HEALTH
INSURANCE PORTABILITY & ACCOUNTABILITY ACT
This notice describes how information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully.
INTRODUCTION
At Ocala Dermatology and Skin Cancer Center, PA, we are committed to treating and using protected health information about you responsibly. This Notice of health information practices describes the personal information we collect, and how and when we use or disclose that information. It also describes your rights as they relate to your protected health information. This Notice is effective April 14, 2003, and applies to all protected health information as defined by federal regulations.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR HEALTH RECORD/INFORMATION
Each time you visit Ocala Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center, PA, a record of your visit is made. Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnosis, 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
- Means of communication among the many health professionals who contribute to your care
- Legal document, describing the care you received
- Means by which you are a third-party payer can verify that services build were actually provided
- A tool and educating health professionals
- A source of data for medical research
- A source of information for public health officials charged with improving the health of this state and the nation
- A source of data for our planning and marketing
- A tool with which we can access and continually work to improve the care we render and outcomes we achieve
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 make more inform decisions were authorizing disclosure to others.
YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION RIGHTS
Although your health record is the physical property of Ocala Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center, PA, the information belongs to you. You have the right to:
- Receive an electronic or paper copy of your medical record. You may ask to view or get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record and other health information we have about you. Ask us how to do this. We will provide a copy or a summary of your health information, usually within 30 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable, cost based fee.
- Ask us to correct your medical record. You can ask us to correct health information about you that you think is incorrect or incomplete. We may say “no” to your request but we’ll tell you why in writing within 60 days.
- You can ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, home or office phone) or to send mail to a different address. We will say "yes" to all reasonable requests.
- Inspect and copy your health record as provided for in 45 CFR 164.524.
- Amend your health record as provided in 45 CFR 164.528.
- Obtain an accounting of disclosures of your health information as provided in 45 CFR 164.528.
- Request communications of your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations
- Request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your information as provided by 45 CFR 164.522, and 42 USC and 17935(a). You should be aware that Ocala Dermatology is not required to agree to requested restriction, unless the disclosure for which restriction is requested, is to a health plan for purposes of carrying out payment or healthcare operations of carrying out payment or healthcare operations (and not for the purpose of treatment) and the information pertains solely to a health care, item or service, for which Ocala Dermatology has been paid out of pocket in full.
- Revoke your authorization to use or disclose health information, except to the extent that action has already been taken.
Release authorizations will be required for these by law:
- Any psychotherapy (mental health) notes are kept separate from our patients electronic record
- Any protected information that an officer would use for marketing. We do not use patient information for marketing.
- Any disclosure that an officer would make that constitutes a sale of protected information.
OUR RESPONSIBILITIES
Ocala Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center, PA is required to:
- Maintain the privacy of your health information
- Provide you with this notice as to our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to information we collect and maintain about you
- Abide by the terms of this notice
- Notify you if we are unable to agree to a requested restriction
- Accommodate reasonable request you may have to communicate health information by alternative means or at alternative locations.
We reserve the right to change our practices and to make the new provisions effective for all protected health information, we maintain. Should our information practices change, we will post a revised notice in our offices, and you may request a copy of the most current notice at any time.
We will not use or disclose your health information without your authorization, except as described in this notice. We will also discontinue to use or disclose your health information. After we have received a written revocation of the authorization, according to the procedures, included in the authorization.
FUNDRAISING
Patients can opt out of any fundraising information that an officer would communicate. (We do not do any fundraising.)
RESTRICTING INFORMATION RELEASES
Any patient that pays for a service in full and out-of-pocket can request out that our office not disclose any information to an insurance company without their consent. This request has to be in writing and must identify what information is restricted and what insurance company is not to receive this information.
BREACH NOTIFICATIONS
Our patients would be notified and writing, when a bridge in their protected information occurs; if it is a breach that can’t be proven as minimal probability of the data being used improperly,
For more information or to report a problem
If you have questions, and would like additional information, you may contact the practices privacy officer at (352) 237–2322.
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with the practices, privacy officer, or with the office for civil rights, US Department of health and human services. There will be no retaliation for filing a complaint with either the privacy officer, or the office for civil rights. The address for the OCR is listed below:
Privacy Officer: Wendy Dobson
Ocala Dermatology &Skin Cancer Center
3233 SW 33rd Road, Suite 101
Ocala,
FL 34474
Office for Civil Rights
US Dept of Health & Human Services
200 Independence Ave., S.W.
Room 509F, HHH Building
Washington, DC 20201
Examples of disclosures for treatment, payment, and health operations
We will use your health information for treatment.
For example: information obtained by a nurse, physician, or other member of your healthcare team will be recorded in your record and used to determine the course of treatment that should work best for you. Your physician will document in your record his or her expectations of the members of your healthcare team. Members of your healthcare team well then record the actions they took, and their observations. And that way, the physician will know how you are responding to treatment.
We will also provide your primary or a referring physician, or a subsequent healthcare provider with copies of various reports that should assist him or her in treating you.
We will use your health information for payment.
For example: a bill may be sent to you or a third-party payer. The information on or accompanying the bill may include information that identifies you, as well as your diagnosis, procedures, and supplies used.
We will use your health information for regular health operations.
For example: members of the medical staff, the risk or quality, improvement, manager, or members of the quality improvement team may use information in your health record to assess the care and outcomes in your case and others like it. This information will then be used in an effort to continually improve the quality and effectiveness of the healthcare and services we provide.
Appointments and appointment reminders: we may ask that you sign in at the receptionist desk on the day of your appointment and Ocala Dermatology. We may use and disclose medical information to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment for medical care with Ocala Dermatology or that you are due to receive periodic care from the practice. This contact may be by phone, in writing, email, and text and may involve leaving an email, a message on an answering machine, or otherwise, which could potentially be received or intercepted by others.
Business associates: there are some services provided in our organization through contacts with business associates. Examples include pathology, laboratories, testing, laboratories, and slide preparation facilities. When the services are contracted, we may disclose your health information to our business associate so that they can perform the job. We’ve asked them to do and bill you or your third-party payer for services rendered. To protect your health information, however, we require the business associate to appropriately safeguard your information.
