This notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review this notice carefully.
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
This HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices (the “Notice”) contains important information regarding your medical information received, maintained and transmitted by Physical Rehabilitation Network, LLC and affiliated physical therapy practices (hereafter referred to as “PRN,” “we,” “our,” and “us”). Our current Notice is posted at https://www.prnpt.com/privacy-notice-tx. If you have any questions about this Notice please contact our Privacy Officer, whose contact information is listed in Part 7 below.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) imposes numerous requirements regarding how your Protected Health Information may be used and disclosed. “Protected Health Information” (“PHI”) is any individually identifiable health information that is maintained or transmitted by us that relates to your past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition, payment for your health care, or the provision of care to you. When we maintain or transmit your PHI electronically, it is called “electronic Protected Health Information” (“ePHI”).
We understand that information about you and your health is personal. We are committed to protecting the privacy of your PHI. This Notice describes how we may use and disclose your PHI for treatment, payment, or health care operations and for other purposes that are permitted or required by law. This Notice also describes your rights to access your PHI.
1. Uses and Disclosures OF YOUR PHI.
There are a number of situations where we may use or disclose your PHI to other persons or entities. Except as discussed under Sections 1.A. and 1.B. below, we may not use or disclose your PHI without your Authorization. Certain uses and disclosures may be made without your Authorization, as discussed under Sections 1.A. and 1.B. In each case, when required by law, we will use or disclose the minimum amount of PHI necessary to accomplish the intended purpose of the use or disclosure. Your PHI may be stored in paper, electronic or other form and may be disclosed electronically and by other methods. Not every use or disclosure within each category of permissible uses and disclosures will be listed.
1.A. Uses and Disclosures for Treatment, Payment or Health Care Operations.
We may use and disclose your PHI for the purposes below. Written authorization is not required for the following purposes.
Treatment: We will use and disclose your PHI for treatment purposes, including to make decisions about the provision, coordination or management of your health care, to diagnose your condition and determine the appropriate treatment for that condition, and to consult with other providers.
Payment: We may use or disclose your PHI to obtain payment for services we provide to you, including disclosing PHI to your health insurance plan or other third party payor. This may also include determinations of eligibility or coverage under the appropriate health plan, pre-certification and pre-authorization of services or review of services for purposes of reimbursement. PHI may also be used and disclosed for billing, claims management and collection purposes together with related health care data processing through our system.
Health Care Operations: We may use and disclose your PHI for health care operations purposes, including our business planning and development operations, quality improvement, general administrative functions, compliance planning, medical review activities, quality assurance, and arranging for legal and auditing functions. For example, we may contact you to provide appointment reminders or information about treatment alternatives or other health related benefits and services that may interest you. The following appointment reminders may be used: a) postcard mailed to you at your address provided by you; and b) telephoning your home and leaving a message on your answering machine or with the individual answering the phone.
1.B. Other Uses and Disclosures of Your PHI That Do Not Require Your Authorization. We may use and disclose your PHI without obtaining your Authorization in the following circumstances or for the following purposes: as required by law (including to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), public health, oversight activities, law enforcement activities, judicial and administrative proceedings, research, to workers’ compensation or similar programs, to Business Associates, to Health Information Exchanges, to individuals involved in your care or payment for your care, in the event of serious threat to the health or safety of a person or the public, for specialized government functions, to coroners/medical examiners/funeral directors, for organ donation, for fundraising, and to create limited data sets or de-identified data. For example, we may be required by applicable law to report to certain agencies information concerning certain communicable diseases, sexually transmitted diseases or infections, or HIV/AIDS status. We also may be required by applicable law to report to certain agencies instances of suspected or documented abuse, neglect or domestic violence.
1.C. Other Permitted Uses and Disclosures of Your PHI Require Your Authorization. Except as outlined in Sections 1.A. and 1.B., your PHI will not be used or disclosed without your written Authorization. Your PHI will not be disclosed for marketing purposes or sold to any third party without your Authorization. In addition to complying with HIPAA, we are required to comply with any stricter provisions of any applicable laws.
If you provide us with Authorization to use or disclose your PHI, you may revoke that permission, in writing, at any time. You understand that we are unable to “take back” any disclosures that we have already made with your Authorization.
2. Your Rights Regarding YOUR PHI.
1. You have certain rights with respect to your PHI. If you have given another individual a medical power of attorney, if another individual is appointed as your legal guardian or if another individual is authorized by law to make health care decisions for you (such as your custodial parent) (known as a “personal representative” under HIPAA), that individual may exercise any of the below listed rights for you. All requests related to your rights herein must be made in writing and addressed to “Privacy Officer” at the address noted in Part 8 of this Notice.
