Dr. Patrick J. Ryan, DDS
Dr. Courtney Keel, DDS
Grin Pediatric Dentistry
6225 Chapel Hill Blvd.
Plano, TX 75093
(972) 608-4746
Grin Pediatric Dentistry
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSD AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
The Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPPA") is a federal program that requires that all medical records and other individually identifiable health information used or disclosed by us in any form, whether electronically, on paper, or orally, are kept properly confidential. This Act gives you, the patient, significant new rights to understand and control how your health information is used. HIPPA provides penalties for covered entities that misuse personal health information.
If you sign a Consent Form, we may use and disclose your medical records only for each of the following purposes: treatment, payment and health care operations.
- Treatment means providing, coordinating, or managing health care and related services by one or more health care providers. An example of this would include teeth cleaning services.
- Payment means such activities as obtaining reimbursement for services, confirming coverage, billing or collection activities, and utilization review. An example of this would be sending a bill for your visit to your insurance company for payment.
- Health care operations include the business aspects of running out practice, such as conducting quality assessment and improvement activities, auditing functions, cost management analysis, and customer service. An example would be an internal quality assessment review.
We may also create and distribute de-identified health information by removing all references to individually identifiable information.
We may, without prior consent, use or disclose protected health information to carry out treatment, payment, or health care operations in the following circumstances:
- In emergency treatment situations, if we attempt to obtain such consent as soon as reasonably practicable after the delivery of such treatment:
- If we are required by law to treat you, and we attempt to obtain such consent but are unable to obtain such consent; or
- If we attempt to obtain your consent but are unable to do so due to substantial barriers to communicating with you, and we determine that, in our professional judgment, your consent to receive treatment is clearly inferred from the circumstance.
We may contact you to provide appointment reminders or information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.