Patient Privacy
BEACON MEDICALGROUP, PA Beacon FamilyPractice Beacon Pediatrics
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996(HIPAA)
THISNOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSEDAND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION, PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY
About Us
In this Notice, we use terms like “we”, “us” or “our” torefer to Beacon Medical Group, P.A. and its participating physicians. Healthscreenings and preventive care are an integral part of our services.
This Notice applies to Beacon Medical Group, P.A. and itsparticipating physicians. WE share your protected health information among usto provide you with the health care services, to treat you, to pay for yourcare and to conduct business operation
What is “Protected Health Information” or “PHI”?
“Protected health information,”or “PHI” for short, is information that identifies who you are and relates to,your past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition, theprovision of health care to you, or past, present, or future payment for theprovision of health care to you. PHI does not include information about youthat is publicly available, or that is in a summary form that does not identifywho you are. If you are an employee of our participating physician’s office,PHI does not include your health information in your personnel file.
Purpose of thisNotice
In the course of doing business,we gather and maintain PHI about our members. We respect the privacy of yourPHI and understand the importance of keeping this information confidential andsecure. This Notice describes our privacy practices and how we protect theconfidentiality of your PHI. We are obligated to maintain the privacy of yourPHI by implementing reasonable and appropriate safeguards. We are alsoobligated to explain to you by this Notice about our legal obligations tomaintain the privacy of your PHI. We must follow our Notice that is currentlyin effect.
How We Protect Your PHI
We restrict access to your PHI tothose employees who need access in order to provide services to our members. Wehave established and maintain appropriate physical, electronic and proceduralsafeguards to protect your PHI against unauthorized use or disclosure. We haveestablished a training program that our employees must complete and updateannually. We have also established a Privacy Office, which has overallresponsibility for developing, training and overseeing the implementation and enforcementof policies and procedures to safeguard your PHI against inappropriate access,use and disclosure.
Types of Use and Disclosure of PHI We May MakeWithout Your Authorization
Treatment; Payment; Health Care OperationsFederal and state law allows usto use and disclose your PHI in order to provide health care services to you,as well as to bill and collect payments for the health care services providedto you by our participating physicians. For example, we may use your PHI toauthorize referrals to specialists and to review the quality of care providedby your participating physician. We may disclose your PHI to health plans orother responsible parties to receive payment for the services provided to youby our participating physicians.
We may also use or disclose yourPHI, for example, to recommend to you treatment alternatives, to inform youabout health-related benefits and services that we offer, or to contact you toremind you of your appointments. We conduct these activities to provide healthcare to you, and not as marketing.
Federal and state law also allowsus to use and disclose your PHI as necessary in connection with our health careoperations. For example, we may use your PHI for resolution of any grievance orappeal that you file if you are unhappy with the care you have received. We mayalso use your PHI in connection with population-based disease managementprograms. We may use or disclose your PHI to perform certain business functionsto our business associates, who must also agree to safeguard your PHI asrequired by law. We are also allowed by law to useand disclose your PHI without your authorization for the following purposes:
1. When required by law – In some circumstances,we are required by federal or state laws to disclose certain PHI to others,such as public agencies for various reasons; 2. For public health activities – Such as reportsabout communicable diseases, defective medical devices to the FDA orwork-related health issues; 3. Reports about child and other types of abuse orneglect, or domestic violence; 4. For health oversight activities – Such asreports to governmental agencies that are responsible for licensing physiciansor other health care providers; 5. For lawsuits and other legal disputes – Inconnection with court proceedings or proceedings before administrativeagencies, or to defend us or our participating physicians in a legal dispute; 6. For law enforcement purposes –Such asresponding to a warrant, or reporting a crime; 7. Reports to coroners, medical examiners, or funeraldirectors – To assist them in performance of their legal duties; 8. For tissue or organ donations – To organprocurement or transplant organizations to assist them; 9. For research – To medical researchers with anapproval of an institutional review board (IRB) or privacy board that overseesstudies on human subjects. Researchers are also required to safeguard your PHI; 10. To avert a serious threat to the health or safety ofyou or other members of the public; 11. For national security and intelligence/militaryactivities – Such as protection of the President or foreign dignitaries;and 12. In connection with services provided under workers’compensation laws.
