will be free,
but the Practice may charge you for the cost of providing additional
lists in that same 12 month period. The Practice will notify you
of the costs involved and you can decide to withdraw or modify your
request before any costs are incurred.
7. Receive a paper copy of this Privacy Notice from the Practice
upon request to the Practice's Privacy Officer.
8. Complain to the Practice, or to the Secretary of Health and Human
Services, Office of Civil Rights, Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200
Independence Avenue, S. W., Room 509F HHH Building, Washington,
D.C. 20201. Or you may contact a regional office of the Office of
Civil Rights, which can be found at www.hhs.gov/ocr/regmail.html.
To file a complaint with the Practice, you must contact the Practice's
Privacy Officer. All complaints must be in writing.
9. To obtain more information on, or have your questions about your
rights answered, you may contact the Practice's Privacy Officer,
Dr. Jeff Heddles, at (312) 922-9868 or via email at drheddles@activebodychiro.com.
PRACTICE'S REQUIREMENTS
The Practice:
1. Is required by law to maintain the privacy of your PHI and to
provide you with this Privacy Notice of the Practice's legal duties
and privacy practices with respect to your PHI.
2. Is required to abide by the terms of this Privacy Notice.
3. Reserves the right to change the terms of this Privacy Notice
and to make the new Privacy Notice provisions effective for all
of your PHI that it maintains.
4. Will not retaliate against you for making a complaint.
5. Must make a good faith effort to obtain from you an acknowledgement
of receipt of this Notice.
6. Will post this Privacy Notice on the Practice's web site, if
the Practice maintains a web site.
7. Will provide this Privacy Notice to you by e-mail if you so request.
However, you also have the right to obtain a paper copy of this
Privacy Notice.
EFFECTIVE DATE
This Notice is effective as of April 14, 2003.
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