HIPPA and Privacy
Introduction
This page is used to inform website visitors regarding our policies with the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information if anyone decided to use our Service, the Website www.DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery.com.
Notice of Privacy Practices
This Notice of Privacy Policy will be provided to patients at their first encounter and all uses and disclosures of protected health information (PHI) will be accord with DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery notice of privacy practices. DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery will have copies of the most current Notice of Privacy Policy available for review and for distribution at the reception desk as well as posted on our web site www.texasweightlossdocs.com
Assigning Privacy and Security Responsibilities
Specific individuals at DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery are assigned the responsibility of implementing and maintaining the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules’ requirements. At a minimum, DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery will designate the Practice Manager as the privacy official.
Deceased Individuals
DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery privacy protections extend to information concerning deceased individuals.
Minimum Necessary Use and Disclosure of Protected Health Information
DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery will ensure that for all routine and recurring uses and disclosures of PHI (except for uses or disclosures made for treatment purposes; to or as authorized by the patient; or as required by law for HIPAA compliance) such uses and disclosures of PHI must be limited to the minimum amount of information needed to accomplish the purpose of disclosure.
Verification of Identity
DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery will ensure that the identity of all persons who request access to protected health information be verified before such access is granted.
Safeguards
Appropriate safeguards will be in place at DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery to reasonably protect health information from any intentional or unintentional use or disclosure that is in violation of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. These safeguards include physical protection of premises and PHI, technical protection of PHI maintained electronically and administrative protection of PHI. These safeguards will extend to the oral communication of PHI and to PHI removed from DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery.
Business Associates
DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery will ensure business associates comply with the HIPAA Privacy Rules to the same extent as DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery, and that they be contractually bound to protect health information to the same degree as set forth in this policy. Business associates permitted to receive PHI include, for example DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery billing service, patients’ health insurers, and other healthcare providers with whom we consult and coordinate patients’ care or to whom we refer patients for specialized care.
Training and Awareness
DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery will ensure that sanctions will be in effect for any member of the workforce who intentionally or unintentionally violates any of these policies or any procedures related to the fulfillment of these policies. Such sanctions will be recorded in the individual’s personnel file.
Sanctions
DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery will adhere to the HIPAA Privacy records retention requirement of six years. All records designated by HIPAA in this retention requirement will be maintained in a manner that allows for access within a reasonable period of time. This records retention time requirement may be extended at DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery discretion to meet with other governmental regulations or those requirements imposed by our professional liability carrier.
Retention of Records
DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery will adhere to the HIPAA Privacy records retention requirement of six years. All records designated by HIPAA in this retention requirement will be maintained in a manner that allows for access within a reasonable period of time. This records retention time requirement may be extended at DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery discretion to meet with other governmental regulations or those requirements imposed by our professional liability carrier.
Complaints
DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery will investigate and resolve all complaints relating to the protection of health in a timely fashion. All complaints will be directed to Practice Manager, who is duly authorized to investigate complaints and implement resolutions.
Prohibited Activities-No Retaliation or Intimidation
No employee or contractor of DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery may engage in any intimidating or retaliatory acts against persons who file complaints or otherwise exercise their rights under HIPAA regulations. No employee or contractor may condition treatment or payment on the provision of an authorization to disclose protected health information.
Cooperation with Privacy Oversight Authorities
DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery will ensure that oversight agencies such as the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services will receive cooperation in any investigation relative to protection of health information within DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery. All personnel will cooperate fully with all privacy reviews and investigations.
Investigation and Enforcement
In addition to cooperation with Privacy Oversight Authorities, DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery will follow procedures to ensure that investigations are supported internally and staff of DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery will not be retaliated against for cooperation with any authority. It is our policy to attempt to resolve all investigations and avoid any penalty phase if at all possible.
Information Collection and Use
For a better experience while using our website, we may request you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information, including but not limited to your name, phone number, and postal address. The information that we collect will be used to contact or identify you.
Log Data
We want to inform you that whenever you visit our site, we collect information that your browser sends to us that is called Log Data. This Log Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, browser version, pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, and other statistics.
How we use collected information
DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery collects and uses Users personal information for the following purposes:
- To improve customer service – Your information helps us to more effectively respond to your customer service requests and support needs.
- To personalize user experience – We may use information in the aggregate to understand how our Users as a group use the services and resources provided on our Site.
- To improve our Site – We continually strive to improve our website offerings based on the information and feedback we receive from you.
- To administer content, promotion, survey or other Site features
- To send Users information they agreed to receive about topics we think will be of interest to them.
- To send periodic emails – The email address Users provide for on the website will only be used to send them information and updates pertaining to their query. It may also be used to respond to their inquiries, and/or other requests or questions. User will also be subscribed to our mailing list, they will receive emails that may include company news, updates, related product or service information, etc. If at any time the User would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, we’ve included detailed unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email. The User may also contact us via our Site or email [email protected] to unsubscribe.
- To send periodic SMS messages relating to a query or form fill.
Cookies
Cookies are files with small amount of data that is commonly used an anonymous unique identifier. These are sent to your browser from the website that you visit and are stored on your computer’s hard drive.
Our website uses these “cookies” to collection information and to improve our Service. You have the option to either accept or refuse these cookies, and know when a cookie is being sent to your computer. If you choose to refuse our cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.
Service Providers
We may employ third-party companies and individuals due to the following reasons:
- To facilitate our Service;
- To provide the Service on our behalf;
- To perform Service-related services; or
- To assist us in analyzing how our Service is used.
We want to inform our Service users that these third parties have access to your Personal Information. The reason is to perform the tasks assigned to them on our behalf. However, they are obligated not to disclose or use the information for any other purpose.
Security
We value your trust in providing us your Personal Information, thus we are striving to use commercially acceptable means of protecting it. But remember that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure and reliable, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
Links to Other Sites
Our Service may contain links to other sites. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that site. Note that these external sites are not operated by us. Therefore, we strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of these websites. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.
Children’s Privacy
Our Services do not address anyone under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal identifiable information from children under 18. In the case we discover that a child under 18 has provided us with personal information, we immediately delete this from our servers. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so that we will be able to do necessary actions.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. Thus, we advise you to review this page periodically for any changes. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. These changes are effective immediately, after they are posted on this page.
Contact Us
If you have any questions or suggestions about our Privacy Policy, do not hesitate to contact us.