Notice of Privacy Practices
This notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully.
Apex Home Care, henceforth referred to as “the agency” or “our agency,” uses your Protected Health Information or Private Information (Private Information refers to unencrypted personal information in combination with any one or more of the following data: (1) social security number, (2) driver’s license or non-driver identification card number, or (3) account number or credit or debit card number, in combination with any required security or access code which would permit access to an individual’s financial account.), collectively referred to as “Protected Health1 Information” (PHI), for your treatment, to obtain payment for our services, and for our operational purposes, such as improving the quality of care we provide to you. We are committed to maintaining your confidentiality and protecting your health information. We are required by law to provide you with this notice, which describes our health information privacy practices and those of our affiliated health care providers that provide care.
This notice applies to all information and records related to your care that our agency workforce members and business associates have received or created. It also applies to healthcare professionals, such as physicians, and to organizations that provide care to you from the agency. It informs you about the possible uses and disclosures of your PHI and describes your rights and our obligations regarding your PHI.
We are required by law to uphold the following standards:
We must maintain the privacy of your PHI.
We must provide to you this detailed notice of our legal duties and privacy practices relating to your PHI.
We must abide by the terms of the notice that are currently in effect. We reserve the right to change the terms of this notice and will notify you or your personal representative by letter if we make any material changes to the notice.
With your consent we may use and disclose your PHI for treatment, payment, and health care operations.
Business associates
We may share your Protected Health Information with our vendors and agents who create, receive, maintain, or transmit PHI for certain functions or activities on behalf of the agency. These are called our “business associates.”
To protect and safeguard your health information, we require our business associates and their subcontractors to appropriately safeguard your information.
Family and friends involved in your care: Unless you object, we may disclose your Protected Health Information to a family member or close personal friend, including clergy, who is involved in your care or payment for that care.
Disaster relief: We may disclose your Protected Health Information to an organization assisting in a disaster relief effort.
Personal representative: If you have a personal representative, such as a legal guardian, we will treat that person as if that person is you with respect to disclosures of your health information. If you become deceased, we may disclose health information to an executor or administrator of your estate to the extent that person is acting as your personal representative or to your next of kin, as permitted under state and federal law.
Public health activities: We may disclose your PHI for public health activities including the reporting of disease, injury, vital events, and the conduct of public health surveillance, investigation, and/or intervention. We may also disclose your information to notify a person who may have been exposed to a communicable disease or may otherwise be at risk of contracting or spreading a disease or condition if a law permits us to do so.
Health oversight activities: We may disclose your PHI to health oversight agencies authorized by law to conduct audits, investigations, inspections, and licensure actions or other legal proceedings. These agencies provide oversight for the Medicare and Medicaid programs, among others.
Reporting victims of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence: If we have reason to believe that you have been a victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence, we may use and disclose your PHI to notify a government authority if required or authorized by law, or if you agree to the report.
Law enforcement: We may disclose your PHI for certain law enforcement purposes or for other specialized governmental functions.
Judicial and administrative proceedings: We may disclose your PHI in the course of certain judicial or administrative proceedings.
Research: We will request that you sign a written authorization before using your PHI or disclosing it to others for research purposes.
Coroners, medical examiners, funeral directors, organ procurement organizations: We may release your health information to a coroner, medical examiner, funeral director or, if you are an organ donor, to an organization involved in the donation of organs and tissue.
To avert a serious threat to health or safety: We may use and disclose your PHI when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health or safety or the health or safety of the public or another person. However, any disclosure would be made only to someone able to help prevent the threat.
Military and veterans: If you are a member of the armed forces, we may use and disclose your PHI as required by military command authorities. We may also use and disclose PHI about foreign military personnel as required by the appropriate foreign military authority.
Workers’ compensation: We may use or disclose your PHI to comply with laws relating to workers’ compensation or similar programs.
National security and intelligence activities and protective services: We may disclose health information to authorized federal officials who are conducting national security and intelligence activities or as needed to provide protection to the President of the United States or other important officials.
As required by law: We will disclose your PHI when required by law to do so.
Your authorization is required for other uses of your protected health information.
We will use and disclose your PHI other than as described in this Notice or required by law only with your written authorization. You may revoke your authorization to use or disclose PHI in writing at any time. To revoke your authorization, contact the Nursing Department. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclose your PHI for the purposes covered by the authorization, except where we have already relied on the authorization.
Marketing: In most circumstances, the agency is required by law to receive your written authorization before we use or disclose your health information for marketing purposes. Under no circumstances will we sell our patient lists or your health information to a third party without your prior written authorization.
Your rights regarding your health information. You have the following rights with respect to your health information. If you wish to exercise any of these rights, you should make your request to the Office Manager/Nursing Staff.
