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| Notice
of Privacy Practices |
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Pampered
Smiles
Cosmetic and Aesthetic Dentistry
1811 S. Rainbow Blvd Ste 208
Las Vegas, NV 89146
Phone: 702-433-2489
E-Mail: smiles@pamperedsmiles.com
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION
ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO
THIS INFORMATION.
PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY. THE PRIVACY OF YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION
IS IMPORTANT TO US.
Our Legal Duty
We are required by applicable federal and state laws to maintain the
privacy of your protected health information. We are also required
to give you this notice about our privacy practices, our legal duties,
and your rights concerning your protected health information. We must
follow the privacy practices that are described in this notice while
it is in effect. This notice takes effect April 14, 2003, and will
remain in effect until we replace it.
We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms
of this notice at any time, provided that such changes are permitted
by applicable law. We reserve the right to make the changes in our
privacy practices and the new terms of our notice effective for all
protected health information that we maintain, including medical information
we created or received before we made the changes.
You may request a copy of our notice (or any subsequent revised notice)
at any time. For more information about our privacy practices, or
for additional copies of this notice, please contact us using the
information listed at the end of this notice.
Uses and Disclosures of Protected Health Information
We will use and disclose your protected health information about you
for treatment, payment, and health care operations. Following are
examples of the types of uses and disclosures of your protected health
care information that may occur. These examples are not meant to be
exhaustive, but to describe the types of uses and disclosures that
may be made by our office.
Treatment: We will use and disclose your protected health information
to provide, coordinate or manage your health care and any related
services. This includes the coordination or management of your health
care with a third party. For example, we would disclose your protected
health information, as necessary, to a home health agency that provides
care to you. We will also disclose protected health information to
other physicians who may be treating you. For example, your protected
health information may be provided to a physician to whom you have
been referred to ensure that the physician has the necessary information
to diagnose or treat you.
In addition, we may disclose your protected health information from
time to time to another physician or health care provider (e.g., a
specialist or laboratory) who, at the request of your physician, becomes
involved in your care by providing assistance with your health care
diagnosis or treatment to your physician.
Payment: Your protected health information will be used, as needed,
to obtain payment for your health care services. This may include
certain activities that your health insurance plan may undertake before
it approves or pays for the health care services we recommend for
you, such as: making a determination of eligibility or coverage for
insurance benefits, reviewing services provided to you for protected
health necessity, and undertaking utilization review activities. For
example, obtaining approval for a hospital stay may require that your
relevant protected health information be disclosed to the health plan
to obtain approval for the hospital admission.
Health Care Operations: We may use or disclose, as needed, your protected
health information in order to conduct certain business and operational
activities. These activities include, but are not limited to, quality
assessment activities, employee review activities, training of students,
licensing, and conducting or arranging for other business activities.
For example, we may use a sign-in sheet at the registration desk where
you will be asked to sign your name. We may also call you by name
in the waiting room when your doctor is ready to see you. We may use
or disclose your protected health information, as necessary, to contact
you by telephone or mail to remind you of your appointment.
We will share your protected health information with third party "business
associates" that perform various activities (e.g., billing, transcription
services) for the practice. Whenever an arrangement between our office
and a business associate involves the use or disclosure of your protected
health information, we will have a written contract that contains
terms that will protect the privacy of your protected health information.
We may use or disclose your protected health information, as necessary,
to provide you with information about treatment alternatives or other
health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.
We may also use and disclose your protected health information for
other marketing activities. For example, your name and address may
be used to send you a newsletter about our practice and the services
we offer. We may also send you information about products or services
that we believe may be beneficial to you. You may contact us to request
that these materials not be sent to you.
Uses and Disclosures Based On Your Written Authorization: Other uses
and disclosures of your protected health information will be made
only with your authorization, unless otherwise permitted or required
by law as described below.
You may give us written authorization to use your protected health
information or to disclose it to anyone for any purpose. If you give
us an authorization, you may revoke it in writing at any time. Your
revocation will not affect any use or disclosures permitted by your
authorization while it was in effect. Without your written authorization,
we will not disclose your health care information except as described
in this notice.
Others Involved in Your Health Care: Unless you object, we may disclose
to a member of your family, a relative, a close friend or any other
person you identify, your protected health information that directly
relates to that person's involvement in your health care. If you are
unable to agree or object to such a disclosure, we may disclose such
information as necessary if we determine that it is in your best interest
based on our professional judgment. We may use or disclose protected
health information to notify or assist in notifying a family member,
personal representative or any other person that is responsible for
your care of your location, general condition or death.
Marketing: We may use your protected health information to contact
you with information about treatment alternatives that may be of interest
to you. We may disclose your protected health information to a business
associate to assist us in these activities. Unless the information
is provided to you by a general newsletter or in person or is for
products or services of nominal value, you may opt out of receiving
further such information by telling us using the contact information
listed at the end of this notice.
Research; Death; Organ Donation: We may use or disclose your protected
health information for research purposes in limited circumstances.
We may disclose the protected health information of a deceased person
to a coroner, protected health examiner, funeral director or organ
procurement organization for certain purposes.
