Privacy Policy

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

OUR LEGAL DUTY

Federal and state laws require us to maintain the privacy of your health information. We are also required to provide this notice about our office’s privacy practices, our legal duties and your rights regarding your health information. We are required to follow the practices that are outlined in this notice while it is in effect.

We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of this notice at any time, provided such changes are permitted by applicable law. We reserve the right to make changes in our privacy practices and the new terms of our notice effective for all health information that we maintain, including health information we created or received before we made the changes. Before we make a significant change in our privacy practices, we will change this notice and make the new notice available upon request. For more information about our privacy practices or additional copies of this notice, please contact our Privacy Officer.

HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

We may use and disclose health information for different purposes, including treatment, payment and health care operations.

Treatment

We disclose health information to our employees and others who are involved in providing the care you need. For example, we may use or disclose your health information to another dentist or other health care providers providing treatment that we do not provide. We may also share your health information with a pharmacist in order to provide you with a prescription.

Payment

We may use and disclose your health information to obtain payment for services we provide to you. For example, we may send claims to your dental health plan containing certain health information (unless you request that we restrict such disclosure to your health plan when you have paid out-of-pocket and in full for services rendered).

Health Care Operations

We may use and disclose your health information in connection with our health care operations. Health care operations include, but are not limited to, quality assessment and improvement activities, conducting training programs, and licensing or credentialing activities.

Your Family and Friends

We must disclose your health information to you, as described in the Patient Rights section of this notice. You have the right to request restrictions on disclosure to family members, other relatives, close personal friends or any other person identified by you.

Persons Involved in Your Care

We may use or disclose health information to notify or assist in the notification of (including identifying or locating) a family member, your personal representative or another person responsible for your care, of your location, your general condition or your death. If you are present, then prior to use or disclosure of your health information, we will provide you with an opportunity to object to such uses or disclosures. In the event of your incapacity or emergency circumstances, we will disclose health information based on a determination using our professional judgment disclosing only health information that is directly relevant to the person's involvement in your health care.

Marketing Health-Related Services

We may contact you about products or services related to your treatment, case management or care coordination or to propose other treatments or health-related benefits and services in which you may be interested. We may also encourage you to purchase a product or service when you visit our office. If you are currently an enrollee of a dental plan, we may receive payment for communications to you in relation to our provision, coordination or management of your dental care, including our coordination or management of your health care with a third party, our consultation with other health care providers relating to your care or if we refer you for health care. We will not otherwise use or disclose your health information for marketing purposes without your written authorization. We will disclose whether we receive payments for marketing activity you have authorized.

Change of Ownership

If this dental practice is sold or merged with another practice or organization, your health records will become the property of the new owner. However, you may request that copies of your health information be transferred to another dental practice.

Disaster Relief

We may use or disclose your health information to assist in disaster relief efforts.

Required by Law

We may use or disclose your health information when we are required to do so by law.

Public Health

We may, and are sometimes legally obligated to, disclose your health information to public health agencies for purposes related to preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability; reporting abuse or neglect; reporting domestic violence; reporting to the Food and Drug Administration problems with products and reactions to medications; and reporting disease or infection exposure. Upon reporting suspected elder or dependent adult abuse or domestic violence, we will promptly inform you or your personal representative unless we believe the notification would place you at risk of harm or would require informing a personal representative we believe is responsible for the abuse or harm.

Abuse or Neglect

We may disclose your health information to appropriate authorities if we reasonably believe that you are a possible victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence or the possible victim of other crimes. We may disclose your health information to the extent necessary to avert a serious threat to your health or safety or the health or safety of others.