Privacy Policy and Practices

NOTICE OF 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.

We are required by law to maintain the privacy of protected health information (“PHI”), to provide individuals with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to protected health information, and to notify affected individuals following a breach of unsecured protected health information. We must follow the privacy practices that are described in this Notice while it is in effect. This Notice takes effect 1/1/2002, 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, and to make new Notice provisions effective for all protected health information that we maintain. When we make a significant change in our privacy practices, we will change this Notice and post the new Notice clearly and prominently at our practice location, and we will provide copies of the new Notice upon request.

You may request a copy of our Notice at any time. For more information about our privacy practices, or for additional copies of this Notice, please contact us using the information listed at the end of this Notice. 

HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

We may use and disclose your health information for different purposes, including treatment, payment, and health care operations. For each of these categories, we have provided a description and an example. Some information, such as HIV-related information, genetic information, and substance abuse, may be entitled to special confidentiality protections under applicable state or federal law. We will abide by these special protections as they pertain to applicable cases involving these types of records.

Treatment. We may use and disclose your health information for your treatment. For example, we may disclose your health information to a specialist providing treatment to you.

Payment. We may use and disclose your health information to obtain reimbursement for the treatment and services you receive from us or another entity involved with your care. Payment activities include billing, collections, claims management, and determinations of eligibility and coverage to obtain payment from you, an insurance company, or another third party. For example, we may send claims to your dental health plan containing certain health information. 

Healthcare Operations. We may use and disclose your health information in connection with our healthcare operations. For example, healthcare operations include quality assessment and improvement activities, conducting training programs, and licensing activities.

Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care. We may disclose your health information to your family or friends or any other individual identified by you when they are involved in your care or in the payment for your care. Additionally, we may disclose information about you to a patient representative. If a person has the authority by law to make health care decisions for you, we will treat that patient representative the same way we would treat you with respect to your health information.

Disaster Relief. We may use or disclose your health information to assist in disaster relief efforts.

Required by Law. We may use or disclose your health information when we are required to do so by law.

Public Health Activities. We may disclose your health information for public health activities, including disclosures to:

  • Prevent or control disease, injury or disability;
  • Report child abuse or neglect;
  • Report reactions to medications or problems with products or devices;
  • Notify a person of a recall, repair, or replacement of products or devices;
  • Notify a person who may have been exposed to a disease or condition; or
  • Notify the appropriate government authority if we believe a patient has been the victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence.

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 the protected health information of an inmate or patient.

Secretary of HHS. We will disclose your health information to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services when required to investigate or determine compliance with HIPAA.

Worker’s Compensation. We may disclose your PHI to the extent authorized by and to the extent necessary to comply with laws relating to worker’s compensation or other similar programs established by law.

Law Enforcement. We may disclose your PHI for law enforcement purposes as permitted by HIPAA, as required by law, or in response to a subpoena or court order.

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

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

Research. We may anonymously use your PHI for publication of research papers and lectures and agree to follow established protocols for ensuring the privacy of your information.

Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors. We may release your PHI to a coroner or medical examiner. This may be necessary, for example, to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We may also disclose PHI to funeral directors consistent with applicable law to enable them to carry out their duties.

Other Uses and Disclosures of PHI

Authorization. Your authorization is required, with a few exceptions, for disclosure of our notes, use or disclosure of PHI for marketing, and for the sale of PHI. We will also obtain your written authorization before using or disclosing your PHI for purposes other than those provided for in this Notice (or as otherwise permitted or required by law). You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time. Upon receipt of the written revocation, we will stop using or disclosing your PHI, except to the extent that we have already taken action in reliance on the authorization.

Your Health Information Rights

Access. You have the right to look at, or obtain copies of, your health information, with limited exceptions. You must make the request in writing. You may obtain a form to request access by using the contact information listed at the end of this Notice. You may also request access by sending us a letter to the address at the end of this Notice. If you request information that we maintain on paper, we may provide photocopies. If you request information that we maintain electronically, you have the right to an electronic copy. We will use the form and format you request if readily producible. We will charge you a reasonable cost-based fee for the cost of supplies and labor of copying, and for postage if you want copies mailed to you. Contact us using the information listed at the end of this Notice for an explanation of our fee structure.

If you are denied a request for access, you have the right to have the denial reviewed in accordance with the requirements of applicable law.

Disclosure Accounting. With the exception of certain disclosures, you have the right to receive an accounting of disclosures of your health information in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. To request an accounting of disclosures of your health information, you must submit your request, in writing, to this office. 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 the additional requests.

