Foothills Heart & Vascular Screenings

USE OR DISCLOSURE OF HEALTH INFORMATION

Foothills Screenings is committed to protecting the confidentiality of your health information. Accordingly, while we are not directly subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) we have adopted many of its principles, as described in this Notice.  Except as described in this Notice, Foothills Screenings will not use or disclose your health information without your written authorization. Your health information may be used for the following purposes:

Delivery of services. Foothills Screenings may use and disclose your health information for treatment purposes including the delivery of healthcare services, defined as those activities necessary for the provision of services and the delivery of results. For example, we may use your personal information to schedule your appointment and interpret your results. At the site, an employee of Foothills Screenings may call your name for your appointment.

Healthcare operations. Foothills Screenings may use your health information for the purposes of its healthcare operations. Healthcare operations may include quality assessment, protocol development, review of competence/qualification of Foothills Screenings staff, training programs, conducting, or arranging for medical review, legal services & auditing functions, and general administrative activities, including management actions relating to privacy, customer service, resolution of internal grievances, and creation of de-identified information.

Payment. Foothills Screenings may use your health information for payment purposes. For example, a bill may be sent to you to seek payment for the health care services provided by Foothills Screenings to you. The bill may contain or be accompanied by information that identifies you, your health condition, and the healthcare services you received. 

Appointment reminders and test results. Foothills Screenings may contact you to provide appointment reminders, test results or, subject to applicable law, to give you information about treatments or health-related services that may be of interest to you. This may include voice mail messages, texts, postcards, letters, e-mail and other forms of communication.

Family and friends. With your approval and using our professional judgment, your health information may be disclosed to family or friends who are directly involved in your care. If you are unavailable, incapacitated, or in an emergency medical situation, and we determine that a limited disclosure may be in your best interest, we may share limited health information with such individuals without your approval.

Service Providers (known under HIPAA as Business Associates). In some instances, Foothills Screenings may contract with service providers for the services Foothills Screenings provides. For example, Foothills Screenings may use an outside company to mail results of your health services to you. Foothills Screenings may disclose your health information to these service providers so that they can perform the work that Foothills Screenings asks them to do. However, to protect your health information, our service providers are required by contract to protect the privacy of your information. 

Other uses and disclosures of health information. We may use or disclose health information about you without your prior authorization for government or legal purposes, such as for public health purposes, required abuse or neglect reporting, health oversight audits or inspections, or in response to valid judicial or administrative orders. Foothills Screenings may also combine health information about many of its customers to decide which additional services should be offered.