HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices

Permitted Uses and Disclosures of Your PHI

We may use and disclose your PHI for the following purposes.

• Treatment: We may use and disclose your PHI to healthcare professionals or other third parties to provide, coordinate and manage the delivery of health care. For example, your pharmacist may disclose PHI about you to your doctor in order to coordinate the prescribing and delivery of your drugs. We also may provide you with treatment reminders and information about potential side effects, drug interactions and other treatment related issues involving your medicine.
• Payment: We may use and disclose PHI about you to receive payment for our services, manage your account, fulfill our responsibilities under your benefit plan, and process your claims for drugs you have received. For example, we may give PHI to your health plan (or its designee) so we can confirm your eligibility for pharmacy benefits, or we may submit claims to your health plan, employer or other third party for payment.
• Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose your PHI to carry on our own business planning and administrative operations. We need to do this so we can provide you with high-quality services. For example, we may use and disclose PHI about you to assess the use or effectiveness of certain drugs, develop and monitor medical protocols, and to provide information regarding helpful health-management services.
• Information that May Be of Interest to You: We may use or disclose your PHI to contact you about treatment options or alternatives that may be of interest to you. For example, we may call you to remind you of expired prescriptions, the availability of alternative drugs, or to inform you of other products that may benefit your health.
• Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care: We may disclose PHI about you to someone who assists in or pays for your care. Unless you write to us and specifically tell us not to, we may disclose your PHI to someone who has your permission to act on your behalf. We will require this person to provide adequate proof that he or she has your permission.
• Parents or Legal Guardians: If you are a minor or under a legal guardianship, we may release your PHI to your parents or legal guardians when we are permitted or required under federal and applicable state law.
• Business Associates: We arrange to provide some services through contracts with business associates so that they may help us operate more efficiently. We may disclose your PHI to business associates acting on our behalf. If any PHI is disclosed, we will protect your information from unauthorized use and disclosure using confidentiality agreements. Our business associates may, in turn, use vendors to assist them in providing services to us. If so, the business associates must enter into a confidentiality agreement with the vendor, which protects your information from unauthorized use and disclosure
• Research: Under certain circumstances, we may use and disclose PHI about you for research purposes. Before we use or disclose PHI about you, we will either remove information that personally identifies you, obtain your written authorization, or gain approval through a special approval process designed to protect the privacy of your PHI. In some circumstances, we may use your PHI to generate aggregate data (summarized data that does not identify you) to study outcomes, costs and provider profiles, and to suggest benefit designs for your employer or health plan. These studies generate aggregate data that we may sell or disclose to other companies or organizations. Aggregate data does not personally identify you.
• Abuse, Neglect or Domestic Violence: We may disclose your PHI to a social service, protective agency or other government authority if we believe you are a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. We will inform you of our disclosure unless informing you will place you at risk of serious harm.
• Public Health: We may disclose your PHI for public health activities and purposes, such as reporting adverse events, post marketing surveillance in connection with FDA-regulated entities’ legal obligations (e.g., pharmaceutical manufacturer reporting or connections with an FDA-mandated Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) program) and product recalls. We may also disclose your PHI to a person or company that is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, such as a pharmaceutical manufacturer, for the purpose of: 1. reporting or tracking product defects or problems; 2. repairing, replacing, or recalling defective or dangerous products; or 3. monitoring the performance of a product after it has been approved for use by the general public. We may receive payment from a third party for making disclosures for public health activities and purposes.
• Health Oversight: We may disclose PHI to a health oversight agency performing activities authorized by law, such as investigations and audits. These agencies include governmental agencies that oversee the healthcare system, government benefit programs, and organizations subject to government regulation and civil rights laws.
• To Avert Serious Threat to Health or Safety: We may disclose your PHI to prevent or lessen an imminent threat to the health or safety of another person or the public. Such disclosure will only be made to someone in a position to prevent or lessen the threat.
• Judicial Proceedings: We may disclose your PHI in the course of any judicial proceeding in response to a court order, subpoena or other lawful process, but only after we have been assured that efforts have been made to notify you of the request.
• Law Enforcement: We may disclose your PHI, as required by law, in response to a subpoena, warrant, summons, or in some circumstances, to report crime.
• Coroners and Medical Examiners: We may disclose your PHI to a coroner or a medical examiner for the purpose of determining cause of death or other duties authorized by law.
• Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation: We may disclose your PHI to organizations involved in organ transplantation to facilitate donation and transplantation.
• Workers’ Compensation: We may disclose your PHI in order to comply with workers’ compensation laws and other similar programs.
• Fund Raising: We may use your PHI to send you fundraising communications, but you have the right to opt out of receiving such communications.
• Specialized Government Functions, Military and Veterans: We may disclose your PHI to authorized federal officials to perform intelligence, counter-intelligence, medical suitability determinations, Presidential protection activities, and other national security activities authorized by law. If you are a member of the U.S. armed forces or of a foreign military, we may disclose your PHI as required by military command authorities or law. If you are an inmate in a correctional institution or under the custody of a law enforcement official, we may disclose your PHI to those parties if disclosure is necessary for: 1. the provision of your healthcare; 2. maintaining the health or safety of yourself or other inmates; or 3. ensuring the safety and security of the correctional institution or its agents.
• Other Uses and Disclosures: Most uses and disclosures of psychotherapy notes (where appropriate), uses and disclosures for marketing purposes and disclosures that constitute a sale of PHI require an authorization. Any of these activities and any other uses and disclosures of your PHI not listed in this Notice will be made only with your authorization unless we are permitted by applicable law to make such other use and disclosure in which case we shall comply with applicable law. You may revoke your authorization, in writing, at any time unless we have taken action in reliance upon it. Written revocation of authorization must be sent to the address listed below.