Privacy Policy
What is Personal Health Information?
Personal health information (PHI) means any identifying information about an individual relating to their physical or mental health, including medical history. It further includes the scheduling or providing of health care to the individual, payments or eligibility for health care, organ and tissue donation, and health inquiries. This information is subject to strict compliance measures and enforced by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights.
Commitment to Privacy
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy regulations require health care providers and organizations, as well as their business associates, to develop and follow procedures that ensure the confidentiality and security of PHI when it is transferred, received, handled, or shared. This applies to all forms of PHI, including paper, oral, and electronic, etc. Furthermore, only the minimum health information necessary to conduct business is to be used or shared.
Providing our patients with excellent medical care and service includes taking every measure possible to ensure the appropriate collection, use and disclosure of patients’ PHI. Protecting the privacy and the confidentiality of your PHI is a priority to the physicians and staff at The Orthopedic Hand and Wrist Center of Texas (OHWCT). Every member, affiliate, and associate of OHWCT must abide by our commitment to privacy in the handling of PHI.
Applicability of This Privacy Policy
Our Privacy Policy applies to all prospective and actual patients whose PHI is in our possession and control, at any time. We meet or exceed all compliance requirements afforded by the HIPAA Standards
Our Principles of Privacy
Our Privacy Policy reflects our compliance with fair information practices, applicable laws and standards of practice.
Accountability
We take our commitment to securing patient privacy very seriously. Each physician and employee associated with OHWCT is responsible for the PHI under his/her control. Our employees are informed about the importance of privacy and receive information periodically to update them about our Privacy Policy and related issues.
Identifying Purposes: Why We Collect Information
We ask you for PHI to establish a relationship and serve your medical needs. We obtain most of our information about you directly from you, or from other health practitioners whom you have seen and authorized to disclose to us. You are entitled to know how we use your information and this is described in the Privacy Statement posted in the waiting room at OHWCT. We will limit the information we collect to what we need for those purposes, and we will use it only for those purposes. We will obtain your consent if we wish to use your information for any other purpose.
Consent
You have the right to determine how your PHI is used and disclosed. For most health care purposes, your consent is implied as a result of your consent to treatment; however, in all circumstances express consent must be written. Your written Consent will be forwarded to the Privacy Officer who will document the request in patient’s medical records and notify appropriate Health care providers and their supporting staff.
Patients who have withdrawn consent to disclose PHI must sign and date the Consent to Withdrawal Form. It is understood that the consent directive applies only to the PHI which the patient has already provided, and not to PHI which the patient might provide in the future: HIPAA permits certain collections, uses, and disclosures of the PHI, despite the consent directive; healthcare providers may override the consent directive in certain circumstances, such as emergencies; and the consent directive may result in delays in receiving health care, reduced quality of care due to healthcare provider’s lacking complete information about the patient, and healthcare provider’s refusal to offer non-emergency care. Your written Consent to Withdrawal Form will be forwarded to the Privacy Officer who will document the request in patient’s medical records and notify appropriate Health care providers and their supporting staff.
Limiting Collection
We collect information by fair and lawful means and collect only that information which may be necessary for purposes related to the provision of your medical care.
Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention
The information we request from you is used for the purposes defined. We will seek your consent before using the information for purposes beyond the scope of the posted Privacy Statement.
Under no circumstances do we sell patient lists or other personal information to third parties. There are some types of disclosure of your personal health information that may occur as part of OHWCT fulfilling its routine obligations and/or practice management. This includes consultants and suppliers to OHWCT, on the understanding that they abide by our Privacy Policy, and only to the extent necessary to allow them to provide business services or support to OHWCT.
We will retain your information only for the time it is required for the purposes we describe and once your PHI is no longer required, it will be destroyed. However, due to our on-going exposure to potential claims, some information is kept for a longer period.
Patients may be required to sign and date a Consent to Disclose PHI Form and pay a fee based on current industry rates prior to release of information.
Accuracy
We endeavor to ensure that all decisions involving your PHI are based upon accurate and timely information. While we will do our best to base our decisions on accurate information, we rely on you to disclose all material information and to inform us of any relevant changes.
Safeguards: Protecting Your Information
We protect your information with appropriate safeguards and security measures. OHWCT maintains PHI in a combination of paper and electronic files. Recent paper records concerning individuals’ personal information are stored in files kept onsite at our office. Older records may be stored securely offsite.
Access to PHI will be authorized only for the physicians and employees associated with OHWCT, and other agents who require access in the performance of their duties, and to those otherwise authorized by law.
We provide information to health care providers acting on your behalf, on the understanding that they are also bound by law and ethics to safeguard your privacy. Other organizations and agents must agree to abide by our Privacy Policy and may be asked to sign contracts to that effect. We will give them only the information necessary to perform the services for which they are engaged, and will require that they not store, use or disclose the information for purposes other than to carry out those services.
Our computer systems are password-secured and constructed in such a way that only authorized individuals can access secure systems and databases.
If you send us an e-mail message that includes PHI, such as your name included in the "address", we will use that information to respond to your inquiry. Please remember that e-mail is not necessarily secure against interception. If your communication is very sensitive, you should not send it electronically unless the e-mail is encrypted or your browser indicates that the access is secure.
Openness: Keeping You Informed
OHWCT has prepared this plain-language Privacy Policy to keep you informed. If you have any additional questions or concerns about privacy, we invite you to contact us by phone or in person, and we will address your concerns to the best of our ability.
Access and Correction
With limited exceptions, we will give you access to the information we retain about you within a reasonable time, upon presentation of a written request and satisfactory identification.
We may charge you a fee for this service and if so, we will give you notice in advance of processing your request.
If you find errors of fact in your PHI, please notify us as soon as possible and we will make the appropriate corrections. We are not required to correct information relating to clinical observations or opinions made in good faith. You have a right to append a short statement of disagreement to your record if we refuse to make a requested change.
If we deny your request for access to your personal information, we will advise you in writing of the reason for the refusal and you may then challenge our decision.
Challenging Compliance
We encourage you to contact us with any questions or concerns you might have about your privacy or our Privacy Policy. We will investigate and respond to your concerns about any aspect of our handling of your information.
In most cases, an issue is resolved simply by telling us about it and discussing it. You can reach us at:
Orthopedic Hand and Wrist Center of Texas
C/O Privacy Officer
525 Blossom Street
Webster, TX 77598
(832) 905-4186
If, after contacting us, you feel that your concerns have not been addressed to your satisfaction, you have the right to register your concerns with:.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Toll Free Call Center: 1-800-368-1019
TTD Number: 1-800-537-7697