A. How Hylermed May Use or Disclose Your Health Information
The health record is the property of this medical practice, but the information in the health record belongs to you. The law
permits us to use or disclose your health information for the following purposes:
1. Treatment. We use health information about you to provide your medical care. We disclose health information to our
employees and others who are involved in providing the care you need. For example, we may share your health
information with other physicians or other health care providers who will provide services that we do not provide or we may
share this information with a pharmacist who needs it to dispense a prescription to you, or a laboratory that performs a
test. We may also disclose health information to members of your family or others who can help you when you are sick or
injured or following your death.
2. Payment. We use and disclose health information about you to obtain payment for the services we provide. For example,
we give your health plan the information it requires for payment. We may also disclose information to other health care
providers to assist them in obtaining payment for services they have provided to you.
3. Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose health information about you to operate this treatment center. For
example, we may use and disclose this information to review and improve the quality of care we provide, or the competence
and qualifications so four professional staff. Or we may use and disclose this information to get your health plan to authorize
services or referrals. We may also use and disclose this information as necessary for health reviews, legal services and audits,
including fraud and abuse detection and compliance programs and business planning and management. We may also share
your health information with our “business associates,” such as our billing service, that perform administrative services for us.
We have a written contract with each of these business associates that contains terms requiring them and their subcontractors
to protect the confidentiality and security of your health information. Although federal law does not protect health information
which is disclosed to someone other than another healthcare provider, health plan, healthcare clearinghouse or one of their
business associates, California law prohibits all recipients of healthcare information from further disclosing it except as
specifically required or permitted by law. We may also share your information with other health care providers, health care
clearinghouses or health plans that have a relationship with you, when they request this information to help them with their
quality assessment and improvement activities, their patient-safety activities, their population-based efforts to improve health or
reduce health care costs, protocol development, case management or care coordination activities, their review of competence,
qualifications and performance of health care professionals, their training programs, their accreditation, certification or licensing
activities, their activities related to contracts of health insurance or health benefits, or their health care fraud and abuse
detection and compliance efforts.
4. Appointment Reminders. We may use and disclose health information to contact and remind you about appointments.
If you are not home, we may leave this information on your answering machine or in a message left with the person answering
the phone.
5. Sign-in Sheet. We may use and disclose health information about you by having you sign in when you arrive at our office. We
may also call out your name when we are ready to see you.
6. Notification and Communication with Family. We may dis- close your health information to notify or assist in notifying a family
member, your personal representative or another person responsible for your care about your location, your general condition
or, unless you had instructed us otherwise, in the event of your death. In the event of a disaster, we may disclose information
to a relief organization so that they may coordinate these notification efforts. We may also disclose information to someone
who is involved with your care or helps pay for your care. If you are able and available to agree or object, we will give you the
opportunity to object prior to making these disclosures, although we may disclose this information in a disaster even over your objection if we believe it is necessary to respond to the emergency circumstances. If you are unable or unavailable to agree or
object, our health professionals will use their best judgment in communication with your family and others.
7. Marketing. Provided we do not receive any payment for making these communications, we may contact you to encourage
you to purchase or use products or services related to your treatment, case management or care coordination, or to direct or
recommend other treatments, therapies, health care providers or settings of care that may be of interest to you. We may
similarly describe products or services provided by this practice and tell you which health plans we participate in. We may
receive financial compensation to talk with you face-to-face, to provide you with small promotional gifts, or to cover our cost of
reminding you to take and refill your medication or otherwise communicate about a drug or biologic that is currently prescribed
for you, but only if you either: (1) have a chronic and seriously debilitating or life-threatening condition and the communication
is made to educate or advise you about treatment options and otherwise maintain adherence to a pre- scribed course of
treatment, or (2) you are a current health plan enrollee, and the communication is limited to the availability of more cost effective pharmaceuticals. If we make these communications while you have a chronic and seriously debilitating or life threatening condition, we will provide notice of the following in at least 14-point type: (1) the fact and source of the
remuneration; and (2) your right to opt-out of future remunerated communications by calling the communicator’s toll-free
number. We will not otherwise use or disclose your medical information for marketing purposes or accept any payment for
other marketing communications without your prior written authorization. The authorization will disclose whether we receive
any financial compensation for any marketing activity you authorize, and we will stop any future marketing activity to the extent
you revoke that authorization.
8. Sale of Health Information. We will not sell your health information without your prior written authorization. The authorization
will disclose that we will receive compensation for your health information if you authorize us to sell it, and we will stop any
future sales of your information to the extent that you revoke that authorization.
9. Required by Law. As required by law, we will use and disclose your health information, but we will limit our use or
disclosure to the relevant requirements of the law. When the law requires us to report abuse, neglect or domestic violence, or
respond to judicial or administrative proceedings, or to law enforcement officials, we will further comply with the requirement
set forth below concerning those activities.
10. Public Health. We may, and are sometimes required by law to, disclose your health information to public health
authorities for purposes related to: preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability; reporting child, elder or dependent
adult 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. When we report suspected elder or dependent adult
abuse or domestic violence, we will inform you or your per- sonal representative promptly unless in our best professional
judgment, we believe the notification would place you at risk of serious harm or would require informing a personal
representative we believe is responsible for the abuse or harm.
11. Health Oversight Activities. We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information to health
oversight agencies during the course of audits, investigations, inspections, licensure and other proceedings, subject to the
limitations imposed by federal and California law.
12. Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information
in the course of any administrative or judicial proceeding to the extent expressly authorized by a court or administrative order.