2. You may request that we restrict the uses and disclosures of your PHI for treatment, payment and health care operations, or disclosures to friends and family involved in your care or payment related to that care. We are not required to agree to the restriction; however, if we agree, we will comply with it, except with respect to emergencies, disclosure of the information to you, or if we are otherwise required by law to make a full disclosure without restriction.
3. Notwithstanding the above, we must comply with your request to restrict disclosure of PHI to a health plan for purpose of payment or health care operations if you paid for the services out of your own pocket, in full. This does not apply to services that are paid for by your health plan or insurer. You are required to pay cash, in full, for the services before the restriction applies.
4. You have the right to request confidential communications of your PHI by an alternative means or at an alternative location. You may be required to specify the alternative address or method of contact and how payment for your services will be handled. We will accommodate all reasonable requests. If we are unable to contact you using the means or location(s) you have requested, we may contact you using the information we have.
5. You have the right to inspect and receive a copy of your PHI in a designated record set (medical records, billing records and other information used to make decisions about you). Access to your PHI will not include psychotherapy notes contained in these records, or information compiled in anticipation of or for use in a civil, criminal or administrative action or proceeding, or information to which your access is otherwise restricted by law. We may charge a reasonable fee for providing a copy of your PHI, or a summary of those records (if you request a summary), which includes the cost of copying, postage, or preparation of an explanation or summary of the information.
6. With respect to ePHI, we agree to provide access to ePHI in the form and format requested by you, if it is readily producible in that form or format. If it is not readily producible in the form or format requested, we will provide the PHI in a readable hard copy form. If you want us to send ePHI stored in an electronic health record directly to a third party, you must make this request in writing, sign the request and clearly identify the designated person and location to send the ePHI.
7. We will provide you access to your PHI or ePHI within thirty (30) days from the date of request, unless any other applicable law requires us to provide you access sooner.
8. We may withhold copies if the requestor has not paid the copying fee (assuming we have charged a copying fee), except in the case of emergency requests, and provided that we notify you within ten (10) days of receiving the request that the records may be withheld until the fee is received.
9. You have the right to request amendment to your PHI in a designated record set (medical records, billing records and other information used to make decisions about you). We may deny any request for amendment of your PHI or ePHI if such request is not made in writing or does not include a reason to support the request. We may also deny a request for amendment if the information: was not created by us (unless the originator of the information is no longer available to make the amendment); is not part of the designated record set maintained by us; is not part of the information to which you have a right of access; or is already accurate and complete. If we deny your request for an amendment, we will give you a written denial including the reasons for the denial. You have the right to submit a written statement disagreeing with the denial, which we will include in your record.
10. You have the right to receive an accounting of disclosures of your PHI we make for certain purposes to other persons or entities. Generally, you may receive an accounting of disclosures if the disclosures are required by law, made in connection with public health activities, or in other similar situations. We will not charge you for the first accounting in any 12-month period; however, we will charge you a reasonable fee for each subsequent request for an accounting within the same 12-month period.
11. You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this notice and may ask us to give you a copy of this Notice at any time. If you received this Notice electronically, you are also entitled to a paper copy of this Notice.
3. Our Duties.
We have the following duties with respect to the maintenance, use and disclosure of your PHI:
1. We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your PHI.
2. We are required to provide you with this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to that information.
3. We are required by law to notify affected individuals following a breach of unsecured PHI.
4. We are required to abide by the terms of this Notice currently in effect.
4. Complaints.
You may file a complaint with us or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) if you believe your privacy rights have been violated. All complaints must be in writing and must be addressed to the Privacy Officer (in the case of a complaint to us) or to the individual designated by HHS. You will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint. More information is available about complaints online at HHS’s website: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa
or mailing address: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue S.W., Washington, DC 20201.
5. Changes to this Notice.
We may change the terms of this Notice at any time. If we do, the Notice’s new terms and policies will be effective for all of the PHI we already have about you and any PHI we create or receive about you in the future. We will make the revised Notice available by posting it on our website, posting in our locations and making it available upon request.
6. Effective Date.
This Notice is effective September 1, 2023
If you have questions or concerns about this Notice or your privacy rights, you may contact our Privacy Officer. All correspondence relating to the contents of this Notice should be addressed to:
Privacy Officer, at any of the following;
Address: 2600 Dallas Pkwy, Ste. 290, Frisco, TX 75034
E-mail: compliance@prnpt.com
Phone: (949) 818-7233
NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATION & ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:
PRN complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex.