HIPAA PRIVACY POLICY
Notice of Privacy Practices
Effective Date: October 1, 2024
Privacy Officer: Chandrasekhar Doniparthi, MD
Contact Information: 928-509-0937 ; cdoniparthi@wellnesscenterofyuma.com
Wellness Center of Yuma, LLC is committed to protecting your health information. This Notice of Privacy Practices explains how we may use and disclose your health information, your rights regarding that information, and our obligations concerning your health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
A. How This Medical Practice May Use or Disclose Your Health Information
This medical practice collects health information about you and stores it in a chart and on a computer. This is your medical record. The medical record is the property of this medical practice, but the information in the medical record belongs to you. The law permits us to use or disclose your health information for the following purposes:
1. Treatment: We 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 health care providers who will provide services that we do not provide. Or we may share this information with a pharmacist who needs it to dispense a prescription to you, or a laboratory that performs a test. We may also disclose medical information to members of your family or others who can help you when you are sick or injured, or after you die.
2. Payment: We use and disclose medical information about you to obtain payment for the services we provide. For example, we give your health plan the information it requires before it will pay us. We may also disclose information to other health care providers to assist them in obtaining payment for services they have provided to you.
3. 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. Or we may use and disclose this information to get your health plan to authorize services or referrals. We may also use and disclose this information as necessary for medical reviews, legal services and audits, including fraud and abuse detection and compliance programs and business planning and management. We may also share your medical information with our “business associates,” such as our billing service, that perform administrative services for us. We have a written contract with each of these business associates that contains terms requiring them and their subcontractors to protect the confidentiality and security of your protected health information. We may also share your information with other health care providers, health care clearinghouses or health plans that have a relationship with you, when they request this information to help them with their quality assessment and improvement activities, their patient-safety activities, their population-based efforts to improve health or reduce health care costs, their protocol development, case management or care-coordination activities, their review of competence, qualifications and performance of health care professionals, their training programs, their accreditation, certification or licensing activities, or their health care fraud and abuse detection and compliance efforts. We may also share medical information about you with the other health care providers, health care clearinghouses and health plans that participate with us in “organized health care arrangements” (OHCAs) for any of the OHCAs’ health care operations. OHCAs include hospitals, physician organizations, health plans, and other entities which collectively provide health care services. A listing of the OHCAs we participate in is available from the Privacy Officer.
4. Appointment Reminders: We may use and disclose medical information to contact and remind you about appointments. If you are not home, we may leave this information on your answering machine or in a message left with the person answering the phone.
5. Sign-In Sheet: We may use and disclose medical information about you by having you sign in when you arrive at our office. We may also call out your name when we are ready to see you.
6. Notification and Communication With Family: We may disclose your health information to notify or assist in notifying a family member, your personal representative, or another person responsible for your care about your location, your general condition or, unless you had instructed us otherwise, in the event of your death. In the event of a disaster, we may disclose information to a relief organization so that they may coordinate these notification efforts. We may also disclose information to someone who is involved with your care or helps pay for your care. If you are able and available to agree or object, we will give you the opportunity to object prior to making these disclosures, although we may disclose this information in a disaster even over your objection if we believe it is necessary to respond to the emergency circumstances. If you are unable or unavailable to agree or object, our health professionals will use their best judgment in communication with your family and others.
7. Marketing: Provided we do not receive any payment for making these communications, we may contact you to give you information about products or services related to your treatment, case management or care coordination, or to direct or recommend other treatments, therapies, health care providers or settings of care that may be of interest to you. We may similarly describe products or services provided by this practice and tell you which health plans this practice participates in. We may also encourage you to maintain a healthy lifestyle and get recommended tests, participate in a disease management program, provide you with small gifts, tell you about government-sponsored health programs or encourage you to purchase a product or service when we see you, for which we may be paid. Finally, we may receive compensation which covers our cost of reminding you to take and refill your medication or otherwise communicate about a drug or biologic that is currently prescribed for you. We will not otherwise use or disclose your medical information for marketing purposes or accept any payment for other marketing communications without your prior written authorization. The authorization will disclose whether we receive any compensation for any marketing activity you authorize, and we will stop any future marketing activity to the extent you revoke that authorization.
8. Sale of Health Information: We will not sell your health information without your prior written authorization. The authorization will disclose that we will receive compensation for your health information if you authorize us to sell it, and we will stop any future sales of your information to the extent that you revoke that authorization.
9. Required by Law: As required by law, we will use and disclose your health information, but we will limit our use or disclosure to the relevant requirements of the law. When the law requires us to report abuse, neglect or domestic violence, or respond to judicial or administrative proceedings, or to law enforcement officials, we will further comply with the requirement set forth below concerning those activities.
