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Patriot Pediatrics acknowledges that we must maintain and provide to patients (or their personal representative, e.g., their parent or guardian) a Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP). The NPP will inform patients about how we may use and disclose the patient’s protected health information (PHI). It will also describe the patient’s rights and Patriot Pediatrics’ duties with respect to PHI.

As described in the NPP, in many cases, the individual reviewing this policy or the NPP (i.e., “you”) will be the parent or guardian of one of our patients.  In general, as your child’s personal representative, you have the ability to act for him/her and exercise his/her rights as described in this policy and in the NPP.  Please note, however, that all references in this policy and in the NPP to “your information,” or “your records,” etc., refer to the information and records of your child.

Your Rights

  • Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, you generally have the following rights:
  • The right to receive a copy of Patriot Pediatrics’ NPP
  • The right to request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of PHI by Patriot Pediatrics
  • The right to request restrictions on how we communicate PHI to you
  • The right to inspect and copy PHI, with certain exceptions (e.g., psychotherapy notes)
  • The right to request an amendment of PHI, with certain exceptions (e.g., in cases when the PHI is already accurate and complete)
  • The right to request an accounting of the disclosures of PHI made by us, except for disclosures made for treatment, payment, or health care operations (“TPO”), and except for certain other disclosures including those made pursuant to a valid authorization

Our Obligations

  • We will distribute a Notice of Privacy Practices to you on the day we first render services to the patient.
  • Our NPP will contain a statement that we are required by law to maintain the privacy of PHI, to provide you with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, and to notify affected individuals following a breach of unsecured PHI.
  • Our NPP will contain a statement that we are required to abide by the terms of the NPP currently in effect.
  • Our NPP will contain: (a) a statement that you may complain to Patriot Pediatrics or to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services if you believe your privacy rights have been violated, (b) a brief description of how you may file a complaint, and (c) a statement that you will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint.
  • Our NPP will contain the name or title, and the telephone number, of a person to contact for further information.
  • Our NPP will contain the date on which the NPP is first in effect.
  • If we offer you the opportunity to receive a copy of the NPP via e-mail, we may do so only if you accept our offer and you have not withdrawn your acceptance.
  • We must use our best efforts to obtain a written acknowledgement from you that you have received a copy of the NPP. If we are unable to obtain such an acknowledgement, we must document our efforts to obtain the acknowledgement and the reason why we did not obtain the acknowledgment.  We will place and retrain each acknowledgement or best efforts statement in the patient’s medical record.
  • We will post the NPP in a clear and prominent area of the office. If we revise the NPP, we will post the revised version in a clear and prominent area, and we will distribute the revised version to you upon your request.  We are not required to mail or send the revised notice to you.
  • We will post our NPP on our website.
  • We will document our compliance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s NPP requirements by retaining copies of every version of NPPs for at least six years, and, as described above, by retaining copies of written acknowledgements.