Protecting patient privacy is an important element of the trust between our caregivers and patients and is an important legal and ethical obligation. The Washington Center for Pain Management is deeply committed to protecting our patients' rights to privacy and to safeguarding patient information. 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.
Each time you visit a hospital, physician, or another health care provider, the provider makes a record of your visit. Typically, this record contains your health history, current symptoms, examination, test results, diagnosis, treatment and plan for future care or treatment. This information, often referred to as your medical record, serves as the following:
Understanding what is in your health record and how your Health Information is used helps you to:
In addition to providing you your rights as detailed below, the federal privacy standard required us to take the following measures:
We will not use or disclose your Health Information without your consent or authorization, except as described in this notice or otherwise required by law. Other uses and disclosure not described in this notice will be made only with your written authorization.
Uses and Disclosures of your Health Information:
The following are examples of the types of uses and disclosures of your Health Information that The Washington Center for Pain Management is legally permitted to make.
Uses and Disclosures of Health Information for Treatment, Payment and Operations
Your Health Information may be used and disclosed by your physician and The Washington Center for Pain Management staff who are involved in your care and treatment. Your Health Information may also be used and disclosed as necessary for The Washington Center for Pain Management to obtain reimbursement for care provided to you and to support the operation of our practice.
Treatment:
The Washington Center for Pain Management may use your Health Information to provide and manage your health care. If we refer you for treatment or consultation outside The Washington Center for Pain Management—for example to another clinician or hospital—we will provide that health care provider with the necessary information to diagnose or treat you. We believe this type of sharing is critical in providing you the very best in health care and is necessary given the complexities of various illnesses and health conditions. We will also provide your physician, other health care professionals, or a subsequent health care provider copies of your records to assist them in treating you once we are no longer treating you.
Payment:
The Washington Center for Pain Management may use and disclose your Health Information, as needed, to obtain payment for health care services. We may disclose information to your health plan or other third party payer in order to make sure your treatment is approved, to verify eligibility or coverage for insurance benefits, and to permit the payer to review services provided to you for medical necessity. For example, we may send a bill to you or to a third-party payer, such as health insurer. The information on or accompanying the bill may include information that identifies you, your diagnosis, treatment received and supplies used.
Health Care Operations:
The Washington Center for Pain Management may use or disclose your Health Information in order to conduct its business of providing health care. These "health care operations" may include quality assessment, training of medical staff, credentialing and various other activities that are necessary to run our practice and to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of the care that we deliver to you.
Other Permitted and Required Uses and Disclosures of Your Health Information:
In addition to treatment, payment and health care operations, there are other circumstances in which The Washington Center for Pain Management is either permitted or required to disclose your Health Information, in accordance with applicable law.
Involvement of Others in Your Health Care:
The Washington Center for Pain Management will make an effort to ask you if we may share relevant Health Information about you with family members or any other person you identify. If you are not present, unable to communicate, or in an emergency situation, The Washington Center for Pain Management staff may exercise their professional judgment to determine whether to share this information. In addition, we may need to disclose Health Information to notify a family member, or any other person responsible for your care, of your location, general condition or death. Finally, The Washington Center for Pain Management may disclose your Health Information to an authorized public or private entity to assist in disaster relief efforts, and to coordinate efforts to notify someone on your behalf. Please be assured we will only do so if absolutely necessary and in the event of an emergency or disaster.
Marketing/Continuity of Care:
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. If we contact you to provide marketing information for other products or services, you have the right to opt out of receiving such communications. If we receive compensation from another entity for marketing, we must obtain your signed authorization.
Communication with Family:
Unless you object, we, as healthcare professionals, using our best judgment, may disclose to a family member, another relative, a close personal friend, or any other person that you identify as relevant involvement to your overall health information, care management or payment options.
Public Health:
The Washington Center for Pain Management may disclose your Health Information for public health activities, including the following:
Victims of Abuse, Neglect or Domestic Violence:
If The Washington Center for Pain Management reasonably believes you are a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence, The Washington Center for Pain Management may disclose your Health Information to an appropriate agency authorized by law to receive such reports.
