NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

OUR LEGAL DUTY

Federal and state law requires us to maintain the privacy of your health information. The law also requires us to give you this notice about our privacy practices, our legal duties and our rights concerning your health information. We must follow the privacy practices as described in this notice while it is in effect. This notice takes effect April 14, 2003 and will remain in effect until we replace it. We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of this notice at any time, provided such applicable law permits the changes. We reserve the right to make the changes in our privacy practices and the new terms of our notice effective for all health information we maintain, including health information we created or received before we made the changes. Prior to making any significant changes in our privacy practices, we will change this notice and make the new notice available upon request. You may request a copy of your notice at any time. For more information about our privacy practices or for additional copies of this notice please contact our privacy officer listed at the end of this notice.

USE AND DISCLOSURE OF HEALTH INFORMATION

We use and disclose health information about you for treatment, payment and health care operations. For example:

• Treatment: We may use your health information for treatment or disclose it to a dentist, physician or other health care provider providing treatment to you.
• Payment: We may use and disclose your health information to obtain payment for services we provide you. We may also disclose your health information to another health care provider or entity that is subject to the federal Privacy Rules for its payment activities.
• Health Care Operations: We may use and disclose your health information for out health care operations. Health care operations include quality assessment and improvement activities, reviewing the competence or qualifications of health care professionals, evaluation practitioner and provider performance, conducting training programs, accreditation, certification, licensing or credentialing activities. We may disclose your health information to another health care provider or organization that is subject to the federal privacy rules and that has a relationship with you to support some of their health care operations. We may disclose your information to help these organizations conduct quality assessment and improvement activities, review the competence of health care professionals, or detect or prevent health care fraud and abuse.
• On Your Authorization: You may give us written authorization to use your health information or to disclose it to anyone for any purpose. If you give us an authorization, you may revoke it in writing at any time. Your revocation will not affect any uses or disclosures permitted by your authorization while it was in effect. Unless you give us a written authorization, we cannot use or disclose your health information for any reason except those described in this notice.
• To Your Family & Friends: We may disclose your health information to a family member, friend or other person to the extent necessary to help with your health care or with payment for your health care. Before we disclose your health information to these people we will provide you with an opportunity to object to our use or disclosure. If you are not present, or in the event of your incapacity or an emergency, we will disclose your medical information based on our professional judgment of whether the disclosure would be in your best interest. We may use our professional judgment and our experience with common practice to make reasonable inferences of your best interest in allowing a person to pick up filled prescriptions, medical supplies, x-rays, or other similar forms of health information. We may use or disclose information about you to notify or assist in notifying a person involved in your care, of your location and general condition.
• Appointment Reminders: we may use or disclose your health information to provide you with appointment reminders (such as voice mail messages, postcards, or letters.)
• Disaster Relief: We may use or disclose your health information to a public or private entity authorized by law or by its charter to assist in disaster relief efforts.
• Public Benefit: We may use or disclose your medical information as authorized by law for the following purposes deemed to be in the public interests or benefit:
  • as required by law;
  • for public health activities, including disease and vital statistic reporting, child abuse reporting, FDA oversight and to employers regarding work -related illness or injury;
  • to report adult abuse, neglect, or domestic violence;
  • to health oversight agencies;
  • in response to court and administrative orders and other lawful processes;
  • to law enforcement officials pursuant to subpoenas and other lawful processes, concerning crime victims, suspicious deaths, crimes on our premises, reporting crimes in emergencies and for purposes of identifying or locating a suspect or other person;
  • to coroners, medical examiners and funeral directors;
  • to organ procurement organizations;
  • to avert a serious threat to health or safety;
  • in connection with certain research activities;
  • to the military and to federal officials for lawful intelligence, counterintelligence, and national security activities;
  • to correctional institutions regarding inmates; and
  • as authorized by state worker's compensation laws.

PATIENT RIGHTS

• Access: You have the right to look at or get copies of your health information with limited exceptions. You must make a request in writing to obtain access to your health information. You may request access by a letter the attention of our privacy officer listed at the end of this notice. If you request copies, we will charge you a reasonable cost-based fee that may include labor, copying costs and postage.
• Disclosure Accounting: You have the right to receive a list of instances in which we or our business associates disclosed your health information over the last six years (but not before April 14, 2003). That list will not include disclosures for treatment, payment, health care operations, as authorized by you, and for certain other activities. If you request this accounting more than once in a 12-month period, we may charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee for responding to these additional requests.
• Restrictions: You have the right to request that we place additional restrictions on our use of disclosure of your health information. We are not required to agree to these additional restrictions, but it we do, we will abide by our agreement (except in an emergency). Any agreement we may make to a request for additional restrictions must be in writing signed by a person authorized to make such an agreement on your behalf. Your request is not binding unless our agreement is in writing.
• Alternative Communications: you have the right to request that we communicate with you about your health information by alternative means or to alternative locations. You must make your request in writing. You must specify in your request the alternative means or location and provide satisfactory explanation how you will handle payment under the alternative means or location request.
• Amendment: You have the right to request that we amend your health information. Your request must be in writing, and it must explain why we should amend the information. We may deny your request under certain circumstances.

QUESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS

If you want more information about our privacy practice or have questions or concerns, please contact our privacy officer listed at the end of this notice.
If you believe that:

• we may have violated your privacy rights,
• we made a decision about access to your health information incorrectly,
• our response to a request you made to amend or restrict the use or disclosure of your health information was incorrect, or
• we should communicate with you by alternative means or at alternative locations;