Notice of Privacy
Practices
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.
Trilogy Health Care,
L.L.C. is required by law to maintain the
privacy of Protected Health Information ("PHI") and to
provide you with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with
respect to PHI. PHI is information that may identify you and that
relates to your past, present or future physical or mental health or
condition and related health care services. This Notice of Privacy
Practices ("Notice") describes how we may use and disclose
PHI to carry out treatment, payment or health care operations and for
other specified purposes that are permitted or required by law. The
Notice also describes your rights with respect to your PHI. We are
required to provide this notice to you by the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA").
Trilogy Health Care,
L.L.C. is
required to follow the terms of this Notice. We will not use or
disclose your PHI without your written authorization, except as
described or otherwise permitted by this Notice. We reserve the right
to change our practices and this Notice and to make the new Notice
effective for all PHI we maintain. Upon request, we will provide any
revised Notice to you.
Examples of How We Use and Disclose
Protected Health Information About You.
The following categories describe different
ways that we use and disclose your protected health information. We
have provided you with examples in certain categories; however, not
every use or disclosure in a category will be listed.
Treatment. We
may use your health information to provide and coordinate the
treatment, medications and services you receive. For example, we may
contact you regarding compliance programs such as drug
recommendations, therapeutic substitution, refill reminders, other
product recommendations, counseling and drug utilization review (DUR),
product recalls or disease state management.
Payment.
We may use your health information for various
payment-related functions. Example: We may contact your insurer,
pharmacy benefit manager or other health care payer to determine
whether it will pay for your medication and the amount of your
co-payment. We will bill you or a third-party payer for the cost of
medications dispensed to you. The information on or accompanying the
bill may include information that identifies you, as well as the
medications you are taking.
Health
Care Operations. We may use your
health information for certain operational, administrative and quality
assurance activities. Example: We may use information in your health
record to monitor the performance of the pharmacists providing
treatment to you. This information will be used in an effort to
continually improve the quality and effectiveness of the health care
and service we provide. We may disclose health information to business
associates if they need to receive this information to provide a
service to us and will agree to abide by specific HIPAA rules relating
to the protection of health information.
We may also use your health information to
provide you with information about benefits available to you, and, in
limited situations, about health-related products or services that may
be of interest to you. If you register your email address on
www.spstl.com, you may elect to receive this information via email.
We are permitted to use or disclose your
PHI for the following purposes. However, Trilogy Health Care. may never have reason to make some of these disclosures.
To Communicate with Individuals
Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care. We
may disclose to a family member, other relative, close personal friend
or any other person you identify, PHI directly relevant to that
person's involvement in your care or payment related to your care.
United States
Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
We may disclose to the FDA, or persons under
the jurisdiction of the FDA, PHI relative to adverse events with
respect to drugs, foods, supplements, products and product defects, or
post-marketing surveillance information to enable product recalls,
repairs, or replacement.
Worker's Compensation.
We may disclose your PHI to the extent
authorized by and to the extent necessary to comply with laws relating
to worker's compensation or other similar programs established by law.
Public
Health. As required by law, we
may disclose your PHI to public health or legal authorities charged
with preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability.
Law Enforcement. We
may disclose your PHI for law enforcement purposes as required by law
or in response to a subpoena or court order.
As Required by Law. We
will disclose your PHI when required to do so by federal, state, or
local law.
Health Oversight Activities.
We may disclose your PHI to an oversight agency
for activities authorized by law. These oversight activities include
audits, investigations, inspections, and credentialing, as necessary
for licensure and for the government to monitor the health care
system, government programs, and compliance with civil rights laws.
Judicial and Administrative
Proceedings. If you are involved
in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose your PHI in response to a
court or administrative order. We may also disclose health information
about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other
lawful process instituted by someone else involved in the dispute, but
only if efforts have been made, either by the requesting party or us,
to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the
information requested.
Research. We
may disclose your PHI to researchers when their research has been
approved by an institutional review board or privacy board that has
reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the
privacy of your information.
Coroners, Medical Examiners, and
Funeral Directors. We may
release your PHI to a coroner or medical examiner. This may be
necessary, for example, to identify a deceased person or determine the
cause of death. We may also disclose PHI to funeral directors
consistent with applicable law to enable them to carry out their
duties.
Organ or Tissue Procurement
Organizations. Consistent with
applicable law, we may disclose your PHI to organ procurement
organizations or other entities engaged in the procurement, banking,
or transplantation of organs for the purpose of tissue donation and
transplant.
Notification. We
may use or disclose your PHI to notify or assist in notifying a family
member, personal representative, or another person responsible for
your care, regarding your location and general condition.