Health Oversight:
The Washington Center for Pain Management may be required to disclose Health Information to a health oversight agency for audits, investigations, inspections, and other health oversight activities. Oversight agencies include government agencies that oversee the health care system, government benefit programs, other government regulatory programs and civil rights laws.
Legal Proceedings:
The Washington Center for Pain Management may be required to disclose Health Information in the course of any judicial or administrative proceeding in response to a legal order or other lawful process, including a subpoena.
Law Enforcement:
The Washington Center for Pain Management may be required to disclose Health Information for law enforcement purposes or in response to a valid subpoena.
Coroners, Funeral Directors, and Organ Donation:
The Washington Center for Pain Management may be required to disclose Health Information to a coroner or medical examiner to identify a deceased person or to determine the cause of death. We may also disclose Health Information to a funeral director, or their designee, as necessary to carry out their duties. Health Information may also be disclosed to organizations that facilitate organ, eye or tissue donation and transplantation.
Correctional Institution:
If you are an inmate of a correctional institution, we may disclose to the institution or agents thereof Health Information necessary for your health and the health and safety of other individuals.
Research:
The Washington Center for Pain Management may use or disclose Health Information for research that is approved by an Institutional Review Board when written permission is not required by Federal or State law. This may include preparing for research or telling you about research studies in which you might be interested.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA):
The Washington Center for Pain Management may disclose to the FDA Health Information relative to adverse effects/events with respect to food, drugs, supplements, product or product defects or postmarking surveillance information to enable product recalls, repairs or replacement.
Specialized Government Functions:
Under certain circumstances, The Washington Center for Pain Management may be required to disclose Health Information to units of the government with special functions, such as the U.S. military or the U.S. Department of State.
Workers' Compensation:
The Washington Center for Pain Management may use and disclose Health Information as required to comply with workers' compensation laws, and other programs that provide benefits for work-related injuries or illnesses.
Business Associates:
We provide some services through contracts with business associates. When we use these services, we may disclose your Health Information to the business associates so that we can perform the function(s) that we have contracted with them to do and to bill you or third-party payer for services provided. To protect your Health Information, however, we require the business associates to appropriately safeguard your information. After February 17, 2010, business associates must comply with the same federal security rules as we do.
Required By Law:
The Washington Center for Pain Management may be required to use or disclose your Health Information to the extent that the use or disclosure is required by federal, state or local law. This includes any other law not already referred to in the preceding categories. The use or disclosure will be made in compliance with the law and will be limited to the relevant requirements of the law.
Uses and Disclosures of Health Information Based upon Your Written Authorization:
Uses and disclosures of your Health Information, other than those described above, will be made only with your written authorization. For example, you will need to sign an authorization form before The Washington Center for Pain Management can send your Health Information to your life insurance company. With limited exceptions, we will also obtain your written authorization prior to using your Health Information for marketing purposes. You may revoke your authorization at any time, in writing, except to the extent that The Washington Center for Pain Management has taken any action in reliance on the authorization.
Health Information Exchange (HIE):
The Washington Center for Pain Management currently participates in a health information exchange (HIE), which ultimately helps enhance the quality of your care. The goal of the HIE is to help participating physicians and providers give better, more efficient care to their patients by the sharing of health information across secure systems. This means that wherever a patient goes, the patient’s health information may be available to all doctors who use the HIE, which helps to provide safer, more coordinated patient care. Washington Center for Pain Management currently utilizes Carequality and Commonwell to access and share your health information with other participants of the HIE for treatment purposes and for payment of treatment services. These HIE platforms allow any health information organization that participates in HIE to have secure electronic access to patients’ records.
