HIPAA NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

Effective Date: 5/1/19

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

If you have any questions about this notice, please contact: Be Well Nutrition at 678.626.7952 or via email at info@bwnutrition.com

OUR PLEDGE REGARDING PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION

We Be Well Nutrition understand that protected health information about you and your health is personal. We are committed to protecting health information about you. This Notice applies to all records of your care generated by Be Well Nutrition, whether made by Be Well Nutrition personnel or your personal doctor.

This Notice will tell you about the ways in which we may use or disclose protected health information about you. We also describe your rights and certain obligations we have regarding the use and disclosure of protected health information. Federal law requires us to:

• Make sure that protected health information that identifies you is kept private; 
• Notify you about how we protect protected health information about you;
• Explain how, when, and why we use and disclose protected health information; and
• Follow the terms of the Notice that is currently in effect.

We are required to follow the procedures in this Notice. We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice and to make new Notice provisions effective for all protected health information that we maintain by:

• Posting the revised Notice in our office;
• Making copies of the revised Notice available upon request; and
• Posting the revised Notice on our Web site.

HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

The following categories describe different ways that we may use and disclose protected health information without your written authorization. 

For Treatment. We may use protected health information about you to provide you with, coordinate, or manage your nutrition services. We may disclose protected health information about you to doctors, nurses, technicians, or other Be Well Nutrition personnel, including persons outside of our office who are involved in your medical care.

Be Well Nutrition staff may also share protected health information about you in order to coordinate your care for such reasons as prescriptions, lab work, and x-rays. 

We may use and disclose protected health information to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment with Be Well Nutrition. We may use and disclose protected health information to tell you about or recommend possible treatment options, treatment alternatives, or health-related benefits or services that may be of interest to you. 

For Payment for Services. We may use and disclose protected health information about you so that the services you receive at Be Well Nutrition may be billed to and payment may be collected from you.

For Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose protected health information about you for Be Well Nutrition operations, such as our quality assessment and improvement activities, coordination of care, business planning, customer service, and other activities. These uses and disclosures are necessary to run the facility, reduce health care costs, and make sure that all of our clients receive quality care. 

Subject to applicable state law, the law allows or requires us to use or disclose your health information without your authorization in some limited situations for purposes beyond treatment, payment, and operations.

As Required by Law. We will disclose protected health information about you when required to do so by federal, state, or local law.

To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety.. We may use and disclose protected health information when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person.

We may also disclose protected health information about you to a government authority if we reasonably believe that you are a victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence.  We will only disclose this type of information to the extent required by law, and we will only disclose it if (a) you agree to the disclosure, or (b) the disclosure is allowed by law and we believe it is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to you or another person.

Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. We may disclose your protected health information in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose your protected health information in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts have been made, either by us or the requesting party, to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested. 

Business Associates. We may disclose information to business associates who perform services on our behalf (such as billing companies). However, we require that these associates appropriately safeguard your information. Our business associates are obligated to protect the privacy of your information and are not allowed to use or disclose any information other than as specified in our contract.

Public Health.  As required by law, we may disclose your protected health information to public health or legal authorities charged with preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability. 

Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose protected health information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law. These activities include audits, investigations, and inspections, as necessary for licensure and for the government to monitor the health care system, government programs, and compliance with civil rights laws.

Law Enforcement. We may release protected health information as required by law, or in response to an order or warrant of a court, a subpoena, or an administrative request. We may also disclose protected health information in response to a request related to identification or location of an individual, a victim of crime, a decedent, or a crime on the premises. 

YOU CAN OBJECT TO CERTAIN USES AND DISCLOSURES

Unless you object, or request that only a limited amount or type of information be shared, we may use or disclose protected health information about you in the following circumstances:

• We may share with a family member, relative, friend or other person identified by you protected health information that is directly relevant to that person’s involvement in your care or payment for your care. We may also share information to notify these individuals of your location, general condition, or death.
• We may share protected health information with a public or private agency (such as the American Red Cross) for disaster relief purposes. Even if you object, we may still share this information if necessary under emergency circumstances.

If you would like to object to use and disclosure of protected health information in these circumstances, please call or write to the contact listed on page 1 of this Notice.

YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

You have the following rights regarding protected health information that we maintain about you:

Right to Inspect and Copy. You have the right to inspect and copy protected health information that may be used to make decisions about your care or payment for your care.  If we maintain your protected health information electronically, you can request that we provide access in an electronic form and format that is readily producible, or in a form and format agreed to by us.   

