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Philip B. Smith, O.D. Optometrist
1855 First Avenue, Suite 100 |
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NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
Effective Date of Notice: April 10, 2003
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW OPTOMETRIC AND MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED, DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN ACCESS THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW CAREFULLY.
At Dr, Philip Smith and Associates, we respect our legal obligation to keep health information that identifies you as private, We are obligated by law to give you notice of our Privacy Practices. This Notice describes how we protect your health information and what rights you have regarding this information.
TREATMENT, PAYMENT AND HEALTH CARE OPERATIONS
The most common reasons we use or disclose your health information is for treatment, payment or internal health care operations. By law, we are not required to receive your permission for these purposes. Examples of how we use/disclose information for treatment purposes are setting up an appointment for you, testing and examining your eyes and vision; diagnosing the status of your vision and ocular health; prescribing glasses, contact lenses, medications or other treatment such as lasers, surgery or vision therapy; faxing information to fill prescriptions; showing you low vision aids, referring you to another health care provider or clinic, or getting copies of your health information from another professional that you may have seen before us. Examples of how we use/disclose your health information for PAYMENT PURPOSES are: asking you about your health and vision plans, asking about other sources of payment; verifying benefit enrollment and/or eligibility; preparing and sending bills or claims (either on paper or electronically); and collecting unpaid amounts (either ourselves or through a collection agency or attorney), "Health Care Operations" means those administrative functions that we perform in order to run our office. Examples of how we use/disclose your health Information for HEALTH CARE OPERATIONS are: financial or billing audits; internal quality assurance participation in insurance and managed care plans; defense of legal matters; business planning and outside storage of our records.We routinely use your health information INSIDE OUR OFFICE for these purposes without any specific permission since it is not required by law. If we need to disclose your health information OUTSIDE OUR OFFICE for these reasons, we will usually not ask for your specific permission. We will ask for specific written permission in the following situations: 1) marketing of products/services for which we may receive payment, 2) inclusion in medical studies or scientific research.
USES AND DISCLOSURE FOR OTHER REASONS WITHOUT PERMISSION
In some situations, the law requires us to use or disclose your information without your specific permission. Not all of these situations will apply to our office or to you. Some may never come up in our office.
- When State or Federal law mandates disclosure
- For public health purposes to prevent the spread of contagious diseases, serious threat to public health or safety, for public health research or health care operations, and notices to/from the Federal Food & Drug Administration regarding medications or medical devices.
- Disclosures regarding suspected victims of abuse, neglect or domestic violence
- Disclosures for regulatory oversight by licensing boards, Medicare. MediCal audits; or for investigation of possible health care fraud.
- Disclosure for judicial and administrative proceedings (i.e. subpoenas or court orders).
Copyright © 2002-2006 Dr. Philip B. Smith, San Diego, CA
