Disclosures

Discrimination is Against the Law

Piedmont Dental complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. Piedmont Dental does not exclude people or treat them differently because of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex.

Piedmont Dental:

• Provides free aids and services to people with disabilities to communicate effectively with us, such as:
  Qualified sign language interpreters
  Written information in other formats (large print, audio, accessible electronic formats, other formats)
• Provides free language services to people whose primary language is not English, such as:
  Qualified interpreters
  Information written in other languages

If you need these services, contact Mary Johnson.

If you believe that Piedmont Dental has failed to provide these services or discriminated in another way on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex, you can file a grievance with: Mary Johnson, 2860 Piedmont Ave., Duluth, MN, 218-722-0823 (phone), 218-722-7635 (fax), or email at administrator@piedmontheightsdental.com. You can file a grievance in person or by mail, fax, or email. If you need help filing a grievance, Mary Johnson is available to help you.

You can also file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, electronically through the Office for Civil Rights Complaint Portal, available at https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/portal/lobby.jsf, or by mail or phone at:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Room 509F, HHH Building
Washington, D.C. 20201
1-800-368-1019, 800-537-7697 (TDD)
Complaint forms are available at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/office/file/index.html.

Piedmont Dental complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex.

Piedmont Dental

Notice of Privacy Practices

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY. THE PRIVACY OF YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION IS IMPORTANT TO US.

Our Legal Duty

We are required by applicable federal and state law to maintain the privacy of your protected health information. We are also required to give you this Notice about our privacy practices, our legal duties, and your rights concerning your protected health information. We must follow the privacy practices that are described in this Notice while it is in effect. This Notice takes effect March 1, 2018, 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. We reserve the right to make the changes in our privacy practices and the new terms of our Notice effective for all health information that we maintain, including health information we created or received before we made the changes. Before we make a significant change in our privacy practices, we will change this Notice and provide the new Notice at our practice location, and we will distribute it upon request.

You may request a copy of our Notice at any time. For more information about our privacy practices, or for additional copies of this Notice, please contact us using the information listed at the end of this Notice.

Your Authorization: In addition to our use of your health information for the following purposes, you may give us written authorization to use your health information or to disclose it to anyone for any purpose. If you give us 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 was 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.

Uses and Disclosures of Health Information

We use and disclose health information about you without authorization for the following purposes:

Treatment: We may use or disclose your health information for your treatment. For example, we may disclose your health information to a physician or other healthcare provider providing treatment to you.

Payment: We may use and disclose your health information to obtain payment for services we provide to you. For example, we may send claims to your dental health plan containing certain health information.

Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose your health information in connection with our healthcare operations. For example, healthcare operations include quality assessment and improvement activities, reviewing the competence or qualifications of healthcare professionals, evaluating practitioner and provider performance, conducting training programs, accreditation, certification, licensing or credentialing activities.

To You or Your Personal Representative: We must disclose your health information to you, as described in the Patient Rights section of this Notice. We may disclose your health information to your personal representative, but only if you agree that we may do so.

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 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. In the event of your absence or incapacity or in emergency circumstances, we will disclose health information based upon a determination using our professional judgment and our experience with common practice to make reasonable inferences of your best interest in allowing a person to pick up filled prescriptions, medical supplies, x-rays, or other similar forms of health information.

Business Associates: We may disclose health information to our business associates that perform functions on our behalf or provide us with services if the information is necessary for such function or services. For example, we may use another company to perform billing services on our behalf. All of our business associates are obligated to protect the privacy of your health information and are not allowed to use or disclose any information other than as specified in our business associate agreements.

Disaster Relief: We may use or disclose your health information to assist in disaster relief efforts.

Marketing Health-Related Services: We will not use your health information for marketing communications without your written authorization.

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

Health Oversight Activities: We may disclose health information to a health oversight agency for activities required by law. Examples of oversight activities may include, but are not limited to, audits, investigations, inspections, and licensure.

Data Breach Notification Purposes: We may use or disclose your Protected Health Information to provide legally required notices of unauthorized access to or disclosure of your health information.

Public Health & Public Benefit: We may use or disclose your health information to report abuse, neglect, or domestic violence; to report disease, injury, and vital statistics; to report certain information to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); to alert someone who may be at risk of contracting or spreading a disease; for health oversight activities; for certain judicial and administrative proceedings; for certain law enforcement purposes; to avert a serious threat to health or safety; and to comply with worker’s compensation or similar programs.

Decedents: We may disclose health information about a decedent as authorized or required by law.

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. We may disclose to correctional institutions or law enforcement official having lawful custody the protected health information of an inmate or patient under certain circumstances.

Appointment Reminders: We may use or disclose your health information to provide you with appointment reminders (such as voicemail messages, postcards, letters, or electronic messages). You may request not to be reminded of your appointments by notifying our office using the contact information at the end of this Notice.

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. We will use the format you request unless we cannot practicably do so. You must make the request in writing to obtain access to your health information. You may obtain a form to request by using the contact information at the end of this Notice. You may also request access by sending us a letter to the address at the end of this Notice. We may charge you a reasonable cost based fee for the cost of supplies and labor of copying. We may charge you postage fees in addition if you request you want the copies mailed to you. If you request an alternative format, we may charge a cost based fee for providing your health information in that format. If you prefer, we will prepare a summary or an explanation of your health information for a fee. Contact us using the information listed at the end of this Notice for a full explanation of our current fee structure.

Disclose Accounting: You have the right to receive a list of instances in which we or our business associates disclose your health information for purposes other than treatment, payment, healthcare operations, and certain other activities, for the last six years, but not before April 14, 2003. 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. In most cases we are not required to agree to these additional restrictions, but if we do, we will abide by our agreement (except in certain circumstances where disclosure is required or permitted, such as an emergency, for public health activities, or when disclosure is required by law). We must comply with a request to restrict the disclosure of protected health information to a health plan for purposes of carrying out payment or healthcare operations (as defined by HIPAA) if the protected health information pertains solely to a health care item or service for which we have been paid out of pocket in full.

Alternative Communication: You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations. You must make your request in writing. Your request must specify the alternative means or location, and provide satisfactory explanation of how payments will be handled under the alternative means or location you request.

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.

Electronic Notice: You may receive a paper copy of this Notice upon request, even if you have agreed to receive this Notice electronically on our Web site or by electronic mail (e-mail).

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 or in response to a request you made to amend or restrict the use or disclosure of your health information or to have us communicate with you by alternative means or at alternative locations, you may complain to us using the contact information listed at the end of this Notice. You also may submit a written complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will provide you with the address to file your complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services upon request.

We support your right to privacy of your health information. We will not retaliate in any way if you choose to file a complaint with us or with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

Contact Officer: Mary Johnson, Administrator

Telephone: (218) 722-0823

E-mail: administrator@piedmontheightsdental.com

Address: 2860 Piedmont Avenue Duluth, MN 55811

Fax: (218)722-7635