THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION.
At Savannah Endocrinology, LLC, we are committed to treating and using protected health information about your responsibility. This Notice of Health information Practices 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 9-1-2021 and applies to all protected health information as defined by federal regulations.
Understanding Your Health Record/Information
Each time you visit Savannah Endocrinology, LLC, a record of your visit is made. Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination, test results, diagnoses, treatment, and a 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 communication among the many 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
- A tool in educating health professionals
- A source of data for medical research
- A source of information for public health officials charged with improving the health of this state and the nation
- A source of data for our planning and marketing
- A tool we can assess and continually work to improve the care we render and the outcomes we achieve.
Understanding what is in your record and how your health information is used helps you to ensure its accuracy, better understand who, what, when, where and why others may access your health information, and make more informed decisions when authorizing disclosure to others.
Your Health Record/Information
Although your health record is the physical property of Savannah Endocrinology, LLC, the following information belongs to you. You have the right to:
- Obtain a paper copy of this notice of information practices upon request
- Inspect and copy of your health records provided for in 45 CFR 164.524
- Amend your health record as provided in 45 CFR 164.528, Obtain an accounting of disclosures of your health information as provided in 45 CFR 164,528
- Request communications of your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations
- Request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your information as provided by 45 CFR 164,522
- Revoke your authorization to use or disclose health information except to the extent that action has already been taken.
Our Responsibilities
Savannah Endocrinology, LLC, is required to:
- Maintain the privacy of your health information
- Provide you with this notice as to our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to information we collect and maintain about you
- Abide by the terms of this notice
- Notify you if we are unable to agree to a requested restriction
- Accommodate reasonable requests you may have to communicate health information by alternative means or at alternative locations.
We reserve the right to change our practices and to make the new provisions effective for all protected health information we maintain. Should our information practices change, we will mail a revised notice to the address you’ve supplied us, or if you agree, we will email the revised copy to you.
We will not use or disclose your health information without your authorization, except as described in this notice. We will also discontinue to use or disclose your health information after we have received a written revocation of the authorization according to the procedures included in the authorization.
For More Information or to Report a Problem
If you have questions and would like additional information, you may contact the practices Privacy Officer, Practice Manager at (912)232-5900 or 107 Southern Blvd, Suite 103 Savannah GA 31405
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with the practices Privacy Officer, or with the Office of Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There will be no retaliation for filling a complaint with either the Privacy Officer or the Office for Civil Rights.
Office for Civil Rights:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Room 509F, HHH Building
Washington, D.C. 20201
Examples of Disclosures for Treatment, Payment and Health Operations
We will use your health information for treatment.
Information obtained by a nurse, physician, or other member of your health care team will be recorded in your record and used to determine the course of treatment that should work best for you. Your physician will document in your record his or her expectations of the members of your health care team. Members of your health care team will then record the actions they took and their observations. In this way, the physician will know how you are responding to treatment.
We will use your health information for regular health operations.
Members of the medical staff or of the quality improvement team may use information in your health record to assess the care and outcomes in your case and others like it. This information will then be used in an effort to continually improve the quality and effectiveness of the healthcare and service we provide.
Notification: We may use or disclose information to notify or assist in notifying a family member, personal representative, or other person responsible for your care, your location, and general condition.
Communication with Family: Health professionals, using their best judgment, may disclose to a family member, other relative, close friend, or any other person you identify, health information relevant to that person’s involvement in your care or payment related to your care.
Funeral Directors: We may disclose health information to funeral directors consistent with applicable law to carry out their duties.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA): We may disclose to the FDA health information relative to adverse events with respect to food, supplements, product and product defects, or post marketing surveillance information to enable product recalls, repairs, or replacement.
Workers Compensation: We may disclose information to the extent authorized by and to the extent necessary to comply with law relating to workers compensation or other similar programs established by law.
Public Health: As required by law we may disclose your health information to public health or legal authorities with charge in preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability.
Law Enforcement: We may disclose health information for law enforcement purposes as required by law or in response to a valid subpoena.
Federal law makes the provision for your health information to be released to an appropriate health oversight agency, public health authority or attorney, provided that a work force member or business associate believes in good faith that we have engaged in unlawful conduct or have otherwise violated professional or clinical standards and are potentially endangering one or more patients, workers or the public.