Notice of Privacy Practices

The privacy of your health information is important to us.

Our Legal Duty

Your "health information" for the purposes of this Notice, is generally any information that identifies you and is created, received, maintained, or transmitted by us in the course of providing health care items or services to you.

We are required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and other federal and state laws to maintain the privacy of your health information. We are also required to provide this notice about our office's privacy practices, our legal duties and your rights regarding your health information. We are required to follow the practices that are outlined in this notice while it is in effect. This notice takes effect February 1, 2022 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. Before we make a significant change in our privacy practices, we will change this notice and make the new notice available upon request.

Uses and Disclosures of Health Information

We use and disclose health information about you for treatment, payment, and health care operations. For example:

Treatment

We disclose medical information to our employees and others who are involved in providing the care you need. We may use or disclose your health information to another optometrist, ophthalmologist, or other health care providers providing treatment that we do not provide. We may also share your health information with a pharmacist in order to provide you with a prescription or with a laboratory that performs tests or fabricates glasses or provides contact lenses.

Payment

We may use and disclose your health information to obtain payment for services we provide to you, unless you request that we restrict such disclosure to your health plan when you have paid out-of-pocket and in full for services rendered.

Required by Law

We may use or disclose your health information when we are required to do so by law.

Health Care Operations

We may use and disclose your health information in connection with our health care operations. Health care operations include, but are not limited to, quality assessment and improvement activities, reviewing the competence or qualifications of health care professionals, evaluating practitioner and provider performance, conducting training programs, accreditation, certification, licensing or credentialing activities.

Your Authorization

In addition to our use of your health information for treatment, payment or health care operations, you may give us written authorization to use your health information or to disclose it to anyone for any purpose. If you give us an authorization, you may revoke it in writing at any time. Your revocation will not affect any use or disclosures permitted by your authorization while it is in effect. Unless you give us a written authorization, we cannot use or disclose your health information for any reason except those described in this notice.

To Your Family and Friends

We must disclose your health information to you, as described in the Patient Rights section of this notice. You have the right to request restrictions on disclosure to family members, other relatives, close personal friends or any other person identified by you.

Unsecured Email

We will not send you unsecured emails pertaining to your health information without your prior authorization. If you do authorize communications via unsecured email, you have the right to revoke the authorization at any time.

Persons Involved in Care

We may use or disclose health information to notify, or assist in the notification of (including identifying or locating) a family member, your personal representative or another person responsible for your care, of your location, your general condition or your death. If you are present, then prior to use or disclosure of your health information, we will provide you with an opportunity to object to such uses or disclosures.

Change of Ownership

If this optometry practice is sold or merged with another practice or organization, your health records will become the property of the new owner. However, you may request that copies of your health information be transferred to another optometry practice.

Marketing Health-Related Services

We may contact you about products or services related to your treatment, case management or care coordination or to propose other treatments or health-related benefits and services in which you may be interested. We will not otherwise use or disclose your health information for marketing purposes without your written authorization.

Public Health

We may, and are sometimes legally obligated to, disclose your health information to public health agencies for purposes related to preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability; reporting abuse or neglect; reporting domestic violence; reporting to the Food and Drug Administration problems with products and reactions to medications; and reporting disease or infection exposure.

Abuse or Neglect

We may disclose your health information 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 disclose your health information to the extent necessary to avert a serious threat to your health or safety or the health or safety of others.

National Security

We may disclose to military authorities the health information of Armed Forces personnel under certain circumstances. We may disclose to authorized federal officials health information required for lawful intelligence, counterintelligence and other national security activities.

Appointment Reminders

We may contact you to provide you with appointment reminders via voicemail, postcards or letters. We may also leave a message with the person answering the phone if you are not available.

Sign-In Sheet and Announcement

Upon arriving at our office, we may use and disclose medical information about you by asking that you sign an intake sheet at our front desk. We may also announce your name when we are ready to see you.

Patient Rights

Access

You have the right to look at or get copies of your health information, with limited exceptions. You may request that we provide copies in a format other than photocopies. You must make a request in writing to obtain access to your health information. We will charge you a reasonable cost-based fee for expenses such as copies and staff time.

Disclosure Accounting

You have a right to receive a list of instances in which we disclosed your health information for purposes other than treatment, payment, health care operations and certain other activities for the last six years. If you request this accounting more than once in a 12-month period, we may charge you a reasonable cost-based fee for responding to these additional requests.

Restriction

You have the right to request that we place additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your health information. We are not required to agree to these additional restrictions, but if we do, we will abide by our agreement (except in an emergency). In the event you pay out-of-pocket and in full for services rendered, you may request that we not share your health information with your health plan. We must agree to this request.

Alternative Communication

You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your health information by alternative means or to alternative locations. You must make your request in writing.

Breach Notification

In the event your unsecured protected health information is breached, we will notify you as required by law. In some situations, you may be notified by our business associates.

Amendment

You have the right to request that we amend your health information. Your request must be in writing, and it must explain why the information should be amended. We may deny your request under certain circumstances.

Research

Your health information may be disclosed to researchers for research purposes. In this situation, written authorization is not required as approved by an Institutional Review Board or privacy board.

Questions and Complaints

If you want more information about our privacy practices or have questions or concerns, please contact us:

If you are concerned that we may have violated your privacy rights, or you disagree with a decision we made about access to your health information, you may send a written complaint to our office or to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

Nanar Hovasapian, O.D. complies with applicable federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability or sex.