10. Public Health: We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information to public health authorities for purposes related to: preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability; reporting child, elder or dependent adult abuse or neglect; reporting domestic violence; reporting to the Food and Drug Administration problems with products and reactions to medications; and reporting disease or infection exposure. When we report suspected elder or dependent adult abuse or domestic violence, we will inform you or your personal representative promptly unless in our best professional judgment, we believe the notification would place you at risk of serious harm or would require informing a personal representative we believe is responsible for the abuse or harm.
11. Health Oversight Activities: We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information to health oversight agencies during the course of audits, investigations, inspections, licensure and other proceedings, subject to the limitations imposed by law.
12. Judicial and Administrative Proceedings: We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information in the course of any administrative or judicial proceeding to the extent expressly authorized by a court or administrative order. We may also disclose information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process if reasonable efforts have been made to notify you of the request and you have not objected, or if your objections have been resolved by a court or administrative order.
13. Law Enforcement: We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information to a law enforcement official for purposes such as identifying or locating a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person, complying with a court order, warrant, grand jury subpoena and other law enforcement purposes.
14. Coroners: We may, and are often required by law, to disclose your health information to coroners in connection with their investigations of deaths.
15. Organ or Tissue Donation: We may disclose your health information to organizations involved in procuring, banking or transplanting organs and tissues.
16. Public Safety: We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information to appropriate persons in order to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a particular person or the general public.
17. Proof of Immunization: We will disclose proof of immunization to a school that is required to have it before admitting a student where you have agreed to the disclosure on behalf of yourself or your dependent.
18. Specialized Government Functions: We may disclose your health information for military or national security purposes or to correctional institutions or law enforcement officers that have you in their lawful custody.
19. Workers’ Compensation: We may disclose your health information as necessary to comply with workers’ compensation laws. For example, to the extent your care is covered by workers’ compensation, we will make periodic reports to your employer about your condition. We are also required by law to report cases of occupational injury or occupational illness to the employer or workers’ compensation insurer.
20. Change of Ownership: In the event that this medical practice is sold or merged with another organization, your health information/record will become the property of the new owner, although you will continue to have the same rights regarding your health information.
B. Your Health Information Rights
You have the following rights regarding your health information:
1. Right to Inspect and Copy: You have the right to inspect and copy your health information, with limited exceptions. You must make a request in writing to our Privacy Officer in order to inspect or copy your health information. If you request a copy of your health information, we may charge a fee for the costs of copying, mailing or other supplies associated with your request. In some circumstances, we may deny your request to inspect or copy your health information. If we deny your request, we will provide you with a written explanation for the denial and tell you how you can appeal the denial.
2. Right to Amend: You have the right to request that we amend your health information if you believe it is incorrect or incomplete. You must make a request in writing to our Privacy Officer and provide a reason for the request. We may deny your request for an amendment if it is not in writing or does not include a reason for the request. We may also deny your request if you ask us to amend information that is accurate and complete, or information that was not created by us, or information that is not part of the health information kept by us. If we deny your request, we will provide you with a written explanation for the denial.
3. Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to request an accounting of disclosures of your health information. This is a list of disclosures we have made of your health information for purposes other than treatment, payment or health care operations. You must make your request in writing to our Privacy Officer. Your request must state a time period for the disclosures, which may not be longer than six years. We will provide you with the accounting within 60 days of your request. The first accounting you request in a 12-month period is free; we may charge you for additional accountings during that same period. We will notify you of the costs involved, and you may withdraw your request before you incur any costs.
4. Right to Request Restrictions: You have the right to request that we restrict how we use or disclose your health information for treatment, payment or health care operations. You may also request that we restrict disclosures to persons involved in your care or the payment for your care. We are not required to agree to your request; however, if we do agree, we will comply with your request unless the information is needed to provide you emergency treatment. To request restrictions, you must make your request in writing to our Privacy Officer. In your request, you must tell us: (1) what information you want to limit; (2) whether you want to limit our use, disclosure, or both; and (3) to whom you want the limits to apply.
5. Right to Request Confidential Communications: You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your health information in a certain way or at a certain location. For example, you can ask that we only contact you at home or only by mail. To request confidential communications, you must make your request in writing to our Privacy Officer. We will accommodate reasonable requests.
6. Right to a Paper Copy of This Notice: You have the right to request and receive a paper copy of this Notice of Privacy Practices at any time, even if you have agreed to receive this notice electronically.
C. Changes to This Notice
We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices at any time. Any changes will apply to the health information we already have about you as well as any information we receive in the future. The new notice will be available upon request in our office, and it will be posted in our office. We will also make a copy of the new notice available to you upon your next visit to our practice.
D. Complaints
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with this medical practice or with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. To file a complaint with this medical practice, contact our Privacy Officer at the address listed above. All complaints must be submitted in writing. You will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint.
E. Other Uses of Health Information
Other uses and disclosures of your health information not covered by this Notice of Privacy Practices will be made only with your written authorization. If you authorize us to use or disclose your health information, you may revoke that authorization at any time, in writing, except to the extent we have already acted based on your authorization.