Restoracare Health – 130 Queens Quay East Suite 1003, Toronto, ON M5A 0P6
Privacy Officer Contact:
Dr. Tim Lau – DrLau@restoracarehealth.com
Dr. Dan Dao – DrDao@restoracarehealth.com
Effective Date: August 8, 2013
THIS DOCUMENT EXPLAINS HOW YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION MAY BE HANDLED AND SHARED, AND HOW YOU CAN ACCESS IT. PLEASE READ IT THOROUGHLY.
We recognize the significance of your privacy and are dedicated to preserving the secrecy of your health-related information. We create records of the healthcare services we deliver and may also receive such records from other entities. These records are essential for us to offer, or to help other healthcare professionals offer, high-quality medical care. They also allow us to secure payment for the services you receive, as permitted by your health plan, and help us fulfill our professional and legal duties to run this practice efficiently. The law mandates that we protect the privacy of your health information, inform you of our legal responsibilities and privacy procedures concerning this information, and alert you if there is a breach of your unsecured health information. This document outlines how we might use and share your medical details and describes your rights and our legal responsibilities regarding your medical information. For any questions regarding this Notice, please reach out to our Privacy Officer at Restoracare Health, whose contact details are provided above.
A. How Restoracare Health May Use or Disclose Your Health Information
Restoracare Health gathers your health information and maintains it in a physical chart and on a computer system, constituting your medical record. While the physical record is the property of this practice, the information contained within it belongs to you. Legislation allows us to use or share your health information for these primary reasons:
Treatment: We utilize your medical information to deliver your healthcare. This information is shared with our staff and other individuals involved in your care. For instance, we might share your details with other doctors or healthcare providers offering services we don’t, or with a pharmacist for prescription dispensing, or a lab conducting tests. We may also provide information to your family members or others assisting in your care when you are unwell, injured, or after your passing.
Payment: Your medical information is used and shared to get payment for the services we render. For example, we provide your health plan with the necessary details for them to process our payment. We might also share information with other healthcare providers to help them get paid for services they’ve given you.
Health Care Operations: We may use and share your medical information for the operational aspects of this practice. This includes activities like reviewing and enhancing the quality of our care, or assessing the skills and qualifications of our staff. We might also use it to obtain authorizations from your health plan for services or referrals. Additionally, your information might be used for medical reviews, legal services, audits (including fraud and abuse detection), compliance programs, and business planning. We may share your information with “business associates,” like our billing service, who perform administrative tasks for us under a written contract that requires them and their subcontractors to protect your information. We may also share your information with other healthcare providers, clearinghouses, or health plans you have a relationship with, if they need it for quality improvement, patient safety, population health initiatives, care coordination, professional reviews, training, accreditation, or fraud detection. Furthermore, we may share information with entities involved in “organized health care arrangements” (OHCAs) with us for their operational needs. OHCAs can include hospitals, physician groups, and health plans. A list of OHCAs Restoracare Health is part of is available from our Privacy Officer.
Appointment Reminders: We may use and share your medical information to contact you about upcoming appointments. If you’re not available, we might leave a message on your answering machine or with the person who answers your phone.
Sign-In Process: We might use and share your information when you sign in upon arrival at our office. We may also call your name when it’s your turn to be seen.
Notification and Communication with Family/Caregivers: We may share your health information to inform or help inform a family member, your personal representative, or another person responsible for your care about your whereabouts, general condition, or, unless you’ve instructed otherwise, in the event of your death. During a disaster, we might share information with a relief agency for notification purposes. We may also disclose information to someone involved in your care or payment for your care. If you are present and able to agree or object, we will give you that chance before disclosure, though in a disaster, we might disclose even over your objection if deemed necessary for the emergency. If you are unable to agree or object, our professionals will use their best judgment when communicating with your family or others.
Marketing: As long as we don’t receive payment for it, we might contact you with information about products or services related to your treatment, care management, or to suggest other treatments, therapies, providers, or care settings that could interest you. We might also describe our practice’s services and list participating health plans. We could also encourage healthy habits, recommend tests, suggest participation in disease management programs, offer small gifts, inform you about government health programs, or suggest a product or service during your visit (for which we might be compensated). We may also receive payment covering the cost of reminding you about medications. For any other marketing purposes, or if we receive payment for marketing communications, we will obtain your prior written authorization. This authorization will state if we receive compensation, and you can revoke it at any time to stop future marketing.
Sale of Health Information: We will not sell your health information without your explicit written permission. This permission form will state that we will be compensated if you allow the sale, and you can cancel this permission at any time to prevent future sales.
Required by Law: We will use and disclose your health information when legally mandated, limiting it to what the law requires. If the law requires reporting abuse, neglect, domestic violence, or responding to legal proceedings or law enforcement, we will adhere to those specific requirements.
Public Health Activities: We may, and sometimes must by law, share your health information with public health authorities for purposes like disease prevention/control, injury reporting, child/elder/dependent adult abuse or neglect reporting, domestic violence reporting, FDA reporting on product issues/medication reactions, and disease/infection exposure reporting. If we report suspected elder/dependent adult abuse or domestic violence, we will inform you or your representative, unless we believe it would risk serious harm or involve a representative responsible for the harm.
Health Oversight Activities: We may, and are sometimes legally required to, share your health information with health oversight agencies for audits, investigations, inspections, licensure, and similar proceedings, within legal limits.
