Comfort Smiles Atlanta
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
As Required by the Privacy Regulations Created as a Result of the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW CERTAIN HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU,
AS A PATIENT OF THIS PRACTICE, MAY BE USED, DISCLOSED, AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE
REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
In conducting our business, the doctor and staff of Comfort Smiles Atlanta (“our” or “we”)
create records regarding you and the treatment and services that we provide to you. We are committed to
abide by all applicable laws regarding the protection of your individually identifiable health information (“health
information”). This notice is intended to provide information to you about our privacy practices,
our legal duties, and your rights concerning your health information. This notice is effective as of
April 14, 2003 (the “Effective Date”) and its scope applies to all records containing your health information
that are retained or created by us after the Effective Date. We reserve the right to change our privacy
practices and the terms of this notice at any time, and such new privacy practices will be effective for any records that
we have created or maintained in the past or that we may create or maintain in the future. Before we make
any material changes in our privacy practices, however, we will make our new notice available upon request.
OUR USES AND DISCLOSURES OF HEALTH INFORMATION
For Treatment: We
may use your health information to provide you with dental treatment and related services. We may disclose
your health information to other dental offices, dentists, physician offices, laboratories, providers, agencies, facilities,
pharmacies, transport companies, family members, or other health care providers and their staff involved in providing health
related treatment, services or care to you. For example, we may disclose your health information to a pharmacy
to write a prescription for you. We may communicate with you about or recommend possible treatment options or alternatives
that may be of interest to you. We may use or disclose your health information to provide you with appointment reminders (such
as voicemail messages, postcards, or letters) or informational or promotional materials such as practice newsletters.
For Payment: We
may use and disclose your health information (e.g., x-rays, billing statements, etc.) to persons or entities (e.g., insurance
companies, family members, third party payers, health plans) so that you (or we as the case may be) can be reimbursed for
treatment and services we provide to you.
For Health
Care Operations: We may use and disclose your health information
for our health care operations. Health care operations include quality assessment and improvement activities,
reviewing the competence of health care professionals, evaluating practitioner and provider performance, conducting educational
or training programs, accreditation, certification, licensing or credentialing activities or to detect or prevent health care
fraud and abuse, contractual obligations, patients’ claims, grievances or lawsuits, health care contracting, legal,
tax, or business planning and development, business management and administration, promotional programs, the sale of all or
part of Comfort Smiles Atlanta to another entity, underwriting, claims management and other insurance activities.
We may disclose your health information to another health care provider or organization to support some of their health
care operations.
Relatives,
Caregivers and Personal Representatives: We may disclose
your health information to a family member, friend, personal representative, or other person you identify that is involved
in your dental or health care or with payment for your dental or health care. Unless you have otherwise
provided us the authorization to do so, before we disclose your health information to such people, we will provide you with
an opportunity to object to our use or disclosure. If you are not present, or in the even of your incapacity
or an emergency, we will disclose your medical information based on our professional judgment of whether the disclosure would
be in your best interest. We may use our professional judgment and our experience with common practice
to make reasonable inferences of your best interest in allowing a person to pick up filled prescriptions, medical supplies,
x-rays, or other similar forms of health information. We may use or disclose information about you to notify
or assist in notifying a person involved in your care, of your location and general condition.
Health Related Benefits and Services: We may contact you about benefits or services that we provide.
Disaster
Relief Efforts: We may use or disclose your health information
to a public or private entity authorized by law or by its charter to assist in disaster relief efforts.
Marketing Health-Related Services: We will not use your health information for marketing communications without your written authorization.
News Gathering Activities: We may
contact you or one of your family members to discuss whether or not you want to participate in a media or news story (e.g.,
a news reporter working on a story about dental health may ask whether any patients undergoing some sort of specific dental
treatment may be willing to interviewed).
Public
Benefit: We may use or disclose your medical information
as authorized by law for the following purposes deemed to be in the public interest or benefit, including without limitation,
for public health activities, including disease and vital statistic reporting, child abuse reporting, FDA oversight, and to
employers regarding work-related illness or injury; to report adult abuse, neglect, or domestic violence; to health oversight
agencies; to coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors; to an organ procurement organizations; to avert a serious
threat to health or safety; in connection with certain research activities; and to the military and to federal officials for
lawful intelligence, counterintelligence, and national security activities.
As Authorized
or Required By Law: We will disclose health information when
authorized or required to do so by applicable law, including without limitation, in response to court and administrative orders
and other lawful processes; to law enforcement officials pursuant to subpoenas and other lawful processes, concerning crime
victims, suspicious deaths, crimes on our premises, reporting crimes in emergencies, and for purposes of identifying or locating
a suspect or other person; to correctional institutions regarding inmates; and as authorized by state workers’ compensation
laws.
Lawsuits and Similar Proceedings: In connection with lawsuits or other legal proceedings, we may disclose health
information about you in response to a court or administrative order, or in response to a subpoena, discovery request, warrant,
summons, or other lawful process. We may disclose health information to courts, attorneys, and court employees
in the course of litigation, arbitration, or other judicial or administrative proceedings.
