Office Information: Privacy Notice
HIPAA Privacy Notice
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.
This Notice is effective on April 14, 2003.
Valley Bone & Joint Specialists is committed to maintaining and protecting the confidentiality of our patients' personal and sensitive information. We are required by federal and state law to protect the privacy of your individually identifiable health information and other personal information and to provide you this Notice about our policies, safeguards and practices. When we use or disclose your confidential information, we are bound by the terms of this Notice or our revised notice, if we revise it.
How We Protect Your Privacy
Valley Bone & Joint Specialists will not disclose confidential information without your authorization unless it is necessary to provide treatment, secure payment or conduct other health care operations, or as otherwise required or permitted by law. When we need to disclose individually identifiable information, we will follow the policies described in this Notice to protect your confidentiality.Valley Bone & Joint Specialists has procedures for accessing, labeling and storing confidential records. Access to our facilities is limited to authorized personnel. We restrict internal access to your confidential information to Valley Bone & Joint Specialists employees who need to know that information to conduct our business. Valley Bone & Joint Specialists trains its employees on policies and procedures designed to protect your privacy. Our Privacy Officer monitors how we follow those policies and procedures and educates our organization on this important topic.
We will not use your confidential information or disclose it to others without your authorization, except for the following purposes:
Treatment. We may disclose your confidential information to health care providers for the provision, coordination or management of your health care and related services — for example, for coordinating your health care with other doctors, your health plan or for referring you to another provider for care.
Payment. We may use and disclose your confidential information to obtain payment for care provided. We also may disclose your confidential information to another health plan or a health care provider for its payment activities.
Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose your confidential information for our health care operations — for example, to provide appointment reminders or sending you information about treatment. We also may disclose your confidential information to another health plan or a provider who has a relationship with you, so that it can conduct quality assessment and improvement activities — for example, to perform case management.
Disclosures to Vendors. We may disclose your confidential information to companies with whom we contract, if they need it to perform the services we've requested. When we enter into these types of arrangements, we obtain a written agreement to protect your confidential information.
Public Health Activities. We may disclose your confidential information for the following public health activities and purposes: (1) to report health information to public health authorities that are authorized by law to receive such information for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability; (2) to report child abuse or neglect to a government authority that is authorized by law to receive such reports; (3) to report information about a product or activity that is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to a person responsible for the quality, safety or effectiveness of the product or activity; and (4) to alert a person who may have been exposed to a communicable disease, if we are authorized by law to give this notice.
Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose your confidential information to a government agency that is legally responsible for oversight of the health care system or for ensuring compliance with the rules of government benefit programs, such as Medicare or Medicaid, or other regulatory programs that need health information to determine compliance.
Other Purposes. We may disclose your confidential information for research purposes (subject to strict legal restrictions); to comply with the law; in a judicial or administrative proceeding or in response to a legal order; to the police or other law enforcement officials, as required by law or in compliance with a court order or other process authorized by law; to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety or the health and safety of the general public; to various departments of the government such as the U.S. military or the U.S. Department of State; when necessary to comply with Workers' Compensation laws.
Uses and Disclosures with Your Written Authorization
We will not use or disclose your confidential information for any purpose other than the purposes described in this Notice, without your written authorization. For example, we will not supply confidential information to another company for its marketing purposes or to a potential employer with whom you are seeking employment without your signed authorization. You may revoke an authorization that you previously have given by sending a written request to our Privacy Officer, but not with respect to any actions we already have taken.Your Individual Rights
Right to Request Additional Restrictions. You may request restrictions on our use and disclosure of your confidential information for the treatment, payment and health care operations purposes explained in this Notice. While we will consider all requests for restrictions carefully, we are not required to agree to a requested restriction.
Right to Receive Confidential Communications. You may ask to receive communications of your confidential information from us by alternative means of communication or at alternative locations. While we will consider reasonable requests carefully, we are not required to agree to all requests.
Right to Inspect and Copy Your Confidential Information. You may ask to inspect or to obtain a copy of your confidential information that is included in certain records we maintain. Under limited circumstances, we may deny you access to a portion of your records. If you request copies, we may charge you copying and mailing costs.
Right to Amend Your Records. You have the right to ask us to amend your confidential information that is contained in our records. If we determine that the record is inaccurate, and the law permits us to amend it, we will correct it. If another person created the information that you want to change, you should ask that person to amend the information.
Right to Receive an Accounting of Disclosures. Upon request, you may obtain an accounting of disclosures we have made of your confidential information. The accounting that we provide will not include disclosures made before April 14, 2003, disclosures made for treatment, payment or health care operations, disclosures made earlier than six years before the date of your request, and certain other disclosures that are excepted by law. If you request an accounting more than once during any 12-month period, we will charge you a reasonable fee for each accounting statement after the first one.
Right to Receive Paper Copy of this Notice. You may request a paper copy of this Notice.
If you wish to make any of the requests listed above under "Individual Rights," you must do so in writing. The request should be mailed to the address printed below. After we receive your signed, completed form, we will respond to your request.
For More Information or Complaints. If you want more information about your privacy rights, do not understand your privacy rights, are concerned that we have violated your privacy rights or disagree with a decision that we made about access to your confidential information, you may contact our Privacy Officer. You may also file written complaints with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Please call our Privacy Officer to obtain the correct address for the Secretary. We will not take any action against you if you file a complaint with the Secretary or us.
Privacy Officer
You may contact our Privacy Office at:Privacy Officer
Valley Bone & Joint Specialists
4850 E. Baseline Road, Suite 118
Mesa, AZ 85206
Tel (480) 461-0047
We may change the terms of this Notice at any time. If we change this Notice, we may make the new notice terms effective for all of your confidential information that we maintain, including any information we created or received before we issued the new notice. If we change this Notice, we will post any new notice on our Web site. You also may obtain any new notice by requesting one from our Privacy Officer.