Notice of Privacy Practices

Our commitment to your privacy

Angels At Hand Health Care is required by law to protect the privacy of your health information, to give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, and to follow the terms of the notice currently in effect.

This notice applies to every record of your care that our agency creates or holds, whether written by our own nurses and aides or received from your physician, a hospital, or another provider.

How we may use and disclose your health information

The law lets us use and share your health information for the purposes below without asking your permission each time.

For treatment

We use your health information to provide and coordinate your care. A nurse may share your care plan with the aide who visits you, or call your physician to report a change in your condition.

For payment

We use and disclose your health information to bill and be paid for your care. We may send your diagnosis and visit records to Medicare, Medicaid, or your insurer to obtain authorization or payment.

For health care operations

We use your health information to run the agency. That includes reviewing the quality of care our clinicians deliver, training staff and students, preparing for licensing and accreditation surveys, and planning our services.

Others involved in your care

Unless you tell us not to, we may share information relevant to your care with a family member, friend, or anyone else you have involved in your care or in paying for it.

Reminders and alternatives

We may contact you to remind you of a scheduled visit, or to tell you about treatment options and other health services that may benefit you.

We may also use or disclose your information without your permission where the law requires or allows it: public health activities; reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation; health oversight audits and inspections; court orders, subpoenas, and other legal proceedings; law enforcement requests; coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors; organ and tissue donation; research approved by a review board; serious threats to health or safety; military, national security, and other specialized government functions; and workers' compensation claims.

Uses that require your written authorization

Any use or disclosure not described in this notice will be made only with your written authorization. Marketing, the sale of your health information, and most uses of psychotherapy notes always require it.

You may revoke an authorization at any time by writing to our Privacy Officer. Revoking it stops any further use, but cannot undo a disclosure we already made while it was in effect.

Your rights

You hold the following rights over the health information we keep about you. To exercise any of them, write to our Privacy Officer at the address below.

Inspect and get a copy

You may see and get a copy of your record. We will respond within thirty days. Where we hold your record electronically, Texas law requires us to provide it within fifteen business days of your written request. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.

Ask us to correct it

If you believe something in your record is wrong or incomplete, you may ask us to amend it. We may deny the request, and if we do we will explain why in writing. You may then file a statement of disagreement, which we will keep with your record.

Get a list of disclosures

You may ask for a list of the disclosures we have made in the six years before your request. The list excludes disclosures for treatment, payment, and health care operations, those you authorized, and a few others the law exempts. The first list in any twelve-month period is free.

Ask us to limit what we share

You may ask us to restrict how we use or disclose your information. We are not required to agree, with one exception: if you pay in full and out of pocket for a service, we must honor a request not to tell your health plan about it.

Ask for confidential communications

You may ask us to contact you a particular way or at a particular address, such as by mail to a different location. We will accommodate reasonable requests and will not ask you why.

Get a paper copy of this notice

You may ask for a paper copy at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically. We will give you one promptly.

Be told about a breach

We will notify you if a breach compromises the privacy or security of your unsecured health information.

Choose someone to act for you

If you have given someone medical power of attorney, or if someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise these rights for you. We will verify their authority before acting.

Our responsibilities

We are required by law to keep your health information private and secure, to give you this notice, to follow the terms of the notice currently in effect, and to notify you if a breach affects your unsecured information.

We will not use or share your information for any purpose other than those described here unless you tell us in writing that we may. If you give us that permission, you may change your mind at any time.

Complaints

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, tell our Privacy Officer using the details below. You may also file a complaint directly with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Filing a complaint costs you nothing, and we will never retaliate against you or change your care because you made one.

Changes to this notice

We may change this notice, and any change applies to information we already hold as well as to information we receive later. The current version is always posted on this page with its effective date, and a paper copy is available from our office on request.