Privacy Policy – Commitment to Privacy
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC.
The appropriate collection, use and disclosure of patients’ personal health information is fundamental to Durango Osteopathic Care, PC’s day-to-day operations and to patient care.
Protecting the privacy and the confidentiality of patient personal information is important to the physicians and staff at Durango Osteopathic Care, PC. Durango Osteopathic Care, PC strives to provide our patients with excellent medical care and service.
Every member of Durango Osteopathic Care, PC abides by its commitment to privacy in the handling of personal information.
WHAT IS HIPAA?
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) is a law designed to protect patient’s protected health information (PHI). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued a Privacy Rule to implement the requirement of HIPAA regarding the use and disclosure of individuals’ PHI by organizations subject to the Privacy Rule — called “covered entities,” as well as standards for individuals’ privacy rights to understand and control how their health information is used. This notice further describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed as well as how you can get access to this information.
Applicability of This Privacy Policy
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC’s Privacy Policy attests to our commitment to privacy and demonstrates the ways we ensure that patient privacy is protected. Our Privacy Policy applies to the personal health information of all our patients that is in our possession and control.
What is Personal Health Information?
Personal health information means identifying information about an individual relating to their physical or mental health (including medical history), the providing of health care to the individual, payments or eligibility for health care, organ and tissue donation and health number.
Principles of Privacy
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC’s Privacy Policy reflects our compliance with fair information practices, applicable laws and standards of the practice of Osteopathy.
Accountability
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC take our commitment to securing patient privacy very seriously. Each physician and employee associated with the Practice is responsible for the personal information under his/her control. Our employees are informed about the importance of privacy and receive information periodically to update them about our Privacy Policy and related issues.
Identifying Purposes: Why We Collect Information
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC ask you for information to establish a relationship and serve your medical needs. Durango Osteopathic Care, PC obtains most of our information about you directly from you, or from other health practitioners whom you have seen and authorized to disclose to us. You are entitled to know how we use your information and this is described in the Privacy Statement posted at Durango Osteopathic Care, PC. Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will limit the information we collect to what Durango Osteopathic Care, PC needs for those purposes, and Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will use it only for those purposes. Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will obtain your consent if we wish to use your information for any other purpose.
Consent
You have the right to determine how your personal health information is used and disclosed. For most health care purposes, your consent is implied as a result of your consent to treatment, however, in most all circumstances express consent must be written.
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC may override the consent directive in certain circumstances, such as emergencies; and the consent directive may result in delays in receiving health care, reduced quality of care due to Durango Osteopathic Care, PC’s lacking complete information about the patient, and healthcare provider’s refusal to offer non-emergency care.
Limiting Collection
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC collect information by fair and lawful means and collect only that information which may be necessary for purposes related to the provision of your medical care.
Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention
The information Durango Osteopathic Care, PC requests from you is used for the purposes defined. Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will seek your consent before using the information for purposes beyond the scope of the posted Privacy Statement.
Under no circumstances does Durango Osteopathic Care, PC sell patient lists or other personal information to third parties.
There are some types of disclosure of your personal health information that may occur as part of Durango Osteopathic Care, PC, fulfilling its routine obligations and/or practice management. This includes consultants and suppliers to Durango Osteopathic Care, PC, on the understanding that they abide by our Privacy Policy, and only to the extent necessary to allow them to provide business services or support to Durango Osteopathic Care, PC.
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will retain your information only for the time it is required for the purposes we describe and once your personal information is no longer required, it will be destroyed. However, due to our on-going exposure to potential claims, some information is kept for a longer period. Patients may be required to sign and date a Consent to Disclose PHI Form and pay a fee based on current OMA rates prior to release of information.
Accuracy
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC endeavour to ensure that all decisions involving your personal information are based upon accurate and timely information. While Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will do our best to base our decisions on accurate information, Durango Osteopathic Care, PC relies on you to disclose all material information and to inform us of any relevant changes.
Safeguards: Protecting Your Information
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC protect your information with appropriate safeguards and security measures. The Practice maintains personal information in a combination of paper and electronic files. Recent paper records concerning individuals’ personal information are stored in files kept onsite at our office.
Older records may be stored securely offsite. Access to personal information will be authorized only for the physicians and employees associated with the Practice, and other agents who require access in the performance of their duties, and to those otherwise authorized by law. Durango Osteopathic Care, PC provide information to health care providers acting on your behalf, on the understanding that they are also bound by law and ethics to safeguard your privacy. Other organizations and agents must agree to abide by our Privacy Policy and may be asked to sign contracts to that effect. Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will give them only the information necessary to perform the services for which they are engaged, and will require that they not store, use or disclose the information for purposes other than to carry out those services. Durango Osteopathic Care, PC’s computer systems are password-secured and constructed in such a way that only authorized individuals can access secure systems and databases. If you send us an e-mail message that includes personal information, such as your name included in the “address”, Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will use that information to respond to your inquiry.
