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.

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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal law designed to protect your privacy whenever your health care providers (like the lactation consultant) have to discuss your case, or send information about you to different offices. We have to keep a file to record our consult - but we promise that the private, protected health information in it will be kept confidential.

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The lactation consultant can freely share all the details of your personal health information for purposes of "treatment, payment and health care operations." That means the lactation consultant can talk to you about your situation, and discuss it with your other health care providers. If you are referred to other specialists, the lactation consultant can send the information on to them. The lactation consultant can also share information with your health insurance company if they need it to verify services rendered.

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The law also requires the lactation consultant to share your information under other, very precise situations: for example, if a subpoena has been served on this office, to turn over medical records or a federal agency is investigating a complaint that we have not been protecting your privacy.

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Any other time the lactation consultant shares your personal health information, it has to be with your specific and written authorization first. For example, you may want me to send information about your consultation to your employers Human Resources Department, so they can pay you back under their corporation lactation support program. When you give this permission to turn over information about you, I will give out only the minimum amount of information needed to get the job done.

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Under HIPAA, a lactation consultant may call or send written communication to remind you to come back for an appointment, or to tell you how you can get a product or service that might interest you and your family.

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You have four rights under HIPAA:

 

1. Access (you can ask the lactation consultant to see all the protected health information (PHI) she has about you);

2. Amendment (you can ask the lactation consultant to change her files to amend inaccurate PHI);

3. Disclosure Accounting (you can ask to whom the lactation consultant has given your PHI) and

4. Restriction Request (you can put limits on the lactation consultant's use and sharing of your PHI).

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My duty under to HIPAA is to give you this notice, so you understand that I have promised to keep your private health information confidential.