HIPAA NOTICE OF
PRIVACY PRACTICES
Effective Date: 8/22/22
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION
ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS
INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
If you have any questions about this notice, please
contact Lauren McCabe via e-mail at lauren@laurenmccaberd.com
OUR PLEDGE REGARDING PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION
We at Lauren Mccabe RD understand that protected
health information about you and your health is personal. We are committed to
protecting health information about you. We create a record of the care and
services you receive. We need this record to provide you with quality care and
to comply with certain legal requirements. This notice applies to all records
of your care generated by Lauren McCabe RD.
This notice will tell you about the ways in which we may
use or disclose protected health information about you. We also describe your
rights and certain obligations we have regarding the use and disclosure of
protected health information. Federal law requires us to:
· Make sure that protected health information that
identifies you is kept private.
· Notify you about how we protect protected health
information about you.
· Explain how, when, and why we use and disclose
protected health information.
· Follow the terms of the Notice that is currently in
effect.
We are required to follow the procedures in this Notice.
We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice and to make new Notice
provisions effective for all protected health information that we maintain by:
· Making copies of the revised Notice available upon
request
· Posting the revised notice on our website
HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE PROTECTED HEALTH
INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
The following categories describe different ways that we
may use and disclose protected health information without your written
authorization.
For Treatment: We may use protected health information about you to provide you with,
coordinate, or manage your medical treatment or services. We may disclose
protected health information about you to doctors, nurses, technicians, medical
students, or other medical personnel, including persons outside of our office
who are involved in your medical care. We may also share protected health
information about you in order to coordinate your care for such reasons as
prescriptions or lab work.
We may use and disclose protected health information
to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment with Lauren McCabe RD.
We may use and disclose protected health information to tell you about or
recommend possible treatment options, treatment alternatives, or health-related
benefits or services that may be of interest to you.
For Payment for Services: We may use and disclose protected health information
about you so that the treatment and services you receive at Lauren McCabe RD
may be billed to and payment may be collected from you, an insurance company,
or a third party. For example, we may need to give your health plan information
about nutrition services you received at Lauren McCabe RD so your health plan
will pay us or reimburse you for the service. We may also tell your health plan
about the nutrition services you are going to receive to obtain prior approval
or to determine whether your plan will cover the treatment.
For Health Care Operations: We may use and disclose protected health information
about you for Lauren McCabe RD healthcare operations, such as our quality
assessment and improvement activities, case management, coordination of care,
business planning, customer service, and other activities. These uses and
disclosures are necessary to run the facility, reduce healthcare costs, and
make sure that all of our clients receive quality care.
For example, we may use protected health information to
review our treatment and services or to evaluate the performance of the
dietitian who is providing your services. We may also combine protected health
information about many Lauren McCabe RD clients to decide what additional
services we should offer, what services are not needed, and whether certain
treatments are effective. We may also disclose information to doctors, nurses,
technicians, medical students and other medical professionals for review and
learning purposes.
Subject to applicable state law, the law allows or
requires us to use or disclose your health information without your
authorization in some limited situations for purposes beyond treatment, payment
and operations.
As Required by Law: We will disclose protected health information about
you when required to do so by Federal, state, or local law.
Research:
We may disclose your protected health information to researchers when their
research has been approved by an institutional review board or privacy board
that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the
privacy of your information. We may permit researchers to review records to
help identify clients who may be included in their research projects or for
similar purposes as long as the researchers do not remove or take a copy of any
health information.
To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety: We may use and disclose protected health information
when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the
health and safety of the public or another person.
We may also disclose protected health information
about you to a government authority if we reasonably believe that you are a
victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence. We will only disclose this type
of information to the extent required by law, and we will only disclose it if
(a) you agree to the disclosure, or (b) the disclosure is allowed by law, and we
believe it is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to
you or another person.
Judicial and Administrative Proceedings: We may disclose your protected health information in
response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose your
protected health information in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or
another lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if
efforts have been made, either by us or the requesting party, to tell you about
the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.
