PRIVACY POLICY

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

Understanding Your Health Record/Information
Each time you visit a hospital, physician or other healthcare provider, 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
• A tool in educating health professionals
• A source of data for medical research
• A source of information for public health officials charged with improving the health of the nation
• A source of data for facility planning and marketing and
• A tool which we can assess and continually work to improve the care we render and the outcomes we achieve

Understanding what is in your records 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
• Make more informed decisions when authorizing disclosure to others

Your Health Information Rights
Although your health record is the physical property of the healthcare practitioner or facility that compiled it, the information belongs to you. You have the right to:

• Request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your information as provided by 45 CFR 164.522
• Obtain a paper copy of the notice of information practices upon request
• Amend your health record as provided in 45 CFR 164.528
• Obtain an accounting of disclosures of your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations
• Revoke your authorization to use or disclose health information except to the extent that action has already been taken.

Graivier Center Responsibilities
The Graivier Center is required to:

• Maintain the privacy of your health information
• Provide you with a notice as to our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to information we collect and maintain about you
• Abide by the terms of this notice
• Notify you if we are unable to agree to a requested restriction
• Accommodate reasonable requests you may have to communicate health information by alternative means or at alternative locations

We reserve the right to change our practices and to make the new provisions effective for all protected health information we maintain. Should our information practices change, we will mail a revised notice to the address you’ve supplied us.

We will not use or disclose your health information without your authorization, except as described in this notice.

If you have questions and would like additional information, you may contact our Health Information Privacy Official at (770) 772-0695.

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the Provider and/or with the Secretary of Health and Human Services. There will be no retaliation for filing a complaint.

Examples of Disclosures for Treatment, Payment and Health Operations
We will use your health information for treatment. For example: information obtained by a nurse or physician will be recorded in your record and used to determine the course of treatment that should work best for you. Members of your healthcare team will then record the actions they took and their observations. In that way the physician will know how you are responding to treatment.

We will also provide a subsequent healthcare provider with copies of various reports that should assist him/her in treating you once you’re treatment is completed.

We will use your health information for payment. For example: a bill may be sent to you or a third party payer. The information on the accompanying bill may include information that identifies you, as well as your diagnosis, procedures and supplies used.

We will use your health information for regular health operations. For example: members of the medical staff or members of the quality assurance committee may use information in your health record to assess the care and outcomes in your case and others like it. This information will then be used in an effort to continually improve the quality and effectiveness of the health care and service we provide.

Other Uses or Disclosures
Business Associates: There are some services provided in our organization through contact with business associates. Examples include certain laboratory tests, transcription services and billing services. When the services are contracted, we may disclose your health information to our business associates so that they can perform the job we’ve asked them to do and bill you or your third party payer for services rendered. So that your health information is protected, however, we require the business associates to appropriately safeguard your information.

Notification: We may use or disclose information to notify or assist in notifying a family member, personal representative, or another person responsible for your care, your location, and general condition.

Communication with Family: Health professionals, using their best judgment, may disclose to a family member, other relative, close personal friend or any other person you identify, health information relevant to that person’s involvement in your care or payment related to your care.

Research: We may disclose information to researchers when their research has been approved by an Institutional Review Board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your health information.

Marketing: We may contact you to provide appointment reminders or information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA): We may disclose to the FDA health information relative to adverse events with respect to food supplements, product and product defects or post marketing surveillance information to enable product recalls, repairs or replacement.