HIPAA

HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices

Last Updated: October 30, 2023


Table of Contents 

  1. Scope and Updates to this Notice 
  2. Your Rights
  3. Your Choices 
  4. Our Uses and Disclosures of PHI That Require Your Authorization
  5. Our Uses and Disclosures of PHI That Do Not Require Your Authorization
  6. Our Responsibilities 
  7. Changes to the Terms of this Notice 
  8. Contact Us


Scope and Updates to this Notice 

This HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices (“Notice”) describes how Almond Life, P.C. (“Almond,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) may use and disclose your protected health information (“PHI”) when it acts as a covered entity under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act  of 1996 (“HIPAA”) and how you can get access to this PHI. Please review this Notice carefully. 


Supplemental Notices. We may provide additional privacy notices to individuals at the time we collect their PHI. These additional privacy notices may supplement this Notice or may apply in lieu of this Notice.


Notice Regarding Customer PHI. In some cases, our customer may enter into a written agreement with us where we act as a business associate and process protected health information on their behalf through their use of our services (“Customer PHI”). This Notice does not apply to Customer PHI. Our customers’ respective privacy notices govern their use and disclosure of Customer PHI. Our processing of Customer PHI is governed by the business associate agreements that we have in place with our customers, not this Notice. Any questions or requests relating to Customer PHI should be directed to our customer.


Your Rights

When it comes to your PHI, you have certain rights.


This section explains your rights and some of our responsibilities to help you.

  1. Get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record
  • You can ask to see or get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record and certain other PHI we have about you. Ask us how to do this. 
  • We will provide a copy or a summary of your PHI, upon request. You need to submit your request in writing by sending an email to our Privacy Officer, Tara Raffi, at privacy (at) almondobgyn (dot) com or mailing it to:


Almond ObGyn
8274 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046


  • We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.
  1. Ask us to correct your medical record
  • You can ask us to correct PHI about you that you think is incorrect or incomplete. Ask us how to do this.
  • We may say “no” to your request, but we’ll tell you why in writing within 60 days.
  1. Request confidential communications
  • You can ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, home or office phone) or to send mail to a different address.
  • We will accommodate reasonable requests, but do not have to agree to requests that make it more expensive to communicate with you than most other patients (for example, sending all communications via private courier or registered mail).
  1. Ask us to limit what we use or share
  • You can ask us not to use or share certain PHI for treatment, payment, or our operations. We are not required to agree to your request, and we may say “no” if it would affect your care.
  • If you pay for a service or health care item out-of-pocket in full, you can ask us not to share that information for the purpose of payment or our operations with your health insurer. We will say “yes” unless a law requires us to share that information.
  1. Get a list of those with whom we’ve shared PHI
  • You can ask for a list (accounting) of the times we’ve shared your PHI for up to six years prior to the date you ask, who we shared it with, and why.
  • We will include all the disclosures except for those about treatment, payment, and health care operations, and certain other disclosures (such as any you asked us to make or you agreed to permit us to make). We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee if you ask for more than one accounting each year.
  1. Get a copy of this Notice


You can email yourself a copy of this Notice at any time, or request a paper copy be mailed to you at any time, even if you have agreed to receive the Notice electronically. 

  1. Choose someone to act for you
  • If you have given someone medical power of attorney or if someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights and make choices on your behalf about your PHI.
  • We will make sure the person has this authority and can act for you before we take any action.
  1. File a complaint if you feel your rights are violated
  • You can complain if you feel we have violated your rights by contacting our Privacy Officer at privacy (at) almondobgyn (dot) com or phone.
  • You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by sending a letter to 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, calling 1-877-696-6775, or visiting www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/.
  • We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.



Your Choices

For certain PHI, you can tell us your choices about what we share.


If you have a clear preference for how we share your PHI in the situations described below, talk to us. Tell us what you want us to do, and we will work with you to develop reasonable instructions.

In these cases, you have both the right and choice to tell us how to:

  • Share information with your family, close friends, or others involved in your care
  • Share PHI in a disaster relief situation; and
  • Include your PHI in a hospital directory. 


If you are not able to tell us your preference, for example if you become incapacitated, we may go ahead and share your information if we believe it is in your best interest. We may also share your information when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.



Our Uses and Disclosures That Require Your Authorization

In these cases we never share your PHI unless you give us written permission:

  • Research purposes, except as allowed by HIPAA or applicable law (by way of example, if we receive appropriate documentation that an IRB or a Privacy Board has granted a waiver of the requirement to obtain your permission, we can use your PHI for research without your permission). We may use your PHI to determine your eligibility for research, including medical, clinical, and public health research, and/or to contact you to seek your consent to use or share your PHI for research. You will not be paid for this use.
  • Marketing purposes, except as allowed by HIPAA or applicable law (by way of example, marketing communications allowed by HIPAA without authorization include communications pertaining to care or treatment and/or our products or services.)
  • Sale of your PHI
  • Most sharing of psychotherapy notes


Under certain state laws, we may not share certain PHI, such as HIV/AIDS status, sexually transmitted diseases, genetic information, or mental health and substance use treatment records, without your express written permission. In these situations, we will comply with the more stringent state laws pertaining to such use or disclosure. If you have questions about these laws, please contact us as set forth below.



