CCPC Privacy PolicyThis Notice is Effective April 14, 2003 THE FOLLOWING NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED, AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW THE INFORMATION CAREFULLY. Central Coast Pathology Consultants, Inc. (CCPC) and its employees are committed to obtaining, maintaining, using and disclosing patient protected health information (PHI) in a manner that protects patient privacy. We will only use or disclose the minimum amount of your PHI necessary for treatment, to obtain payment for treatment and for operations purposes. This Notice applies to all PHI that we maintain. Your physician may have different notices regarding his/her use and disclosure of your PHI created in his/her office. CCPC is required by law to provide you with this Notice of Privacy Practices with respect to PHI, to maintain the privacy of PHI, to state the uses and disclosures of PHI that CCPC may make, and to list the rights of individuals and our legal duties with respect to their PHI. Your PHI at CCPC includes personal and medical information, such as your name, address, date of birth, test ordered, clinical history, etc. that we obtain from your physician, health plan, or other sources. Your PHI also includes the laboratory testing results that we create or obtain. CCPC is required to abide by the terms of the Notice of Privacy Practices currently in effect. We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices and to make the provisions of the new Notice of Privacy Practices effective for all PHI that we maintain. How we may use and disclose your Protected Health Information Not every use or disclosure is listed, however, all of the ways we use or disclose your PHI will fall into one of the categories listed below. Treatment CCPC may use your health information to provide you with medical treatment or services. For example, information obtained by a health care provider, such as a physician, nurse, or other person providing health services to you, will record information in your record that is related to your treatment. This information is necessary for health care providers to determine what treatment you should receive. Health cares providers will also record actions taken by them in the course of your treatment and note how you responded to the actions. Payment We will use your PHI in our billing departments and disclose your PHI to insurance companies, hospitals, physicians, and health plans for payment purposes, or to third parties to assist us in creating bills, claim forms, or getting paid for our services. For example, we may send your name, date of service, test performed, diagnosis code, and other information to a health plan so that the plan will pay us for the services we provided. In some cases, we may have to contact you to obtain billing information or for other billing purposes. When required, we may use an outside collection agency to obtain payment. Health Care Operations CCPC may use and disclose health information about you for operational purposes. Disclosures of your PHI may be for the purposes of evaluating performance of our staff, assessing the quality of care and outcomes in your case and similar cases, teaching purposes, improving our services and the quality and effectiveness of the health care we provide. As Permitted or Required by Law We may use or disclose your PHI for various public policy purposes that are authorized or required by federal or state law, to report information related to victims of abuse, neglect or domestic violence, or judicial and administrative proceedings pursuant to legal authority. PHI may be released as required by law or in compliance with a court order, judicial subpoena, court-ordered warrant, grand jury subpoena, administrative request, investigative demand or similar legal process, but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order of protection for the requested information. We may release PHI for other law enforcement purposes, such as to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person. Health Oversight CCPC may disclose your PHI in connection with governmental oversight, licensure, auditing and other purposes. HHS and State Health Departments are examples of agencies that oversee aspects of CCPC's operations. Public Health Your PHI may be used or disclosed for public health activities such as assisting public health authorities or other legal authorities to prevent or control disease, injury or disability, or for other health oversight activities. Decedents PHI may be disclosed to coroners or funeral directors in order for them to carry out their lawful duties. Workers Compensation We may disclose your PHI in order to comply with programs that provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness. Your Health Information Rights You have the right to request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your information as provided by 45 C.F.R. 164.522; however, CCPC is not required to agree to a requested restriction; obtain a paper copy of the notice of information practices upon request; inspect and obtain a copy of your health record as provided for in 45 C.F.R. 164.524; request that your health record be amended as provided in 45 C.F.R. 461-526; request communications of your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations; and receive and accounting of disclosures made of your health information as provided by 45 C.F.R. 164.528 Complaints You have the right to register a complaint with CCPC or the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services if you believe your privacy rights have been violated. CCPC will not retaliate against any individual for filing a complaint. You may file a complaint in writing to us at the following address: Central Coast Pathology Consultants, Inc. |