We may disclose your PHI, withoutyour written authorization, to your family members or other persons if they areinvolved in your care or payment for that care. We may also notify disasterrelief organizations to assist them with their relief efforts. When you are apatient at a hospital or medical facility with which we are affiliated, we maycreate a directory that includes your name, your location at the facility, yourgeneral condition and your religious affiliation. Information in this directorymay be disclosed to visitors and clergy. However, we must first provide youwith an opportunity to agree or object to such disclosure. If you cannot agreeor object because you are incapacitated or otherwise unavailable, we will useour professional judgment.
You, as a parent, can generallycontrol your minor child’s PHI. In some cases, however, we are permitted oreven required by law to deny your access to your child’s PHI, such as when yourchild can legally consent to medical services without your permission.
There are some types of PHI, suchas HIV test results or mental health information, which are protected bystricter laws. However, even such PHI may be used or disclosed without yourwritten authorization if required or permitted by law.
Authorizations
All other uses and disclosures ofyour PHI must be made with your written authorization.
If you need an authorizationform, we will send you one for you or your personal representative to complete.When you receive the form, please fill it out and send it to the followingaddress:
You may revoke or modify yourauthorization at any time by writing to us at the same address. Please notethat your revocation or modification may not be effective in somecircumstances, such as when we have already taken action relying on yourauthorization.
Your Rights Regarding Your PHI
Access to Your PHIYou have the right to review andcopy your PHI we maintain. If you wish to access to your PHI, please write tous. We will respond to your request and tell you when and where you can reviewyour PHI in our possession within our normal business hours. If you would likea copy of the information we have, please write to us at the same address. Ifwe provide you with a copy, we may charge a reasonable administrative fee forcopying your PHI to the extent permitted by applicable law. If we deny yourrequest for review or copy of your PHI, we will explain the reason in writing.If we don’t have your PHI, but know who does, we will tell you who to contact.
Right to Amend Your PHIYou have the right to requestamendments to your PHI. If you wish to have your PHI corrected or updated,please write to us and tell us what you want changed and why. We will respondto you in writing, either accepting or denying your request. If we deny yourrequest, we will explain why. You may also send us an addendum that is nolonger than 250 words in length for each item you believe is incorrect. Pleaseclearly indicate that you want the addendum to be included in your PHI. We willattach your addendum to the record(s) of your PHI. Your amended PHI will beavailable for your review upon request.
Right to Receive an Accounting of Disclosures of Your PHIYou have the right to request anaccounting of certain disclosures that we make of your PHI. You can request anaccounting by writing to us. Please note that certain disclosures, such asthose made for treatment, payment, or health care operations, need not beincluded in the accounting we provide to you. We will respond to your requestwithin a reasonable period of time, but no later than 60 days after we receiveyour written request.
Right to Receive a Copy of This NoticeYou have the right to request andreceive a paper copy of this Notice.
Right to Request RestrictionsYou have the right to requestrestrictions on how we use and disclose your PHI for our treatment, payment,and health care operations. All requests must be made in writing. Upon receipt,we will review your request and notify you whether we have accepted or deniedyour request. Please note that we are not required to accept your request forrestrictions. Your PHI is critical for providing you with quality health care.We believe we have taken appropriate safeguards and internal restrictions toprotect your PHI, and that additional restrictions may be harmful to your care.
Right to Confidential CommunicationsYou have the right to requestthat we provide your PHI to you in a confidential manner. For example, you mayrequest that we send your PHI by an alternate means (e.g., sending by a sealedenvelope, rather than a post card) or to an alternate address (e.g., callingyou at a different telephone number, or sending a letter to you at your officeaddress rather than your home address). We will accommodate any reasonablerequests, unless they are administratively too burdensome, or prohibited bylaw.
Right to ComplainWe must follow the privacypractices set forth in this Notice while in effect. If you have any questionsabout this Notice, wish to exercise your rights, or file a complaint, pleasedirect your inquiries to:
You may contact your Health Planor the Delaware Department of Managed Care with your concerns as well. You alsohave the right to directly complain to the Secretary of the United StatesDepartment of Health and Human Service. We will not retaliate against you forfiling a complaint against us.
Rights Reserved
We will use and disclose your PHIto the fullest extent authorized by law. We reserve the rights as expressed inthis Notice. We reserve the right to revise our privacy practices consistentwith law and make them applicable to your entire PHI we maintain, regardless ofwhen it was received or created. If we make material or important changes toour privacy practices, we will promptly revise our Notice. Unless the changesare required by law, we will not implement material changes to our privacypractices before we revise our Notice. You may request updates to this Noticeat any time.
Effective Date
The effective date of this Noticeis 9/1/2008. |
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