Confidentiality and HIPAA(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) Agreement
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICE
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.
Notice Requirements
New Direction Institute is required by federal and state laws to maintain the privacy of your health care information. The law also requires the agency to give you this Notice telling you about the law, your rights, and our privacy practices.
This Notice went into effect on November 1, 2005 and will last until it is replaced. If our Privacy Practices change, this Notice will change. We are required to abide by the terms of the most current Notice in effect. You will find the current Notice posted in our medical service locations and on our Internet site. If you would like additional copies or to learn more, please contact us at the address listed at the end of this Notice.
Use and Disclosure of Your Protected Health Information
As a part of our daily activities, NDI may need to create, receive, or keep medical information about you. To provide treatment, to handle billing and payment activities, and to manage our services, we may use and disclose (share) your protected health information. In some cases, we must have your written permission before using or disclosing this information.Examples of how we might use or disclose your information include the following activities:
• Treatment
We may discuss your medical condition with you, as well as with doctors, nurses, technicians, hospital or health care staff to arrange or provide medical and health care treatment in accordance with the treatment, service and/or care plan, including mental health counseling or services. We may request information from health insurance carriers or government aid programs to determine if you are authorized for certain treatments, including hospital stays or medicines. We may use information to arrange transportation or the delivery of appropriate meals. We may use or disclose medical information as necessary for your safety in the event of a disaster or other emergency.
• Payment.
We may use or disclose information to discuss your condition, any treatments given to you, or to review the cost for services, in order to arrange for payment from insurance carriers or other payers. We may contact others to ask for payment for or bill for services.
• Operations
We may discuss or review your medical information to assure you receive quality care, to verify you are actually receiving the services that are scheduled, or to develop better ways to provide care. We may use your information to manage or purchase services. Your information may be used to evaluate our staff and contractors. Health information may be used or disclosed as necessary for legal, auditing and management purposes.
Other Uses and Disclosures
NDI may contact you to arrange your appointments or your eligibility interviews or to provide you with information about new medications, treatments, benefits and services that are available.
NDI may provide information to government officials as required or allowed by law for:
• Public Health and Disease Reporting.
• Health Oversight (Nursing Homes, Physician Licensing, Federal Drug Administration, Health and Human Services, Research, Audits and Investigations).
• Judicial Requests (Subpoenas, Trials, Court Hearings).
• Law Enforcement purposes.
• Reporting and Investigating Deaths (the Medical Examiner).
• Military or Intelligence activities.
• Workers’ Compensation issues.
• Responding to threats to public safety from unsafe products, unsafe drinking water, or disease.
• Cases of abuse, neglect, domestic violence and other crimes.
NDI may provide information to:
• Licensed researchers or care groups, who are under strict rules regarding how they use and disclose protected health information. Those researchers or medical review members may use the information about individuals with your condition for a study to improve ways to treat or manage diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, or cancer.
• Hearing and Appeals groups to resolve disputes, render opinions, provide independent reviews.
• Other providers of medical and health care services involved in your care.
• Responders in Emergency Situations.
• Funeral directors.
• Organizations that handle organ procurement or transplants as necessary to facilitate organ or tissue donation and transplantation.
• Others as required or allowed by law.
You may authorize NDI to use or disclose information, to restrict access to your information, or object to the use of your information in certain situations. When an authorization is received, we will use that authorization until it expires or you change or revoke (or cancel) it. If you revoke your permission, we will no longer use or disclose the protected health information covered in the written authorization you revoked.
Other uses and disclosures of your protected health information require your written authorization. If you cannot give your authorization due to an emergency, NDI may release your health information if we believe it to be in your best interest. If you sign such an authorization you have the right to cancel it any time.
Individual Rights
Under the law, you have rights that NDI will uphold. You have the right to:
• Request Restriction: Request, in writing, restrictions of the uses and disclosures of your information. These restrictions can go beyond the restrictions already in the law. However, NDI may not always agree to implement these additional restrictions.
• Request Confidential Communications: Request to receive communications at a different address or in a different way to protect your privacy. While NDI cannot promise to communicate in every possible way individuals might request, we will work with you to find a practical way of communicating with you in confidence, if you wish. NDI requires written requests for confidential communications.
• Access (Copy and Inspect): Inspect and get copies (with some exceptions) of your health care information held by NDI by making a request in writing. NDI may charge a reasonable fee to cover only the cost of providing this information.
• Request Amendment: Request an amendment or change information kept about you. To make such a change, NDI will ask you to make the request in writing with a description of the reason you want your record changed. NDI may not always agree to such requests. For example, NDI may deny a request if the information to be amended was: 1) not created by NDI, unless the person or entity that created the information is no longer available to make the amendment; 2) is not part of the protected health information kept by NDI; 3) is not part of the information which you would be permitted to inspect or copy; or 4) the request is inaccurate or incomplete.
• Request an Accounting of Disclosures: Receive a record of disclosures made by NDI of your protected health information that were not authorized by you and were not related to treatment, payment and NDI operations described above. NDI requires requests for disclosure to be in writing. Requests must relate to disclosure information stored by NDI. NDI stores records of disclosures for seven years, beginning January 1, 2004. Individuals will receive one free copy of accountings per twelve (12) month period; fees may be assessed for each additional request.
• Where to send requests: Any of these requests should be mailed to the NDI Privacy Liaison, 6730 WEST COMMERCIAL BLVD., Lauderhill, FL 33319 . If you do not agree with a decision made by the NDI Privacy Liaison, you may ask for a review of the decision by contacting the Chief Executive Officer and the Board of Directors of New Direction Institute, Inc. If you do not agree with a decision made by the NDI Privacy Liaison, you may ask for a review of the decision by contacting the Chief Executive Officer and the Board of Directors of New Direction Institute, Inc.
Questions and Complaints
If you have any questions or complaints about the way NDI handles your protected health information or if you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may complain by contacting the Department of Children and Families, 201 W. Broward Blvd , Room 511, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301, telephone (954) 713-3027. You can also contact the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Please note that there will be no retaliation against you for filing a complaint or for making requests regarding your health care information or if you disagree with NDI decisions about your protected health information.
Notice Updates
NDI may need to change its privacy practices from time to time. Before making such changes however, NDI will modify this Notice and begin distributing it to individuals when they receive services. These new practices will then apply to all information held by NDI. At any time, you have a right to get a paper copy of the latest version of this Notice by contacting the NDI Administration Office. A current copy of this Notice will be posted at the agency’s program settings.
