Generally speaking, we only use your health information within or outside of our office for things such as payment, treatment, or healthcare operations. For any other use we require your written authorization. There are limited situations where the law allows or requires us to disclose your health information without written consent, but if there is any doubt, our default action is to get your approval first.
Treatment:
➤ Setting up appointments
➤ Testing your eyes and keeping meticulous records
➤ Writing prescriptions for glasses, contacts or medications
➤ Helping you select glasses or contacts
➤ Referring you to other doctors or clinics
➤ Providing prescriptions or refill authorizations for medications to pharmacists
➤ Contacting you to let you know your glasses or contact lenses are ready
➤ Requesting records from professionals you have seen in the past.
Financial purposes:
➤ Inquiring about health or vision care plans, or other sources of payment
➤ Processing payments, preparing bills or trying to collect unpaid bills
➤ Handling bills or claims that are mailed, faxed, or sent electronically
Business purposes:
This represents the things we do to keep our office running, whether for internal quality assurance, personnel decisions, business plans, or sale of interest in the practice in which protected health information is transferred. Your health information is protected from sale for the purposes of marketing or fundraising automatically, unless you authorize its use in writing. Where required by Georgia law, we will ask for special written permission from you to release your personal information.
Without authorization:
There are limited situations where we are allowed or required to disclose your information without your permission. Some of these situations may not apply to your specific circumstances in our office:
➤ Health information reports mandated by state or federal law
➤ Public health - contagious disease reporting, investigation, or surveillance; notices to and from the FDA about drugs or other medical items
➤ Reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence to authorities
➤ Disclosures for health oversight activities (licensing of doctors, audits by Medicare, investigation of possible healthcare law violations)
➤ Disclosures for law enforcement purposes
➤ Disclosures for assistance in identifying individuals
➤ Disclosures for health related research
➤ Uses and disclosures to prevent threat to health and safety
➤ Uses and disclosures for specialized government functions
➤ Disclosures relating to worker's compensation
➤ Disclosures to business associates who work with us and agree to keep your health information private
Other disclosures
Any other uses or disclosures of your health information will not be made unless you have signed an authorization form. You do not have to sign this form. If you do sign one, you may revoke the permission at any time unless we have already acted on its permission.
Your rights regarding your health information
➤ You can ask us to communicate with you in a confidential way. We will try to accommodate this request if it is reasonable, and if any extra cost is paid for.
➤ You have the right to restrict the release of health information to insurance companies or benefit plans when services are paid in full out-of-pocket – if we don't use your plan for payment of care, we will protect your information from them unless you authorize its release in writing.
➤ You may request electronic or paper copies of your health information. By law, there are a few situations (limited) where we can refuse to permit access or copying. You may have to pay for photocopies in advance. If your request is denied, a written explanation will be provided.
➤ You can ask to amend your health information if you have reason to believe it is incorrect or incomplete.
➤ You can ask for a list of disclosures we have made of your health information.
➤ You can get one such list per year without charge, otherwise they must be paid for in advance.
➤ You have the right to be notified in the event of a breach of the security of your personal health information. If you have any questions as to the ways in which we operate to protect your information, please ask. Every aspect of how we operate is designed with your information security as paramount.
Notice of Privacy Practices
We must abide by the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices by law until we change it. We reserve the right to change this notice at any time in compliance with and as allowed by law. If we change this notice, it will apply to your health information already in our records, and future information generated in the future. If we change this Notice, copies will be available in our office and we will do our best to keep you informed.
Complaints
We want you to know that we view the privacy of your health information as seriously as you do. However, if you feel that our efforts have not maintained your privacy to your satisfaction, please contact Dr. Jennifer Song Badaracco right away. If there is something we can do better, we would like the opportunity to start addressing that change as soon as possible.