Business Associates: We may disclose information to business associates
who perform services on our behalf {such as billing companies). However, we
require that these associates appropriately safeguard your information. Our business
associates are obligated to protect the privacy of your information and are not
allowed to use or disclose any information other than as specified in our
contract.
Public Health: As required by law, we may disclose your protected health information
to public health or legal authorities charged with preventing or controlling
disease, injury, or disability.
Health Oversight Activities: We may disclose protected health information to a
health oversight agency for activities authorized by law. These activities
include audits, investigations, and inspections, as necessary for licensure and
for the government to monitor the health care system, government programs, and
compliance with civil rights laws.
Law Enforcement: We may release protected health information as required by law, or in
response to an order or warrant of a court, a subpoena, or an administrative
request. We may also disclose protected health information in response to a
request related to identification or location of an individual, a victim of
crime, a decedent, or a crime on the premises.
Organ and Tissue Donation: If you are an organ donor, we may release protected
health information to an organ donation bank or to organizations that handle
organ procurement or organ, eye, or tissue transplantation, as necessary to
facilitate organ or tissue donation and transplantation.
Special Government Functions: If you are a member of the armed forces, we may
release protected health information about you if it relates to military and
veteran activities. We may also release your protected health information for
national security and intelligence purposes, protective services for the President,
and medical suitability or determinations made by the Department of State.
Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors: We may release protected health information to a
coroner or medical examiner. This release may be necessary, for example, to
identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We may also
disclose protected health information to funeral directors, consistent with
applicable laws, to enable them to carry out their duties.
Correctional Institutions and Other Law Enforcement
Custodial Situations: If you are
an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law
enforcement official, we may release protected health information about you to
the correctional institution or law enforcement official as necessary for your
or another person’s health and safety.
Worker’s Compensation: We may disclose protected health information as
necessary to comply with laws related to worker’s compensation or other similar
programs established by law.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA): We may disclose to the FDA, or persons under the
jurisdiction of the FDA, protected health information relative to adverse
events with respect to drugs, foods, supplements, products, and product
defects, or post-marketing surveillance information to enable product recalls,
repairs, or replacement.
YOU CAN OBJECT TO CERTAIN USES AND DISCLOSURES
Unless you object, or request that only a limited
amount or type of information be shared, we may use or disclose protected
health information about you in the following circumstances:
· We may share with a family member, relative, friend or
other person identified by you, protected health information that is directly
relevant to that person’s involvement in your care or payment for your care. We
may also share information to notify these individuals of your location,
general condition, or death.
· We may share protected health information with a
public or private agency (such as the American Red Cross) for disaster relief
purposes. Even if you object, we may still share this information, if necessary,
under emergency circumstances.
If you would like to object to use and disclosure of
protected health information in these circumstances, please call or write to
the contact person listed on page 1 of this Notice.
YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION
ABOUT YOU
You have the following rights regarding protected
health information that we maintain about you:
Right to Inspect and Copy: You have the right to inspect and copy protected
health information that may be used to make decisions about your care or
payment for your care. If we maintain your protected health information
electronically, you can request that we provide access in an electronic form
and format that is readily producible, or in a form and format agreed to by us.
To inspect and copy protected health information that
may be used to make decisions about you, you must submit your request in
writing to Lauren McCabe RD. If you request a copy of the information, we may
charge a fee for the costs of copying, mailing, or supplies associated with
your request. We may not charge you a fee if you need the information for a
claim for benefits under the Social Security Act or any other state or federal
needs-based benefit program. We will respond to your request no later than 30
days after we receive it. There are certain situations in which we are not
required to comply with your request. In these circumstances, we will respond
to you in writing, stating why we will not grant your request and describe any
rights you may have to request a copy of our denial.
Right to Amend: If you feel that protected health information we have about you is
incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend or supplement the information.
To request an amendment, your request must be made in
writing and submitted to Lauren McCabe RD. In addition, you must provide a
reason that supports your request. We will act on your request for an amendment
no later than 60 days after we receive it.