Judicial and Administrative Proceedings: If legally required, we may disclose your health information during administrative or judicial proceedings if expressly authorized by a court or administrative order. We may also disclose it in response to a subpoena or discovery request if reasonable efforts were made to notify you and you haven’t objected, or if objections were resolved by a court/administrative order.
Law Enforcement Purposes: We may, and sometimes must by law, share your health information with law enforcement for purposes like identifying/locating suspects, fugitives, witnesses, or missing persons, or complying with court orders, warrants, or subpoenas.
Coroners and Medical Examiners: We may, and often are legally required to, disclose health information to coroners for death investigations.
Organ or Tissue Donation: We may share your health information with organizations involved in organ/tissue procurement, banking, or transplantation.
Public Safety: If legally required, we may share your health information with appropriate individuals to prevent or reduce a serious, imminent threat to someone’s health or safety or to public safety.
Proof of Immunization: With your agreement (for yourself or your dependent), we will provide proof of immunization to a school that requires it for student admission.
Specialized Government Functions: We may disclose your health information for military, national security, or correctional institution/law enforcement custody purposes.
Workers’ Compensation: We may share your health information as needed to comply with workers’ compensation laws, such as making periodic reports to your employer about your condition if your care is covered by workers’ compensation. We are also legally required to report occupational injuries/illnesses.
Change of Ownership: If Restoracare Health is sold or merges with another entity, your health information/record will transfer to the new owner. However, you will retain the right to ask for copies of your information to be sent to another physician or medical group.
Breach Notification: If there’s a breach of unsecured protected health information, we will notify you as required by law. If you’ve given us a current email address, we might use it to communicate breach-related information. Sometimes, our business associate might provide this notification. Other appropriate methods may also be used.
B. When Restoracare Health May Not Use or Disclose Your Health Information
Other than the situations described in this Notice, Restoracare Health, in line with its legal duties, will not use or share your identifiable health information without your written permission (authorization). If you do give permission for another purpose, you can cancel it in writing at any time.
C. Your Health Information Rights
Right to Request Special Privacy Protections: You can ask for restrictions on how we use and share your health information. This request must be in writing and specify the information you want to limit and how. If you instruct us not to share information with your commercial health plan about services you paid for entirely out-of-pocket, we will comply, unless treatment or legal reasons require disclosure. We can accept or reject other requests and will inform you of our decision.
Right to Request Confidential Communications: You can ask to receive your health information in a particular way or at a specific place (e.g., a specific email or your work address). We will accommodate all reasonable written requests that specify your preferred method or location.
Right to Inspect and Copy: You have the right to review and get a copy of your health information, with some exceptions. To do this, submit a written request stating what information you want, whether you want to see it or get a copy, and your preferred format for copies. We’ll provide copies in your requested format if readily available, or an alternative acceptable format. If we maintain the record electronically and can’t agree on a format, you can choose a readable electronic or paper copy. We’ll also send a copy to anyone else you designate in writing. We’ll charge a reasonable fee for labor, supplies, postage, and, if agreed in advance, for preparing an explanation or summary. We may deny your request in limited situations. If we deny access to your child’s records or those of an incapacitated adult you represent because we believe it could cause substantial harm, you can appeal. If we deny access to your psychotherapy notes, you can have them sent to another mental health professional.
Right to Amend or Supplement: You can ask us to change health information you think is incorrect or incomplete. This request must be written and include your reasons. We are not obligated to change your information but will tell you why if we deny your request and how you can disagree. We might deny if we don’t have the information, didn’t create it (unless the creator is unavailable), if you wouldn’t be allowed to inspect/copy it, or if it’s already accurate and complete. If we deny it, you can submit a written statement of disagreement, and we may write a rebuttal. All information about amendment requests will be kept and shared with any future disclosures of the disputed information.
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You can get a list of certain disclosures Restoracare Health has made of your health information. However, we don’t have to list disclosures made to you, those you authorized in writing, or disclosures for treatment, payment, health care operations, family notification/communication, specialized government functions (as described in Section A), certain research or public health disclosures without direct patient identifiers, disclosures incidental to permitted uses, or disclosures to health oversight or law enforcement if they’ve stated that an accounting would likely impede their activities.
Right to a Paper or Electronic Copy of this Notice: You have the right to be informed of our legal duties and privacy practices concerning your health information, including the right to a paper copy of this Notice, even if you previously agreed to receive it electronically.
For a more detailed explanation of these rights or to exercise one or more of them, please contact our Privacy Officer at Restoracare Health, whose details are at the beginning of this Notice.
D. Changes to this Notice of Privacy Practices
We hold the right to modify this Notice of Privacy Practices at any point. Until any changes are made, we must legally follow the terms of the Notice currently in effect. Once changes are made, the updated Notice will apply to all protected health information we manage, no matter when it was created or obtained. A current copy of the notice will always be posted in our reception area and available at each appointment. The current notice will also be on our website.
E. Complaints
If you have concerns about this Notice of Privacy Practices or how Restoracare Health manages your health information, please direct them to our Privacy Officer at Restoracare Health, whose contact information is at the top of this Notice.
If you are not content with how our office addresses a complaint, you can submit a formal complaint to:
OCRMail@hhs.gov
The complaint form may be found at https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/filing-a-complaint/what-to-expect/index.html. Filing a complaint will not result in any form of penalty against you.