Our Uses and Disclosures That Do Not Require Your Authorization

We typically use or share your PHI in ways connected to your treatment, payment for your care, and our healthcare operations. Here are some ways we may use or disclose your PHI without your authorization:


Treatment 

We can use your PHI and share it with other professionals who are treating you.

Example:  A doctor treating you for a specific condition asks another doctor about your overall health condition.


Healthcare Operations

We can use and share your PHI to run our practice, administer and support our business activities or those of other healthcare organizations (as allowed by law), including providers and plans, improve our services, improve your care, provide training, and contact you when necessary.

Example: We use PHI about you to manage your treatment and services.


Payment

We can use and share your PHI to bill and get payment from health plans or other entities.

Example:  We give PHI about you to your health insurance plan so it will pay for your services.


Other Uses and Disclosures 

We may share your PHI in other ways without your authorization for legal and/or governmental purposes in the following circumstances: – usually in ways that contribute to the public good, such as public health and research. We have to meet certain conditions in the law before we can share your PHI for these purposes.


For more information see: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/index.html.


Help with public health and safety issues

We can share PHI about you for certain situations such as:

  • Protect public health and safety
  • Preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability
  • Report vital statistics such as births or deaths
  • Helping with product recalls
  • Reporting adverse reactions to medications
  • Reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence
  • Preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety


Comply with the law

We may share PHI about you if state or federal laws (including workers compensation laws) require it. We may also share PHI with health oversight agencies for certain activities such as audits, examinations, investigations, inspections, and licensures, including with the Department of Health and Human Services if it wants to see that we’re complying with federal privacy law.


Address law enforcement, and other government requests

We can use or share PHI about you:

  • For law enforcement purposes or with a law enforcement official
  • With health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law


Respond to lawsuits and legal actions

We may share PHI about you in response to a court or administrative order, or in response to a subpoena.


Military activity and national security

We may share your PHI with the military and to authorized federal officials for national security and intelligence purposes, to the Department of Veterans Affairs as required by military authorities, or in connection with providing protective services to the President of the United States.


Other ways we use or disclose your PHI without your authorization

  • Contacting You Directly: We may use your PHI, including your email address or phone number, to contact you. For example, we may also use this information to send you appointment reminders and other communications relating to your treatment, or let you know about treatment alternatives, research opportunities, or other health related services or benefits that may be of interest to you, via email, phone call, or text message.
  • Your Almond Account: We may make certain PHI, such as information about treatment, appointment histories and medication records, accessible to you through online tools, such as email or your Almond online account.
  • Family and Friends: To a member of your family, a relative, a close friend—or any other person you identify who is directly involved in your healthcare—when you are either not present or unable to make a healthcare decision for yourself and we determine that disclosure is in your best interest. We will also assume that we may disclose PHI to any person you permit to be physically present with you as we discuss your PHI with you.
  • Services Description and Alternatives: To communicate with you about our services, options, or alternatives, as well as health-related benefits or services that may be of interest to you, or to describe our services to you.
  • De-identified and/or Aggregated Information: We may use your PHI to create de-identified and/or aggregated information, such as demographic information, information about health or wellness, or other analyses we create. De-identified and/or aggregated information is not PHI, and we may use and disclose such information in a number of ways, including research, internal analysis, analytics, publications, making de-identified and/or aggregated information available to third parties, and any other legally permissible purposes.
  • Coroners, Funeral Directors, and Organ Donation: To coroners, funeral directors, and organ donation organizations as authorized by law.
  • Disaster Relief: To an authorized public or private entity for disaster relief purposes. For example, we might disclose your PHI to help notify family members of your location or general condition.


Our Responsibilities

  • We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your PHI.
  • We will let you know promptly in the case ofa breach of unsecured PHI.
  • We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this Notice and provide you with a paper copy.
  • We will not use or share your PHI other than as described here unless you tell us we can. You may change your mind at any time. Let us know in writing if you change your mind.
  • There may be some instances where we have already used or disclosed PHI as you permitted or directed, and we can’t get that PHI back. For example, if the PHI is being used in research, the PHI can’t be withdrawn from the project.


For more information see:

www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/noticepp.html.


Changes to the Terms of this Notice

We can change the terms of this Notice. The new notice will be available upon request, in our office, and here on our website.


Contact Us

If you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Notice, or to exercise your rights as detailed in this Notice, please contact us at:

privacy@almondobgyn.com


Mail to:

Almond ObGyn
8274 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046

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