Notice of Privacy Practices

Who this notice applies to

This notice describes the privacy practices of Urological Consultants of Florida, including our physicians, nurse practitioners, employees, students and volunteers, and anyone else who assists in your care at our office at 12411 Biscayne Boulevard, North Miami, FL 33181.

We are 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 that is currently in effect.

How we may use and share your information without asking you first

For most day-to-day purposes connected with your care, the law allows us to use and share your health information without a separate authorization from you. Those purposes are treatment, payment and health care operations.

Treatment

We use your health information to provide and coordinate your care, and we share it with others who are treating you. For example, we may send your imaging and pathology results to a referring physician, discuss your history with an anesthesiologist before surgery, or send a prescription to your pharmacy.

Payment

We use and share your health information to bill and collect payment for your care. For example, we may send your health plan the details of a procedure so it can be paid for, or confirm your coverage and benefits before scheduling.

Health care operations

We use your health information to run the practice and improve the care we give. For example, we may review records to assess the quality of treatment, train staff and students, or work with our accountants, attorneys and consultants. Where a business partner needs access to your information to perform a service for us, we require them by written agreement to protect it.

Appointment reminders, results and other communications

We may contact you by telephone, voicemail, letter, email or text message about appointments, test results, prescriptions, follow-up instructions and other matters relating to your care. Standard email and text messaging are not secure, and there is some risk that a message could be seen by someone else. If you would prefer that we not use a particular method, or that we contact you only at a specific number or address, tell us and we will accommodate any reasonable request.

People involved in your care

Unless you tell us otherwise, we may share information relevant to your care with a family member, friend or anyone else you have involved. If you are not present or cannot agree, we will use our professional judgment and share only what is directly relevant.

Other situations where the law permits or requires disclosure

We may use or share your health information without your authorization in the following circumstances, subject to the conditions the law places on each:

When required by law — federal, state or local.
Public health activities — reporting disease, injury, births and deaths, adverse events involving medicines or devices, and product recalls.
Abuse, neglect or domestic violence — reporting to an agency authorised to receive such reports.
Health oversight — audits, investigations, inspections and licensure activity by agencies that oversee health care.
Lawsuits and legal proceedings — in response to a court or administrative order, or to a subpoena or discovery request where the required assurances about notifying you have been given.
Law enforcement — for limited purposes such as identifying or locating a suspect or missing person, or reporting a crime on our premises.
Coroners, medical examiners and funeral directors — so they can carry out their duties.
Organ and tissue donation — to organisations that handle procurement or transplantation.
Research — where an institutional review board or privacy board has approved the research and the safeguards protecting your information.
To prevent a serious threat to your health or safety or that of another person.
Specialised government functions — military and veterans activities, national security and intelligence, and protective services.
Workers' compensation — as authorised by law where your care relates to a work-related injury or illness.

Situations that always require your written authorization

Some uses of your health information require your written permission in advance. We will not do any of the following without an authorization signed by you:

Marketing. Communications that encourage you to buy a product or service, where we receive payment from a third party for making them.
Sale of your information. We do not sell your health information, and the law prohibits it without your authorization.
Psychotherapy notes, in the limited circumstances where such notes exist and are kept separately from the medical record.
Photographs, video, written testimonials and case descriptions used to promote the practice — including on our website and social media. Agreeing to be photographed, or consenting to treatment, is not the same as authorising us to publish your image or story, and we will ask you separately.

Any other use or disclosure not described in this notice will be made only with your written authorization. You may revoke an authorization at any time by telling us in writing. A revocation stops any further use or sharing from that point, but it cannot undo anything we have already done in reliance on your permission.

Information with additional protection

Some categories of information are protected by laws stricter than HIPAA, and we follow the stricter rule where one applies. This includes:

HIV and AIDS test results, which are separately protected under Florida law and generally may not be disclosed without specific written consent.
Mental health information, which carries additional restrictions under Florida law.
Substance use disorder treatment records, where federal rules impose further limits on disclosure.
Genetic information, which may not be used or disclosed for underwriting purposes.

Your rights

Get a copy of your record

You may inspect and obtain a copy of your medical and billing records. If we keep your record electronically, you may ask for an electronic copy, and we will provide it in the form you request if we can readily produce it. We will respond within the time the law allows and may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.

Ask us to correct your record

If you believe something in your record is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us in writing to amend it. We may decline in certain circumstances, and if we do we will explain why in writing and you may submit a statement of disagreement to be kept with the record.

Get a list of who we have shared it with

You may request an accounting of certain disclosures we have made in the six years before your request. This does not include disclosures for treatment, payment or health care operations, or those you authorised. The first accounting in any twelve-month period is free.

Ask us to limit what we use or share

You may ask us to restrict how we use or share your information. We are not required to agree to most such requests, and we will tell you if we cannot.

There is one restriction we must honour. If you pay for a service in full, out of your own pocket, you may require us not to share information about that service with your health plan, and we will comply unless the law requires otherwise.

Ask us to contact you a particular way

You may ask us to reach you at a specific telephone number or address, or by a particular method. We will accommodate any reasonable request and will not ask you to explain 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, and we will give you one promptly.

Be told if your information is breached

If your unsecured health information is involved in a breach, we will notify you as the law requires.

Choose someone to act for you

If you have given someone medical power of attorney, or if someone is your legal guardian, that person may exercise these rights on your behalf. We will confirm the authority before acting.

Our responsibilities

We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.
We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.
We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it.
We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us in writing that we may. If you tell us we may, you may change your mind at any time by telling us in writing.

Changes to this notice

We reserve the right to change this notice, and to make the revised notice effective for health information we already hold as well as for information we receive in the future. Whenever we make a material change, we will post the revised notice in our office and on our website, and copies will be available at the front desk. Each version carries the effective date shown at the top of the notice.

Complaints

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may complain to us or to the federal government, or both.

To us: contact our Privacy Officer, Tania Espinoza, at (305) 672-4222, or write to her at 12411 Biscayne Boulevard, North Miami, FL 33181. We would rather hear about a problem than not.

To the federal government: you may file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, D.C. 20201, by calling 1-877-696-6775, or online at hhs.gov/ocr/complaints.

We will not retaliate against you for making a complaint. It will not affect your treatment here in any way.

Contact us about this notice

Tania Espinoza, Privacy Officer
Urological Consultants of Florida
12411 Biscayne Boulevard, North Miami, FL 33181
Telephone: (305) 672-4222
Fax: (305) 944-3624

A paper copy of this notice is available at our front desk on request.