We may also disclose information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process if reasonable efforts have been made to notify you of the request and you have not objected, or if your objections have been resolved
by a court or administrative order.
Law Enforcement. We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information to a law enforcement
official for purposes such as identifying of locating a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person, complying with a court
order, warrant, grand jury subpoena and other law enforcement purposes.
13. Coroners. We may, and are often required by law, to disclose your health information to coroners in connection with their
investigations of deaths.
14. Organ or Tissue Donation. We may disclose your health information to organizations involved in procuring, banking or
transplanting organs and tissues.
15. Public Safety. We may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information to appropriate persons in
order to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a particular person or the general public.
16. Proof of Immunization. We will disclose proof of immunization to a school where the law requires the school to have such
information prior to admitting a student if you have agreed to the disclosure on behalf of yourself or your dependent.
Specialized Government Functions. We may disclose your health information for military or national security purposes or to
correctional institutions or law enforcement officers that have you in their lawful custody.
17. Worker’s Compensation. We may disclose your health information as necessary to comply with worker’s compensation laws. For example, to the extent your care is covered by workers’ compensation, we will make periodic reports to your
employer about your condition. We are also required by law to report cases of occupational injury or occupational illness to the
employer or workers’ compensation insurer.
18. Change of Ownership. In the event that this treatment center is sold or merged with another organization, your health
information/record will become the property of the new owner, although you will maintain the right to request that copies of
your health information be transferred to another physician or medical group.
21. Breach Notification. In the case of a breach of unsecured protected health information, we will notify you as required by
law. If you have provided us with a current email address, we may use email to communicate information related to the
breach. In some circumstances our business associate may pro- vide the notification. We may also provide notification by other
methods as appropriate.
22. Research. We may disclose your health information to researchers conducting research with respect to which your
written authorization is not required as approved by an Institutional Review Board or privacy board, in compliance with
governing law.
C. Your Health Information Rights
Right to Request Special Privacy Protections. You have the right to request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of your
health information by a written request specifying what information you want to limit, and what limitations on our use or
disclosure of that information you wish to have imposed. If you tell us not to disclose information to your commercial health
plan concerning health care items or services for which you paid for in full out-of-pocket, we will abide by your re- quest, unless
we must disclose the information for treatment or legal reasons. We reserve the right to accept or reject any other request, and
will notify you of our decision.
1. Right to Request Confidential Communications. You have the right to request that you receive your health information in a
specific way or at a specific location. For example, you
may ask that we send information to a particular email account or to your work address. We will comply with all reasonable
requests submitted in writing which specify how or where you wish to receive these communications.
2. Right to Inspect and Copy. You have the right to inspect and copy your health information, with limited exceptions.
To access your medical information, you must submit a written request detailing what information you want access to, whether
you want to inspect it or get a copy of it, and if you want a copy, your preferred form and format. We will provide copies in your
requested form and format if it is readily producible, or we will provide you with an alternative format you find acceptable, or if
we can’t agree and we maintain the record in an electronic format, your choice of a readable electronic or hardcopy format. We
will also send a copy to any other person you designate in writing. We will charge a reasonable fee which covers our costs for
labor, supplies, postage, and if requested and agreed to in advance, the cost of preparing an explanation or summary, as
allowed by federal and California law. We may deny your request under limited circumstances. If we deny your request to
access your child’s records or the records of an incapacitated adult you are representing because we believe allowing access
would be reasonably likely to cause substantial harm to the patient, you will have a right to appeal our decision. If we deny your
request to access your psychotherapy notes, you will have the right to have them transferred to another mental health
professional.
3. Right to Amend or Supplement. You have a right to request that we amend your health information that you believe is
incorrect or incomplete. You must make a request to amend in writing, and include the reasons you believe the information
is inaccurate or incomplete. We are not required to change your health information, and will provide you with information about
this medical practice’s denial and how you can disagree with the denial. We may deny your request if we do not have the
information, if we did not create the information (unless the person or entity that created the information is no longer avail- able
to make the amendment), if you would not be permitted to inspect or copy the information at issue, or if the information
is accurate and complete as is. If we deny your request, you may submit a written statement of your disagreement with that
decision, and we may, in turn, prepare a written rebuttal. You also have the right to request that we add to your record a
statement of up to 250 words concerning anything in the record you believe to be incomplete or incorrect. All information
related to any request to amend or supplement will be maintained and disclosed in conjunction with any subsequent disclosure
of the disputed information.
4. Right to an Accounting of Disclosures. You have a right to receive an accounting of disclosures of your health information
made by this medical practice, except that this medical practice does not have to account for the disclosures provided to you
or pursuant to your written authorization, or as described in paragraphs 1 (treatment), 2 (payment), 3 (health care operations) 6 (notification and communication with family) and 18 (specialized government functions) of Section A of this Notice of Privacy
Practices or disclosures for purposes of research or public health which exclude direct patient identifiers, or which are incident
to a use or disclosure otherwise permitted or authorized by law, or the disclosures to a health oversight agency or law
enforcement official to the extent this medical practice has received notice from that agency or official that providing this
accounting would be reasonably likely to impede their activities.
5. You have a right to notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your health information, including a right
to a paper copy of this Notice of Privacy Practices, even if you have previously requested its receipt by e-mail. If you would
like to have a more detailed explanation of these rights or if you would like to exercise one or more of these rights, contact our
Privacy Officer listed at the top of this Notice of Privacy Practices.