Email is not necessarily secure against interception. If your communication is very sensitive, you should not send it electronically unless the e-mail is encrypted or your browser indicates that the access is secure.
Openness: Keeping You Informed
The Practice has prepared this plain-language Privacy Policy to keep you informed. You may view a copy by visiting our website at https://www.dremmy.com/privacy-policy/ (or within our website and/or direct email request). If you have any additional questions or concerns about privacy, Durango Osteopathic Care, PC invites you to contact us by phone and we will address your concerns to the best of our ability.
Access and Correction
With limited exceptions, Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will give you access to the information we retain about you within a reasonable time, upon presentation of a written request and satisfactory identification. Durango Osteopathic Care, PC may charge you a fee for this service and if so, Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will give you notice in advance of processing your request.
If you find errors of fact in your personal health information, please notify us as soon as possible and we will make the appropriate corrections. Durango Osteopathic Care, PC is not required to correct information relating to clinical observations or opinions made in good faith. You have a right to append a short statement of disagreement to your record if we refuse to make a requested change. If Durango Osteopathic Care, PC denies your request for access to your personal information, Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will advise you in writing of the reason for the refusal and you may then challenge our decision.
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will use and disclose your protected health information to provide, coordinate, or manage your health care and any related services. This includes the coordination or management of your health care with another provider. For example, Durango Osteopathic Care, PC would disclose your protected health information, as necessary, to a home health agency that provides care to you. Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will also disclose protected health information to other physicians who may be treating you. For example, your protected health information may be provided to a physician to whom you have been referred to ensure that the physician has the necessary information to diagnose or treat you. In addition, Durango Osteopathic Care, PC may disclose your protected health information from time-to-time to another physician or health care provider (e.g., a specialist or laboratory) who, at the request of your physician, becomes involved in your care by providing assistance with your health care diagnosis or treatment to your physician.
Payment
Your protected health information will be used and disclosed, as needed, to
obtain payment for your health care services provided by us or by another provider. This may include certain activities that your health insurance plan may undertake before it approves or pays for the health care services we recommend for you such as: making a determination of eligibility or coverage for insurance benefits, reviewing services provided to you for medical necessity, and undertaking utilization review activities. For example, obtaining approval for a hospital stay may require that your relevant protected health information be disclosed to the health plan to obtain approval for the hospital admission.
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC may use or disclose, as needed, your protected health information in order to support the business activities of your physician’s practice. These activities include, but are not limited to, quality assessment activities, employee review activities, training of medical students, licensing, fundraising activities, and conducting or arranging for other business activities.
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will share your protected health information with third party “business associates” that perform various activities (for example, billing or transcription services) for our practice. Whenever an arrangement between Durango Osteopathic Care, PC and a business associate involves the use or disclosure of your protected health information, Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will have a written contract that contains terms that will protect the privacy of your protected health information.
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC may use or disclose your protected health information, as necessary, to provide you with information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you. You may contact Durango Osteopathic Care, PC to request that these materials not be sent to you.
Coroners, Funeral Directors, and Organ Donation
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC may disclose protected health information to a coroner or medical examiner for identification purposes, determining cause of death or for the coroner or medical examiner to perform other duties authorized by law. Durango Osteopathic Care, PC may also disclose protected health information to a funeral director, as authorized by law, in order to permit the funeral director to carry out their duties. Durango Osteopathic Care, PC may disclose such information in reasonable anticipation of death. Protected health information may be used and disclosed for cadaveric organ, eye or tissue donation purposes.
Research
We may disclose your protected health information to researchers when their
research has been approved by an institutional review board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your protected health information.
Challenging Compliance
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC encourages you to contact us with any questions or concerns you might have about your privacy or our Privacy Policy. Durango Osteopathic Care, PC will investigate and respond to your concerns about any aspect of our handling of your information. In most cases, an issue is resolved simply by telling us about it and discussing it.
You can reach us at:
c/o Emmy Lawrason-Kobobel, DO
Durango Osteopathic Care, PC.
835 E 2nd Ave, Suite 206, Durango, CO 81301
970-828-6500 (office phone) 970-480-9991 (office fax)
This Privacy Policy was last modified on the 23rd day of February, 2022.