Notice of HIPAA - Patient Privacy

Notice of HIPAA – Patient Privacy

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.

I. Introduction

This notice of privacy rules describes how we may use and disclose your protected health information to carry out treatment, payment or health care operations and for other purposes permitted or required by law. This notice also describes your rights regarding health information we maintain about you and a brief description of how you may exercise these rights. This notice further states the obligations we have to protect your health information.
“Protected Health Information” means health information (including identifying information about you) we have collected from you or received from your health care providers, health plans, your employer or a health care clearinghouse. It may include information about your past, present or future physical or mental health or condition, the provision of your health care, and payment for your health care services.
We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your health information and to provide you with this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your health information. We are also required to comply with the terms of our current Notice of Privacy Practices.

II. Permitted Uses and Disclosures

We will use and disclose your health information as described in each category listed below. For each category, we will explain what we mean in general, but not describe all specific means and disclosures of health information.

A. Uses and Disclosures for Treatment, Payment and Operations

For Treatment: We will use and disclose your health information without your authorization to provide your health care and any related services. This information will only be shared with employees and associates of Abir Marcus, MD, LLC. We will use your health care information to coordinate and manage your health care services. We may disclose your health care information without your authorization to another health care provider (e.g.: a pharmacy or a laboratory) for purposes of your treatment. We would only disclose sufficient information for them to provide necessary services to you. For example, an authorization for laboratory tests may require a diagnosis.

For Payment: We may use your health information without your authorization so that the treatment and the services you receive are billed to, and payment collected from, your health plan or other third party payer. By way of example, we may disclose your health information to permit your health plan to take certain actions before your health plan approves or pays for your services. These actions may include:
- Making a determination of eligibility or coverage of health insurance.
- Reviewing your services to determine if they were medically necessary
- Reviewing your service to determine if they were appropriately authorized or certified in advance of your care
- Reviewing your services for purposes of utilization review, to ensure the appropriateness of your care, or to justify the charges for your care.
For example your health plan may ask us to share your health information in order to determine if the plan will approve additional visits for therapy.
We may also disclose your health information to another health care provider so that provider can bill you for services they provided to you, for example: ambulance service that transported you to the hospital.
For Health Care Operation: We may use and disclose health information about you without your authorization for our health care operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary for general administrative activities. We may combine health information of many clients for business planning and improvement
We may also provide your health information to other health care providers or to your health plan to assist them in performing certain of their own health care operations. We will do so only if you have or have had a relationship with the other provider or health plan. For example, we may provide information about you to your health plan to assist them in their quality assurance activities.
We may also disclose your health information to contact you to remind you of your appointment.
Finally, we may use and disclose your health information to inform you about possible treatment options or alternatives that may be of interest to you.

Health -Related Benefits and Services: We may use and disclose health information to tell you about health-related benefits or services that may be of interest to you. This would be done during your visit.

B. Other Uses and Disclosures

If asked, we will not confirm orally, in writing or through any other medium that you are a current or former patient, with the exceptions listed below under
“Person’s Involved in an Individual’s Care.”

Persons Involved in Your Care. We may provide health information about you to someone who helps pay for your care.
We may use or disclose your health information to notify or assist in notifying a family member, personal representative or other person that is responsible for your care, of your location, general condition or death. We may also use or disclose your health information to an entity assisting in disaster relief efforts and to coordinate uses and disclosures for this purpose to family or other individuals involved in your health care.

In limited circumstances, we may disclose health information about you to a friend or family member who is involved in your care. If you are physically present and have the capacity to make health care decision, your health information may only be disclosed with your agreement or persons you designate to be involved in your care. But, if you are in an emergency situation, we may disclose your health information to a spouse, a family member, or a friend so that such person may assist in your care. In this case we will determine whether the disclosure is in your best interest and, if so, only disclose information that is directly relevant to participation in your care.
And, if you are not in an emergency situation but are unable to make health care decision, we will disclose your health information to:

A person designated to participate in your care in accordance with and advance directive validly executed under state law.
Your guardian or other fiduciary if one has been appointed by a court, or
If applicable, the state agency responsible for consenting to your care.

