HIPAA 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.

I. Dental Practice Covered by this Notice

This Notice describes the privacy practices of Shertok Smiles. “We” and “our” means the Dental Practice. “You” and “your” means our patient.

II. How to Contact Us/Our Privacy Official

If you have any questions or would like further information about this Notice, you can contact Shertok Smiles at:

19 Garfield Place, Ste 414, Cincinnati, OH 45202

III. Our Promise to You and Our Legal Obligations

The privacy of your health information is important to us. We understand that your health information is personal and we are committed to protecting it. We are also committed to protecting your contact information from third parties/affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes.  This Notice describes how we may use and disclose your protected health information to carry out treatment, payment or health care operations and for other purposes that are permitted or required by law. It also describes your rights to access and control your protected health information. Protected health information is information about you, including demographic 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.

We are required by law to:

• Maintain the privacy of your protected health information;
• Give you this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to that information; and
• Abide by the terms of our Notice that is currently in effect.

IV. Last Revision Date This Notice was last revised on July 9, 2024

V. How We May Use or Disclose Your Health Information The following examples describe different ways we may use or disclose your health information. These examples are not meant to be exhaustive. We are permitted by law to use and disclose your health information for the following purposes:

A. Common Uses and Disclosures

1. Treatment. We may use your health information to provide you with dental treatment or services, such as cleaning or examining your teeth or performing dental procedures. We may disclose health information about you to dental specialists, physicians, or other health care professionals involved in your care.

2. Payment. We may use and disclose your health information to obtain payment from health plans and insurers for the care that we provide to you.

3. Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose health information about you in connection with health care operations necessary to run our practice, including review of our treatment and services, training, evaluating the performance of our staff and health care professionals, quality assurance, financial or billing audits, legal matters, and business planning and development.

4. Appointment Reminders. We may use or disclose your health information when contacting you to remind you of a dental appointment. We may contact you by using a postcard, letter, phone call, voice message, text or email

5. Treatment Alternatives and Health-Related Benefits and Services. We may use and disclose your health information to tell you about treatment options or alternatives or health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you

6. Disclosure to Family Members and Friends. We may disclose your health information to a family member or friend who is involved with your care or payment for your care if you do not object or, if you are not present, we believe it is in your best interest to do so

7. Disclosure to Business Associates. We may disclose your protected health information to our third-party service providers (called, “business associates”) that perform functions on our behalf or provide us with services if the information is necessary for such functions or services. For example, we may use a business associate to assist us in maintaining our practice management software. All of our business associates are obligated, under contract with us, to protect the privacy of your information and are not allowed to use or disclose any information other than as specified in our contract.

B. Less Common Uses and Disclosures

1. Disclosures Required by Law. We may use or disclose patient health information to the extent we are required by law to do so. For example, we are required to disclose patient health information to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services so that it can investigate complaints or determine our compliance with HIPAA.

2. Public Health Activities. We may disclose patient health information for public health activities and purposes, which include: preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability; reporting births or deaths; reporting child abuse or neglect; reporting adverse reactions to medications or foods; reporting product defects; enabling product recalls; and notifying a person who may have been exposed to a disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a disease or condition

3. Victims of Abuse, Neglect or Domestic Violence. We may disclose health information to the appropriate government authority about a patient whom we believe is a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence.

4. Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose patient health information to a health oversight agency for activities necessary for the government to provide appropriate oversight of the health care system, certain government benefit programs, and compliance with certain civil rights laws.

5. Lawsuits and Legal Actions. We may disclose patient health information in response to (i) a court or administrative order or (ii) a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process that is not ordered by a court if efforts have been made to notify the patient or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.

6. Law Enforcement Purposes. We may disclose your health information to a law enforcement official for a law enforcement purposes, such as to identify or locate a suspect, material witness or missing person or to alert law enforcement of a crime.

7. Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors. We may disclose your health information to a coroner, medical examiner or funeral director to allow them to carry out their duties.

8. Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation. We may use or disclose your health information to organ procurement organizations or others that obtain, bank or transplant cadaveric organs, eyes or tissue for donation and transplant.

9. Research Purposes. We may use or disclose your information for research purposes pursuant to patient authorization waiver approval by an Institutional Review Board or Privacy Board.

10. Serious Threat to Health or Safety. We may use or disclose your health information if we believe it is necessary to do so to prevent or lessen a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety.

11. Specialized Government Functions. We may disclose your health information to the military (domestic or foreign) about its members or veterans, for national security and protective services for the President or other heads of state, to the government for security clearance reviews, and to a jail or prison about its inmates.

12. Workers’ Compensation. We may disclose your health information to comply with workers’ compensation laws or similar programs that provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness.