This notice describes information about privacy practices followed by the above physicians, all their healthcare employees and any of their healthcare contractors. These practices will also be followed by healthcare providers you consult with by telephone (when any of your regular, above physicians is not available) who provide "call coverage".

HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU We must have your written, signed consent "Privacy Practices Acknowledgment" to use and disclose health information for purposes listed below. If we do not have your signed consent we will not be able to disclose any medical information.

*TREATMENT - We may use health information about you to provide you with medical treatment or services and disclose this to doctors, nurses, healthcare employees, healthcare contractors, who are involved in taking care of you and your health. Different personnel in our office may share information about you and disclose information to people who do not work in our practice, in order to coordinate your care such as phoning in prescriptions to your pharmacy, scheduling lab work and ordering X-Rays. Family members and other healthcare providers may be part of your medical care outside of this office and may require information about you, that we have.

*PAYMENT - We may use and disclose health information about you, so that the. services you receive in this practice may be billed to and payment collected from you, an insurance company, or a third party. We may also tell your health plan about a treatment you are going to receive to obtain prior approval, or to determine whether your plan will cover the treatment.

*HEALTHCARE OPERATIONS - We may use and disclose information about you in order to run the office and make sure that you and our other patients receive quality care. We may use information for auditing functions, cost-management analysis and customer service.

*APPOINTMENT REMINDERS - We may contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or medical care at this practice. Please notify us if you do not wish to be contacted for appointment reminders. You have the right to request confidential communications, the right to request that we communicate with you in a certain way or at a certain location. This request must be submitted in writing and specify how or where you wish to be contacted.

*FAMILY AND FRIENDS - We may disclose health information about. you to your family members or friends, if we obtain your verbal or written agreement to do so. We may also disclose health information to your family and friends, if we can infer from circumstances, that you would not object.. For example, we may assume you agree to our disclosure of your personal health information to your spouse, another family member, or a caretaker, when you bring such a person with you into the exam room during treatment or while treatment is discussed. In situations where you are not capable of giving consent (because you are not present or due to your incapacity or medical emergency), we may, using our professional judgment, determine that a disclosure to your family member or friend is in your best interest. In that situation, we will disclose only health information relevant to the person's involvement in your care. We may also use our professional judgment and experience to make reasonable inferences that it is in your best interest to allow another person to act on your behalf such as to pick up prescriptions, medical supplies or X-Rays.

*SPECIAL SITUATIONS - We may use or disclose health information about you without your permission for the following purposes, subject to all applicable legal requirement and limitations.

TO AVERT A SERIOUS THREAT TO HEALTH OR SAFETY - We may use and disclose health information about you when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety, or the health and safety of the public or another person.
REQUIRED BY LAW - We will disclose health information about you when required to do so by Federal, state or local law, such as in response to a court order, subpoena, warrant or summons.
MILITARY, VETERANS, NATIONAL SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE - If you are or were a member of the Armed Forces, or part of the National Security or Intelligence Communities, we may be required by Military Command or other Government authorities to release health information about you.
WORKER'S COMPENSATION - We may release health information about you for workers' compensation or similar programs, associated with work-related injuries or illness.
LAWSUITS AND DISPUTES - If you are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose health information about you in response to a court or administrative order.
INFORMATION NOT PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE - We may use or disclose health information about you in a way that does not personally identify you or reveal who you are.

*OTHER USES AND DISCLOSURES OF HEALTH INFORMATION - We will not use or disclose your health information for any purpose, other than those identified in the previous sections without your written authorization. We must obtain your authorization separate from any consent we may have obtained from you. If you give us authorization to use or disclose health information about you, you may revoke that authorization, in writing, at any time. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclose information about you for the reasons covered by your written authorization, but we cannot take back any uses or disclosures already made with your permission. If we have HIV information about you, we cannot release that in formation without a special signed, written authorization (different than the authorization and consent mentioned above), in compliance with the law governing HIV records.

*YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU -

RIGHT TO INSPECT AND COPY-You have the right to inspect and copy your health information, such as medical and billing records. You must submit a written request. We will charge a fee for the costs of copying and supplies, mailing and personnel time, We may deny your request in certain limited circumstances if you are denied access, you may ask that the denial be reviewed.
RIGHT TO AMEND - If you believe health information we have about you is incorrect of incomplete, you may ask us to amend the information. You have the right to request an amendment, as long as the information is kept by this practice. To request an amendment, complete a MEDICAL RECORD AMENDMENTICORRECTION FORM in the office.
RIGHT TO AN ACCOUNTING OF DISCLOSURES -You have the right to request an "Accounting of Disclosures". This would be a list of the disclosures we made of medical information about you for the purposes other than treatment, payment and healthcare operations. To obtain this list, you must submit your request in writing. It must state a time period; which may not be longer than six years and may not include dates before April 14, 2003. We will charge for the costs of providing the list.

*CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE - We reserve the right to change this notice and to make the revised or changed notice effective for medical information we already have about you as well as any information we receive in the future.

"COMPLAINTS - If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you, may file a complaints with our office or with the Department of Health & Human Services.

For more information about HIPAA or to file a complaint:

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Civil Rights
200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201
(202) 619-0257 Toll Free: I-877-696-6775