We may deny your request for an amendment if it is not
in writing or does not include a reason to support the request. In these
circumstances, we will provide a written denial stating why we will not grant
your request. In addition, we may deny your request if you ask me to amend
information that:
· Was not created by us, unless the person or entity
that created the information is no longer available to make the amendment.
· Is not part of the protected health information kept
by Lauren McCabe RD.
· Is not part of the information that you would be
permitted to inspect or copy.
· We believe is accurate and complete.
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to request an “accounting of
disclosures”. This is a list of the disclosures we made of protected health
information about you.
To request this list of disclosures, you must submit
your request in writing to Lauren McCabe RD. We will respond to your request
within 60 days of receiving your request. The list we will give you will
include disclosures made in the last six years unless you request a shorter
time. The first list you request within a 12-month period will be free. For
additional lists in that 12-month period, we may charge you for the costs of
providing the list. We are required to provide a list of all disclosures except
the following:
· Disclosures made for your treatment.
· Those used for billing and collection of payment for
your treatment.
· Those related to healthcare operations.
· Those made to you or requested by you, or those that you
authorized.
· Those that occurred as a byproduct of permitted use
and disclosures.
· Those used for national security or intelligence purposes
or provided to correctional institutions or law enforcement regarding inmates.
· Those that were a part of a limited data set of
information that does not contain information identifying you.
Right to Request Restrictions: You have the right to request a restriction or
limitation on the protected health information we use or disclose about you for
treatment, payment, or healthcare operations, or to persons involved in your
care.
We are not required to agree to your request. If we do
agree, we will comply with your request unless the information is needed to
provide emergency treatment, the disclosure is to the Secretary of the
Department of Health and Human Services, or the disclosure is required by law.
To request restrictions, you must make your request in
writing to Lauren McCabe RD.
Right to Request Confidential Communications: You have the right to request that we communicate
with you about medical matters in a certain way or at a certain location. For
example, you can ask that we only contact you at work or by mail.
To request confidential communications, you must make
your request in writing to Lauren McCabe RD. We will accommodate all reasonable
requests.
Right to a Paper Copy of this Notice: You have the right to a paper copy of this Notice at
any time. To receive a paper copy, contact Lauren McCabe RD.
Right to Receive a Notice of Breach: You have a right to be notified upon a breach of any
of your unsecured protected health information.
Rights for Out-of-Pocket Payments: If you paid out of pocket in full for a specific item
or service, you have a right to ask that your protected health information with
respect to that item or service not be disclosed to a health plan for purposes
of payment or healthcare operations. We are required to agree to your request
unless the disclosure is otherwise required by law.
TYPES OF USES AND DISCLOSURES REQUIRING AN
AUTHORIZATION
Most uses and disclosures of psychotherapy notes
require me to obtain an authorization from you. In addition, in most instances,
we cannot use or disclose your protected health information for marketing
purposes or sell your protected health information without your written
authorization. Finally, any other use or disclosure not described in this Notice
will be made only with your authorization. Any time you provide us with a
written authorization, you may revoke it any time in writing, to the extent
that we have not already acted in reliance on your previous authorization.
OTHER USES AND DISCLOSURES
We will obtain your written authorization before using
or disclosing your protected health information for purposes other than those
described in this Notice (or as otherwise permitted or required by law). You
may revoke this authorization in writing at any time. Upon receipt of the
written revocation, we will stop using or disclosing your information, except
to the extent that we have already acted in reliance on the authorization.
YOU MAY FILE A COMPLAINT ABOUT OUR PRIVACY PRACTICES
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated,
you may file a complaint with Lauren McCabe RD or file a written complaint with
the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. A complaint to
the Secretary should be filed within 180 days of the occurrence or action that
is subject of the complaint.
If you file a complaint, we will not take any action
against you or change my treatment of you in any way.
CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE
We reserve the right to change this Notice and make
the new Notice apply to health information we already have, as well as any
information we receive in the future. We will post a copy of our current Notice
in our office. The notice will have the effective date clearly marked at the
top of the first page.