Notice Of
Privacy Practices
This notice describes how medical
information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can access this
information. Please review carefully
Our Promise To You
Our Patients
Your Information is Confidential
Your information
is important and confidential. Our
ethics and policies require that your information be held in strict confidence.
Introduction
HPT maintains policies and procedures to ensure the security
and confidentiality of your personal information. We have physical security in our building, passwords
to protect databases, compliance audits and virus protection software. Within HPT, access to your information
is limited to those who need it to perform their jobs.
At HPT, we are committed to treating and using protected
health information about you responsibly.
This Notice of Privacy Policies describes the personal information
we collect and how and when we use or disclose that information. It also describes your rights as they relate
to your protected health information. This
notice is effective April 14, 2003
and applies to all protected health information as defined by federal regulation.
Understanding
Your Health Record
Each time you visit HPT a record of your visit is made.
Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination, test
results, diagnosis, treatment and plan for future care.
This information often referred to as your health or medical record
serves as a:
·
Basis for planning your care and treatment.
·
Means of communicating among health professionals who
contribute to your care.
·
Legal document describing the care you received.
·
Means by which you or a third-party payer can verify
that services billed were actually provided.
·
Tools in educating health professionals
·
Sources of data for medical records.
·
Sources of data for planning and marketing
·
Tools by which we can assess and continually work to
improve the care we render and outcomes we achieve.
Understanding what is in your record and how your health information
is used helps you to ensure it's accuracy; better understand who, what,
when and why others may access your health information and make more informed
choices when authorizing disclosure to others.
Your
Health Information Rights
Although your health record is the physical property of HPT,
the information belongs to you. You
have the right to:
·
Obtain a paper copy of this notice of privacy policies
upon request.
·
Inspect and copy your health record as provided by
45 CFR 164.524
·
Amend your health record as provided by 45 CFR 164.526
·
Obtain an accounting of disclosures of your health
information as provided by 45 CFR 164.528
·
Request confidential communication of your health information
provided by 45 CFR 164.522
·
Request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures
of your health information as provided by 45 CRF 164.522 (HPT however is
not required by law to agree to a requested restriction)
Our Responsibilities
All
healthcare providers are required to:
·
Maintain the privacy of your healthcare information.
·
Provide you with this notice as to our legal duties
and privacy practices with respect to information we collect and maintain
about you.
·
Notify you if we are unable to agree to a requested
restriction.
·
Accommodate reasonable requests you may have to communicate
your health information.
We reserve the right to change our practices and to make provisions
effective for all protected health information we maintain. We will keep a posted copy of the most current
notice in our facility containing the effective date in the top right hand
corner. In addition, each time you
visit our facility for treatment you may obtain a copy of the current notice
upon request.
We will not use or disclose your health information in a manner
other than described in the section regarding Examples of Disclosure For
Treatment, Payment And Health Operations without your written authorization,
which you may revoke as provided by 45 CFR 164.508(b)(5) except to the extent
that action has already been taken.
For More Information
Or
To Report A Problem
If you have questions and would like additional information,
you may contact Cynthia Spencer at (304) 525-4445. If you believe your privacy rights have been
violated, you can either file a compliant with HPT's Privacy Officer,
or with the Office for Civil Rights, US Department of Health and Human Services
(OCR). There will be no retaliation
for filing a complaint with either our Privacy Officer or the OCR. The address for the OCR is as follows
Offices
for Civil Rights
US Department
of Health and Human Services
200 Independence
Avenue SW
Room
509F HHH Building
Washington, DC 20201
Examples Of Disclosure For Treatment,
Payment, and Health Operations
We
will use your Health information for treatment.
"For
Example"
Information obtained by a therapist or other member of our
staff will be recorded in your record and used to determine the course of
treatment that should work best for you.
Your therapist will document in your record his or her expectations
of your treatment and possible outcomes.
With proper authorization your health care record will be released
to other physicians or subsequent health care providers and or attorneys
when applicable. Once
information is disclosed to a third party, that party may in turn disclose
said information to another party.
We
will use your health information for payment
A bill may be sent to you or a third-party payer. The information on or accompanying the bill may include information that
identifies you, as well as your diagnosis, procedures and supplies used.
If you have further questions
about this document, or after reading this you still do not
understand your privacy rights, please contact Denise Hogsett at (304) 525-4445
OR by e-mail.
