NOTICE OF HEALTH INFORMATION PRIVACY PRACTICES
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
Pediatric Sleep Specialists (“PSS”) is required by law to maintain the privacy of your health information and is strongly committed to maintaining your privacy. PSS is required to provide you a Notice explaining our legal duties and privacy practices. PSS will not use or disclose your health information except as described in this Notice. PSS is required to notify affected individuals following a breach of unsecured health information. This Notice applies to all of the health information generated by PSS, as well as information we receive from others, including health care providers and health plans.
USES AND DISCLOSURES OF YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION
TREATMENT: We may use and disclose your health information to provide and coordinate your health care treatment. We may disclose all or part of your health information to your attending physician, consulting physicians, nurses, or other health care providers and personnel who have a legitimate need for such information. PSS may also use and disclose medical information to tell you about or recommend possible treatment options or alternatives that we believe may be of interest to you.
PAYMENT: We may use and disclose health information about you for billing purposes, including obtaining authorization for treatment, billing insurance, third party, or other entity involved in the payment of your medical bill. We may be required to provide copies or excerpts of your medical record for payment review. For example, we may send a claim for payment, and it will have a code that describes the services we provided.
HEALTHCARE OPERATIONS: We may use and disclose health information about you for our healthcare operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary to operate and manage our practice and to promote quality care. We may need to use or disclose your medical information to assess the quality of care you receive, conduct cost management, business management, and administrative or quality improvement activities. PSS may engage outside companies (“business associates”) to carry out certain aspects of these healthcare operations. PSS may need to disclose your health information to the business associates to enable them to perform their duties. For example, business associates might be third party billing companies, accountants, and lawyers. PSS will require the business associate to sign an agreement to protect the confidentiality of your health information.
USES AND DISCLOSURES REQUIRING YOUR AUTHORIZATION
PSS will obtain a written authorization from you before it uses or disclosed your protected health information unless a particular use or disclosure is expressly permitted or required by law without your permission. We must obtain your authorization to use or disclose your protected health information for certain marketing purposes, fundraising, or selling your information. You have the right to revoke any authorization previously given by submitting a written request to PSS. However, we cannot undo any uses or disclosures we have already made based on your previous consent.
USES AND DISCLOSURES TO WHICH YOU MAY OBJECT
PSS may disclose your health information to a friend or family member involved in your medical care, who helps pay for your care, and for disaster relief purposes. If you have any objection to the use and disclosure of your health information in this manner, please tell us.
USES AND DISCLOSURES THAT ARE REQUIRED OR PERMITTED WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION
REGULATORY AGENCIES: PSS may disclose your health information to government and certain private health oversight agencies, such as the Department of Public Health and Environment, the Joint Commission, or the Board of Medical Examiners, for activities authorized by law, including, but not limited to, licensure, certification, audits, investigations, and inspections. These activities are necessary to monitor compliance with the requirements of government programs.
LAW ENFORCEMENT, NATIONAL SECURITY, INTELLIGENCE, AND LEGAL ACTIVITIES: PSS may disclose your health information to law enforcement officials if necessary, to prevent or decrease a serious and imminent threat of injury to your physical, mental, or emotional health or safety of the physical safety of another person. We may disclose health information about you to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities authorized by law. PSS may disclose your health information for judicial and arbitration proceedings and other disputes consistent with applicable law.
PUBLIC HEALTH: As required by law, PSS may disclose your health information to public health or legal authorities charged with preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability.
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION: PSS may disclose health information about you for workers’ compensation or similar program. These programs provide benefits for work-related injuries.
MILITARY/VETERANS: If you are a member of the armed forces, we may use and disclose health information about you as required by the appropriate military authorities.
CORONERS/MEDICAL EXAMINERS/FUNERAL HOME DIRECTORS: We may disclose your health information to a coroner or medical examiner for purposes of identifying a deceased person or to determine the cause of death. We may also release health information about you to funeral home directors as necessary to carry out their duties.
RESEARCH: PSS may use and disclose your health information for reviews preparatory to research and if approved by a privacy board or institutional review board for research studies.
AS OTHERWISE REQUIRED BY LAW: PSS will disclose your health information in any situation in which such disclosure is required by law (e.g., child abuse, domestic abuse, or the prevent harm to you or other individuals).
YOUR RIGHTS RELATED TO YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION
Although all records concerning your treatment obtained at PSS are the property of PSS, you have the following rights concerning your health information:
RIGHT TO CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS: You have the right to receive confidential communications of your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations. For example, you may request PSS only at work or by mail.
