It is the purpose of Family Doctors of Green Valley that all physicians and staff preserve the integrity and the confidentiality of all Protected Health Information (PHI) pertaining to patients by creating privacy-conscience business practices. Those practices should ensure the internal protection of medical records, employee privacy, training and education, creation of a mechanism for addressing patient privacy complaints, and the designation of Family Doctors of Green Valley’s HIPAA Privacy Officers.

Patients should not fear about providing Family Doctors of Green Valley the information that is needed for the purposes of treatment, payment and healthcare operations (TPO).

Family Doctors of Green Valley physicians and staff will:

• Adhere to the standards set forth in the Notice of Privacy Practices.
• Collect, use and disclose PHI only in conformance with State and Federal Laws
  current patient covenants and/or authorizations.
• Not use or disclose PHI for uses outside the practice’s TPO, such as marketing, employment, life insurance applications, etc. without the patient’s authorization.
• Use and disclose PHI to remind patients of their appointments only within their consent.
• Recognize that PHI collected about patients must be accurate, timely, complete and available when needed.
• Implement reasonable measures to protect the integrity of all PHI maintained about patients.
• Recognize that patients have a right to privacy. Physicians and staff shall respect the patient’s individual dignity and privacy to the extent consistent with providing the highest quality medical care possible and with the efficient administration of the facility.
• Act as responsible information stewards and treat all PHI as sensitive and confidential in accordance with professional ethics, accreditation standards and legal requirements.
• Not disclose PHI data unless the patient (or authorized representative) has consented to or authorized the release, or law otherwise authorizes the release.
• Recognized that, although Family Doctors of Green Valley owns the medical record, the patient has the right to inspect and obtain a copy of his/her PHI. Patients also have a right to request an amendment to his/her medical record if he/she believes his/her information to be inaccurate or incomplete. Family Doctors of Green Valley physicians and staff shall:
• Permit patient access to their medical records when their written requests are approved by Family Doctors of Green Valley. If a request is denied, the patient must be informed of the denial and that a review of the denial may be requested by the patient. An on-site healthcare professional will review any patient appeals.
• Provide patients with an opportunity to request the correction of inaccurate or incomplete PHI in their medical records in accordance with the law and professional standards.
• Maintain a list of all disclosures of PHI for purposes other than TPO for each patient. Family Doctors of Green Valley will provide this list to patients upon written request.
• Adhere to any restrictions concerning the use or disclosure of the PHI that patients have requested and have been approved by Family Doctors of Green Valley.

All Physicians and staff of Family Doctors of Green Valley will adhere to this policy and all as above.

Family Doctors of Green Valley reserves the right to change this privacy policy in the future as changes in the practice’s dynamics and any changes in the HIPAA rules and regulations occur. Any revisions will be made available to patients upon request.