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Privacy Policy

Vital Care of South Dallas Privacy Policy

Notice of Privacy Practices

Valuable information about your rights and our responsibilities

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED, AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY.

State Notice of Privacy Practices

When it comes to managing your personal health information, (PHI,) we follow relevant state laws, which are sometimes stricter than the federal HIPAA privacy law. This notice explains your rights and our duties under state law.

Your state may give you additional rights to limit sharing your health information. Please contact Vital Care of South Dallas Privacy at:

Vital Care of South Dallas
Dr. Kristi Kubosh
Privacy Officer, Privacy Office
945.212.3707
950 E. Belt Line Road, Suite 110
Cedar Hill, TX 7521
Or you can email at: kakubosh@vitalcare.com

Your Personal Information

Your nonpublic (private) personal health information, (PHI,) identifies you. You have the right to see and correct your PHI. We may collect, use and share your PHI as described in this notice. Our goal is to protect your PHI because your information can be used to make judgments about your health, finances, character, habits, hobbies, reputation, career, and credit.

We may receive your PHI from others, such as hospitals, insurance companies, or other doctors. We may also share your PHI with others outside our company without your approval, in somecases. But we take reasonable measures to protect your information.

If an activity requires us to give you a chance to opt out, we’ll let you know, and we’ll let you know how to tell us you don’t want your PHI used or shared for an activity you can opt out of.

HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices

We keep the health and financial information of our current and former patients private as required by law and our own internal rules. We’re also required by federal law to give you this notice to explain your rights and our legal duties and privacy practices.

Your Protected Health Information

There are times we may collect, use, and share your Protected Health Information (PHI) as allowed or required by law, including the HIPAA Privacy rule. Here are examples of suchinstances:

Payment: We collect, use, and share PHI to get payment for the medical care you receive from us or share information with the doctors, clinics, and others who bill us for your care.

Healthcare Operations: We collect, use, and share PHI for our healthcare operations.

Treatment Activities: We collect, use, and share PHI to provide the care, medicine, and services you need or to help doctors, hospitals, and others get you the care you need. Examples of ways we use your information:

• We may share PHI with your other doctors or your hospital so that they may treat you.
• We may use PHI to review the quality of care and services you get.
• We may use PHI to help you with services for conditions like asthma, diabetes, or traumatic injury.
• We may collect and use publicly and/or commercially available data about you to support you and help you get available health services.
• We may use your PHI to create, use or share de-identified data as allowed by HIPAA.
• We may also use and share PHI directly or indirectly with health information exchanges for payment, healthcare operations and treatment. If you do not want your PHI to be sharedin these situations, contact Vital Care of South Dallas, Dr. Kristi Kubosh, Privacy Officerfor more information.
• We may also send you reminders about routine medical checkups and tests.
• We may share your information in an emergency or disaster relief situation.

Sharing Your PHI With You: We must give you access to your own PHI.

You may get emails that have limited PHI, such as appointment reminders. We will ask your permission and preferences for how we contact you.

Sharing Your PHI With Others: In most cases, if we use or share your PHI outside of treatment, payment, operations, or research activities, we must get your permission in writing first; We must get your written permission before:

• Using your PHI for certain marketing activities.
• Selling your PHI.
• Sharing any psychotherapy notes from your doctor or therapist.

You have the right and choice to tell us to:

Share information with your family, close friends or others involved with your current treatment or payment for your care.

Other Reasons We May Use or Share Your Information:

We are allowed, and in some cases required, to share your information in other ways, usually for the good of the public, such as public health and research. We can share your information for these specific purposes:

• Helping with public health and safety issues, such as:
o Preventing disease
o Helping with product recalls
o Reporting adverse reactions to medicines
o Reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence
o Preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety.
• Conducting health research.
• Obeying the law if it requires sharing your information.
• Responding to organ donation groups for research and certain reasons.
• Addressing workers’ compensation, law enforcement and other government requests, and alerting proper authorities if we believe you may be a victim of abuse or other crimes.
• Working with a medical examiner or funeral director.
• Communicating PHI with you respective to your infusion dates, shipments and/or brief follow up communications, notifications, infusion therapy(ies) via Email, Mail, Telephone, Text
• Responding to lawsuits and legal actions

Authorization: We will get your written permission before we use or share your PHI for any purpose not stated in this notice. You may cancel your permission at any time, in writing. We will then stop using your PHI for that purpose. If we have already used or shared your PHI with your permission, we cannot undo any actions we took before you told us to stop.

Race, Ethnicity, Language, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity: We may infer, receive,and/or maintain race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, and gender identity information about you and protect this information as described in this notice. We may use this information to help you, including identifying your specific needs, developing programs and educational materials, and offering interpretation services. We do not share this information with unauthorized persons.

