Notice of Privacy Practices

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW HEALTH 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 HEALTH INFORMATION IS IMPORTANT TO US.

Our Legal Duty

The Health Insurance and Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal program that requires that all medical and dental records and other individually identifiable health information used or disclosed by us in any form, whether electronically, on paper, or orally, are properly kept confidential. HIPAA gives you, the patient, significant rights to understand and control how your health information is used. HIPAA provides penalties for covered entities, including our Practice, that misuse “protected health information” (PHI). PHI is information about you, including demographic information, that may identify you and that relates to your past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition and related health care services.

We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your PHI and to provide you with this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your PHI. We also have legal obligations to notify you in the event of a breach of unsecured PHI. This Notice of Privacy Policies takes effect on 03/24/2021, and remains in effect until we replace it. We are required to abide by the terms of the Notice of Privacy Practices that is in effect.

We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices at any time, provided such changes are permitted by applicable law. We reserve the right to make any changes in our privacy practices effective for all PHI that we maintain, including health information we created or received before we made the changes. In the event of a change in our practices, we will provide you with a copy of the revised Notice of Privacy Practices through one or more of the following methods: posting the Notice of Privacy Practices to our website, mailing you a copy, or providing you a copy at your next appointment with us.

You may request a copy of our current Notice of Privacy Practices at any time. For more information about our practices, or for additional copies, please contact us using the information listed at the end of this Notice.

HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION

Treatment: We will use and disclose your health information to provide, coordinate and manage health care and related services for you. For example we will disclose information to a specialist to whom you have been referred to ensure the provider has enough information to diagnose and/or treat you. We may also disclose information to a laboratory that, at our request, becomes involved in treatment. Radiographic images and referral forms with information regarding your care may be mailed or emailed to another dental office that we have requested become involved in your dental care. For example – an orthodontic office, an oral surgeon’s office, a general dental office, or other specialty office that we have referred you to in order to facilitate comprehensive dental care

Payment: We may use and disclose your PHI to obtain payment for services we provide to you. If you personally pay in full for service(s), you have the right to restrict us from disclosing your PHI with respect to that service(s) to your health plan/insurer. For example we will send the necessary information to your health or dental insurance company to obtain payment for the treatment provided.

Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose your PHI in connection with our healthcare operations. Healthcare operations include quality assessment and improvement activities, reviewing the competence or qualifications of healthcare professionals, evaluating practitioner and provider performance, conducting training programs, accreditation, certification, licensing, and credentialing activities. For example, we may disclose PHI to medical students who are performing work with our office, or call your name in the reception area.

Appointment Reminders and Other Contacts: We may disclose PHI in the course of leaving phone messages and in providing you with appointment reminders via phone messages, postcards, or letters. We also may use and disclose Health Information to tell you about treatment alternatives or dental-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.

Patient Treatment Area: Our open bay treatment area design prevents the doctor and staff from discussing your treatment or your child’s treatment privately. If you want the discussion of your treatment or child’s treatment kept private from other people, please inform the doctor and staff and we will provide a private room to do so. Our office also allows students in training in the dental field to observe our office openly. They may be observing dental procedures and listening to conversations pertaining to your child’s dental treatment and care. Students would not be allowed to perform dental care on your child without your consent.

Business Associates: We may disclose PHI to our business associates, such as billing services or healthcare professionals providing services as independent contractors, for the purpose of performing specific functions on our behalf and/or providing us with services. PHI will only be used or disclosed if the information is necessary for such functions or services. All of our business associates are obligated to protect the privacy of PHI and are not allowed to use or disclose any PHI other than as specified in our contract with them.

Your Family, Friends, and Representatives: We may use or disclose PHI to notify or assist in the notification of a family member, domestic partner, close personal friend, your personal representative, an entity assisting in a disaster relief effort, or another person responsible for or involved in your care. If you are present, prior to use or disclosure of PHI we will provide you with an opportunity to object to such uses or disclosures. In the event of your incapacity, your death, or in emergency circumstances, if deemed appropriate based upon our professional judgment, we will disclose PHI that is directly relevant to the person’s involvement in your care. We may inform such person(s) of your location, your general condition, or death. We will also use our professional judgment and our experience with common practice to make reasonable inferences of your best interest in allowing a person to obtain prescriptions, medical supplies, x-rays, or other similar forms of PHI on your behalf. We will not disclose PHI to such an individual if doing so would be inconsistent with any of your prior wishes that are known by us.

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 law.

Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors: We may release PHI to coroners or medical examiners as necessary, for such purposes as identifying a deceased person or determining the cause of death. We also may release PHI to funeral directors as necessary for their duties.

National Security: Under certain circumstances, we may disclose PHI to military authorities. We may disclose PHI to authorized federal officials as required for lawful intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities. Under certain circumstances, we may disclose PHI to a correctional institution or law enforcement official with whom you are in lawful custody.

Fundraising: We may contact you in relation to fundraising activities, however you have the right to opt out of receiving such communications.

Data Breach Notification Purposes: We may use or disclose your PHI to provide legally required notices of unauthorized access to or disclosure of your PHI.

Required by Law: We may use or disclose your PHI when we are required to do so by law. Such circumstances include, but are not limited to, compliance with a court order, mandatory reporting due to serious or imminent threats to the public, mandatory reporting of child abuse or neglect, in response to government agency audits or investigations, and reporting disclosures to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services as necessary for the purpose of investigating or determining our compliance with HIPAA and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) rules.

YOU MAY PROVIDE ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION

Marketing Uses: We may only use or disclose your PHI for marketing purposes if you authorize us to do so. Such authorization would allow us to disclose PHI to a third party vendor business associate for the purpose of providing you with targeted supplementary products or services when your physician believes such offerings will be of value to you. Your authorization may be revoked in writing at any time. Revocation of authorization will not affect any use or disclosures permitted by your authorization while it was in effect.

Sale: We may only use or disclose your PHI in a manner that constitutes a sale of information if you authorize us to do so. Your authorization may be revoked in writing at any time. Revocation of authorization will not affect any use or disclosures permitted by your authorization while it was in effect.

To Others Upon Your Specific Authorization: In addition to our use of PHI as described in this Notice of Privacy Practices, you may give us written authorization to use your PHI 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.

PATIENT RIGHTS

Your rights with respect to your protected health information and how you may exercise those rights are outlined below.

You have a right to obtain a copy and/or inspect your health information: Health information includes treatment records, billing records and any other records used by us to make decisions about your treatment. You may obtain a form from our office to request access. A reasonablecost-based fee will be charged for expenses such as staff time, copies and postage. Contact us as indicated at the end of this Notice to obtain information about our fees or if you have any questions about your access.

You have a right to request a restriction on the use and disclosure of your protected health information: You may ask us not to use or disclose some part of your protected health information for the purposes of treatment, payment or operations. You may also request that we not disclose some part of your information to family and others who may be involved in your care or for notification purposes as otherwise described in this Notice. We are not required to agree to the restrictions but if we do, we are obligated to abide by the agreement except in cases of emergency. You may request a restriction by sending your request in writing to our Privacy Contact.

You have a right to request to receive confidential communications by alternative means or at an alternative location. We will accommodate reasonable requests. We may also condition this accommodation by asking you for information as to how payment will be handled or specification of an alternative address or other method of contact. We will not request an explanation from you as to the basis for the request. Please make this request in writing to our Privacy Contact.

You may have the right to request an amendment to your protected health information. You may request that we amend protected health information about you. Your request must be in writing with an explanation as to why the information should be amended. In certain cases, we may deny your request for an amendment. If we deny your request for amendment, you have the right to file a statement of disagreement with us. We may prepare a rebuttal to your statement and will provide you with a copy of any such rebuttal.

You have the right to receive an accounting of certain disclosures we have made, if any, of your protected health information. This right applies to disclosures made by our Business Associates or us. It excludes disclosures for treatment, payment or healthcare operations as described in this Notice of Privacy Practices, to you, to family members or friends involved in your care, for notification purposes or as a result of an authorization signed by you. You have the right to receive specific information regarding these disclosures that occurred after April 14, 2003 for up to the previous 6 years. You may request a shorter time frame. The right to receive this information is subject to certain exceptions, restrictions and limitations. If you request an accounting more than once in a 12 month period, we will charge you a reasonable cost-based fee for responding to the additional request.

You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this notice from us, upon request, even if you have agreed to accept this notice electronically.

QUESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS

If you have any concerns that we may have violated your privacy rights, or if you disagree with a decision we made about access to your PHI or in response to a request you made to amend or restrict the use or disclosure of your PHI, or to have us communicate with you by alternative means or at alternative locations, you may contact us using the information listed below. In addition, you may submit a written complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will provide you with the contact information for filing a complaint upon request. We support your right to the privacy of your PHI. 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. If you would like additional information regarding our privacy practices, or if you have questions or concerns, please contact us as indicated below.

Contact Officer:

Dawn Hank

Blaine Kidds Pediatric Dentistry
1351 113th Ave NE Suite #400B,
Blaine, MN 55434

(763) 415-1222

This notice was published and becomes effective on 03/21/2021