Privacy Practices Notice

A. Typical Disclosures and Uses of Protected Health Information

According to federal law, Patients Medical is allowed to use and reveal PHI for a variety of functions, such as treatment, payment, and running healthcare operations. According to relevant laws, we typically do not require your consent for these uses or disclosures. The kinds of routine PHI uses and disclosures that we are allowed to make without your consent include the following. While not comprehensive, this list should give you a general idea of the regular uses and disclosures we are allowed to make without your consent.

For the purpose of treating you, we maintain a log of your PHI, which may include lab results, diagnoses, prescription drugs, information about how you responded to those drugs or other treatments, and health-related data we gleaned from offering the Services. To administer, coordinate, and/or manage your care and to let you know about other available options for your care as well as other health-related advantages, goods, and services that may be of interest to you, we may use and share the information you’ve provided as well as other PHI. To deliver, coordinate, and manage the delivery of your healthcare, we may use and share this information—along with other PHI—to medical professionals (including without limitation Providers) and/or other third parties. We might give your PHI, for instance, to a pharmacy to complete a prescription, a lab to order a test, or another expert for advice.

For money: In order to bill and collect money for the healthcare services we provided to you, we may use and disclose your PHI as necessary. For their payment-related operations, health plans, providers, and clearinghouses for healthcare services may receive access to your PHI from us. To obtain payment for our services, administer your account, and carry out our obligations under your health plan, for instance, we might use and divulge PHI about you.

For the purposes of running the Practices’ company, we might use or divulge your PHI for those purposes. These activities might involve, but are not limited to: assessing our approaches and services, enhancing our offerings, developing and assessing the performance of our staff in delivering services, and offering customer support. We may also use your PHI to assess and enhance the services offered by our business partners, such as Patients Medical, who handle data, assess data, and perform other tasks for or on our behalf.

B. Disclosures and Uses That May Be Made Without Your Consent or Chance to Object

In the following circumstances, Patients Medical may use or disclose your PHI without your consent and without giving you a chance to protest.

Required by the Secretary of Health and Human Services: In order to conduct an investigation or assess our adherence to the HIPAA Privacy Rule requirements, we may be required to reveal your PHI to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Required by Law: To the extent that such use or disclosure is mandated by federal, state, or local law, we may use or share your PHI.

Public health: We may divulge your PHI for public health purposes, including monitoring illnesses and/or medical devices. This may entail disclosing your information to a public health authority or other government entity that is authorized by law to gather or receive it. (e.g., the Food and Drug Administration). These tasks typically involve the following: (a) preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability; (b) reporting births and deaths; (c) documenting child abuse or neglect; (d) documenting adverse drug reactions or product issues; (e) informing users of product recalls; or (f) informing a person who may have been exposed to a disease or who may be at risk of contracting or spreading a disease or condition. If we do retain information about your DNA testing, we will only share it with state agencies that oversee our operations or when compelled to do so by law.

Health Oversight: We may provide PHI to a health oversight organization for legally permitted oversight activities, such as audits, civil, administrative, or criminal investigations, inspections, licensure or disciplinary actions, civil, administrative, or criminal proceedings or actions, or other tasks required for the supervision of the health care system, government benefit programs, or organizations subject to laws governing civil rights or other legal requirements. The health care system, government benefit programs, other government regulatory initiatives, and civil rights legislation are all under the purview of oversight agencies.

Abuse or Neglect: If you have experienced abuse, neglect, or domestic violence, we may release your PHI to a governmental body that is permitted to obtain such information. Furthermore, we might divulge your PHI to a public health agency that is legally permitted to receive complaints of child maltreatment or neglect.

Judicial and Administrative Proceedings: Under certain circumstances, we may reveal your PHI in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other legally valid process, as well as in response to an order of a court or administrative body.

Law enforcement: If the relevant legal requirements are met, we may share your PHI for law enforcement purposes, such as informing the authorities about a crime victim.

Coroners and Funeral Directors: If it’s necessary for a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director to carry out their legally-authorized responsibilities, such as identifying a deceased person or determining the cause of death, we may reveal your PHI to them.

Organ Donation: If you are an organ donor, we may reveal your PHI to organizations that enable organ, eye, or tissue donation, procurement, or transplantation if it is necessary.

Research: In some instances, we may use and divulge your PHI for internal and external research projects in order to, among other things, create and enhance our goods and services. We may share your PHI to companies that discover, study, or treat diseases, or to organizations that support medical research in certain situations.