Right to Amend. If you feel that protected health information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend or supplement the information.

We may deny your request if you ask us to amend information that:

• Was not created by us, unless the person or entity that created the information is no longer available to make the amendment;
• Is not part of the protected health information kept by Be Well Nutrition;
• Is not part of the information that you would be permitted to inspect and copy; or
• We believe is accurate and complete.

Right to an Accounting of Disclosures. You have the right to request an “accounting of disclosures.” This is a list of the disclosures we made of protected health information about you.  

We are required to provide a list of all disclosures except the following:

• Disclosures made for your treatment;
• Those used for billing and collection of payment for your treatment;
• Those related to health care operations;
• Those made to you or requested by you, or those that you authorized;
• Those that occurred as a byproduct of permitted use and disclosures;
• Those used for national security or intelligence purposes, or provided to correctional institutions or law enforcement regarding inmates;
• Those that were a part of a limited data set of information that does not contain information identifying you.

Right to Request Restrictions. You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the protected health information we use or disclose about you for treatment, payment, or health care operations, or to persons involved in your care. 

We are not required to agree to your request. If we do agree, we will comply with your request unless the information is needed to provide you emergency treatment, the disclosure is to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, or state law requires the disclosure.

To request restrictions, you must make your request in writing Be Well Nutrition.

TYPES OF USES AND DISCLOSURES REQUIRING AN AUTHORIZATION

Most uses and disclosures of psychotherapy notes require us to obtain an authorization from you.  In addition, in most instances, we cannot use or disclose your protected health information for marketing purposes or sell your protected health information without your written authorization.  Finally, any other use or disclosure not described in this Notice will be made only with your authorization.  Any time you provide us with a written authorization, you may revoke it any time in writing, to the extent that we have not already taken action in reliance on your previous authorization.

OTHER USES AND DISCLOSURES

We will obtain your written authorization before using or disclosing your protected health information for purposes other than those described in this Notice (or as otherwise permitted or required by law). You may revoke this authorization in writing at any time. Upon receipt of the written revocation, we will stop using or disclosing your information, except to the extent that we have already taken action in reliance on the authorization.

CAN SPAM ACT

The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.
We collect your email address in order to:

• Send information, respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions

To be in accordance with CANSPAM, we agree to the following:

• Not use false or misleading subjects or email addresses.
• Identify the message as an advertisement in some reasonable way.
• Include the physical address of our business or site headquarters.
• Monitor third-party email marketing services for compliance, if one is used.
• Honor opt-out/unsubscribe requests quickly.
• Allow users to unsubscribe by using the link at the bottom of each email.

If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can email us at info@bwnutrition.com and we will promptly remove you from ALL correspondence.

GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (GDPR)

What is the GDPR? According to European Union GDPR website, “The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) replaces the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and was designed to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens data privacy and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy”.

At Be Well Nutrition we take your privacy serious and we adhere to all regulatory practices around it. As the Data Controller, we ensure that we have explicit consent from you to use your personal information. To ensure that your data remains private:

• We process data that is necessary for us to perform our contract with you.
• We process data to meet our obligations under the law — this primarily involves financial data and information that we need to meet our accountability obligations under the GDPR.
• We process your personal data for our legitimate interests in line with GDPR. As the controller for your personal data, Be Well Nutrition is committed to respect all your rights under the GDPR.
• The Be Well Nutrition website has industry standard security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. While there is no such thing as “perfect security” on the Internet, we will take all reasonable steps to insure the safety of your information.
• When you remove your account, we delete all data associated with your account from our production database.

If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can email us at info@bwnutrition.com and we will promptly remove you from ALL correspondence.

Contacting Us
If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy, you may contact us using the information below.

Address:  3620 Piedmont Rd NE  Ste B5167, Atlanta GA 30305

Phone: 678.626.7952

YOU MAY FILE A COMPLAINT ABOUT OUR PRIVACY PRACTICES

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with Be Well Nutrition or file a written complaint with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. A complaint to the Secretary should be filed within180 days of the occurrence or action that is the subject of the complaint.

If you file a complaint, we will not take any action against you or change our treatment of you in any way.

CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE

We reserve the right to change this Notice and make the new Notice apply to health information we already have, as well as any information we receive in the future. We will post a copy of our current Notice in our office. The notice will have the effective date clearly marked at the top of the first page.