RIGHT TO INSPECT AND COPY: You generally have the right to inspect and copy your health information in paper and electronic format, except as restricted by law.
RIGHT TO AMEND: You have the right to request an amendment or correction to your health information. If we agree that an amendment or correction is appropriate, we will ensure that the amendment or correction is attached to your medical record.
RIGHT TO AN ACCOUNTING: You have the right to obtain a statement of the disclosures that have been made of your health information, except for the purposes of treatment, payment, or routine operations (as detailed above), or disclosures made pursuant to your specific authorization.
RIGHT TO REQUEST RESTRICTIONS: You have the right to request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of your health information. PSS generally is not required to abide by your requested restrictions. However, if you pay in full out-of-pocket for a health care item or service, we must comply with your request to restrict the disclosure of health information related to that health care item or service to a health plan for payment or health care operations purposes.
RIGHT TO RECEIVE COPY OF THIS NOTICE: You have the right to receive a paper copy of this Notice upon request.
RIGHT TO REVOKE AUTHORIZATION: You have the right to revoke your authorization to use or disclose your health information, except to the extent that
action has already been taken in reliance on your consent or authorization.
RIGHT TO RECEIVE CERTAIN NOTICES: You have the right to receive Notice of a Breach. You have the right to receive written notice if we learn of any unauthorized acquisition, use, or disclosure of your PHI that was not otherwise properly secured as required by HIPAA.
FOR MORE INFORMATION REGARDING HOW TO EXERCISE THESE RIGHTS
If you have questions or would like more information regarding any of the rights listed above, please contact PSS’s Privacy Officer at the address or telephone number listed below.
IF YOU BELIEVE THAT YOUR RIGHTS HAVE BEEN VIOLATED:
You may file a complaint with PSS or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. To file a complaint with PSS, please contact:
Pediatric Sleep Specialists Attn: Privacy/Security Officer
6031 E Woodman Rd Colorado Springs, CO. 80923 (800) 506-8933
All complaints must be submitted in writing. There will be no retaliation for filing a complaint.
CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE
PSS will abide by the terms of the Notice currently in effect. PSS reserves the right to change the terms of this Notice at any time. Any new notice provisions will be effective for all protected health information that it maintains. You have the right to review the Notice at any time. PSS will make its Notice, including any revisions, available at PSS and on the PSS website (www.pediatricsleepspecialists.com).
THE EFFECTIVE DATE: The effective date of this Notice is October 15, 2018
INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT FROM YOU ONLINE
We may collect and process the following data about you:
1. Information that you provide by filling in forms on our website. This includes information provided at the time of registering to use our website, subscribing to our service, posting material, or requesting further services. We may also ask you for information when you enter a competition or promotion sponsored by us and when you report a problem with our website.
2. If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.
3. We may ask you to complete surveys that we use for research purposes, although you do not have to respond to them.
4. Details of transactions you carry out through our website and of the fulfillment of your orders.
5. Details of your visits to our website, including but not limited to traffic data, location data, weblogs, and other communication data, whether this is required for our own billing purposes or otherwise, and the resources that you access.
IP ADDRESS
We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system, and browser type, for system administration and to report aggregate information to our advertisers. This is statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.
WHERE WE STORE YOUR PERSONAL DATA
When we use your information as described in this Privacy Policy, it may occasionally involve sending your information around the world. By providing us with your personal information, you agree that we may transfer, store, and process your information in this manner. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we employ security measures designed to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our website. Any data transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to prevent possible unauthorized access.
INFORMATION USAGE
We use information held about you in the following ways:
1. To ensure that content from our website is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.
2. To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us or that we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes.
3. To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us.
4. To allow you to participate in interactive features of our service when you choose to do so.
5. To notify you about changes to our service.
DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION
We may disclose your personal information to:
1. Any member of our group of companies (our subsidiaries and our ultimate holding company and its subsidiaries);
2. Data processing companies, mailing houses, and other third parties working on our behalf (whether directly or indirectly).
We may disclose your personal information to third parties:
1. In the event that we sell or buy any business, assets, or shares, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business, assets, or shares.
2. If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms and conditions; or to protect our rights, property, or safety, or those of our customers or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
3. Requests may be received for information from government departments, the police, and other enforcement agencies. If this happens, and there is a proper legal basis for providing your information, it will be provided to the requesting organization.
CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY
This Privacy Policy may be updated periodically, so please refer to this policy when you visit our site to stay informed.
CONTACT
Please contact us using the details shown on our website if you have any questions, comments, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy.