We may use and disclose personal and identifiable health information about you for a variety of purposes. All of the types of uses and disclosures of information are described below, but not every use or disclosure in a category is listed.

Required Disclosures: We are required to disclose health information about you to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, upon request, to determine our compliance with HIPAA and to you, in accordance with your right to access and right to receive an accounting of disclosures, as described below.

For Treatment: We may use health information about you in your treatment. For example, we may use your medication history, such as prescription drugs, to assess the effectiveness of therapy.

For Payment: We may use and disclose health information about you to bill for our services and to collect payment from you or your insurance company. For example, we may need to give a payer information about your current medical condition so that they will pay us for the services that we have furnished you. We may also need to inform your payer of the treatment you are going to receive in order to obtain prior approval or to determine whether the service is covered.

For Health Care and Business Operations: We may use and disclose information about you for the general operation -of our business. For example, we sometimes arrange for auditors or other consultants to review our practices, evaluate our operations, and tell us how to improve our services. Or, for example, we may use and disclose your health or other personal information to review the quality of services provided to you.

Public Policy Uses and Disclosures: There are a number of public policy reasons why we may disclose information about you, which are described below:

• We may disclose health and other private information about you when we are required to do so by federal, state, or local law.
• We may disclose protected health and other private information about you in connection with certain public health reporting activities. For instance, we may disclose such information to a public health authority authorized to collect or receive PHI for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability, or at the direction of a public health authority, to an official of a foreign government agency that is acting in collaboration with a public health authority. Public health authorities include state health departments, the Center for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, to name a few.
• We are also permitted to disclose protected health and other private information to a public health authority or other government authority authorized by law to receive reports of child abuse
  or neglect.
• Additionally we may disclose protected health and other private information to a person subject to the Food and Drug Administration’s power for the following activities: to report adverse events, product defects or problems, or biological product deviations; to track products; to enable product recalls, repairs or replacements; or to conduct post marketing surveillance.
• We may also disclose a patient’s health and other private information to a person who may have been exposed to a communicable disease or to an employer to conduct an evaluation relating to medical surveillance of the workplace or to evaluate whether an individual has a work-related illness or injury.
• We may disclose a patient’s health and other private information where we reasonably believe a patient is a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence and the patient authorizes the disclosure or it is required or authorized by law.
• We may disclose health and other private information about you in connection with certain health oversight activities of licensing and other health oversight agencies which are authorized by law. Health oversight activities include audit, investigation, inspection, licensure or disciplinary actions, and civil, criminal, or administrative proceedings or actions or any other activity necessary for the oversight of 1) the health care system, 2) governmental benefit programs for which health information is relevant to determining beneficiary eligibility, 3) entities subject to governmental regulatory programs for which health information is necessary for determining compliance with program standards, or 4) entities subject to civil rights laws for which health information is necessary for determining compliance.
• We may disclose your health and other private information as required by law, including in response to a warrant, subpoena, or other order of a court or administrative hearing body or to assist law enforcement identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person.
  Disclosures for law enforcement purposes also permit use to make disclosures about victims
  of crimes and the death of an individual, among others.
• We may release a patient’s health and other private information (1) to a coroner or medical examiner to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death and (2) to funeral directors.
• We also may release your health and other private information to organ procurement organizations, transplant centers, and eye or tissue banks, if you are an organ donor.
• We may release your health and other private information to workers’ compensation or similar programs, which provide benefits for work-related injuries or illnesses without regard to fault.
• Health and other private information about you also may be disclosed when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of others.
• We may use or disclose certain health and other private information about your condition and treatment for research purposes where an Institutional Review Board or a similar body referred to as a Privacy Board determines that your privacy interests will be adequately protected in the study. We may also use and disclose your health and other private information to prepare or analyze a research protocol and for other research purposes.
• If you are a member of the Armed Forces, we may release health and other private information about you for activities deemed necessary by military command authorities. We also may release health and other private information about foreign military personnel to their appropriate foreign military
• We may disclose your protected health and other private information for legal or administrative proceedings that involve you. We may release such information upon order of a court or administrative tribunal. We may also release protected health and other private information in the absence of such an order and in response to a discovery or other lawful request, if efforts have been made to notify you or secure a protective order.
• Finally, we may disclose protected health and other private information for national security and intelligence activities and for the provision of protective services to the President of the United States and other officials or foreign heads of state.
  
  

Our Business Associates: We sometimes work with outside individuals and businesses that help us operate our business successfully. We may disclose your health and other private information to these business associates so that they can perform the tasks that we hire them to do. Our business associates must sign a contract that they will respect the confidentiality of your personal and identifiable health information.

Disclosures to Persons Assisting in Your Care or Payment for Your Care: We may disclose information to individuals involved in your care or in the payment for your care. This includes people and organizations that are part of your “circle of care” — such as your spouse, your other doctors, or an aide who may be providing services to you. We may also use and disclose health and other private information about a patient for disaster relief efforts and to notify persons responsible for a patient’s care about a patient’s location, general condition or death. Generally, we will obtain your verbal agreement before using or disclosing health and other private information in this way. However, under certain circumstances, such as in an emergency situation, we may make these uses and disclosures without your agreement.

Appointment Reminders: We may use and disclose medical information to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment or that you should schedule an appointment.

Treatment Alternatives: We may use and disclose your personal health and other private information in order to tell you about or recommend possible treatment options, alternatives or health-related services that may be of interest to you.