Notice of Privacy Practices 1

Notice of Privacy Practices

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Your health record is the physical property of the healthcare practitioner or facility that collected it but the information belongs to you. You can inspect, read, or review it. If you want a copy of your report or information in your DRS we will make one for you although charges apply for this service. Exceptions include examinations for the purpose of criminal or personal injury litigation, independent medical/neuropsychological examinations (IME), fitness for duty examinations (FFDE), disability determination or court ordered examinations. In such situations, the holder of the privilege to release information about the examinee is often someone other than the person we are asked to examine. For example, in IME and FFDE situations, the referring insurance company, employer, or other payer holds the privilege to determine what information is to be released and to whom it shall be released. In these and other situations, the person we examine is not entitled to review their test findings or discuss examination findings with the examiner. In such situations the examinee cannot authorize the release of information obtained in the process of examination or consultation. Applicable law states that individuals do not have the right to information compiled in reasonable anticipation of or for use in a civil, criminal, or administrative action or procedure ([45 CFR 164.508 and 164.624 [(a)] [(1)].

If you find something in your records that you think is incorrect or if something is missing, you can ask us in writing to amend your record although we don't have to agree to do so.

C. Privacy and the laws

The HIPAA law requires us to keep your PHI private and to give you notice of our legal duties and our privacy practices by issuing a Notice of Privacy Practices. If the NPP changes, the new rules will apply to the entire PHI that we keep. An updated NPP is posted at our office and a copy is available from our privacy officer and is posted on our website at www.nazneuropsychology.com

D. How your protected health information can be used and shared.

When your information is read or otherwise reviewed by others or me in our office, that is called, in the law, "use". If the information is shared with or sent to others outside of this office and it's operation, that is called, in the law, "disclosure". Except in some special circumstances, when we use your PHI in our office or disclose it to others we share only the minimum necessary PHI needed for the purpose. We use and disclose PHI for several reasons. Mainly, we will use and disclose it for routine purposes that are explained below. For other uses we must tell you about them and have a written Authorization Form unless the law allows or requires us to make the use or disclosure without your authorization.

1. Uses and disclosures of PHI with your Consent

After you have read this notice you will be asked to sign a separate Consent Form to allow us to share your PHI. In most cases, we intend to use your PHI in our office (i.e. dictation of an examination or consultation report, word processing of the report by a secretary or typist, internal review of accuracy of scoring by a consulting neuropsychologist or other healthcare provider, etc.) or share your PHI with other individuals or organizations to provide services to you, arrange for payment for our services or some other business functions called health care operations. These routine purposes are called TPO and the Consent Form allows us to use and disclose your PHI for TPO. (Re-read that last sentence until it is clear because it is very important).

1a. For treatment, payment, or healthcare operations

We need information about you and your condition to provide services to you and/or the referring party. You have to agree to let us collect the information and to use it and share it as necessary to provide appropriate professional services. Therefore, you must sign the Consent Form or we will not be able to provide services to you and/or the referring party.

When you contact us or when you come to see us, several people in the office may collect information about you and all of it may go into your healthcare record. Generally, we may use or disclose your PHI for three purposes: treatment, obtaining payment, and what are called healthcare operations. Let's see what these are about.