You may opt out of the Health Information Exchange by doing one of the following:
For more information and to view participating healthcare organizations, please visit the health exchange partnership websites below:
Your Individual Rights:
Although your medical record at The Washington Center for Pain Management is The Washington Center for Pain Management's property, the Health Information it contains belongs to you. The following is a statement of your rights with respect to your Health Information and a brief description of how you may exercise these rights:
Right to Inspection:
You have the right to inspect and obtain a copy of your Health Information. At any time, you may inspect and obtain a copy of Health Information about you, including your medical and billing record, which may be used to make decisions about your care. Under limited circumstances we may limit your access to all or certain portions of your record. This includes, but is not limited to, psychotherapy "process" notes, or information compiled in reasonable anticipation of, or use in, a civil, criminal, or administrative action or proceeding. If you are denied access to portions of your record, in some circumstances you may have a right to have this decision reviewed. All requests to access your record must be made in writing to the Medical Records department and will be processed in accordance with 45 C.F.R. 164.524 and Wash. Rev. Code Ann. 70.02.080. If you request a copy of your records, we may charge you a fee to cover the copying and mailing costs, including related labor and supplies expenses, in compliance with the above cited regulations.
Right to Correct:
You have the right to request an amendment of your Health Information. You may request The Washington Center for Pain Management to amend your treatment and billing information if you think the information is incorrect or incomplete, for as long as The Washington Center for Pain Management maintains the information. If for some reason we deny your request, we must give you a written statement with the reasons for the denial and what other steps are available to you. We will respond to your request within the timeline permitted under 45 C.F.R. 164.526 and Wash. Rev. Code Ann. 70.02.100 (if your form is not complete, we will let you know what needs to be completed). If you have questions about amending your medical record, please don't hesitate to contact the Privacy Officer or any registration staff to discuss amendments to your billing records.
Right to Restrict:
You have the right to request a restriction of your Health Information. You have the right to ask for restrictions on the use and sharing of your Health Information for treatment, payment, or health care operations. The Washington Center for Pain Management is not required to agree to your request, except if you pay for a service entirely out-of- pocket. If you pay for a service entirely out-of- pocket, you may request that information regarding the service be withheld and not provided to a third party payor for purposes of payment or health care operations. We are obligated by law to abide by such restriction. If we do, we must put the restriction in writing and abide by it except if you need to be treated in an emergency. You may not ask us to restrict uses and sharing of information that we are legally required to make. All requests must be in writing to The Washington Center for Pain Management's Privacy Officer.
Right to Confidential Communication:
You have the right to request to receive communications from us by alternative means or at an alternative location. We will make every effort to accommodate requests, provided you supply a valid alternative address or other method of contact. The Privacy Officer will handle all requests. In certain cases, we may need to contact you and may do so at the original address or phone number, if attempts to contact you at the alternative locations are not successful.
Right to Accounting:
You have the right to receive an accounting of certain disclosures we have made, if any, of your Health Information. This right applies to disclosures for purposes other than treatment, payment, or health care operations as described in this Notice. It does not apply to disclosures we may have made to you, that were authorized by you, information provided to family members or friends about your care, or for notification purposes. The right to receive this information is subject to certain exceptions, restrictions, and limitations. Requests must be made to our Privacy Officer, and we will respond to your request within 60 days.
Right to Consent:
You have the right to revoke your consent or authorization to use or disclose Health Information in writing, except to the extent that we have taken action in reliance on the consent or authorization.
Right to Paper Notice:
You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this notice. We will provide a paper copy of this Notice to you, upon request, even if you have agreed to accept this notice electronically.
Right to Assign Authority:
If you have given someone medical power of attorney or if someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights and make choices about your health information. We will make sure the person has this authority and can act for you before we take any action.
Right to Complaint:
You can complain if you feel we have violated your rights by contacting us using the information on page 1. You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by sending a letter to 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, calling 1-877- 696-6775, or visiting www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.
Effective Date:
This Notice is effective on May 1, 2012, and was updated on October 22, 2018.
Changes to this Notice:
This Notice of Privacy Practice is subject to change; we may change our practices concerning how we use or disclose patient medical information or how we will implement patient rights concerning their information. We reserve the right to change this Notice and to make the provisions in our new notice effective for all medical information we maintain. If we change these practices, we will publish a revised Notice of Privacy Practices. You can get a copy of our current notice of Privacy Practices at any time from our website: www.washingtonpain.com.