Notice of the Privacy Practices of North Palm Seniors, Inc.

North Palm Seniors, Inc. (NPS) knows that the privacy of your personal information is important to you. This notice describes how protected health information (PHI) about you may be used and disclosed, how you may gain access to this information, and the measures taken to safeguard your information. Please review it carefully.

USE AND DISCLOSURE OF HEALTH INFORMATION
Protected health information (PHI) may be used for purposes of making or obtaining payment for your care, and for conducting health care operations. NPS has a policy to guard against unnecessary disclosure of your health information. For purposes of this notice, protected health information refers to any information that is considered protected as defined in the Privacy Rule of the Administrative Simplification provision of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

The following is a summary of the circumstances under which and purposes for which your health information may be used and disclosed:

To make or obtain payment. NPS may provide information regarding your coverage or health care treatment to health plans to coordinate payment of benefits.

To conduct health care operations. NPS may use or disclose health information for her own operations to facilitate the administration of counseling services and as necessary to provide coverage and services for participants. Health care operations include activities such as:
Supervision and review of cases to provide consultation, recommendations, and assistance in providing services to individuals. In reviewing cases, identifying information is strictly confidential, though general health information may be shared.

When legally required. NPS will disclose your health information when it is required to do so by any federal, state, or local law. In all cases of abuse of children and vulnerable adults. In accordance with criteria listed in 39 and 415 of the Florida Statutes (F.S.)., all child abuse and abuse of vulnerable adults must be reported to the Florida Abuse Hotline of the Department of Children and Families.

Danger to self or others. If you or someone known to NPS is in imminent danger of hurting yourself or others, this information may be reported to the proper authorities.

To conduct health oversight activities. NPS may disclose your health information to a health oversight agency for authorized activities including audits, civil, administrative, or criminal investigations, inspections, licensure or disciplinary activities. NPS; however, may not disclose your health information if you are the subject of an investigation and the investigation does not arise out of or is not directly related to your receipt of health care or public benefits.

In connection with judicial and administrative proceeding. As permitted or required by state law, NPS, may disclose your health information in the course of any judicial or administrative proceeding in response to an order of a court, discovery request or other lawful process, but only when reasonable effort is made to either notify you about the request or to obtain an order protecting your health information.

For law enforcement purposes. As permitted or required by state law, NPS may disclose your health information to law enforcement officials for certain law enforcement purposes.

In the event of serious threat to health or safety. NPS may, consistent with applicable law and ethical standards of conduct, disclose your health information if, in good faith, it is believed that such a disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety or to the health or safety of the public.

Confidentiality of e-mail, cell phone, video, text and faxes communication: It is very important to be aware that e-mail or cell phone communication or texting can be relatively easily accessed by unauthorized people and hence the privacy and confidentiality of such communication can be compromised. E-mails in particular are vulnerable to such unauthorized access due to the fact that servers have unlimited and direct access to all e-mails that may go through them. Faxes can easily be sent erroneously to the wrong address. Please notify NPS at the beginning of treatment if you decide to avoid or limit the use of all of the above mentioned communication devices. Please do not use e-mail or faxes in the case of an emergency or for transmitting PHI. This also applies to Telehealth/Teletherapy video conferencing therapy services. For Teletherapy services, we offer a HIPAA compliant platform for virtual therapy video conferencing therapy via doxy.me

DUTIES OF NPS
NPS is required by law to maintain the privacy of your health information as set forth in this notice and to provide to you this notice. NPS reserves the right to change the terms of this notice and to make the new notice provisions effective for all health information maintained. If revisions are made to these policies and procedures, the new notice will be provided to you within 60 days of the change. You have the right to express complaints to NPS and to the Florida Department of Health at http://www.doh.state.fl.us/mqa/. You have specific rights regarding the privacy of your information. You will not be retaliated against in any way for filing a complaint.

CONTACT INFORMATION
For more information or for further explanation of this document, you may contact NPS at 561.907.7172 or in writing to 11420 US Highway 1 #172, North Palm Beach, FL 33408.

AUTHORIZATION TO USE OR DISCLOSE HEALTH INFORMATION
Other than stated above, NPS will not disclose your health information without your written authorization. If you authorize NPS to use or disclose your health information, you may revoke that authorization in writing at any time.

YOUR RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION
You have the following rights regarding your health information that NPS maintains:

Right to request restrictions. You may request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of your health information. You have the right to request a limit on the disclosure of your health information to someone involved in the payment of your care. However, NPS is not required to agree with your request.

Right to receive confidential communications. To safeguard the confidentiality of your health information, you may request that your information be communicated in a specified manner or at a specified location.

Right to inspect and copy your health information. You have the right to inspect and copy your health information. If you request a copy of your health information, you may be charged a reasonable fee for copying, assembling and, if applicable, postage associated with your request.

Right to amend your health information. If you believe that the health information records maintained by NPS are inaccurate or incomplete, you may request that your records be amended; however, your request may be denied if the request does not include a reason to support the amendment or is not considered protected information. Your request may also be denied if the information by law is not available for your inspection or if the health information is accurate and complete.

Right to accounting. You have the right to request a list of disclosures of your health information made by NPS for any reason other than for treatment, payment, or health operations. The request should specify the time period for which you are requesting the information but may not start earlier than April 25, 2012. Accounting requests may not be made for periods of time going back more than seven (7) years. NPS will provide the first accounting you request during any 12 month period without charge. Subsequent accounting requests may be subject to a reasonable fee.

Updated 11/20/2020