Notice of Privacy Practices

Hearts and Hands of Care Inc. Privacy Practices

1. THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

• To obtain payment for treatment. We may use and disclose your PHI in order to bill and collect payment for the treatment and services provided to you. For example, we may provide portions of your PHI to our billing department and your health plan to get paid for the health care services we provided to you. We may also provide your PHI to our business associates, such as billing companies, claims processing companies and others that process our health care claims.
• For health care operations. We may also provide your PHI to our accountants, attorneys, consultants and others in order to make sure we are complying with the laws that affect us.

2. WE HAVE A LEGAL DUTY TO SAFEGUARD YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION (PHI)

We are legally required to protect the privacy of your health information. We call this information “protected health information “or” PHI“ for short, and it includes information that can be used to identify you that we have created or received about your past, present, or future health or condition, the provision of healthcare to you, or the payment for this health care. We must provide you with this notice about our privacy practices that explains how, when, and why we use and disclose your PHI. With some exceptions, we may not use or disclose any more of your PHI than is necessary to accomplish the purpose of the use or disclosure. We are legally required to follow the privacy practices that are described in this notice.

However, we reserve the right to change the terms of this notice and our privacy policies at any time. Any changes will apply to the PHI we already have. Before we make an important change to our policies, we will promptly give a notice to all clients. You can also request a copy of this notice from Human Resource Dept. at (907) 929- 5826.

3. HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION.

We use and disclose health information for many different reasons. For some of these uses or disclosures, we need your prior specific authorization. Below, we describe the different categories of our uses and disclosures and give you some examples of each.

3.1. Uses and Disclosures Relating to Treatment, Payment or Client Care.

We may use and disclose your PHI for the following reasons:
For treatment. We may disclose your PHI to physicians, nurses, medical students and other health care personnel who provide you with care services or are involved in your care. For example, if you’re being treated for a knee injury, we may disclose your PHI to the physical therapy department in order to coordinate your care.

3.2. Certain Other Uses and Disclosures That Do Not Require Your Consent

• When disclosure is required by federal, state or local law, judicial or administrative proceedings, or law enforcement. For example, we make disclosures when a law requires that we report information to government agencies and law enforcement personnel about victims of abuse, neglect or domestic violence; or when ordered in a judicial or administrative proceeding.
• For health oversight activities. For example, we will provide information to assist the government when it conducts an investigation or inspection of a health care provider or organization.
• To avoid harm. In order to avoid a serious threat to the health or safety of a person or the public, we may provide PHI to law enforcement personnel or persons able to prevent or lessen such harm.
• For specific government functions. We may disclose PHI of military personnel and veterans in certain situations.
• For workers’ compensation purposes. We may provide PHI in order to comply with workers’ compensation laws.
• Appointment reminders and health-related benefits or services. We may use PHI to provide appointment reminders through the mail or by telephone or give you information about treatment alternatives, or other health care services or benefits we offer.

3.3. Uses and Disclosures to Which You Have an Opportunity to Object

• Disclosure to family, friends, or others. We may provide your PHI to a family member, friend or other person that you indicate is involved in your care or the payment for your health care, unless you object in whole or in part.

3.4 All Other Uses and Disclosures Require Your Prior Written Authorization

• In any other situation not described in this section, we will ask for your written authorization before using or disclosing any of your PHI. If you choose to sign an authorization to disclose your PHI, you can later revoke that authorization in writing to stop any future uses and disclosures (to the extent that we have not taken any action relying on the authorization).

4. WHAT RIGHTS YOU HAVE REGARDING YOUR PHI

• You have the following rights with respect to your PHI:
  The Right to Request Limits on Uses and Disclosures of Your PHI. You have the right to ask that we limit how we use and disclose your PHI. We will consider your request but are not legally required to accept it. If we accept your request, we will put any limits in writing and abide by them except in emergency situations. You may not limit the uses and disclosures that we are legally required or allowed to make.
• The Right to Choose How We Send PHI to You. You have the right to ask that we send information to you at an alternate address (for example, to your work address rather than your home address) or by alternate means (for example, e-mail instead of regular mail). We must agree to your request so long as we can easily provide it in the format you requested.
• The Right to See and Get Copies of Your PHI. In most cases you have the right to look at or get copies of your PHI that we have, but you must make the request in writing. If we don’t have your PHI but we know who does, we will tell you how to get it. We will respond to you within 30 days after receiving your written request. In certain situations, we may deny your request. If we do, we will tell you, in writing, our reasons for the denial and explain your right to have the denial reviewed. If you request copies of your PHI, we will charge you a reasonable copying fee.
• The Right to Correct or Update Your PHI. If you believe that there is a mistake in your PHI or that a piece of important information is missing, you have the right to request that we correct the existing information or add the missing information. You must provide the request and your reason for the request in writing. We will respond within 60 days of receiving your request. We may deny your request in writing if the PHI is (i) correct and complete, (ii) not created by us, (iii) not allowed to be disclosed, or (iv)not part of our records.
• Our written denial will state the reasons for the denial and explain your right to file a written statement of disagreement with the denial.
  If you don’t file one, you have the right to request that your request and our denial be attached to all future disclosures of your PHI. If we approve your request, we will make the change to your PHI, tell you that we have done it, and tell others that need to know about the change to your PHI.

5. HOW TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PRIVACY PRACTICES

If you think that we may have violated your privacy rights, or you disagree with a decision we made about access to your PHI, you may file a complaint with: Hearts and Hands of Care Inc. Human Resource Department at 907-929-5826

You also may send a written complaint to:

Hearts and Hands of Care Inc.
1550 E 74th Ave
Anchorage, AK 99507

We will take no retaliatory action against you if you file a complaint about our privacy
practices.