Healthcare Privacy Policy

We are required by applicable federal and state law to maintain the privacy of your health information. We are also required to give you this Notice about our privacy practices, legal obligations, and your rights concerning your health information (“Protected Health Information” or “PHI”). We must follow the privacy practices that are described in this Notice (which may be amended from time to time).

USES AND DISCLOSURES OF PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION:

1. Your PHI may be used and disclosed by the Nurse Practitioner, our office staff and others outside of our offices that are involved in your care and treatment for the purpose of providing health care services to you, to pay your health care bills, to support the operation of the business, and any other use required by law. We may use and disclose PHI without your written authorization for certain purposes as described below. The examples provided in each category are not meant to be exhaustive, but instead are meant to describe the types of uses and disclosures that are permissible under federal and state law.

2. Treatment: We may use and disclose PHI in order to provide treatment to you. For example, we may use PHI including your medication history to diagnose, treat, and provide medical services to you. In addition, we may disclose PHI to other health care providers involved in your treatment.

3. Payment: Under federal law we may use or disclose PHI so that services you receive are appropriately billed to, and payment is collected from, your health plan. By way of example, we may disclose PHI to permit your health plan to take certain actions before it approves or pays for treatment services.  We may contact the Guarantor for your visit in order to obtain payment.

4. Health Care Operations: We may use or disclose your PHI in order to support our business activities. These activities include, but are not limited to quality assessment activities, internal investigations, and performance reviews.  In addition, we will use a sign-in sheet at the registration desk where you will be asked to provide your name and date of birth. We may also call you by name in the waiting room when the Nurse Practitioner is ready to see you. We may use or disclose your PHI to contact you to remind you of an appointment, to notify you of test results, and to check on your treatment, progress, and satisfaction with our services.

5. Required or Permitted by Law: As required by Law, Public Health issues as required by law, Communicable Diseases, Health Oversight, Abuse or Neglect, Food and Drug Administration requirements, Legal proceedings, Law Enforcement, Coroners, Funeral Directors, Organ Donation, Research, Criminal Activity, Military Activity, National Security, Worker’s Compensation, Inmates, and other Required Uses and Disclosures. Under the law, we must make disclosures to you and when required by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

6. Permissible Uses and Disclosures That May Be Made Without Your Authorization, But For Which You Have An Opportunity to Object.

7. Family and Other Persons Involved in Your 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 responsible for your care, of your location, your general condition, or death. If you are present, then prior to use or disclosure of your health information, we will provide you with an opportunity to object to such uses or disclosures. In the event of your incapacity or emergency circumstances, we will disclose health information based on a 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 to make reasonable inferences of your best interest in allowing a person to pick up filled prescriptions, medical supplies, x-rays, or other similar forms of health information.

8. Disaster Relief Efforts. We may use or disclose protected health information to a public or private entity authorized by law or its charter to assist in disaster relief efforts for the purpose of coordinating notification of family members of your location, general condition, or death.

YOUR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS:

1. Right to Inspect and Copy. You may request access to your medical records and billing records maintained by us in order to inspect and request copies of the records. All requests for access must be made in writing. Under limited circumstances, we may deny access to your records. Under federal law, you may not inspect or copy psychotherapy notes, information compiled in anticipation of, or use in, a legal proceeding, and PHI that is otherwise prohibited. We may charge a fee for the costs of copying and sending you any records requested.

2. Right to Alternative Communications. You may request, and we will accommodate, any reasonable written request for you to receive PHI by alternative means of communication or at alternative locations.

3. Right to Accounting of Disclosures. Upon written request, you may obtain an accounting of certain disclosures of PHI made by us in the last six years. This right applies to disclosures for purposes other than treatment, payment or health care operations, excludes disclosures made to you or disclosures otherwise authorized by you, and is subject to other restrictions and limitations. We are required by law to notify you if your unsecured PHI is breached.

4. Right to Obtain Notice. You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this Notice by submitting a request to the office staff at any time.

If you would like a PDF copy of these policies to print or keep for your personal records please click the link below to download:

RFH Privacy Policies.pdf