Notice of Privacy Practices

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

We at Care First Education LLC are required by law to maintain the privacy of your protected health information and to provide you with this Notice describing our privacy practices. Protecting the privacy and confidentiality of our clients' information is very important to Care First Education LLC. Accordingly, we strive to comply with each of the following practices in everything we do.

 

Protected Health Information (“PHI”) means individually identifiable health information, as defined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) that is created or received by PHMC and that relates to the past, present, or future physical or mental health condition of a individual; the provision of health care services to an individual; or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care services to an individual; and that identifies the individual or for which there is a reasonable basis to believe the information can be used to identify the individual.

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USES AND DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION:

We are permitted or required to use your health information for various purposes. The following categories describe different ways that we use and disclose PHI. However, uses or disclosures that we are permitted to make will generally fall within one of the following categories.

 

FOR TREATMENT:

With your consent, we may use and disclose your PHI in order to ensure that you receive proper and needed health care services. For example, we may disclose your health information to another health care provider involved in your care, or to whom you are being referred for additional health-related services

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FOR PAYMENT:

We may use and disclose your PHI so that we may obtain payment for the treatment and services we provided to you, from you, an insurance company, funding source, or another third-party payer. For example, we may need to give your insurance company or another payer information about your diagnosis, treatment, or services we provided to you in order for PHMC to receive payment and/or funding for the treatment and/or services provided to you.

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FOR PHMC’S INTERNAL OPERATIONS:

We may use and disclose your PHI for our internal operations. Operations is defined as those activities that are necessary to run our offices, maintain licensure, accreditation, obtain funding and to make sure that our clients receive quality care and/or services. For example, we may use your PHI to review our treatment of you and the services that we provided and/or coordinated for you to evaluate our performance in meeting your needs.

 

BUSINESS ASSOCIATES:

Certain aspects and components of the services PHMC offers are provided through contracts with outside persons and/ or HPCanizations. Examples of these outside persons and /or HPCanizations include other duly appointed providers of services. For example, it may be necessary for us to provide certain aspects of your PHI to one or more of these outside persons or HPCanizations in order to coordinate appropriate treatment and/ or services for you.

 

AS REQUIRED BY LAW:

We may use or disclose your PHI for any purpose required by law. For example, PHMC may be required by federal, state or local law to use or disclose your PHI to respond to a court order or disclose PHI to the proper authorities for law enforcement purposes.

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GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT AGENCIES:

We may use or disclose your PHI if authorized by law to a government oversight agency conducting audits, investigations, or civil or criminal proceedings. For example, the Department of Public Welfare that conducts audits of medical assistance payments for services provided.

 

FOR PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE:

We may disclose your PHI to the proper authorities if we suspect child abuse or neglect; we may also disclose your PHI if we believe you to be a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence.

 

FOR PUBLIC HEALTH ACTIVITIES:

We may use or disclose certain PHI for public health activities, such as reporting of disease, injury, birth and death, and for public health investigations. We may also disclose your PHI to coroners, medical examiners, and/or funeral directors consistent with law.

 

TO AVERT A SERIOUS THREAT TO PUBLIC HEALTH OR SAFETY:

We may use and disclose PHI about you when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or that of the public or another person. Any disclosure however, would only be made to an agency or person able to help prevent the threatened harm.

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MILITARY PURPOSES:

We may use or disclose your PHI if you are a member of the military as required by armed forces services, and we may also disclose your PHI for other specialized government functions such as national security or intelligence activities.

 

WORKERS’COMPENSATION:

We may disclose your PHI, If you are injured at work, to workers’ compensation agencies or similar programs that provide benefits for work related injuries or illness as

required or permitted by law.

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SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES:

We will, if required by law release your PHI to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services for enforcement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.