Serious Threat to Health or Safety: In the event of a serious threat to an individual’s health or safety, or the safety of the general public, we may reveal your PHI to someone we reasonably believe is able to stop or reduce the threat.

Specialized Government Functions: Under the right circumstances, we may reveal PHI in order to address military or national security issues, such as when the Department of Veterans Affairs needs to assess your eligibility for benefits. If the military command authorities request it, we might disclose PHI about you if you are a member of the armed services. Additionally, we reserve the right to disclose PHI about foreign military employees to the relevant foreign military authority.

We may disclose your PHI to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, protection of the President, other authorized individuals, or foreign heads of state, as well as other national security activities permitted by law.

Workers’ Compensation: If you sustain an injury at work, we may reveal your PHI to workers’ compensation carriers or your employer as permitted by law or as required to comply with workers’ compensation laws and other similar programs. Alternate insurance or payment details must be provided if you do not want workers’ compensation to be notified.

We may use your demographic PHI to call you as a reminder that you have an appointment or to suggest potential treatment options or alternatives that may be of interest to you for benefits and services related to health.

For marketing purposes, we might get in touch with you using your PHI in an attempt to persuade you to buy or use a certain good or service. However, we would need your prior written consent if we received any direct or indirect compensation for making such a communication, unless it (a) solely describes a drug or medication that is currently being prescribed for you and our payment for the communication is reasonable in amount, or (b) is provided by one of our business partners in accordance with our written agreement with such business partner.

Inmates: If you are an inmate of a particular correctional facility and we created or obtained your PHI in the course of providing care to you, the correctional facility may use or disclose your PHI to that facility. This PHI may include information required for the facility to provide you with health care or to protect your health and safety, the health and safety of others, or the safety and security of the institution.

Business Associates: We may disclose your PHI to people or organizations that assist us or work for us and need to use or divulge PHI in order to carry out their duties. We expect the business associate to properly safeguard your information in order to protect your health information.

De-identified Information: For any of the aforementioned uses, we may de-identify your PHI. PHI that has been de-identified in accordance with HIPAA standards is no longer covered by the law’s protections and may be used and revealed for any legitimate reason, including some that are connected to research.

C. Utilizations and Disclosures That May Be Made With Your Consent or the Chance to Object

Patients Medical may disclose PHI that is directly related to that person’s involvement in your health care to a member of your family, a relative, a friend, or any other person you identify (orally or in writing) as being involved in your care or the payment for your health care, unless you specifically object in whole or in part (which you may do at any time). We may reveal the information that, in our professional opinion, is necessary and in your best interest if you are unable to agree or object to such disclosure. A family member, personal representative, or another person in charge of your care may also be notified of your position or general condition using or receiving your PHI.

D. Protected health information uses and disclosures based on your written consent

Psychotherapy Notes: For the majority of uses and disclosures involving psychotherapy notes, your signed consent is required.

Except as stated above, we are required by HIPAA to obtain your written consent before using or disclosing your PHI for the majority of marketing-related activities.

Sale of PHI: Before disclosing any of your PHI in a manner that could be construed as a sale of PHI, we must first receive your signed consent.

Other Uses: Unless otherwise allowed or required by law, uses and disclosures of your PHI not previously mentioned or otherwise permitted by HIPAA will only be made with your written consent. If you consent to the release of your PHI, you have the right to withdraw that consent in writing. Revocation will halt any further disclosure of your PHI but won’t affect information that has already been disclosed in accordance with a valid authorization.

We will use, disclose, or request no more than a “limited data set” (as defined by HIPAA) of your medical information, or, if needed by us, no more than the minimum amount of medical information required to achieve the intended purpose of the use, disclosure, or request, taking into account practical and technological factors, when using or disclosing your PHI or when requesting your PHI from another covered entity.

E. To create, store, and maintain your medical record, we use an electronic health record. 

Patients Medical creates, stores, and maintains your medical record using an electronic health record (EHR) in order to help you receive better medical treatment. The EHR enables us to send and receive your PHI to and from other Providers who have treated you and who also use the EHR, but only if the reason we or another Provider needs your PHI is to treat you, get paid for your medical care, or carry out other administrative tasks allowed by our privacy policies and the law. Your PHI won’t be sent or received by providers via the EHR for any other functions.