HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices

Our commitment to your privacy

To Healthy Feet Podiatry, PC is required by law to maintain the privacy of your protected health information, to give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, and to follow the terms of the notice currently in effect. Protected health information, referred to here as PHI, is information that can reasonably be used to identify you and that relates to your health, the care you receive from us, or the payment for that care.

How we may use and disclose your health information without your authorization

For treatment

We use your health information to provide your podiatric care. We may share it with other health care professionals involved in that care, including physicians we refer you to, radiologists who read your imaging, laboratories that process your specimens, physical therapists, the hospitals and surgical facilities where we perform procedures, and the pharmacies that fill your prescriptions.

For payment

We may use and disclose your health information to obtain payment for the care we provide. This includes sharing information with your health plan to confirm your eligibility and benefits, to obtain prior authorization for a procedure, and to submit and support claims.

For health care operations

We may use and disclose your health information to run the practice and to keep the quality of our care high. This includes quality review, training and evaluation of clinicians and staff, licensing and accreditation, business planning, and general administration.

Appointment reminders and treatment alternatives

We may contact you to remind you of an appointment, to tell you about a treatment option, or to describe a health-related benefit or service that may be of interest to you.

Other uses and disclosures permitted or required by law

We may use or disclose your health information without your authorization in a limited number of other circumstances: as required by federal, state, or local law; for public health activities, such as reporting a communicable disease; to report suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence; for health oversight activities such as an audit or investigation by a licensing agency; in response to a court order, subpoena, or other lawful process; to law enforcement, in the limited circumstances the law allows; to a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director; for organ and tissue donation; for approved research, subject to strict privacy safeguards; to avert a serious and imminent threat to health or safety; for specialized government functions, including military and national security; and as authorized by workers’ compensation law.

Uses and disclosures that require your written authorization

We will obtain your written authorization before we:

• Use or disclose any psychotherapy notes, where any exist.
• Use or disclose your health information for marketing purposes. This includes publishing a patient testimonial, a patient review, or a photograph of you on our website or in any other marketing material.
• Sell your health information. We do not sell your health information.
• Make any other use or disclosure not described in this notice.

If you give us an authorization, you may revoke it in writing at any time. A revocation will not apply to anything we have already done in reliance on it.

Your rights regarding your health information

The right to see and get a copy of your record

You have the right to inspect and obtain a copy of the health information we hold about you, on paper or electronically. Please make your request in writing. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.

The right to ask us to correct your record

If you believe information in your record is wrong or incomplete, you may ask us in writing to amend it. We may deny the request in certain circumstances. If we do, we will tell you why in writing and explain how you may respond.

The right to a list of certain disclosures

You have the right to request an accounting of certain disclosures we have made of your health information. The accounting will not include disclosures made for treatment, payment, or health care operations, or disclosures you authorized.

The right to ask for restrictions

You may ask us to restrict how we use or disclose your health information. We are not required to agree, with one exception: if you pay for a service in full, out of pocket, you may instruct us not to disclose information about that service to your health plan, and we must comply.

The right to be contacted in a particular way

You may ask us to communicate with you about your health in a specific way, or at a specific address. We will accommodate reasonable requests, and we will not ask you why.

The right to a paper copy of this notice

You may ask for a paper copy at any time, even if you agreed to receive this notice electronically.

The right to be notified of a breach

You have the right to be notified if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your health information.

Complaints

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with us, or with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will not retaliate against you, and we will not require you to waive any right, in order to receive care.

To complain to us, contact our Privacy Officer:
Dr. Farah Alani, Privacy Officer
To Healthy Feet Podiatry, PC
369 Lexington Avenue, Suite 12B, New York, NY 10017
917-398-FOOT (3668)

You may also make a complaint in person at any of our four offices, or by calling the number above and asking for the Privacy Officer.

To complain to the federal government, write to the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20201, call 1-877-696-6775, or file a complaint at hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints.

Changes to this notice

We may change this notice. Any change will apply to health information we already hold as well as to information we receive in the future. The current notice will always be posted on this page with its effective date, and a copy will be available at each of our offices.