HIPAA NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES (THE “NOTICE”)

Effective Date: April 19, 2021

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.

This Notice is being provided to you by OnERCall VA, P.C., 3033 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 700, Arlington, VA 22201 (“Provider” and/or “we” or “us”). The Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) imposes numerous requirements on health care practices such as ours, regarding how certain individually identifiable health information – known as protected health information or “PHI” – may be used and disclosed by us and kept confidential otherwise. We understand the importance of proper compliance with HIPAA so that your medical information remains personal. We are committed to protecting medical information about you and will use it to the minimum necessary to accomplish the intended purpose of the use, disclosure or request of it. As required by law, this notice provides you with information about your rights and our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to the privacy of PHI.

We have prepared this Notice to explain how we are required to maintain the privacy of your health information and how we may use and disclose your health information. You also have the right to receive a paper copy of this Notice and may ask us to give you a copy of this Notice at any time. If you received this Notice electronically, you are still entitled to a paper copy of this Notice upon your request.

Use and Disclosure.
We may use and disclose your medical records for each of the following purposes:

  • Providing treatment to you, including coordinating and managing your health care;
  • Obtain payment or reimbursement for services provided to you;
  • Billing and collection activities;
  • Conduct our health care operations, including supporting functions of our providers, facilitating the telemedicine connection and visit, and care coordination;
  • Conduct quality assessments, provider training, and to improve our care and customer service;
  • Perform audits, business planning, development, management, legal and administrative activities;
  • Help with public health and safety issues;
  • Conduct health research;
  • Comply with the law and respond to law enforcement, medical examiners, or funeral directors;
  • Address workers’ compensation; and
  • Respond to lawsuits, court orders, government requests and legal actions.

Any other uses and disclosures will be made only with your written authorization.

Your Rights.
You have the following rights with respect to your protected health information:

  • Request a copy of your electronic medical record.
  • Request any corrections to such record, but we may deny your request for amendment, if we determine that the PHI or record is accurate and/or complete.
  • Request a paper copy of this privacy notice.
  • Request a copy of your billing record.
  • Request a list of those with whom we’ve shared or disclosed your medical information for the past six (6) years prior to your request.
  • Request a restriction of your health information. This means you may ask us to limit the ways we use and disclose your health information for treatment, payment and healthcare operations. You may also request that we limit our disclosures to persons assisting with and/or involved with your care, such as family members or friends.
  • Request that you receive communications containing your protected health information from us by alternative means or at an alternative location.
  • Revoke your authorization in writing and we will honor and abide by that written request, except to the extent that we have already taken actions relying on your authorization.
  • File a complaint if you believe your privacy rights have been violated by immediately contacting the Provider at admin@onercall.com. We will not take action against you for filing a complaint. You also may file a complaint with the Secretary of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Storing Your Personal Health Information.
We will retain and use your personal information for as long as necessary to comply with our business requirements and legal obligations, to resolve disputes, to protect our assets, to provide our services, and to enforce our agreements. Our policy is to securely destroy your PHI in accordance with applicable law and our policies when we determine retention is no longer required.

Our Duties.

  • 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 will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us we can in writing. If you tell us we can, you may change your mind at any time. Let us know in writing if you change your mind, and your updated instructions will apply to any future requests for information that we receive.
  • We must comply with the provisions of this Notice as currently in effect, although we reserve the right to change the terms of this notice from time to time and to make the revised notice effective for all PHI we maintain.

For more information see: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/noticepp.html.

Changes to the Terms of this Notice.
We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice at any time, for any reason, permissible by law, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The new notice will be available upon request and contain on the first page, in the top left-hand corner, the effective date.

State Specific Disclosures

Virginia Residents:
We are happy to maintain your records while you are an active patient or to transfer your records to another practitioner or health care provider should you wish to seek care elsewhere. We consider patients inactive if they either ask to have their records transferred or their last encounter on our Platforms was six (6) years ago. Our policy is to destroy inactive medical records in accordance with the Virginia Department of Health Professions regulations.

These regulations (18VAC85-20-26) state that practitioners must maintain a patient record for a minimum of six years following the last patient encounter with the following exceptions:

  1. Records of a minor child, including immunizations, must be maintained until the child reaches the age of 18 or becomes emancipated, with a minimum time for record retention of six years from the last patient encounter regardless of the age of the child;
  2. Records that have previously been transferred to another practitioner or health care provider or provided to the patient or his personal representative; or
  3. Records that are required by contractual obligation or federal law to be maintained for a longer period of time.

Patient records are destroyed by Provider in a manner that protects patient confidentiality, such as by incineration or shredding. For more information from the Virginia Department of Health Professions, go to www.dhp.virginia.gov/Medicine

Maryland Residents:
Maryland Health General Article, Section 4-301 et seq, and HIPAA regulations require that adult patient records be retained for six (6) years. Our policy is to destroy inactive medical records in accordance with these regulations.