Notice of Privacy Practices

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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.

 

Thermography of Houston, LLC is required, by law, to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of your protected health information ("PHI") and to provide our patients with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your PHI.

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HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR PHI

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No consumer information is shared with third-parties for marketing purposes outside of our SMS and email systems that we use for educational, promotional, and company updates. Both the SMS and email systems utilize an opt-in approach for you to choose how you would like Thermography of Houston LLC to communicate with you. Both the SMS and email systems provide an easy opt-out option if you ever decide you no longer want to receive SMS or email messages from us. We also will not share or sell your data or personal information to third-parties.

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We may use and disclose your PHI in the following circumstances:

Your health history and images will be sent to the interpreting physician at Electronic Medical Interpretation. At your request, your Thermography Report will be sent to your medical provider.

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• Inspect and Copy. You have the right to inspect, receive, and copy PHI that may be used to make decisions about your care or payment for your care. We have up to 30 days to make your PHI available to you and we may charge you a reasonable fee for the costs of copying, mailing or other supplies associated with your request.  You can only direct us in writing to submit your PHI to a third party not covered in this notice.  We may not charge you a fee if you need the information for a claim for benefits under the Social Security Act or any other state or federal needs-based benefit program.

• Payment. At your request, we may disclose your health information to your insurance provider for the purpose of payment or health care operations. For example, we will, as a courtesy, provide an itemized bill with appropriate CPT codes to you for submission to your insurance carrier for the purpose of reimbursement to you. The billing statement contains services provided and codes which describe the health care services received.

• Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose PHI for our health care operations. For example, we may use your PHI to internally review the quality of the services you received and to evaluate the performance of our team members in caring for you. We also may disclose information to team members and interpreting thermologists for educational and learning purposes.

• Appointment Reminders. We may use and disclose PHI to contact you to remind you that you have an appointment with us or to remind you when you are due for follow-up screening or services.

• Minors.  We may disclose the PHI of minor children to their parents or guardians unless such disclosure is otherwise prohibited by law.

• As Required by Law. We will disclose PHI about you when required to do so by international, federal, state, or local law.

• Business Associates. We may disclose PHI to our business associates who perform functions on our behalf or provide us with services if the PHI is necessary for those functions or services. For example, we may use another company to do our billing for us. All of our business associates are obligated, under contract with us, to protect the privacy and ensure the security of your PHI.

• Announcements and Educational Communications. We may use your PHI, as necessary, to send occasional emails and texts with important company updates, announcements, sales, or educational information.

  • You have the right to opt out of these emails and texts at any time. If you wish to unsubscribe from our email campaigns, please click on the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of any marketing email sent from us. If you wish to stop receiving text messages from us, reply STOP, QUIT, CANCEL, OPT-OUT, or UNSUBSCRIBE to any text message sent from us.

• Receive Notice of a Breach. You have the right to be notified upon a breach of any of your unsecured PHI.

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Change of Ownership
If Thermography of Houston, LLC is sold or merged with another organization, your health information/record will become the property of the new owner.

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Your Health Information Rights

• You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the PHI we use or disclose about you for treatment, payment, or health care operations. We are not required by federal regulation to agree to your request. If we do agree with your request, we will comply unless the information is needed to provide emergency treatment. To request restrictions, you must make your request in writing to the Privacy Officer. Your request must state the specific restriction requested, whether you want to limit our use and/or disclosure; and to whom you want the restriction to apply.

• You have the right to have your health information received or communicated through an alternative method or sent to an alternative location other than the usual method of communication or delivery, upon your request.

• You have the right to inspect and copy your health information.

• You have the right to request that Thermography of Houston, LLC amend your protected health information.

• You have a right to receive an accounting of disclosures of your protected health information made by Thermography of Houston, LLC.

• You have a right to a paper copy of this Notice of Privacy Practices at any time upon request.

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Changes to this Notice of Privacy Practices

Thermography of Houston, LLC reserves the right to amend this Notice of Privacy Practices at any time in the future and will make the new provisions effective for all information that it maintains. Until such an amendment is made, Thermography of Houston, LLC is required by law to comply with this Notice.

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Thermography of Houston, LLC is required by law to maintain the privacy of your health information and to provide you with notice of its legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your health information. If you have questions about any part of this notice or if you want more information about your privacy rights, please contact: Rebekah Stump by calling this office at 281-803-5880.

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Complaints
Complaints about your Privacy rights, or how Thermography of Houston, LLC has handled your health information should be directed to Rebekah Stump by calling this office at 281-803-5880. You may make anappointment for a personal conference in person or by telephone within 7 working days. If you are not satisfied with the way this office handles your complaint, you may submit a formal complaint to:

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DSHS, Civil Rights Office
701 W. 51st Street

MC W206
Austin, TX 78751

1-888-388-6332 or 512-438-4313

HHSCivilRightsOffice@hhsc.state.tx.us

 

This notice is effective as of March 28, 2024