Patient Privacy Policy

CUDNEY ORAL & FACIAL SURGERY
Notice of Privacy Practices
1
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
EFFECTIVE DATE: __7/16/2020___,
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED
AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR HEALTH RECORD/INFORMATION
Each time you visit a hospital, physician, dentist, or other healthcare provider, a record of your visit is made.
Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment, and a plan for
future care or treatment. This information often referred to as your health or medical record, serves as a basis for
planning your care and treatment and serves as a means of communication among the many health professionals
who contribute to your care. Understanding what is in your record and how your health information is used helps you
to ensure its accuracy, better understand who, what, when, where, and why others may access your health
information, and helps you make more informed decisions when authorizing disclosure to others.
YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION RIGHTS
Unless otherwise required by law, your health record is the physical property of the healthcare practitioner or
facility that compiled it. However, you have certain rights with respect to the information. You have the right to:
1. Receive a copy of this Notice of Privacy Practices from us upon enrollment or upon request.
2. Request restrictions on our uses and disclosures of your protected health information for treatment,
payment and health care operations. This includes your right to request that we not disclose your health
information to a health plan for payment or health care operations if you have paid in full and out of pocket for
the services provided. We reserve the right not to agree to a given requested restriction.
3. Request to receive communications of protected health information in confidence.
4. Inspect and obtain a copy of the protected health information contained in your medical and billing
records and in any other Practice records used by us to make decisions about you. If we maintain or use
electronic health records, you will also have the right to obtain a copy or forward a copy of your electronic
health record to a third party. A reasonable copying/labor charge may apply.
5. Request an amendment to your protected health information. However, we may deny your request for
an amendment, if we determine that the protected health information or record that is the subject of the
request:
was not created by us, unless you provide a reasonable basis to believe that the originator of the protected
health information is no longer available to act on the requested amendment;
is not part of your medical or billing records;
is not available for inspection as set forth above; or
is accurate and complete.
CUDNEY ORAL & FACIAL SURGERY
Notice of Privacy Practices
2
In any event, any agreed upon amendment will be included as an addition to, and not a replacement of, already
existing records.
6. Receive an accounting of disclosures of protected health information made by us to individuals or
entities other than to you, except for disclosures:
to carry out treatment, payment and health care operations as provided above;
to persons involved in your care or for other notification purposes as provided by law;
to correctional institutions or law enforcement officials as provided by law;
for national security or intelligence purposes;
that occurred prior to the date of compliance with privacy standards (April 14, 2003);
incidental to other permissible uses or disclosures;
that are part of a limited data set (does not contain protected health information that directly identifies
individuals);
made to patient or their personal representatives;
for which a written authorization form from the patient has been received
7. Revoke your authorization to use or disclose health information except to the extent that we have
already been taken action in reliance on your authorization, or if the authorization was obtained as a condition
of obtaining insurance coverage and other applicable law provides the insurer that obtained the authorization
with the right to contest a claim under the policy.
8. Receive notification if affected by a breach of unsecured PHI
HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED
This organization may use and/or disclose your medical information for the following purposes:
Treatment: We may use and disclose protected health information in the provision, coordination, or management of
your health care, including consultations between health care providers regarding your care and referrals for health
care from one health care provider to another.
Payment: We may use and disclose protected health information to obtain reimbursement for the health care
CUDNEY ORAL & FACIAL SURGERY
Notice of Privacy Practices
3
provided to you, including determinations of eligibility and coverage and other utilization review activities.
Regular Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose protected health information to support functions of our
practice related to treatment and payment, such as quality assurance activities, case management, receiving and
responding to patient complaints, physician reviews, compliance programs, audits, business planning, development,
management and administrative activities.
Appointment Reminders: We may use and disclose protected health information to contact you to provide
appointment reminders.
Treatment Alternatives: We may use and disclose protected health information to tell you about or recommend
possible treatment alternatives or other health related benefits and services that may be of interest to you
Health-Related Benefits and Services: We may use and disclose protected health information to tell you about
health-related benefits, services, or medical education classes that may be of interest to you.
Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care: Unless you object, we may disclose your protected
health information to your family or friends or any other individual identified by you when they are involved in your
care or the payment for your care. We will only disclose the protected health information directly relevant to their
involvement in your care or payment. We may also disclose your protected health information to notify a person
responsible for your care (or to identify such person) of your location, general condition or death.
Business Associates: There may be some services provided in our organization through contracts with Business
Associates. Examples include physician services in the emergency department and radiology, certain laboratory
tests, and a copy service we use when making copies of your health record. When these services are contracted, we
may disclose some or all of your health information to our Business Associate so that they can perform the job we
have asked them to do. To protect your health information, however, we require the Business Associate to
appropriately safeguard your information.
