HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices

OUR PLEDGE REGARDING YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION:

Vital Heart Health and Wellness, LLC is committed to protecting the privacy of your health information. This Notice of Privacy Practices describes how we may use and disclose your protected health information (PHI) to carry out treatment, payment, or healthcare operations and for other purposes that are permitted or required by law. It also describes your rights to access and control your PHI.

WHO WILL FOLLOW THIS NOTICE:

This Notice describes the practices of:

Vital Heart Health and Wellness, LLC and its healthcare professionals who have access to your PHI generated or received by our practice.

OUR LEGAL DUTIES:

We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your PHI, to provide you with this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to PHI, to notify you following a breach of unsecured PHI, and to comply with the terms of this Notice.

HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION:

The following categories describe different ways that we may use and disclose your PHI. Not every use or disclosure in a category will be listed. However, all the ways we are permitted to use and disclose information will fall within one of these categories.

For Treatment: We may use and disclose your PHI to provide, coordinate, or manage your healthcare and any related services. For example, we may disclose your PHI to specialists as part of your treatment plan.
For Payment: We may use and disclose your PHI to obtain payment for the healthcare services we provide to you. For example, we may disclose your PHI to your insurance company to determine coverage or to obtain payment.
For Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose your PHI for our healthcare operations, which include activities such as quality assessment, training, and conducting audits. For example, we may use your PHI to evaluate the performance of our staff.
Appointment Reminders and Treatment Alternatives: We may use and disclose your PHI to contact you to remind you of your appointments or to provide information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.
As Required by Law: We will disclose your PHI when required to do so by federal, state, or local law.
Business Associates: We may disclose your PHI to our business associates that perform functions on our behalf or provide us with services, if the information is necessary for such functions or services. For example, we may share your PHI with a billing company that helps us process insurance claims.
Sign-In Sheet: We may use and disclose your PHI by having you sign in when you arrive at our office. We may also call out your name when we are ready to see you.
Notification and Communication with Family: We may disclose your PHI to notify or assist in notifying a family member, your personal representative or another person responsible for your care about your location, your general condition or, other healthcare matters. In the event of a disaster, we may disclose PHI to a relief organization so that they may coordinate these notification efforts. We may also disclose PHI to someone who is involved with your care or helps pay for your care. If you are able and available to agree or object, we will give you the opportunity to object prior to making these disclosures, although we may disclose this information in a disaster even over your objection if we believe it is necessary to respond to the emergency circumstances. If you are unable or unavailable to agree or object, our health professionals will use their best judgment in communication with your family and others.
Marketing: Provided we do not receive any payment for making these communications, we may contact you to give you information about products or services related to your treatment, case management or care coordination, or to direct or recommend other treatments, therapies, health care providers or settings of care that may be of interest to you. We may similarly describe products or services provided by this practice and tell you which health plans this practice participates in. We may also encourage you to maintain a healthy lifestyle and get recommended tests, participate in a disease management program, provide you with small gifts, tell you about government sponsored health programs or encourage you to purchase a product or service when we see you, for which we may be paid. Finally, we may receive compensation which covers our cost of reminding you to take and refill your medication, or otherwise communicate about a drug or biologic that is currently prescribed for you. We will not otherwise use or disclose your medical information for marketing purposes or accept any payment for other marketing communications without your prior written authorization. The authorization will disclose whether we receive any compensation for any marketing activity you authorize, and we will stop any future marketing activity to the extent you revoke that authorization.
Sale of Health Information: We will not sell your health information without your prior written authorization. The authorization will disclose that we will receive compensation for your health information if you authorize us to sell it, and we will stop any future sales of your information to the extent that you revoke that authorization.
Public Health: We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information to public health authorities for purposes related to: preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability; reporting child, elder or dependent adult abuse or neglect; reporting domestic violence; reporting to the Food and Drug Administration problems with products and reactions to medications; and reporting disease or infection exposure. When we report suspected elder or dependent adult abuse or domestic violence, we will inform you or your personal representative promptly unless in our best professional judgment, we believe the notification would place you at risk of serious harm or would require informing a personal representative we believe is responsible for the abuse or harm.
Health Oversight Activities: We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your PHI to health oversight agencies during the course of audits, investigations, inspections, licensure and other proceedings, subject to the limitations imposed by law.
Judicial and Administrative Proceedings: We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your PHI in the course of any administrative or judicial proceeding to the extent expressly authorized by a court or administrative order. We may also disclose information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process if reasonable efforts have been made to notify you of the request and you have not objected, or if your objections have been resolved by a court or administrative order.
Law Enforcement: We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your PHI to a law enforcement official for purposes such as identifying or locating a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person, complying with a court order, warrant, grand jury subpoena and other law enforcement purposes.
Coroners: We may, and are often required by law, to disclose your PHI to coroners in connection with their investigations.
Organ or Tissue Donation: We may disclose your PHI to organizations involved in procuring, banking or transplanting organs and tissues.
Public Safety: We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your PHI to appropriate persons in order to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a particular person or the general public.
Proof of Immunization: We will disclose proof of immunization to a school that is required to have it before admitting a student where you have agreed to the disclosure on behalf of yourself or your dependent.
Specialized Government Functions: We may disclose your PHI for military or national security purposes or to correctional institutions or law enforcement officers that have you in their lawful custody.
Workers’ Compensation: We may disclose your PHI as necessary to comply with workers’ compensation laws. For example, to the extent your care is covered by workers’ compensation, we will make periodic reports to your employer about your condition. We are also required by law to report cases of occupational injury or occupational illness to the employer or workers’ compensation insurer.
Change of Ownership: In the event that this medical practice is sold or merged with another organization, your PHI/record will become the property of the new owner, although you will maintain the right to request that copies of your PHI be transferred to another physician or medical group.
Breach Notification: In the case of a breach of unsecured PHI, we will notify you as required by law. If you have provided us with a current e-mail address, we may use e-mail to communicate information related to the breach. In some circumstances our business associate may provide the notification. We may also provide notification by other methods as appropriate.
Psychotherapy Notes: We will not use or disclose any of your behavioral health PHI without your prior written authorization except for the following:
1. Use by the originator of the notes for your treatment.
2. For training our staff, students and other trainees.
3. To defend ourselves if you sue us or bring some other legal proceeding.
4. If the law requires us to disclose the information to you or the Secretary of HHS or for some other reason.
5. In response to health oversight activities concerning your providers.
6. To avert a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.
7. To the coroner or medical examiner upon your death. To the extent, you revoke an authorization to use or disclose your behavioral health PHI, we will stop using or disclosing these notes.
Research: We may disclose your PHI to researchers conducting research with respect to which your written authorization is not required as approved by an Institutional Review Board or privacy board, in compliance with governing law.
Fundraising: We may use or disclose your demographic information in order to contact you for any potential fundraising activities. For example, we may use the dates that you received treatment, the department of service, your treating physician, outcome information and health insurance status to identify individuals that may be interested in participating in fundraising activities. If you do not want to receive these materials, notify the Privacy Officer listed within this Notice of Privacy Practices and we will stop any further fundraising communications. Similarly, you should notify the Privacy Officer if you decide you want to start receiving these solicitations again.

YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION:

You have the following rights regarding the PHI that we maintain about you:

Right to Request Restrictions: You have the right to request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of your PHI.
Right to Receive Confidential Communications: You have the right to request that we communicate with you about medical matters in a certain way or at a certain location.
Right to Inspect and Copy: You have the right to inspect and obtain a copy of your PHI.
Right to Amend: You have the right to request an amendment of your PHI if you believe it is inaccurate or incomplete.
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to receive an accounting of certain disclosures we have made of your PHI.
Right to Obtain a Paper Copy: You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this Notice upon request.

CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE:

This Notice is effective as of August 1, 2024. We reserve the right to change this Notice. We reserve the right to make the revised or changed Notice effective for PHI we already have about you as well as any information we receive in the future. We will post a copy of the current Notice in our office and on our website.

COMPLAINTS:

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with us or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. To file a complaint with us, contact Vital Heart Health and Wellness, LLC, 5245 University Parkway, #101, University Park, FL 34201. All complaints must be submitted in writing.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

If you have any questions about this Notice or would like further information concerning your privacy rights, please contact us at Vital Heart Health and Wellness, LLC, 5245 University Parkway, #101, University Park, FL 34201, 941-259-1997.

This Notice of Privacy Practices ensures compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and informs patients of their rights regarding their protected health information (PHI) under the care of Vital Heart Health and Wellness, LLC.