Law Enforcement: If asked to do so by law enforcement, and as authorized or required by law, we may release medical information:
to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person; about a suspected victim of a crime
if, under certain limited circumstances, we are unable to obtain the person’s agreement; about a death suspected to
be the result of criminal conduct; about criminal conduct at Comfort Smiles Atlanta; and in case of a medical emergency, to
report a crime; the location of the crime or victims; or the identity, description or location of the person who committed
the crime.
Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral
Directors: In most circumstances, we may disclose medical
information to a coroner or medical examiner. This may be necessary, for example, to identify a deceased
person or to determine cause of death. We may also disclose medical information about patients of Comfort
Smiles Atlanta to funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties.
National
Security and Intelligence Activities: As authorized or required
by law, we may disclose medical information about you to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence,
and other national security activities.
Other Uses
of Health Information: Not every specific use or disclosure
of your health information is listed in this notice. Unless you provide us (or have already provided us)
with separate written authorization to use or otherwise disclose certain personal or health information for certain purposes,
all of the ways we are permitted to use and disclose health information will fall within one of the following categories.
PATIENT RIGHTS
Your health information that we have created
and maintain is the property of Comfort Smiles Atlanta. You have the following rights, however, regarding
your health information that we maintain.
Right to Inspect
and Copy: You have the right to look at or get copies of
your health information, with certain exceptions. You may make reasonable requests that we provide copies
in a format other than photocopies. We will use the format you request unless it is unduly burdensome to
do so. You must make a request in writing to obtain access to your health information by sending a letter
to the Privacy Officer identified at the bottom of this notice. If you request copies, we will charge you
a fee for these services that may include labor, duplication costs, and postage. If you request an alternative
format, we will charge a cost-based fee for providing your health information in that format. If you prefer,
we may – but are not required to – prepare a summary or an explanation of your health information for a fee.
Contact us using the information listed at the end of this notice for more information about fees.
Right to Amend: You
have the right to request that we amend your health information if you believe that the health information that we have about
you is incorrect or incomplete. Your request must be in writing to the Privacy Officer identified at the
bottom of this notice, and it must explain reasons that support your request to amend your health information.
We may deny your request under certain circumstances (e.g., it is not in writing, does not have support for the request,
asks that we amend information that is accurate or complete, was not created by Comfort Smiles Atlanta, etc.).
Right to Disclosure Accounting: You have the right to request a list of certain disclosures we have made of your health information. To
request this accounting of disclosures, you must submit your request in writing to the Privacy Officer identified at the bottom
of this notice. Your request must state a time period longer than the previous six years and may not include
dates before April 14, 2004. That list will not include disclosures for treatment, payment, health care
operations, as otherwise authorized by you, and for certain other activities. If you request this accounting
more than once in a 12-month period, we may charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee for responding to these additional requests.
Contact us using the information listed at the end of this notice for more information about fees.
Right to Request Restrictions: You
have the right to request that we place additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your health information for treatment,
payment or healthcare operations. We are not required to agree to these additional restrictions, but if
we do, we will abide by our agreement (except in an emergency). In your request, you must tell us: (1)
what information you want us to limit; (2) whether you want to limit our use, disclosure or both; and (3) to whom you want
the limits to apply. We are not required to agree to your request. If we do agree, our
agreement must be in writing signed by a person authorized to make such agreement on our behalf and we will endeavor to comply
unless the information is needed to provide emergency treatment.
Right to
Alternative Communication: You have the right to request
that we communicate with you about your health information in a certain way or at a certain location. You
must make your request in writing to the Privacy Officer identified at the bottom of this notice. You must
specify in your request the alternative means or location, and provide satisfactory explanation how you will handle alternative
payment under the alternative means or location you request. We will endeavor to comply with all reasonable
requests.
Electronic Communication: You have the right to request that we contact you through electronic mail (email). Patients should
understand that while we do not employ an encryption system, we do use several methods to attempt to safeguard confidential
information, including firewall and virus protection. Patients should also understand that Comfort Smiles Atlanta cannot be
held responsible for breaches in security via and electronic medium and use of electronic methods of communication at their
own risk. Additional information regarding our specific security practices may be obtained via the contact information at
the end of this Notice.
Right to
Copies of This Notice: You may request a paper copy of our
notice and we will endeavor to keep a current copy posted on our website located at www.DrLottier.com. For
more information about our privacy practices, or for additional copies of this notice, please contact us using the information
listed at the end of this notice.
Right to
File A Complaint: You may contact the Privacy Officer listed at the bottom of
this notice if you believe that we have violated your privacy rights, we made a decision about access to your health information
incorrectly, our response to a request you made to amend or restrict the use or disclosure of your health information was
incorrect, or we should communicate with you by alternative means or at alternative locations. You also
may submit a written complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will provide you
with the address to file your complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services upon request. We
will not penalize you on the basis of filing a complaint.
CONTACT INFORMATION
If you want more information about our privacy practices or have questions or concerns, please contact
us using the information listed below.
Comfort Smiles Atlanta
Attn: Juli Leguillow, Privacy Officer
3091 Maple Drive, NE
Suite 105
Atlanta, GA 30305
Phone: 404-365-0211
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