 

Your Rights

Under federal law, you have the right to:

o Send us a written request to see or get a copy of your PHI, including a request for a copy of your PHI through email. Remember, there is a risk a third party could read your PHI when it’s sent unencrypted, meaning regular email. So, we will first confirm that you want to get your PHI by unencrypted email before sending it to you. We will provide you with a copy of your PHI usually within 30 days of your request, unless a more stringent state requirement applies. If we need more time, we will let you know.
o Ask that we correct your PHI that you believe is wrong or incomplete. If someone else, such as another doctor, gave us the PHI, we will let you know so you can ask him or her to correct it. We may say “no” to your request, but we will tell you why in writing within 60 days.
o Send us a written request not to use your PHI for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations activities. We may say “no” to your request, but we will tell you why in writing.
o Request confidential communications. You can ask us to send your PHI or contact you using other ways that are reasonable. Also, let us know if you want us to send your mail to a different address if sending it to your home could put you in danger.
o Send us a written request to ask us for a list of those with whom we have shared your PHI. We will usually provide you with a list within 60 days of your request. If we need more time, we will let you know.
o Ask for a restriction for services you pay for out of your own pocket: If you pay in full for any medical services out of your own pocket, you have the right to ask for a restriction. The restriction would prevent the use or sharing of that PHI for treatment, payment, or operations reasons. If a law requires sharing your information, we do not have to agree to your restriction.

 

Contact Vital Care of South Dallas Privacy at:

Vital Care of South Dallas
Privacy Officer, Privacy Office
945.212.3707
950 E. Belt Line Road, Suite 110
Cedar Hill, TX 7521
Or you can email at: kakubosh@vitalcare.com

How We Protect Information

We are dedicated to protecting your PHI, and we have set up several policies and information practices to help keep your PHI secure and private. If we believe your PHI has been breached, we must let you know.

We keep your oral, written, and electronic PHI safe using the right procedures, and through physical and electronic ways. These safety measures follow federal and state laws. Some ways we keep your PHI safe include securing offices that hold PHI, password-protecting computers, and locking storage areas and filing cabinets. We require our employees to protect PHI through written policies and procedures. These policies limit access to PHI to only those employees who need the data to do their jobs. Employees are required to wear ID badges to help keep unauthorized people out of areas where your PHI is kept. Also, where required by law, our business partners must protect the privacy of data we share with them as they collaborate with us. They are not allowed to give your PHI to others without your written permission unless the law allows it and it’s stated in this notice.

Potential Impact of Other Applicable Laws

HIPAA, the federal privacy law, does not cancel other laws that give people greater privacy protections. As a result, if any state or federal privacy law requires us to give you more privacy protections, then we must follow that law in addition to HIPAA.

Calling or Texting You

We, including our affiliates and/or vendors, may call or text you by using an automatic telephone dialing system and/or an artificial voice. But we only do this in accordance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The calls may be about treatment options or other health-related benefits and services for you. If you do not want to be contacted by phone, just let the caller know or contact Vital Care of South Dallas Privacy at kakubosh@vitalcare.com to add your phone number to our Do Not Call list. We will then no longer call or text you. Consent or phone numbers for the purpose of SMS aren’t shared.

The following apply to SMS messaging:

Complaints

If you think we have not protected your privacy, you can file a complaint with us by calling the patient services number on the back of your ID card. You may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by visiting https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/filing-a-complaint/index.html. We will not act against you to file a complaint. 

Contact Information

You may call us at Vital Care of South Dallas Privacy to apply your rights, file a complaint or talk with you about privacy issues at: Vital Care of South Dallas Pharmacy, Inc Privacy Officer, Privacy Office:

Contact Vital Care of South Dallas Privacy at:

Vital Care of South Dallas
Privacy Officer, Privacy Office
945.212.3707
950 E. Belt Line Road, Suite 110
Cedar Hill, TX 7521
Or you can email at: kakubosh@vitalcare.com

 

Copies and Changes

You have the right to get a new copy of this notice at any time. Even if you have agreed to get this notice by electronic means, you still have the right to ask for a paper copy. We reserve the right to change this notice. A revised notice will apply to PHI we already have about you, as well as any PHI we may get in the future. We are required by law to follow the privacy notice that isin effect currently. We may tell you about any changes to our notice through a newsletter, our website, or a letter.

Effective Date of This Notice

The original effective date of this Notice was July 1, 2024.

It’s Important We Treat You Fairly

We follow federal civil rights laws in our health programs and activities. We do not discriminate, exclude people, or treat them differently based on race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability. If you have disabilities, we offer free aid and services. If your main language is notEnglish, we offer help for free through interpreters and other written languages. Call Vital Care of South Dallas for assistance: 945.212.3707.

If you think we failed to offer these services or discriminated based on race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex, you can file a complaint, also known as a grievance. You can file a complaint through one of these ways:

• File a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights at 200 Independence Avenue, SW; Room 509F, HHH Building; Washington, D.C. 20201.
• Call 1-800-368-1019 (TDD: 1-800-537-7697).
• Go online at https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/smartscreen/main.js.