NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
Effective
April 14, 2003
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.
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Our
Promise to You, our Patient...
Your information is important and confidential. Our ethics and policies require that your information be held in strict confidence.
Introduction
We maintain protocols to ensure the security and confidentiality of your personal information. We have physical security in our building, passwords to protect databases,
compliance audits, and virus/intrusion detection software. Within our practice, access to your information is limited to those who need it to perform their jobs.
At Clinical Nephrology Associates, P.A., as defined in 45 CFR 164.504 (d), we are committed to treating and using protected health information about you responsibly. This Notice of Privacy Policies 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 April 14, 2003, and applies to all protected health information as defined by federal regulations.
Understanding Your Health Record
Each time you visit Clinical Nephrology Associates, P.A., a record of your visit is made. Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment, and a plan for future care or treatment. 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,
Tool in educating heath professionals,
Source of data for medical research,
Source of information for public health officials charged to improve
the health of
the state and nation,
Source of data for our planning and marketing, and
Tool by which we can assess and continually work to improve
the care we render and 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 Information Rights
Although your health record is the physical property of Clinical Nephrology Associates, P.A., the information belongs to you. You have the right to:
Obtain a paper copy of this notice of privacy policies upon request,
Inspect and obtain a copy of your health record as provided by
45 CFR 164.524
(reasonable copy fees apply in accordance with
state law),
Amend your health record as provided by 45 CFR 164.526,
Obtain an accounting of disclosures of your health information as
provided by
45 CFR 164.528,
Request confidential communications of your health information
as provided
by 45 CFR 164.522(b), and
Request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your
information as
provided by 45 CFR 164.522(a) (however, we are
not required by law to agree to a requested
restriction).
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