Privacy Practices
Health Information Privacy / HIPAA
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
Lighthouse for the Blind & Low Vision
Administrative Offices
1106 W. Platt Street
Tampa, FL 33606
Phone: (813) 251-2407
Fax: (813) 254-4305
E-Mail: TLH@lighthouseblv.org
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
We respect our legal obligation to keep health information that identifies you private. We are obligated by law to give you notice of our privacy practices. This Notice describes how we protect your health information and what rights you have regarding it.
Treatment, Payment, and Health Care Operations
The most common reasons we use or disclose your health information are for treatment, payment, or health care operations.
Examples of treatment purposes include:
- Setting up an appointment for you
- Testing or examining your eyes
- Prescribing glasses, contact lenses, or eye medications and faxing them to be filled
- Showing you low vision aids
- Referring you to another doctor or clinic for eye care or low vision aids or services
- Getting or sending copies of your health information to or from another professional or the Division of Blind Services
Examples of payment purposes include:
- Asking about your health or vision care plans, or other payment sources
- Preparing and sending bills or claims
- Collecting unpaid amounts (ourselves or through a collection agency/attorney)
Examples of health care operations include:
- Financial or billing audits
- Internal quality assurance
- Personnel decisions
- Participation in managed care plans
- Defense of legal matters
- Business planning
- Outside storage of records
We routinely use your health information inside our office for these purposes without special permission. If we need to disclose it outside the office for these purposes, we usually will not ask for written permission.
Uses and Disclosures for Other Reasons Without Permission
In some limited situations, the law allows or requires us to use or disclose your health information without your permission. Such situations include:
- When a state or federal law requires it
- Public health purposes (e.g., contagious disease reporting, FDA notices)
- Reports to authorities about victims of suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence
- Health oversight activities (e.g., licensing audits, Medicare/Medicaid investigations)
- Judicial and administrative proceedings (e.g., subpoenas, court orders)
- Law enforcement purposes (e.g., crime victims, reporting crimes)
- Medical examiner or funeral director purposes, or organ/tissue donation organizations
- Health-related research
- Preventing a serious threat to health or safety
- Specialized government functions (e.g., protection of officials, military purposes)
- De-identified information disclosures
- Worker’s compensation programs
- Limited data set disclosures for research, public health, or operations
- Incidental disclosures that cannot be avoided
- Disclosures to “business associates” who perform operations and agree to respect privacy
Unless you object, we may also share relevant information about your care with family or friends helping you with your eye care.
Appointment Reminders
We may call or write to remind you of scheduled appointments or that it’s time to make a routine appointment. We may also notify you of treatments or services available at our office that may help you.
Unless you tell us otherwise:
- We may mail you reminders on a postcard
- We may leave messages on your answering machine or with someone who answers your phone
Other Uses and Disclosures
We will not make any other uses or disclosures of your health information unless you sign a written authorization form.
If you sign one, you may revoke it in writing at any time unless we have already acted on it. Send revocations to: Lighthouse for the Blind & Low Vision.
Your Rights Regarding Your Health Information
You have the right to:
- Request restrictions on uses/disclosures for treatment, payment, or operations (except emergencies)
- Request confidential communication (e.g., phone you at work, mail to a different address, use a personal email)
- See or get copies of your health information (with some legal exceptions)
- Request an amendment if you believe your health information is incorrect or incomplete
- Get a list of disclosures made in the past 6 years (with some exceptions)
- Request additional paper copies of this notice at any time
Our Notice of Privacy Practices
By law, we must follow the terms of this notice until we change it. We may change it at any time as allowed by law, applying new practices to both past and future information.
We will post the new notice in our office and have copies available.
Complaints
If you believe we have not respected your privacy rights, you may complain to us or to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. We will not retaliate against you for making a complaint.
To complain to us, send a written complaint to:
Lighthouse for the Blind & Low Vision
1106 W. Platt Street, Tampa, FL 33606
Fax: (813) 254-4305
Email: TLH@lighthouseblv.org
For More Information
Call or visit us at the address or phone number listed above for more information about our privacy practices.