NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES   THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCOLOSED, AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION.  PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.  

The Federal Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) includes regulations requiring all medical records and other individually identifiable health information used or disclosed by us in any form (electronic, paper or oral) are kept properly confidential.  This Act gives you, the patient, significant rights to understand and control how your health information is used.  “HIPAA” provides penalties for covered entities that misuse personal health information.  

As required by “HIPAA” we have prepared this explanation of how we are required to maintain the privacy of your health information, and how we may use and disclose your information.  

We may use and disclose your medical records only for each of the following purposes: treatment, payment and health care operations.  

• Treatment means providing, coordinating, or managing health care and related services by one or more health care providers.  An example of this would include a physical examination.   
• Payment means such activities as obtaining reimbursement for services, confirming coverage, billing or collection activities, and utilization review.  An example of this would be sending a bill for your visit to your insurance company for payment.  
• Health care operations include the business aspects of running our practice, such as conducting quality assessment and improvement activities, auditing functions, cost-management analysis and customer service.  An example would be an internal quality assessment review.  

We also create and distribute de-identified health information by removing all references to individually identifiable information.  

We may contact you to provide appointment reminders or information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.  

Any other uses and disclosures will be made only with your written authorization.  You may revoke such authorization in writing and we are required to honor and abide by that written request, except to the extent we have already taken actions relying on your authorization.