HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices

Your Rights

• Access your records. You can ask to inspect or receive a paper or electronic copy of your dental records and other health information we maintain about you. We generally respond within 30 days and may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for copies.
• Request a correction. If you believe your health information is inaccurate or incomplete, you can ask us to amend it. If we deny the request, we will explain our decision in writing within 60 days.
• Request confidential communications. You can ask us to contact you by a particular method or at a different address. We will accommodate reasonable requests.
• Request limits on use or disclosure. You may ask us to restrict how we use or share your information for treatment, payment, or health care operations. We generally have discretion to decline. If you pay in full out of pocket for an item or service and ask us to withhold information about it from your health plan for payment or operations, we will honor that request unless disclosure is required by law.
• Request an accounting of disclosures. You can ask for a list of certain disclosures made during the six years before your request. The list excludes disclosures for treatment, payment, and health care operations, along with other disclosures exempt under HIPAA. The first accounting in any 12-month period is free. A reasonable, cost-based fee may apply to additional requests during that period.
• Get a paper copy of this notice. You can request a printed copy at any time, including if you previously agreed to receive it electronically.
• Choose someone to act for you. A person authorized under applicable law, such as a legal guardian or someone with medical power of attorney, can exercise your rights on your behalf. We will verify their authority before acting on their request.
• File a complaint. You may contact Wauchula Dental or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights if you believe your privacy rights were violated. We will never retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

Your Choices

You can tell us whether we may share relevant information with family members, friends, or others involved in your care or payment for your care. You may also tell us your preferences about sharing information for disaster relief.

If you cannot communicate your preferences, we may share relevant information when our professional judgment indicates that doing so is in your best interest. We may also disclose information as permitted by law to address a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.

We obtain your written authorization for uses and disclosures that require it, including most marketing uses, sales of protected health information, and most disclosures of psychotherapy notes if we maintain them. You may revoke an authorization in writing, except to the extent we have already acted on it. If we contact you for fundraising, you may opt out of future fundraising communications.

How We Use and Share Your Information

• Treatment. We may share dental X-rays and treatment notes with a specialist involved in your care.
• Payment. We may send procedure and billing information to your dental plan to obtain payment.
• Health care operations. We may use your information to review the quality of our care, manage the practice, and coordinate the services we provide.

Other Uses and Disclosures

When permitted or required by law, and subject to applicable conditions, we may use or disclose health information for purposes such as:

• Public health and safety, including reporting certain diseases, suspected abuse or neglect, adverse reactions, or serious threats.
• Health research that meets applicable privacy requirements.
• Compliance with federal or state law and authorized health oversight.
• Workers’ compensation, qualifying law enforcement requests, and authorized government functions.
• Court or administrative orders and qualifying subpoenas or other lawful processes.
• Organ or tissue donation, or disclosures to a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director when authorized by law.

Substance Use Disorder Patient Records

If we hold substance use disorder patient records protected by 42 CFR Part 2, we may not use or disclose those records in civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative investigations or proceedings against you without your written consent or a qualifying court order and a subpoena or other legal mandate compelling disclosure.

Our Responsibilities

• We are legally required to safeguard your protected health information.
• We will notify you as required by law following a breach of unsecured protected health information.
• We will follow the terms of the notice currently in effect and provide a copy upon request.

Changes to This Notice

We reserve the right to revise this notice and apply the revised practices to health information we already maintain. The updated notice will be available on this website and at our office.

Contact Us or File a Complaint

For questions about this notice, to exercise your privacy rights, or to file a complaint with our practice, contact Wauchula Dental and ask for the person responsible for HIPAA privacy.

You may also file a privacy complaint with the HHS Office for Civil Rights or call 1-800-368-1019.