C. Special Situations

Emergencies: We may use and disclose your health information in an emergency treatment situation. By way of example, we may provide your health information to a paramedic who is transporting you in an ambulance. If a clinician is required by law to treat you and your treating clinician has attempted to obtain your authorization but is unable to do so, the treating clinician may nevertheless use or disclose your information to treat you.
Research: We will obtain a written authorization for you prior to using your health information for research. We may then disclose your health information to researchers when their research has been approved by an Institutional Review Board or similar privacy board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to protect the privacy of your health information. For example, a research project may involve comparison of the health and recovery of all patients who received a particular medication. All research projects are subject to special approval process, which balances research needs with a patient’s need for privacy.
As Required By Law: We will disclose health information about you when required to do so by federal, state or local law.
To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety: We may use and disclose health information about you when necessary to prevent a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety or to the health and safety of the public or another person. Under these circumstances, we will only disclose health information to someone who is able to help prevent or lessen the threat.
Organ and Tissue Donation: If you an organ donor, we may release your health information to an organ procurement organization or to an entity that conducts organ or tissue transplantation, or serves as an organ donation bank, as necessary to facilitate organ and tissue donation and transplantation.
Public Health Activities: We may disclose health information about you as necessary for public health activities, including, by way of example, disclosures to :
- report to public health authorities for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability
- report vital events such as birth or death
- conduct public health surveillance or investigations
- report child abuse or neglect
- report certain events to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or to a person subject to the jurisdiction of the FDA including information about defective products or problems with medications
- notify consumers about FDA-initiated product recalls
- notify a person who may have been exposed to a communicable disease or who is at risk of contracting or spreading a disease or condition
- notify the appropriate government agency if we believe you have been a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. We will only notify an agency if we obtain your agreement or if we are required by law to report such abuse, neglect or domestic violence.
Health Oversight Activities: We may disclose health information about you to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law. Oversight agencies include government programs regulating health care system, government benefit programs such as Medicare or Medicaid, other government programs regulation health care and civil rights laws.
Disclosure in Legal proceedings: We may disclose health information about you to a court administrative agency when a judge or administrative agency orders us to do so. We will not disclose health information about you in a legal proceedings without your permission or with without a judge or administrative agency’s orders.
If we receive a subpoena for your health information, we will not provide
this information in response to a subpoena without your written
authorization.
1. Law Enforcement Activities: We may disclose health information to a law enforcement official or law enforcement purposes when:
  - a court order, warrant, summons or similar process requires us to do so.
  - the information is needed to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person.
  - we report a death that we believe may be the result of criminal conduct
  - we report criminal conduct occurring on the premises.
  - we determine that the law enforcement purpose is to respond to a threat of an imminently dangerous activity by you against yourself or another person.
  - the disclosure is otherwise required by law.
  We may disclose health information about a patient who is a victim, without a court order or without being required to do so by law. However, we will do so only if the disclosure has been requested by a law enforcement official and the victim agrees to the disclosure or, in the case of the victim’s incapacity, the following occurs:
  - the law enforcement official represents to us that 1) the victim is not the subject of the investigation 2) an immediate law enforcement activity to meet a serious danger to the victim or others depends upon the disclosure
  - we determine that the disclosure is in the victim’s best interest.
2. Medical Examiners or Funeral Directors: We may provide health
  information about patients to a medical examiner. Medical examiners are
  appointed by law to assist in identifying deceased persons, and to determine the cause of death. We may also disclose health information to funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties.
3. Military and Veterans: If you are a member of the armed forces, we may disclose your health information as required by command authorities. We may also disclose your health information for the purpose of determining your eligibility for benefits provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Finally, if you are a member of a foreign military service, we may disclose your health information to that foreign military authority.
4. National Security and Protective Services for the President and Others:
  We may disclose medical information about you to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counter-intelligence, and other national security activities authorized by law. We may also disclose health information about you to authorized federal officials so they provide protection to the President, other authorized persons or foreign heads of state so they may conduct special investigations.
5. Inmates: If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of law enforcement official, we may disclose health information about you to the correctional institution or law enforcement official.
6. Worker’s Compensation: With your consent we may disclose health information about you to comply with the state’s Workers’ Compensation Law.

III. Uses and Disclosures of Your Health Information with Your Permission.

Uses and disclosures not described in Section II of this Notice of Privacy Practices will generally only be made with your written permission, called and
“authorization”. You have the right to revoke authorization at any time. If you revoke your authorization we will not make any further uses or disclosures of your health information under that authorization, unless we have already taken and action relying upon the uses or disclosures you have previously authorized.

IV. Your Rights Regarding Your Health Information.

A. Right to Inspect and Copy.

You have the right to request an opportunity to inspect or copy health information used to make decisions about your care – whether they are decisions about your treatment or payment of your care. Usually, this would include clinical and billing records, but not psychotherapy notes.
You must submit your request in writing to Abir Marcus, MD, LLC at 321 Broad Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701. If you request a copy of the information, we may charge a fee for the cost of copying, mailing and supplies associated with your request.
We may deny your request to inspect or copy your health information in certain limited circumstances. For example, if the therapist or psychiatrist felt that the information would be harmful to your well-being. In some cases, you will have the right to have the denial reviewed by a licensed health care professional not directly involved in the original decision to deny access. We will inform you in writing if the denial or your request may be reviewed. Once the review is completed, we will honor the decision made by the licenses health care professional reviewer.