Public Health and Safety: We may disclose your protected health information
to the extent necessary to avert a serious and imminent threat to
your health or safety, or the health or safety of others. We may disclose
your protected health information to a government agency authorized
to oversee the health care system or government programs or its contractors,
and to public health authorities for public health purposes.
Health Oversight: We may disclose protected health information to
a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law, such as
audits, investigations and inspections. Oversight agencies seeking
this information include government agencies that oversee the health
care system, government benefit programs, other government regulatory
programs and civil rights laws.
Abuse or Neglect: We may disclose your protected health information
to a public health authority that is authorized by law to receive
reports of child abuse or neglect. In addition, we may disclose your
protected health information if we believe that you have been a victim
of abuse, neglect or domestic violence to the governmental entity
or agency authorized to receive such information. In this case, the
disclosure will be made consistent with the requirements of applicable
federal and state laws.
Food and Drug Administration: We may disclose your protected health
information to a person or company required by the Food and Drug Administration
to report adverse events, product defects or problems, biologic product
deviations; to track products; to enable product recalls; to make
repairs or replacements; or to conduct post marketing surveillance,
as required.
Criminal Activity: Consistent with applicable federal and state laws,
we may disclose your protected health information, if we believe that
the use or disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious
and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public.
We may also disclose protected health information if it is necessary
for law enforcement authorities to identify or apprehend an individual.
Required by Law: We may use or disclose your protected health information
when we are required to do so by law. For example, we must disclose
your protected health information to the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services upon request for purposes of determining whether
we are in compliance with federal privacy laws. We may disclose your
protected health information when authorized by workers' compensation
or similar laws.
Process and Proceedings: We may disclose your protected health information
in response to a court or administrative order, subpoena, discovery
request or other lawful process, under certain circumstances. Under
limited circumstances, such as a court order, warrant or grand jury
subpoena, we may disclose your protected health information to law
enforcement officials.
Law Enforcement: We may disclose limited information to a law enforcement
official concerning the protected health information of a suspect,
fugitive, material witness, crime victim or missing person. We may
disclose the protected health information of an inmate or other person
in lawful custody to a law enforcement official or correctional institution
under certain circumstances. We may disclose protected health information
where necessary to assist law enforcement officials to capture an
individual who has admitted to participation in a crime or has escaped
from lawful custody.
Patient Rights
Access: You have the right to look at or get copies of your protected
health information, with limited exceptions. You must make a request
in writing to the contact person listed herein to obtain access to
your protected health information. You may also request access by
sending us a letter to the address at the end of this notice. If you
request copies, we will charge you $25.00 for each page or $10.00
per hour to locate and copy your protected health information, and
postage if you want the copies mailed to you. If you prefer, we will
prepare a summary or an explanation of your protected health information
for a fee. Contact us using the information listed at the end of this
notice for a full explanation of our fee structure.
Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to receive a list of
instances in which we or our business associates disclosed your protected
health information for purposes other than treatment, payment, health
care operations and certain other activities after April 14, 2003.
After April 14, 2009, the accounting will be provided for the past
six (6) years. We will provide you with the date on which we made
the disclosure, the name of the person or entity to whom we disclosed
your protected health information, a description of the protected
health information we disclosed, the reason for the disclosure, and
certain other information. If you request this list more than once
in a 12-month period, we may charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee
for responding to these additional requests. Contact us using the
information listed at the end of this notice for a full explanation
of our fee structure.
Restriction Requests: You have the right to request that we place
additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your protected
health information. We are not required to agree to these additional
restrictions, but if we do, we will abide by our agreement (except
in an emergency). Any agreement we may make to a request for additional
restrictions must be in writing signed by a person authorized to make
such an agreement on our behalf. We will not be bound unless our agreement
is so memorialized in writing.
Confidential Communication: You have the right to request that we
communicate with you in confidence about your protected health information
by alternative means or to an alternative location. You must make
your request in writing. We must accommodate your request if it is
reasonable, specifies the alternative means or location, and continues
to permit us to bill and collect payment from you.
Amendment: You have the right to request that we amend your protected
health information. Your request must be in writing, and it must explain
why the information should be amended. We may deny your request if
we did not create the information you want amended or for certain
other reasons. If we deny your request, we will provide you a written
explanation. You may respond with a statement of disagreement to be
appended to the information you wanted amended. If we accept your
request to amend the information, we will make reasonable efforts
to inform others, including people or entities you name, of the amendment
and to include the changes in any future disclosures of that information.
Electronic Notice: If you receive this notice on our website or by
electronic mail (e-mail), you are entitled to receive this notice
in written form. Please contact us using the information listed at
the end of this notice to obtain this notice in written form.
Questions and Complaints
If you want more information about our privacy practices or have questions
or concerns, please contact us using the information below. If you
believe that we may have violated your privacy rights, or you disagree
with a decision we made about access to your protected health information
or in response to a request you made, you may complain to us using
the contact information below. You also may submit a written complaint
to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will provide
you with the address to file your complaint with the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services upon request.
We support your right to protect the privacy of your protected health
information. We will not retaliate in any way if you choose to file
a complaint with us or with the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.
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