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NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN RECEIVE ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION
PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY
THE PRIVACY OF YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION IS IMPORTANT TO US
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OUR LEGAL DUTY - We are required by applicable federal and state law to maintain the privacy of your health information. We are also required to give you this notice about our privacy practices, our legal duties and your rights concerning your health information. We must follow the privacy practices that are described in this notice while it is in effect. This notice takes effect (03/01/2017), and will remain in effect until we replace it. We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the new terms of our notice effective for all health information that we maintain, including health information we created or received before we made the changes. Before we make a significant change in our privacy practice, we will change this notice and make the new notice available upon request. You may request a copy of our notice at any time. For more information about our privacy practices, or for additional copies of the notice, please contact us by using the information listed at the end of this notice.
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USES AND DISCLOSURES OF HEALTH INFORMATION
We use and disclose health information about your treatment, payment, and healthcare operations. For example, on Treatment: We may use or disclose your health information to a physician or other healthcare provider providing treatment to you.
Payment: We may use and disclose your health information to obtain payment for services we provide to you. Healthcare operations: We may use and disclose your health information in connection with our healthcare operations. Healthcare operations include quality assessment and improvement activities, reviewing the competence or qualifications of healthcare professionals, evaluating practitioner and provider performance, conducting training programs, accreditation, certification, licensing or credentialing activities.
Your authorization: In addition to our use of your health information for treatment, payment or healthcare operations, you may give us written authorization to use your health information or to disclose it to anyone for any purpose. If you give us an authorization, you may revoke it in writing at any time. Your revocation will not affect any use or disclosure permitted by your authorization while it was in effect. Unless you give us written authorization we cannot use or disclose your health information for any reason except those described in the notice.
For your family and friends: We must disclose your health information to, as described in the patient rights section of this notice. We may disclose your health information to a family member, friend or other person to the extent necessary to help with your healthcare or with payment for your healthcare, but if only you agree that we may do so.
Persons involved in care: We may use or disclose health information or notify or assist in the notification of (including identifying or locating) a family member, your personal representative or another person responsible for your care, of your location, your general condition, or death. If you are present, then prior to use or disclosure of your health information, we will provide you with an opportunity to object to such uses or disclosures. In the event of your incapacity or emergency circumstances, we will disclose health information based on a determination using our professional judgement disclosing only health information that is directly relevant to the person's involvement in your healthcare. We will also use our professional judgement and our experience with common practice to make reasonable inferences of your best interest in allowing a person to pick up filled prescriptions, medical supplies, x-rays, or other similar forms of health information.

Marketing health-related services: We will not use your health information for marketing communications without your written authorization.

Required by law: We may use or disclose your health information when we are required to do so by law. 

Abuse or neglect: We may disclose your health information to appropriate authorities if we reasonably believe that you are a possible victim of abuse or neglect or domestic violence or the possible victim of other crimes.  We may disclose your information to the extent necessary to avert a serious threat to your health or safety of others.

National security: We may disclose to military authorities the health information of Armed Forces personnel under certain circumstances. We may disclose to correctional institution or law enforcement official having full custody of protected health information or inmate or patient under certain circumstances.

Appointment reminders: We may use or disclose your health information to provide you with appointment reminders (such as voice messages, postcards or letters.).
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Patient rights to Access: You have the right to look at or get copies of your health information, with limited exceptions. You may request that we provide copies in a format other than photocopies. We will use the format you request unless we cannot practicably do so. (You must make a request in writing to obtain access to your health information. You may obtain a form to request access by using the contact information listed at the end of this notice. We will charge a reasonable cost-based fee for expenses, copies and staff time. You may also request 
access by sending us a letter to the address at the end of this notice. If you request copies, we will charge you $1.00 for the first page and $.50 for each additional page ($5.00 for x-rays) plus a fee for staff time to locate and copy your health information, and postage if you want copies mailed to you. If you request an alternative format, we will charge a cost-based fee for providing your health information in that format. If you prefer, we will prepare a summary or an explanation of your health information for a fee. Contact us using the information at the end of this notice for a full explanation of our fee structure).

Disclosure accounting: You have the right to receive a list or instances in which we or our business associates disclosed your health information for purposes, other than treatment, payment, healthcare operations and certain other activities, for the last 6 years, but not before April 14, 2003. If you request this accounting more than once in a 12-month period, we may charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee for responding to these additional requests.

Restrictions: You have the right to request that we place additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your health information. We are not required to agree to these additional restrictions, but if we do, we will abide by our agreement (except in an emergency).

Alternative communication: You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your health information by alternative means or to alternative locations.  (You must make your request in writing). Your request must specify the alternative means and location, and provide satisfactory explanation how payments will be handled under the alternative means or location you request.

Amendment: You have the right to request that we amend your health information. (Your request must be in writing and it must explain when the information should be amended). We may deny your request under certain circumstances.

Electronic notice: If you receive the notice on your web site or by electronic mail (e-mail), you are entitled to receive this notice in written form.
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QUESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS: If you want more information about our privacy practices or have questions or concerns, please contact us. If you are concerned that we may have violated your privacy rights, or you disagree with a decision we made about access to your health information or in response to a request you made to amend or restrict the use or disclosure of your health information or to have us communicate with you by alternative means or at alternative locations, you may complain to us using the contact information listed at the end of this notice. You also may submit a written complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will provide you with the address to file your complaint the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services upon request.  
We support your right to the privacy of your health information. We will not retaliate in any way if you choose to file a complaint.

FOR OFFICE USE ONLY:
We attempted to obtain written acknowledgement of receipt of our Notice of Privacy Practices, but could not be obtained because:
_______Individual refused to sign
_______Communication barriers prohibited obtaining the acknowledgement
_______An emergency situation prevented us from obtaining acknowledgement
_______Other (please specify) ____________________________________________________________________