Fundraising.
We may contact you as part of a fundraising
effort.
Correctional Institution.
If you are or become an inmate of a
correctional institution, we may disclose to the institution or its
agents PHI necessary for your health and the health and safety of
other individuals.
To Avert a Serious Threat to Health
or Safety. We may use and
disclose your PHI when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your
health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another
person.
Military and Veterans.
If you are a member of the armed forces, we may
release PHI about you as required by military command authorities. We
may also release PHI about foreign military personnel to the
appropriate foreign military authority.
National Security, Intelligence
Activities, and Protective Services for the President and Others.
We may release PHI about you to federal
officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, protection to the
President, and other national security activities authorized by law.
Victims
of Abuse or Neglect. We may
disclose PHI about you to a government authority if we reasonably
believe you are a victim of abuse or neglect. We will only disclose
this type of information to the extent required by law, if you agree
to the disclosure, or if the disclosure is allowed by law and we
believe it is necessary to prevent serious harm to you or someone
else.
Other Uses and Disclosures of PHI
We will obtain your written authorization
before using or disclosing your PHI for purposes other than those
provided for above (or as otherwise permitted or required by law). You
may revoke an authorization in writing at any time. Upon receipt of
the written revocation, we will stop using or disclosing your PHI,
except to the extent that we have already taken action in reliance on
the authorization.
Your Health Information Rights:
Obtain a paper copy of the Notice
upon request. You may request a
copy of our current Notice at any time. Even if you have agreed to
receive the Notice electronically, you are still entitled to a paper
copy. You may obtain a paper copy from a pharmacy, mail service
location or the Privacy Office.
Request a restriction on certain uses
and disclosures of PHI. You have
the right to request additional restrictions on our use or disclosure
of your PHI by sending a written request to the Privacy Office. We are
not required to agree to those restrictions. We cannot agree to
restrictions on uses or disclosures that are legally required, or
which are necessary to administer our business.
Inspect and obtain a copy of PHI.
In most cases, you have the right to access and
copy the PHI that we maintain about you. To inspect or copy your PHI,
you must send a written request to the Privacy Office. We may charge
you a fee for the costs of copying, mailing and supplies that are
necessary to fulfill your request. We may deny your request to inspect
and copy in certain limited circumstances.
Request an amendment of PHI.
If you feel that PHI we maintain about you is
incomplete or incorrect, you may request that we amend it. To request
an amendment, you must send a written request to the Privacy Office.
You must include a reason that supports your request. In certain
cases, we may deny your request for amendment.
Receive an accounting of disclosures
of PHI. You have the right to
receive an accounting of the disclosures we have made of your PHI
after April 14, 2003 for most purposes other than treatment, payment,
or health care operations. The right to receive an accounting is
subject to certain exceptions, restrictions, and limitations. To
request an accounting, you must submit a request in writing to the
Privacy Office. Your request must specify the time period. The time
period may not be longer than six years and may not include dates
before April 14, 2003.
Request communications of PHI by
alternative means or at alternative locations. For
instance, you may request that we contact you at a different residence
or post office box. To request confidential communication of your PHI,
you must submit a request in writing to the Privacy Office. Your
request must tell us how or where you would like to be contacted. We
will accommodate all reasonable requests.
Where to obtain forms for submitting
written requests. You may obtain
forms for submitting written requests from any Trilogy Health Care,
L.L.C. store or mail service location or by contacting the
Privacy Officer at 1874 Craigshire Rd., St. Louis, MO 63146 or by
telephone at (314) 392-9900.
Incidental Disclosures:
Trilogy Health Care,
L.L.C. will make reasonable efforts to avoid
incidental disclosures of protected health information. An example of
an incidental disclosure is conversations that may be overheard
between the pharmacy staff and the patient at the office location. To
reduce the likelihood of this happening, we recommend that you go
inside the store to the pharmacy for any consultations.
Minors.
If you are a minor who has lawfully provided
consent for treatment and you wish for Trilogy Health Care, L.L.C. to treat you as an adult for purposes of access to and
disclosure of records related to such treatment, please notify a
pharmacist or the Privacy Office.
For More Information or To Report a
Problem:
If you have questions or would like additional
information about Trilogy Health Care, L.L.C.' privacy
practices, you may contact our Privacy
Officer at 1874 Craigshire Rd., St.
Louis, MO 63146 or by telephone at (314) 392-9900.
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you can
file a complaint with the Privacy
Officer or with the Secretary of Health
and Human Services. There
will be no retaliation for filing a complaint.
Effective Date
This Notice is effective as of April 13, 2003.
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