connectedNP Notice of Privacy Practices

I. Our Pledge Regarding Health Information

connectedNP understands that health information about you and your healthcare is personal. connectedNP is committed to protecting health information about you. connectedNP creates a record of the care and services you receive. connectedNP needs this record to provide you with quality care and to comply with specific legal requirements. This Notice applies to all of the records of your care generated by this telemedicine health care practice. This Notice will tell you about how connectedNP may use and disclose health information about you, describe your rights to the health information, what records connectedNP keeps about you, and describe certain obligations connectedNP has regarding the use and disclosure of your health information. connectedNP is required by law to:

• Ensure that protected health information (“PHI”) that identifies you is kept confidential and private.
• Provide you with this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices regarding the use and disclosure of your health information.
• Follow the terms of the notice that is currently in effect.
• connectedNP can change the terms of this Notice, and such changes will apply to all information connectedNP has about you. The new Notice will be available upon request on the website.

II. How connectedNP May Use and Disclose Health Information About You

The following categories describe different ways that connectedNP uses and discloses health information. For each category of uses or disclosures, connectedNP will explain the meaning of the disclosure category and provide some examples. Not every use or disclosure in a category will be listed. However, all of the ways connectedNP is permitted to use and disclose information will fall within one of these categories.

For Treatment, Payment, or Health Care Operations: Federal privacy regulations allow health care providers who have a direct treatment relationship with the patient to use or disclose the patient’s personal health information without the patient’s written authorization, to carry out the health care provider’s own treatment, payment, or health care operations. connectedNP may also disclose your protected health information for the treatment activities of any health care provider. This, too, can be done without your written authorization. For example, if your clinician were to consult with another licensed healthcare provider about your condition, we would be permitted to use and disclose your personal health information, which is otherwise confidential, to assist in diagnosing and treating your health condition.

Disclosures for treatment purposes are not limited to the minimum necessary standard: Healthcare providers need access to the entire record and/or complete information to provide quality care. The word “treatment” encompasses, among other things, the coordination and management of healthcare providers with a third party, consultations between healthcare providers, and referrals of a patient for healthcare from one healthcare provider to another.

Lawsuits and Disputes: If you are involved in a lawsuit, connectedNP may disclose health information in response to a court or administrative order. connectedNP may also disclose your health information in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.

III. Certain Uses and Disclosures Require Your Authorization

• Records: connectedNP keeps “records” as that term is defined in 45 CFR § 164.501(2), and any use or disclosure of such notes requires your Authorization unless the use or disclosure is:
  • For your use.
  • For use in training or supervising healthcare practitioners to help them improve their skills in group, joint, family, or individual treatment.
  • For our use in defending legal proceedings instituted by you.
  • For use by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to investigate compliance with HIPAA.
  • Required by law, and the use or disclosure is limited to the requirements of such law.
  • Required by law for certain health oversight activities regarding the originator of the patient care records.
  • Required by a coroner who is performing duties authorized by law.
  • Required to help avert a serious threat to the health and safety of others.
• Marketing Purposes: connectedNP will not use or disclose your PHI for marketing purposes.
• Sale of PHI: connectedNP will not sell your PHI in the regular course of our business.

IV. Certain Uses and Disclosures Do Not Require Your Authorization

Subject to certain limitations in the law, connectedNP can use and disclose your PHI without your Authorization for the following reasons:

• When disclosure is required by state or federal law, and the use or disclosure complies with and is limited to the relevant requirements of such law.
• For public health activities, including reporting suspected child, elder, or dependent adult abuse, or preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety.
• For health oversight activities, including audits and investigations.
• For judicial and administrative proceedings, including responding to a court or administrative order, although our preference is to obtain an Authorization from you before doing so.
• For law enforcement purposes, including reporting crimes occurring on our premises.
• To coroners or medical examiners, when such individuals are performing duties authorized by law.
• For research purposes, including studying and comparing the health condition of patients who received one form of treatment versus those who received another form of treatment for the same condition.
• Specialized government functions, including ensuring the proper execution of military missions; protecting the President of the United States; conducting intelligence or counter-intelligence operations; or helping to ensure the safety of those working within or housed in correctional institutions.
• Although our preference is to obtain authorization from you, connectedNP may disclose your PHI to comply with workers’ compensation laws.
• connectedNP may use and disclose your PHI to contact you to remind you of an upcoming appointment. connectedNP may also use and disclose your PHI to tell you about treatment alternatives, or other health care services or benefits that connectedNP offers.

V. Certain Uses and Disclosures Require You to Have the Opportunity to Object

connectedNP may provide your care to a family member, friend, or other person that you indicate is involved in your care or the payment for your health care, unless you object in whole or in part. The opportunity to consent may be obtained retroactively in emergencies.

VI. Your Rights Concerning Your PHI

• The Right to Request Limits on Uses and Disclosures of Your PHI: You have the right to ask us not to use or disclose certain PHI for treatment, payment, or health care operations purposes. connectedNP is not required to agree to your request, and connectedNP may say “no” if connectedNP believes it would affect your health care.
• The Right to Request Restrictions for Out-of-Pocket Expenses Paid in Full: You have the right to request restrictions on the disclosure of your PHI to health plans for payment or healthcare operations purposes, where the request pertains solely to a health care item or service that you have paid for out-of-pocket in full.
• The Right to Choose How connectedNP Sends PHI to You: You have the right to request contact in a specific manner (for example, home or office phone) or to send mail to a different address, and connectedNP will agree to all reasonable requests.
• The Right to See and Get Copies of Your PHI: You have the right to get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record and other information that connectedNP has about you. connectedNP will provide you with a copy of your record, or a summary of it if you agree to receive a summary, within 30 days of receiving your written request, and connectedNP may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for doing so.
• The Right to Get a List of Disclosures connectedNP Has Made: You have the right to request a list of instances in which connectedNP has disclosed your PHI for purposes other than treatment, payment, or health care operations, or for which you provided an Authorization. connectedNP will respond within 60 days of receiving your request, unless a specific date is required by state law. The list will include disclosures made in the last six years, unless you request a shorter period, and will be provided at no charge for your first request in a given year.
• The Right to Correct or Update Your PHI: If you believe there is a mistake in your PHI or that important information is missing, you have the right to request that connectedNP correct or add to the existing information. connectedNP may say “no” to your request, but will tell you why in writing within 60 days of receiving your request.
• The Right to Get a Paper or Electronic Copy of This Notice: You have the right to get a paper copy of this Notice, and you have the right to get a copy of this Notice by e-mail, even if you have previously agreed to receive it electronically.