Privacy Policy

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

State and Federal laws require us to maintain the privacy of your health information and to inform you about our privacy practices by providing you with this Notice. We must follow the privacy practices as described below. This notice will take effect on April 14, 2003, and will remain in effect until it is amended or replaced by us.

It is our right to change our privacy practices provided law permits the changes. Before we make a significant change, this Notice will be amended to reflect the changes, and we will make the new Notice available upon request. We reserve the right to make any changes in our privacy practices and the new terms of our Notice available upon request. We reserve the right to make any changes in our privacy practices and the new terms of our Notice effective for all health information maintained, created and/or received by us before the date changes were made.

You may request a copy of our Privacy Notice at any time by contacting A Plus Family HealthCare at 270-975-4050. Information on contacting us can be found at the end of this Notice.

TYPICAL USES AND DISCLOSURES OF HEALTH INFORMATION

We will keep your health information confidential, using it only for the following purposes:

Treatment: We may use your health information to provide you with our professional services. We have established “minimum necessary” or “need to know” standards that limit various staff members’ access to your health information according to their primary job functions. Everyone on our staff is required to sign a confidentiality statement.

Disclosure: We may disclose and/or share your healthcare information with other health care professionals who provide treatment and/or service to you. These professionals will have a privacy and confidentiality policy like this one. Health information about you may also be disclosed to your family, friends and/or other persons you choose to involve in your care, only if you agree that we may do so.

• Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to request an “accounting of disclosures” of your protected information if the disclosure was made for purposes other than providing services, payment, and/or business operations. To request this list or accounting of disclosures, you must submit your request in writing to our Privacy Officer. There may be a fee charged for copies, based upon the amount of information requested and the time required to locate and copy your health information. Please contact our Privacy Officer for a fee and/or for an explanation of our fee
• Right to Request Restriction of PHI: You may request a restriction on our use and disclosure of PHI, but we are not required to agree to your The HITECH Act restricts provider’s refusal of an individual’s request not to disclose PHI in instances where the disclosure is to a health plan for purposes of carrying out payment or health operations (and is not for purposes of carrying out treatment); and the PHI pertains solely to a healthcare item or service for which outfacility has been paid out of pocket in full.

  Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Treatment Records: Some of the health information we maintain may relate to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, diagnosis, or referral for treatment. These records are protected under a federal law known as 42 CFR Part 2, in addition to HIPAA. We may use and disclose SUD treatment records for the purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations as permitted by HIPAA, when you provide a single written consent for such uses and disclosures. We will apply the minimum necessary standard when using or disclosing your information for payment and health care operations purposes. You may revoke your consent at any time in writing. Revocation will apply going forward and will not affect disclosures already made in reliance on your consent. In addition, we may disclose your SUD treatment information without your consent in limited circumstances permitted by federal law, including medical emergencies, public health reporting, audits and program evaluations, court orders that comply with federal requirements, and otherwise permitted or required by law instances. You have the right to request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures, inspect and obtain a copy of your records (subject to limited exceptions), request amendments to your records, receive an accounting of certain disclosures, and receive a copy of this notice.

Redisclosure: If you consent to the use or disclosure of your SUD treatment information for treatment, payment, or health care operations, the recipient may further use and disclose that information as permitted by HIPAA and other applicable laws. However, federal law prohibits the use or disclosure of SUD treatment records in civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative proceedings against you without your specific written consent or a court order that complies with federal regulations. Unauthorized use or disclosure is prohibited and may result in penalties under federal law.

Payment: We may use and disclose your health information to seek payment for services we provide to you. This disclosure involves our business office staff and may include insurance organizations or other businesses that may become involved in the process of mailing statements and/or collecting unpaid balances.

Emergencies: We may use or disclose your health information to notify or assist in the notification of a family member or anyone responsible for your care, in case of any emergency involving your care, your location, your general condition, or death. If at all possible, we will provide you with an opportunity to object to this use or disclosure. Under emergency conditions or if you are incapacitated, we will use our professional judgment to disclose only that information directly relevant to your care. We will also use our professional judgment to make reasonable inferences of your best interest by allowing someone to pick up filled prescriptions, x-rays, or other similar forms of health information and/or supplies unless you have advised us otherwise.

Healthcare Operations: We will use and disclose your health information to keep our practice operable. Examples of personnel who may have access to this information include, but are not limited to, our medical records staff, outside health or management reviewers, and individuals performing similar activities.

Required by Law: We may use or disclose your health information when we are required to do so by law (court or administrative orders, subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process). We will use and disclose your information when requested by national security, intelligence, and other state and federal officials and/or if you are an inmate or otherwise under the custody of law enforcement.

Abuse or Neglect: We may disclose your health information to appropriate authorities if we reasonably believe that you are a possible victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence, or the possible victim of other crimes. This information will be disclosed only to the extent necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health or safety or that of others.

Public Health Responsibilities: We will disclose your health care information to report problems with products, reactions to medications, product recalls, disease/infection exposure, and to prevent and control disease, injury, and/or disability.

Marketing Health-Related Services: We will not use your health information for marketing purposes unless we have your written authorization to do so.

National Security: The health information of Armed Forces personnel may be disclosed to military authorities under certain circumstances. If the information is required for lawful intelligence, counterintelligence, or other national security activities, we may disclose it to authorized federal officials.

Appointment Reminders: We may use or disclose your health information to provide you with appointment reminders, including, but not limited to, voicemail messages, postcards, or letters.