NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
This notice of privacy practices identifies the general ways your protected health information can be used or disclosed. Protected health information is the individually identifiable personal health information found in your medical and billing records. This information is created or received by a health care provider, insurance company, or employer, and relates to your past, present, or future physical or mental health conditions. This information can be transmitted or maintained in any form by Today’s Hearing.
This notice describes your legal rights regarding your health information. It also informs you of the legal duties and privacy practices of Today’s Hearing staff members with respect to health information created for services generated at Today’s Hearing. Today’s Hearing staff members are independently responsible for complying with this notice.
OUR LEGAL DUTIES
We are required by law to keep your identifiable health information private, provide you with this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your health information, and follow the terms of the notice while it is in effect.
HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION
The following information describes how we are permitted, or required by law, to use and disclose your health information. Not every use or disclosure in a category will be listed.
Treatment: We may disclose medical information about you to those who may be involved in your medical care outside of Today’s Hearing, such as physicians and others who provide you with follow-up care and medical equipment or product suppliers. We may contact you to provide appointment reminders and with information about health-related benefits and services at Today’s Hearing, or treatment alternatives that may be of interest to you.
Payment: We may use or disclose your medical information to obtain payment for services we provide to you. We may disclose your medical information to another health care provider or entity.
Authorization for Other Disclosures: We may use or disclose health information about you for the health care operations of Today’s Hearing. Health care operations include quality and service improvement: health care delivery review; staff performance evaluation: competence or qualification review of health care professionals; education and training of physicians and other health care providers; and business planning and development, business management and general administrative activities.
Family and Friends: We may use or disclose information to notify or assist in notifying a family member, personal representative, or other person responsible for your care, of your location and general condition. We also will disclose health information to a family member, other relative, close personal friend, or any other person you identify, if the information is relevant to that person’s involvement with your care or payment for your care. You can prohibit disclosure of this information.
Public Health and Safety: We may use or disclose health information, as authorized or required by local, state or federal law, for the following purposes deemed to be in the public interest or benefit:
- To report certain diseases and wounds, births and deaths, and suspected cases of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence
- To help identify, locate, or report criminal suspects, crime victims, suspicious deaths, or criminal conduct on Today’s Hearing premises
- To respond to a court order, subpoena, or other judicial process
- To assist federal disaster relief efforts
- To enable product recalls, repairs, or replacements
- To respond to an audit, inspection, or investigation by a health-related government agency
- To assist in federal intelligence, counterintelligence, and national security issues
- To assist coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors
- To respond to a request from your military command authority
- To provide information to a workers’ compensation program
Business Associates: There are some services provided at Today’s Hearing through contracts with business associates. When these services are contracted, we will disclose your health information to the business associate so they can perform the job we have asked them to do. However, we require the business associate to protect your information.
Confidential Communications: You have the right to request that we communicate health information to you by an alternate means or location other than your home address and telephone number. Your request must be made in writing to Today’s Hearing and must specify how or where you wish to be contacted. We will try to accommodate your request for alternate communications.
Revisions of this Notice: We reserve the right to change this notice, and the right to make the new provisions effective for all health information we currently maintain, as well as any information we receive in the future. If we make a major change to this notice, the revised notice will be posted at Today’s Hearing and on our website. In addition, a paper copy of the revised notice will be available upon request.
To Report a Complaint: If you believe your health information privacy rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with us or with the State Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at 1100 West 49th Street, Austin, TX 78756-3183, or by phone at (512)834-6627. There will not be any penalty or retaliation against you for making a complaint to us or to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Last update: May 2022