Right of access to protected health information
You have the right to request, either orally or in writing, to inspect and obtain a copy of your PHI, subject to some limited exceptions. If available, you have the right to access your information in electronic format. We must allow you to inspect your records within 10 days of your request. If you request copies of the records, we must provide you with copies within a reasonable time but not more than 30 days if the records are maintained onsite or 60 days if the records are maintained offsite. We may charge a reasonable fee for our costs in copying and mailing your requested information or the provision of information in electronic format.
In certain limited circumstances we may deny your request to inspect or receive copies. If we deny access to your PHI, we will provide you with a summary of the information, and you have a right to request review of the denial. We will provide you with information on how to request a review of our denial and how to file a complaint with us or the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Right to request restrictions
You have the right to request restrictions on the way we use and disclose your PHI for our treatment, payment, or health care operations. You also have the right to request restrictions on our disclosures of your PHI to a family member, friend, or other person who is involved in your care or the payment for your care.
We may not be required to agree to your requested restriction, and in some cases, the law may not permit us to accept your restriction. However, if we do agree to accept your restriction, we will comply with your restriction unless any of the following is true:
You are being transferred to another health care institution,
The release of records is required by law.
The release of information is needed to provide you with emergency treatment.
In the case of licensed home care services agencies, the release is required by a third-party payor contract. If your restriction applies to the disclosure of information to a health plan for purposes of payment or health care operations and is not otherwise required by law, and where you paid out of pocket in full for items or services, we are required to honor that request.
Right to receive notice of a breach
You have the right to receive notification by first-class mail or by email (if you have indicated a preference to receive information by email) of any breaches of unsecured PHI as soon as possible, but in any event, no later than 60 days following the discovery of the breach.
A “breach” means the unauthorized access, acquisition, use, or disclosure of Protected Health Information which compromises the security or privacy of PHI.
“Unsecured Protected Health Information” is information that is not secured through the use of a technology or methodology identified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to render the PHI unusable, unreadable and undecipherable to unauthorized users.
Such a breach notice is required to include the following information:
A brief description of the breach, including the date of the breach and the date of its discovery, if known;
a description of the type of unsecured PHI involved in the breach;
steps you should take to protect yourself from potential harm resulting from the breach;
a brief description of action we are taking to investigate the breach, mitigate losses, and protect against further breaches, and
contact information, including a toll-free number, email address, website, or postal address to permit you to ask questions or obtain additional information.
Right to an accounting of disclosures
You have the right to request an accounting of our disclosures of your PHI. This is a listing of certain disclosures of your PHI made by the agency or by others on our behalf, but does not include disclosures made for treatment, payment, and health care operations or certain other purposes unless the records are maintained in an electronic health record. Records maintained in an electronic health record will include disclosures made for treatment, payment, health care operations, and other purposes.
You must submit a request in writing, stating a time period beginning after April 13, 2003, and that is within six years from the date of your request. You are entitled to one free accounting within one 12-month period. For additional requests, we may charge you our costs. Where an electronic health record is used, we will provide you with an accounting of disclosures for a three-year period.
We will usually respond to your request within 60 days. Occasionally, we may need additional time to prepare the accounting. If so, we will notify you of our delay, the reason for the delay, and the date when you can expect the accounting.
Right to request amendment: If you think that your PHI is not accurate or complete, you have the right to request that the agency amend such information for as long as the information is kept in our records. Your request must be in writing and state the reason for the requested amendment. We will usually respond within 60 days, but if we need additional time to respond, we will notify you within 60 days, provide the reason for the delay, and state when you can expect our response. We may deny your request for amendment, and if we do so, we will give you a written denial including the reasons for the denial and an explanation of your right to submit a written statement disagreeing with the denial.
Right to a paper copy of this notice: You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this notice, even if you have agreed to receive this notice electronically. You may request a copy of this notice at any time.
Right to Request Confidential Communications. You have the right to request that we communicate with you concerning personal health matters in a certain manner or at a certain location. For example, you can request that we speak to you only at a private location in your home. We will accommodate your reasonable requests.
Complaints
If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint in writing with us or with the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
To file a complaint with the agency, contact Burhan Ali, Office Manager, or Matt Skaggs, Office Administrator, at 651-352-9910. No one will retaliate or take action against you for filing a complaint.
Changes to this notice: We will promptly revise and distribute this notice whenever there is a material change to its uses or disclosures, your individual rights, our legal duties, or other privacy practices stated in this notice. We reserve the right to change this notice and to make the revised or new notice provisions effective for all PHI already received and maintained by the agency as well as for all PHI we receive in the future. In addition, we will provide a copy of the revised notice to all patients by mailing or hand-delivering a hard copy to them or their personal representatives as requested.
Further information: If you have any questions about this notice or would like further information concerning your privacy rights, please contact Mahado Ali, Director of Nursing, at 651-352-9910.