B. Right to Amend.

For as long as we keep records about you, you have the right to request us to amend any health information used to make decisions about your care – whether they are decisions about your treatment or payment of your care. Usually, this would include clinical and billing records, but not psychotherapy notes.
To request an amendment, you must submit a written document to the office at 321 Broad Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701 and tell us why you believe the information is incorrect or inaccurate.
We may deny your request for an amendment if it is not in writing or does not include a reason to support the request. We may also deny your request if you ask us to amend health information that:

Was not created by us, unless the person or entity that created the health information is no longer available to make the amendment.
Is not part of the health information we maintain to make decisions about your care.
Is not part of the health information that you would be permitted to inspect or copy; or
Is accurate and complete.

If we deny amending, we will send you a written notice of the denial stating the basis for the denial and offering you the opportunity to provide a written statement disagreeing the denial. If you do not wish to prepare a written statement of disagreement, you may ask that the requested amendment and our denial be attached to all future disclosures of the health information that is the subject of your request.
If you submit a written statement of disagreement, we have the right to prepare a written rebuttal to your statement of disagreement. In this case, we will attach the written request and the rebuttal (as well as the original request and denial) to all future disclosures of the health information that is the subject of your request.

C. Right to an Accounting of Disclosures.

You have the right to request that we provide you with an accounting of disclosures we have made of your health information. An accounting is a list of disclosures. But this list will not include certain disclosures of your health information, by way of example, those we have made for purpose of treatment, payment, and health care operations. To request an accounting of disclosures, you must submit your request in writing to the office at 321 Broad Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701. The request should state the time period for which you wish to receive an accounting. This time period should not be longer than six years and not include dates before April 14, 2003.
The first accounting you request within a twelve-month period will be free. For additional requests within the same 12-month period, we will charge you for the costs of providing the accounting. We will notify you of the amount we will charge and you may choose to withdraw or modify your request before we incur any costs.

D. Right to Request Restrictions.

You have the right to request a restriction on the health information we use or disclose about you for treatment, payment or health care operations. To request a restriction, you must request the restriction in writing to 321 Broad Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701. We are not required to agree to a restriction that you may request. If we do agree, we will honor your request unless the restricted health information is needed to provide you with emergency treatment.

E. Right to Request Confidential Communications.

You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your health care only in a certain location or through a certain method. For example, you may request that we contact you only at work or by e-mail.
To request such a confidential communication, you must make your request in writing to 321 Broad Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701. We will accommodate all reasonable requests. You do not need to give us a reason for the request; but your request must specify how or where you wish to be contacted.

F. Right to a Paper Copy of this Notice.

You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this Notice of Privacy Practices at any time. Even if you have agreed to receive this Notice of Privacy Practices Electronically, you may still obtain a paper copy. To obtain a paper copy, send your request to 321 Broad Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701.

V. Confidentiality of Substance Abuse Records

For individual who have received treatment, diagnosis or referral for alcohol or drug abuse, the confidentiality of drug and alcohol abuse records is protected by federal law and regulations. As a general rule, we may not reveal this information unless:

you authorize the disclosure in writing; or
the disclosure is permitted by a court order; or
the disclosure is made to medical personnel in a medical emergency or to qualified personnel in research, audit or program evaluation purposes; or
you threaten to commit a crime either at the office or against any person who works there.

A violation by us of the federal law and regulations governing drug or alcohol abuse is a crime. Suspected violations may be reported to the United States Attorney in district where the violation occurs.
Federal law and regulations governing confidentiality of drug or alcohol abuse permit us to report suspected child abuse or neglect under state law to appropriate state or local authorities.

VI. Complaints

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with us to 321 Broad Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

VII. Changes to this Notice

We reserve the right to change the terms of our Notice of Privacy Practices. We also reserve the right to make the revised or changed Notice of Privacy practices effective for all health information we already have about you as well as any health information we receive in the future.
You can obtain a copy of the current Notice of Privacy Practices by accessing our website at Brain Mind Harmony >> Policies

Learn more about our policies at Brain Mind Harmony >> Policies

Make An Appointment:

Brain Mind Harmony

Our Locations:

170 RTE 35 South #4 Red Bank, NJ 07701 (732) 530-3122