Privacy Practices

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.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal law designed to protect your privacy whenever your health care providers have to discuss your case, or send information about you to different offices. We have to keep a file to record our consultation and protected health information will be kept confidential.

The lactation consultant can freely share all the details of your personal health information for purposes of "treatment, payment and health care operations." That means the lactation consultant can talk to you about your situation, and discuss it with your other health care providers. If you are referred to other specialists, the lactation consultant can send the information on to them. The lactation consultant can also share information with your health insurance company if they need it.

The law also requires the lactation consultant to share your information under other, very precise situations: for example, if a subpoena has been served on this office, to turn over medical records, or a federal agency is investigating a complaint that we have not been protecting your privacy.

Any other time the lactation consultant shares your personal health information, it has to be with your specific written authorization. Under HIPAA, the lactation consultant can call or write to remind you to come back for an appointment, or to tell you how you can get a product or service that might interest you and your family. In your intake paperwork you can tell me the best way for us to communicate.

 You have four rights under HIPAA:

Access (you can ask the lactation consultant to see all the protected health information (PHI) she has about you); Amendment (you can ask the lactation consultant to change her files to amend inaccurate PHI);Disclosure Accounting (you can ask to whom the lactation consultant has given your PHI) and Restriction Request (you can put limits on the lactation consultant's use and sharing of your PHI)

Our duty under HIPAA is to give you this notice, so you understand we have promised to keep your private health information confidential. If we change this notice in the future, we'll give you a new copy. 

The Privacy Officer is Cassandra Brickey (423) 930-8209. This is the person who can answer your questions or concerns about how we protect your privacy.

 You can file a complaint if you think your privacy has not been protected. First, address your complaint to the Privacy Officer. If you feel the Privacy Officer doesn't address your complaint adequately, contact the  Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the federal Health and Human Services Dept., to ask for a formal investigation. You can get more information by calling (toll free) 1-800-368-1019; or,  see http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/index.html.