Stephen M. Howell, M.D. - Specializing in Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine

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HIPAA PRIVACY NOTICE

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.

WHO MUST FOLLOW THIS NOTICE?

Steven J. Barad, M.D. and Stephen M. Howell, M.D. Orthopedic Surgery Provides you (the patient) with health care by working with doctors and many other health care providers (referred to as we, our, or us). This is a joint notice of our information privacy practices. The following people or groups will follow this notice:

Any health care provider who comes to Orthopedic Surgery to care for you. These professionals include doctors, nurses, technicians, physician assistants and others.
All departments and units of our organization, including skilled nursing, home health, clinics, outpatient services, mobile units, hospice, and emergency departments.
Our employees, contractors, students and volunteers, including regional support offices and affiliates.

OUR PLEDGE TO YOU
We understand that medical information about you is private and personal. We are committed to protecting it. Hospitals, doctors and other staff make a record each time you visit. This notice applies to the records of your care at Steven J. Barad, M.D. and Stephen M. Howell, M.D. Orthopedic Surgery, whether created by hospital or office staff, or your doctor. Your primary care physician or other healthcare providers may have different practices or notices about their use and sharing of medical information in their own clinics or offices. We will gladly explain this notice to you or your family member.

Law requires us to:

Keep medical information about you private.
Give you this notice describing our legal duties and privacy practices for medical information about you.
Follow the terms of the notice that is currently in effect.

HOW WE MAY USE AND SHARE YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION
This section of our notice tells how we may use medical information about you. In all cases not covered by this notice, we will get a separate written permission from you before we use or share your medical information. You can later cancel your permission by notifying us in writing.

We will protect medical information as much as we under law. Sometimes state law gives more protection to medical information than federal law. Sometimes federal law gives more protection than state law. In each case, we will apply the laws that protect medical information the most. Steven J. Barad, M.D. and Stephen M. Howell, M.D. works with Catholic Healthcare West. We may use or share medical information about you with hospital personnel at any Catholic Healthcare West hospitals or facilities for treatment, payment, and health care operations.

EXAMPLES:

Treatment: We will use and share medical information about you for purposes of treatment. An example is sending medical information about you to your doctor or a specialist as part of a referral.

Payment: We will use and share information about you so we can be paid for treating you. An example is giving information about you to your health plan or to Medicare.

Health Care Operations: We will use and share information about you for our health care operations. Examples are using information about you to improve the quality of care we give you, for disease management programs, patient satisfaction surveys, compiling medical information, de-identifying medical information and benchmarking.

Treatment options and health-related benefits and services: We may contact you about possible treatment options, health-related benefits or services that you might want.

Research: We may share your medical information for research projects, such as studying the effectiveness of a treatment you received. We will usually get your written permission to use or share medical information for research. Under certain circumstances we may share medical information about you without your written permission however these research projects must go through a special process that protects the confidentiality of your medical information.

Required by Law: We sometimes are required by law to report certain information. For example, we must report abuse or neglect. We also must give information to your employer about work-related illness, injury or work-related surveillance. Another example is that we will share information about tumors with tumor registries for their research purposes.

Public Safety: We may, and sometimes have to share medical information about you in order to prevent or lessen a serious threat to health or safety of a particular person or general public.

Health Oversight Activities: We may share medical information about you for health oversight activities, audits or inspections.

Judicial Proceedings: We may use or share medical information about you in response to court orders or subpoenas only when we have followed procedures required by law.

Law Enforcement California: We may share medical information about you with police (or other law enforcement personnel) without your written permission:

If the police brings you to the office and asks for your medical information.
If the police present a valid search warrant.
If the police present a valid court order.
To report abuse, neglect, or assaults as required by law.
To report certain threats to third parties.
If you are in police custody or are an inmate of a correctional institution and the information is necessary to provide you with health care, to protect your health and safety, the health and safety of others or for the safety and security of the correctional institution.

Family Members and Others Involved in Your Care: Unless you tell us otherwise, we may share medical information about you with friends, family members, or others you have named who help with your care. We may use or share medical information about you to friends or family you have named in case of an emergency.

YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING MEDICAL INFORMATION

Requesting information about you: In most cases, when you ask in writing, you can look at or get a copy of medical information about you. We will give you a form to fill out to make the request. You can look at medical information about you for free. If you request copies of the information we may charge a fee for the cost of copying, mailing or other related supplies. If we say no to you request to look at the information or get a copy of it, you may ask us in writing for a review of that decision.

Correcting Information About You: If you believe that information about you is wrong is missing, you can ask us in writing to correct the records. We may say no to your request to correct a record if the information was not created or kept by us, or if we determine the record is complete and correct. If we say no to your request, you can ask us in writing to review that denial.

Restricting How We Use or Share Information About You: You can ask that medical information be given to you in a confidential manner. You must tell us in writing of the exact way or place for us to communicate with you. You also can ask in writing that we limit our use of sharing medical information about you. For example, you can ask that we use or share medical information about you only with persons involved with your care. We will consider your request but we may not be able to agree to it. We are not legally required to agree to your request. We will tell you of our decision on your request.

All written requests or requests for review of denials should be given to our facility.

CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE

We may change our privacy practices from time to time. Changes will apply to current medical information, as well as new information after the change occurs. If we make an important change, we will change our notice. If our notice has changed, we will give you a copy of the notice the next time you register for treatment.

DO YOU HAVE CONCERNS OR COMPLAINTS?
If you think your privacy rights may have been violated, you may contact our office. You may also send a written complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights. Our office will provide you the address. We will not take any action against you for filing a complaint.