POLICY: NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
Pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Heart to Heart has developed a notice for patients, which provides a clear explanation of privacy rights and practices as it relates to private health information.
PROCEDURE:
1. Heart to Heart shall use Waycool technology to communicate with clients via text messaging. Prior to any messaging, they will provide consent in our office for communication to be done via text message. This consent along with an explanation of HIPPA limitations are located on the client intake form.
2. A notice of Privacy Practices (NPP) that describes how the Heart to Heart may use or disclose protected health information and an individual’s rights with respect to the privacy of that information, shall be prepared by the Privacy Officer for use at the Heart to Heart. The notice must include an effective date.
3. The Privacy Officer shall promptly revise and distribute this notice whenever there are material changes to any privacy practices.
4. The Heart to Heart shall post the NPP in a clear and prominent location at the facility and make a copy available to patients.
5. The Heart to Heart shall prominently post and make available the NPP on any website it maintains that provides information about its customer services or benefits.
6. The Heart to Heart shall provide the notice to each patient no later than the date of first service delivery and, except in an emergency treatment situation, make a good faith effort to obtain the individual’s written acknowledgement of receipt of the notice. If an acknowledgement cannot be obtained, the provider must document his or her efforts to obtain the acknowledgement and the reason why it was not obtained. The acknowledgement form shall be placed in the patient’s file. See Form: Notice of Privacy Practices Acknowledgement.
7. When first service delivery to an individual is provided over the internet, through email, or otherwise electronically, the provider must send an electronic notice automatically and contemporaneously in response to the individual’s first request for service. The provider must make a good faith effort to obtain a return receipt or other transmission from the individual in response to receiving the notice. The receipt shall be placed in the patient’s file.
8. The Heart to Heart shall make the NPP available at the provider’s office or facility for individuals to request to take with them.The Heart to Heart may email the notice to an individual if the individual agrees to receive an electronic notice.
9. The Heart to Heart may email the notice to an individual if the individual agrees to receive an electronic notice.
Notice of Privacy Practices Effective June 1, 2022
This notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to his information. Please review carefully.
Your Rights
You have the right to:
• Get a copy of your paper or electronic medical record
• Correct your paper or electronic medical record
• Request confidential communication
• Ask us to limit the information we share
• Get a list of those with whom we’ve shared your information
• Get a copy of this privacy notice
• Choose someone to act for you
• File a complaint if you believe your privacy rights have been violated
Your Choices
You have some choices in the way that we use and share information as we:
• Tell family and friends about your condition
• Provide disaster relief
• Provide mental health care
• Market our services
• Raise funds
Our Uses and Disclosures
How do we typically use or share your health information?
We use or share your health information in the following ways:
Treat you
We use your health information and share it with other professionals who are treating you. Example: A doctor treating you for an injury asks another doctor about your overall health condition.
Run our organization
We use and share your health information to run our practice, improve your care, and contact you when necessary. Example: We use health information about you to manage your treatment and services.
Help with public health and safety issues
We can share health information about you for certain situations such as:
• Preventing disease
• Helping with product recalls
• Reporting adverse reactions to medications
• Reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence
• Preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety
Comply with the law
We will share information about you if state or federal laws require it, including with the Department of Health and Human Services if it wants to see that we’re complying with federal privacy law.
Respond to organ and tissue donation requests
We can share health information about you with organ procurement organizations.
Work with a medical examiner or funeral director
We can share health information with a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director when an individual dies.Address workers’ compensation, law enforcement, and other government requests
We can use or share health information about you:
• For worker’s compensation claims
• For law enforcement purposes or with a law enforcement official
• With health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law
• For special government functions such as military, national security, and presidential protective services
Respond to lawsuits and legal actions
We can share health information about you in response to a court or administrative order, or in response to a subpoena.
Our Responsibilities:
• We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.
• We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.
• We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it.
• We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us we can in writing. If you tell us we can, you may change your mind at any time. Let us know in writing if you change your mind
For more information:
www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/noticepp.html Changes to the Terms of this NoticeWe can change the terms of this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The new notice will be available upon request, in our office, and on our website.