Right to Request a Restriction. You have the right to request additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your PHI by submitting a written request to this office. Your written request must include (1) what information you want to limit, (2) whether you want to limit our use, disclosure or both, and (3) to whom you want the limits to apply. We are not required to agree to your request except in the case where the disclosure is to a health plan for purposes of carrying out payment or health care operations, and the information pertains solely to a health care item or service for which you, or a person on your behalf (other than the health plan), has paid our practice in full.

Alternative Communication. You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations. You must make your request in writing. Your request must specify the alternative means or location, and provide satisfactory explanation of how payments will be handled under the alternative means or location you request. We will accommodate all reasonable requests. However, if we are unable to contact you using the ways or locations you have requested we may contact you using the information we have.

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. If we agree to your request, we will amend your record(s) and notify you of such. If we deny your request for an amendment, we will provide you with a written explanation of why we denied it and explain your rights.

Right to Notification of a Breach. You will receive notifications of breaches of your unsecured protected health information as required by law.

OTHER INFORMATION

Other Information” is any information that does not reveal your specific identity or does not directly relate to an identifiable individual. If we are required to treat Other Information as Personal Information under applicable law, then we use and disclose it for the purposes for which we use and disclose Personal Information as detailed in this Privacy Statement.

We collect Other Information such as IP address, browser type, mobile device type, content visited while on the Websites or Apps, Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type (Windows or Macintosh), screen resolution, operating system name and version, device manufacturer and model, language, Internet browser type and version, or the duration of the use of the Services. Collecting browser activities or IP addresses, along with the time of the visit and the page(s) that were visited, are common practices, and are often performed automatically by many websites, applications and other services for such purposes as calculating usage levels, helping diagnose server problems, and administering the Services.

In addition:

  • We use “Cookies” and similar technology to obtain information about your visits to the Services or your responses to our e-mails or other electronic communications—both individually and in an aggregated form. Cookies are pieces of data placed on your device when you visit the Services that help us recognize you when you come back to the Website, allowing us, for example, to remember the email address and password you use when you log in on a specific computer. We also gather statistical information about use of the Services in order to continually improve their design and functionality, understand how they are used and assist us with resolving questions regarding them. Cookies further allow us to select which of our advertisements or offers are most likely to appeal to you and display them while you are on the Services. We also use cookies or other technologies to track responses to our online advertisements. At this time, we do not respond to Do Not Track requests.
  • If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows you to automatically decline cookies, or be given the choice of declining or accepting the transfer to your computer of a particular cookie (or cookies) from a particular site. You may also wish to refer to allaboutcookies.org.
  • We use third-party web and mobile app analytics and optimization services to improve the Services and enhance the visitor experience by, for example, recording mouse clicks, mouse movements, scrolling activity as well as text you type in the Services.
  • Aggregate information: We DO NOT share aggregate statistics and other non-personally identifiable information with third parties for marketing, advertising, research, or similar purposes.

Children’s Privacy. This Website is not directed toward children under 13 years of age nor does it knowingly collect information from children under 13.

Legal Disclaimer. For the purpose of illustrating the possibilities of today’s dental procedures, this web site may include models and/or generic before and after smile case examples. These examples do not represent a certainty of case performance for any single individual. Individual before and after results will vary. Patients should consult with their dentist before making a final decision. All patient information is private and protected by our office unless otherwise approved by the patient.

Trademarks. The contents of this website are protected by copyright and trademark law by their respective owners. Any unauthorized use or reproduction of this website is prohibited and may subject a violator to civil and criminal penalties. All rights reserved.

Electronic Notice. You may receive a paper copy of this Notice upon request, even if you have agreed to receive this Notice electronically on our Web site or by electronic mail (e-mail)

Links to Other Websites. At our discretion, we may include or offer third party products or services on our website. These third party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. These other websites may send their own cookies to visitors, collect data, or solicit your personal information. It is important that you read the privacy policies of these other sites before using them. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites and cannot guarantee the security of any personal information that is collected on those other sites. We take no responsibility, nor incur any liability, for the content and activities of those linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.

Disclose of Information to Other Outside Parties. We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information. This does not include trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or serving you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or safety, all as outlined herein above.

Security. We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. This site has a Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL”) certificate, which encrypts the data that’s being transmitted. Nevertheless, no PHI is maintained on this website or with our Internet hosting service.

Use of Our Website. By using our website, you consent to our privacy policies.

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 if 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 will provide you with the address to file your complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services upon request.

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GET IN TOUCH

Robert A. Horowitz, DDS

2 Overhill Road, Suite 270
Scarsdale, NY 10583

(914) 723-3366

 

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2 OVERHILL RD., SUITE 270
SCARSDALE, NY 10583

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