Our HIPPA Policy

The Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA")

is a Federal program that requests that all medical records and other individually identifiable health information used or disclosed by us in any form, whether electronically, on paper, or orally are kept properly confidential. This Act gives you, the patient, the right to understand and control how your protected health information ("PHI") is used. HIPAA provides penalties for covered entities that misuse personal health information. As required by HIPAA, we prepared this explanation of how we are to maintain the privacy of your health information and how we may disclose your personal information.

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We may use and disclose your medical records only for each of the following purposes: treatment, payment, and healthcare operation.

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• Treatment means providing, coordinating, or managing healthcare and related services by one or more healthcare providers. An example of this is our dermatologist referring you to a specialist doctor.

• Payment means such activities as obtaining reimbursement for services, confirming coverage, billing or collections activities, and utilization review. An example of this would include sending your insurance company a bill for your visit and/or verifying coverage prior to surgery.

• Healthcare operations include business aspects of running our practice, such as conducting quality assessments and improving activities, auditing functions, cost management analysis, and customer service. For example, we may use and disclose information to make sure the dermatologic care you receive is of the highest quality.

• The practice may also be required or permitted to disclose your PHI for law enforcement and other legitimate reasons. In all situations, we shall do our best to assure its continued confidentiality to the extent possible.

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We may also create and distribute de-identified health information by removing all references to individually identifiable information. We may contact you, by phone or in writing, to provide appointment reminders or information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services, in addition to other fundraising communications, that may be of interest to you. You do have the right to "opt-out" with respect to receiving fundraising communications from us.

When appropriate, we may share PHI with a person who is involved in your medical care (e.g. family member or friend) or payment for your care. If you are unable to agree or object to such a disclosure, we may disclose PHI if we determine it is in your best interest based on our professional judgment. We may also notify your family about your location and general condition or disclose such information to an entity assisting in a disaster relief effort.

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Under certain circumstances, we may use and disclose PHI for research. Before we use PHI for research, the project will go through a special approval process. Even without special approval, we may permit researchers to look at records to help them identify patients who may be included in their research project as long as they do not remove or take a copy of any PHI. The following use and disclosures of PHI will only be made pursuant to us receiving a written authorization from you:

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• Uses and disclosure of your PHI for marketing purposes, including subsidized treatment and health care operations;

• Disclosures that constitute a sale of PHI under HIPAA; and

• Other uses and disclosures not described in this notice. You may revoke such authorization in writing and we are required to honor and abide by that written request, except to the extent that we have already taken actions relying on your prior authorization. You may have the following rights with respect to your PHI:

• The right to inspect and copy your PHI. To inspect and copy this Health Information, you must make your request, in writing, to The Love of Skin. We have up to 30 days to make your Protected Health Information available to you and we may charge you a reasonable fee for the costs of copying, mailing, or other supplies associated with your request. We may not charge you a fee if you need the information for a claim for benefits under the Social Security Act or any other state or federal needs-based benefit program. We may deny your request in certain limited circumstances. If we do deny your request, you have the right to have the denial reviewed by a licensed healthcare professional who was not directly involved in the denial of your request, and we will comply with the outcome of the review.

• Right to an Electronic Copy of Electronic Medical Records. If your Protected Health Information is maintained in an electronic format (known as an electronic medical record or an electronic health record), you have the right to request that an electronic copy of your record be given to you or transmitted to another individual or entity. We will make every effort to provide access to your Protected Health Information in the form or format you request if it is readily producible in such form or format. If the Protected Health Information is not readily producible in the form or format you request your record will be provided in either our standard electronic format or if you do not want this form or format, a readable hard copy form. We may charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee for the labor associated with transmitting the electronic medical record.

• The right to request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of PHI, including those related to disclosures of family members, other relatives, close personal friends, or any other person identified by you. We are, however, not required to honor a request restriction except in limited circumstances which we shall explain if you ask. If we do agree to the restriction, we must abide by it unless you agree in writing to remove it.

• The right to reasonable requests to receive confidential communications of Protected Health Information by alternative means or at alternative locations.

• If you feel that health information is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend the information. You must make your request in writing to The Love of Skin.

• The right to receive an accounting of disclosures of your PHI. Please make your request in writing to The Love of Skin.

• The right to be advised if your unprotected PHI is intentionally or unintentionally disclosed.

• The right to obtain a paper copy of this notice of privacy practices from us upon request. If you have paid for services "out of pocket", in full and in advance, and you request that we not disclose PHI related solely to those services to a health plan, we will accommodate your request, except where we are required by law to make a disclosure.

 

We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your PHI and to provide you the notice of our legal duties and our privacy practice with respect to PHI. This notice is effective as of October 1, 2020 and it is our intention to abide by the terms of the Notice of Privacy Practices and HIPAA Regulations currently in effect.

Updates
Our HIPPA Policy may change from time to time and all updates will be posted on this page.
If you feel that we are not abiding by this policy, you should contact us immediately via telephone at 401-419-6341 or via info@theloveofskin.com.

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