South Tampa Psychiatry Privacy Policy

THIS IS THE WEBSITE OF SOUTH TAMPA PSYCHIATRY

South Tampa Psychiatry collects health information about you and stores it in an electronic health record. This is your medical record. The medical record is the property of South Tampa Psychiatry, but the information in the medical record belongs to you. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires South Tampa Psychiatry to maintain the privacy of your medical record. HIPAA generally requires that any uses or disclosures of information in your medical record be limited to the minimum necessary to the purposes of the uses or disclosures. HIPAA also provides you certain rights with respect to the information in your medical record which are described below.

We collect the e-mail addresses of those who communicate with us via e-mail, or through information volunteered by the consumer, such as survey information and/or site registrations. The information we collect is used to improve the content of our Web page and services. It is not shared with other organizations for commercial purposes. We do not set any cookies.
If you do not want to receive e-mail from us in the future, please let us know by sending an e-mail.

If you supply us with your postal address on-line you may receive periodic mailings from us with information on new products and services or upcoming events. If you do not wish to receive such mailings, please let us know by calling us. Please provide us with your exact name and address. We will be sure your name is removed from the list.

Persons who supply us with their telephone numbers on-line may receive telephone contact from us with information regarding new products and services or upcoming events. If you do not wish to receive such telephone calls, please let us know by sending us e-mail or calling. Please provide us with your name and phone number.

With respect to Ad Servers: We do not partner with or have special relationships with any ad server companies.

From time to time, we may use customer information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in our privacy notice. If our information practices change at some time in the future we will post the policy changes to our Web site to notify you of these changes and provide you with the ability to opt out of these new uses. If you are concerned about how your information is used, you should check back at our Web site periodically. Customers may prevent their information from being used for purposes other than those for which it was originally collected by calling us at the number provided above.

Upon request we provide site visitors with access to contact information (e.g., name, address, phone number) that we maintain about them. Consumers can access this information by writing to us at the above address. With respect to security: We have appropriate security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of information that we have collected from you at our site. If you feel that this site is not following its stated information policy, you may contact us at the above addresses or phone number.

Notice Of Privacy Practices

Please review this notice carefully – the privacy of your PHI is important to us.

OUR LEGAL DUTY:

We are required by applicable federal and state laws to maintain the privacy of your protected health information. PHI is information that may identify you and that relates to your past, present, or future physical or mental health/condition and related health care services. We will not use or disclose PHI about you without your written authorization – except as described in this notice.

We are required to give this notice about privacy practices, our legal duties, and your rights concerning your PHI. We must follow the privacy practices that are described in this notice while it is in effect.

This notice took effect on August 4, 2005 and will remain in effect until we replace it. We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of this notice at any time – provided such changes are permitted by applicable law. In the event we make a material change in our privacy practice, we will change this notice and provide it to you.

USES AND DISCLOSURES OF HEALTH INFORMATION:

We use and disclose protected information about you for treatment, payment, and healthcare/program operations as follows:

YOUR AUTHORIZATION:

In addition to our use of your PHI for treatment, payment or healthcare/program operations you may give us written authorization to use your PHI or to disclose it for any purpose. If you give us an authorization, you may revoke it in writing at any time (except where required by court-ordered services). Your revocation will not affect any use or disclosure permitted by your authorization while it was in effect. Unless you give us written authorization, we cannot use or disclose your PHI for any reason except those described in this notice.

TREATMENT:

We may use or disclose your PHI to the referral source for purposes of treatment planning and coordination, reporting compliance/non-compliance issues, and referral to another additional service provider.

PAYMENT:

We may use or disclose your PHI to obtain payment for services we provide to you. This may include such activities as verification of coverage and billing/collection activities and related data processing.

HEALTHCARE/PROGRAM OPERATIONS:

We may use or disclose your PHI in connection with our healthcare program operations. This may include such activities as quality assessment and improvement activities, reviewing the competence and/or qualifications of healthcare/program professionals, evaluating provider performance, conducting training programs, and accreditation, certification, licensing and/or credentialing activities.

REQUIRED BY LAW:

We may use or disclose your PHI when we are required to do so by law – including judicial and administrative proceedings.

ABUSE OR NEGLECT:

We may disclose your PHI to appropriate authorities if we reasonably believe that you are a possible victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence or the possible victim of other crimes. We may also disclose your PHI to the extent necessary to avert a serious threat to your health or safety or the health or safety of others – including, if we have good reason to believe that you are engaging in child or elder abuse.

NATIONAL SECURITY:

We may disclose to authorized federal officials PHI required for lawful intelligence, counterintelligence, or other national security activities. We may disclose to correctional institutions or law enforcement officials having lawful custody of PHI under certain circumstances.

APPOINTMENT REMINDERS AND TERMINATION NOTICES:

We may use or disclose your PHI to provide you with appointment reminders or to advise you that you are at risk for program termination. Such activities may include voicemail messages and letters.

For further information about South Tampa Psychiatry’s privacy policies or related questions, please direct to Director of Quality and Compliance.