Organ and Tissue Donation: If you are an organ donor, we may release medical information to organizations that
handle organ procurement or organ, eye or tissue transplantation or to an organ donation bank, as necessary to
facilitate organ or tissue donation and transplantation.
Worker\’s Compensation: We may release protected health information about you for programs that provide
benefits for work related injuries or illness.
Communicable Diseases: We may disclose protected health information to notify a person who may have been
exposed to a disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a disease or condition.
Health Oversight Activities: We may disclose protected health information to federal or state agencies that
oversee our activities.
Law Enforcement: We may disclose protected health information as required by law or in response to a valid judge
ordered subpoena. For example, in cases of victims of abuse or domestic violence; to identify or locate a suspect,
fugitive, material witness, or missing person; related to judicial or administrative proceedings; or related to other law
enforcement purposes.
Military and Veterans: If you are a member of the armed forces, we may release protected health information
about you as required by military command authorities.
Lawsuits and Disputes: We may disclose protected health information about you in response to a court or
administrative order. We may also disclose medical information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery
request, or other lawful process.
Inmates: If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law enforcement official, we may
release protected health information about you to the correctional institution or law enforcement official. An inmate
does not have the right to the Notice of Privacy Practices.
Abuse or Neglect: We may disclose protected health information to notify the appropriate government authority if
CUDNEY ORAL & FACIAL SURGERY
Notice of Privacy Practices
4
we believe a patient has been the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. We will only make this disclosure if
you agree or when required or authorized by law.
Fund raising: Unless you notify us you object, we may contact you as part of a fundraising effort for our practice.
You may opt out of receiving fund raising materials by notifying the practice’s privacy officer at any time at the
telephone number or the address at the end of this document. This will also be documented and described in any
fund raising material you receive.
Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors: We may release protected health information to a coroner
or medical examiner. This may be necessary to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We may
also release protected health information about patients to funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties.
Public Health Risks: We may disclose your protected health information for public health activities and purposes to
a public health authority that is permitted by law to collect or receive the information. The disclosure will be made
for the purpose such as controlling disease, injury or disability.
Serious Threats: As permitted by applicable law and standards of ethical conduct, we may use and disclose
protected health information if we, in good faith, believe that the use or disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a
serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA): As required by law, we may disclose to the FDA health information relative
to adverse events with respect to food, supplements, product and product defects, or post marketing surveillance
information to enable product recalls, repairs, or replacement.
Research (inpatient): We may disclose information to researchers when an institutional review board that has
reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your health information has
approved their research.
OUR RESPONSIBILITIES
We are required to maintain the privacy of your health information. In addition, we are required to provide you with
a notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to information we collect and maintain about you. We
must abide by the terms of this notice. We reserve the right to change our practices and to make the new provisions
effective for all the protected health information we maintain. If our information practices change, a revised notice
will be mailed to the address you have supplied upon request. If we maintain a Web site that offered information
about our patient/customer services or benefits, the new notice will be posted on that Web site.
Your health information will not be used or disclosed without your written authorization, except as described in this
notice. The following uses and disclosures will be made only with explicit authorization from you: (i) uses and
disclosures of your health information for marketing purposes, including subsidized treatment communications; (ii)
disclosures that constitute a sale of your health information; and (iii) other uses and disclosures not described in the
notice. Except as noted above, you may revoke your authorization in writing at any time.
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REPORT A PROBLEM
If you have questions about this notice or would like additional information, you may contact our Privacy Officer, , at
the telephone or address below. If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, you have the right to file a
complaint with the Privacy Officer at Cudney Oral & Facial Surgery or with the Secretary of the Department of
Health and Human Services. The complaint must be in writing, describe the acts or omissions that you believe violate
your privacy rights, and be filed within 180 days of when you knew or should have known that the act or omission
occurred. We will take no retaliatory action against you if you make such complaints.
The contact information for both is included below.
CUDNEY ORAL & FACIAL SURGERY
Notice of Privacy Practices
5
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Cudney Oral & Facial
Surgery
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201 Privacy Officer
(202) 619-0257 , ,
Toll Free: 1-877-696-6775 9374268083
http://www.hhs.gov/contacts/
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES AVAILABILITY
This notice will be prominently posted in the office where registration occurs. You will be offered a hard copy, at the
time we first deliver services to you. Thereafter, you may obtain a copy upon request, and the notice will be
maintained on the organization’s Web site (if applicable Web site exists) for downloading.