Privacy including HIPAA Policy

Welcome to the AppointmentCity.com, LLC “AppointmentCity.com” Website. AppointmentCity.com provides access to its Website to the public and members and has put in place the Health Information Policy noted below. By placing your practice schedule online and related information, setting appointments, including accessing, viewing, posting, using or downloading materials from this Website, you agree to be bound by these Health Information Policies. If you do not agree with these Health Information Policies do not use this Website.

NOTICE OF HEALTH INFORMATION PRIVACY PRACTICES. THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY. THE PRIVACY OF YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION IS IMPORTANT TO US.

Our Legal Duty

We are required by applicable Federal and state laws to maintain the privacy of your health information. We are also required to give you this Notice about our privacy practices, our legal duties, and your rights concerning your health information. We must follow the privacy practices that are described in this Notice while it is in effect. This Notice takes effect, and will remain in effect until we replace it.

We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of this Notice at any time, provided such changes are permitted by applicable law. We reserve the right to make the changes in our privacy practices and the new terms of our Notice effective for all health information that we maintain, including health information we created or received before we made the changes. Before we make a significant change in our privacy practices, we will change this Notice and make the new Notice available upon request.

You may request a written copy of our Notice at any time.

Uses and Disclosures of Health Information

We collect limited health information on our patients. Generally, this information consists of standard taxonomic entries such as Dentist – Cleaning and is compiled from information selected by you and sent through our platform to a provider regarding the nature of the request for service. You have access to your providers “New Patient Medical History Form” or “Returning Patient Medical Update History Form” as well as their Privacy Policies/HIPPA Forms for your own use and convenience. We do not have access to any of the data that you insert into the form for emailing or printing for your Provider visit. We do collect the names of service providers that you utilize through our platform or that you have historically utilized. We may also collect and store comments that you have made including ratings of providers. These comments/ratings are generally available for public view by other users of our platform to view.

We use and disclose health information that you compile about you for appointment setting, treatment options, payment, and our business operations. For example:

Business Operations: We may use and disclose your health information in connection with our business operations. Business operations include appointment setting and related services, follow on marketing services, quality assessment and improvement activities, reviewing the competence or qualifications of healthcare professionals utilizing our platform, evaluating practitioners and provider performance and conducting training programs.

Treatment: We may use or disclose your health information to a physician or other healthcare provider providing treatment to you in order to communicate to the service provider that you require an appointment. Payment: We may use and disclose your health information to obtain payment for appointment setting and related services we provide to you and to our healthcare provider members.

Your Authorization: In addition to our use of your health information for appointment setting and related services, payment or healthcare operations, you may give us written authorization to use your health information or to disclose it to anyone for any purpose. If you give us an authorization, you may revoke it in writing at any time. Your revocation will not affect any use or disclosures permitted by your authorization while it was in effect. Unless you give us a written authorization, we cannot use or disclose your health information for any reason except those described in this Notice.

To Your Family and Friends: We must disclose your health information to you, as described in the Patient Rights section of this Notice. We may disclose your health information to a family member, friend or other person to the extent necessary to help with your healthcare or with payment for your healthcare, but only if you agree that we may do so.

Persons Involved In Care: We may use or disclose health information to notify, or assist in the notification of (including identifying or locating) a family member, your personal representative or another person responsible for your care, of your location, your general condition, or death. If you are present, then prior to use or disclosure of your health information, we will provide you with an opportunity to object to such uses or disclosures. In the event of your incapacity or emergency circumstances, we will disclose health information based on a determination using our professional judgment disclosing only health information that is directly relevant to the person’s involvement in your healthcare.

Marketing Health-Related Services: We may use your identifying information, although not specific health information for marketing communications.

Required by Law: We may use or disclose your health information when we are required to do so by law. Abuse or Neglect: We may disclose your health information to appropriate authorities if we reasonably believe that you are a possible victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence or the possible victim of other crimes. We may disclose your health information to the extent necessary to avert a serious threat to your health or safety or the health or safety of others.

National Security: We may disclose to military authorities the health information of Armed Forces personnel under certain circumstances. We may disclose to authorized Federal officials health information required for lawful intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities. We may disclose to correctional institution or law enforcement official having lawful custody of protected health information of inmate or patient under certain circumstances.

Appointment Reminders: We will use or disclose your health information to provide you with appointment reminders (such as voicemail messages, postcards, letters, emails and text messages).

Health Information Policies of Service Provider Members

Your use of our platform for selecting a service provider does not negate the need for the service provider to provide you a copy of their HEALTH INSURANCE PORTABILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT (HIPAA) policies which may be different from our own. Generally, the service provider selected will prepare and retain medical information that will be significantly greater in scope and depth than what we retain or have access to. Each service provider is required by law to furnish their own HIPAA policies to you for your review and acceptance. You may not rely on the acceptance of our policy as being representative of each service provider that is a member of our platform.

Patient Rights

Access: You have the right to look at or get copies of your health information that we retain. You may request that we provide copies in a format other than electronic format. We will use the format you request unless we cannot practicably do so. (You must make a request in writing to obtain access to your health information. You may obtain a form to request access by using the contact information listed at the end of this Notice. We will charge you a reasonable cost-based fee for expenses such as copies and staff time. You may also request access by sending us a letter to the address at the end of this Notice. If you request copies, we will charge you $1.00 for each page, $100.00 per hour for staff time to locate and copy your health information, and postage if you want the copies mailed to you. If you request an alternative format, we will charge a cost-based fee for providing your health information in that format. If you prefer, we will prepare a summary or an explanation of your health information for a fee.

Disclosure Accounting: You have the right to receive a list of instances in which we or our business associates disclosed your health information for purposes, other than treatment, payment, Business operations and certain other activities. If you request this accounting more than once in a 12-month period, we may charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee for responding to these additional requests. Restriction: You have the right to request that we place additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your health information. We are not required to agree to these additional restrictions, but if we do, we will abide by our agreement (except in an emergency). Amendment: You have the right to request that we amend your health information. (Your request must be in writing, and it must explain why the information should be amended.) We may deny your request under certain circumstances.

Electronic Notice: If you receive this Notice on our Web site or by electronic mail (e-mail), you are entitled to receive this Notice in written form.

Questions and Complaints

If you want more information about our privacy practices or have questions or concerns, please contact us. If you are concerned that we may have violated your privacy rights, or you disagree with a decision we made about access to your health information or in response to a request you made to amend or restrict the use or disclosure of your health information or to have us communicate with you by alternative means or at alternative locations, you may complain to us using the contact information listed at the end of this Notice. You also may submit a written complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

We support your right to the privacy of your health information. We will not retaliate in any way if you choose to file a complaint with us or with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Contact Officer: ________________________________________
Telephone: ____________________ Fax: ____________________
E-mail:    ______________________________________________
Address:   ______________________________________________

This Health Information Policy was last updated in July 2009.