HIPAA privacy policy

(Last updated February 2024) 

Purpose

OnBalance Health is dedicated to maintaining the privacy and protection of your protected health information (PHI). In conducting our healthcare activities, we will store records regarding you and the treatment and services provided to you. We are required by law to maintain the confidentiality of health information that identifies you. We are also required to provide you with this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices concerning your PHI. By federal and state law, we must follow the terms of the notice of privacy practices that we have in effect at the time.

Scope

This policy applies to all PHI generated by OnBalance Health, whether recorded in your medical record, invoices, paper forms, or other means and includes information about your past, present, or future health or condition, the provision of healthcare services to you, or payment for such healthcare services.

Understanding Your Health Record /Information

Each time you visit a hospital, physician, or other healthcare provider, a record of your visit is made. This record typically contains your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment, and a plan for future care or treatment. This information, often referred to as your health or medical record, serves as a:

  • Basis for planning your care and treatment

  • Means of communication among the many health professionals who contribute to your care

  • Legal document describing the care you received

  • Means by which you or a third-party payer can verify that services billed were actually provided

  • Tool in educating health professionals

  • Source of data for medical research

  • Source of information for public health officials charged with improving the health of the nation

  • Source of data for facility planning and marketing

  • Tool with which we can assess and continually work to improve the care we render and the outcomes we achieve

Your Health Information Rights

Although your health record is the physical property of the healthcare practitioner or facility that compiled it, you have the right to:

  • Request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your information.

  • Obtain a paper copy of the notice of information practices upon request.

  • Inspect and copy your health record.

  • Amend your health record.

  • Obtain an accounting of disclosures of your health information

  • Request communications of your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations

  • Revoke your authorization to use or disclose health information except to the extent that action has already been taken

Our Responsibilities

OnBalance Health is required to:

  • Maintain the privacy of your health information

  • Provide you with a notice as to our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to information we collect and maintain about you

  • Abide by the terms of this notice

  • Notify you if we are unable to agree to a requested restriction

  • Accommodate reasonable requests you may have to communicate health information

How We May Use and Disclose Medical Information About You

The following categories describe examples of the way we use and disclose medical information:

  • For Treatment

  • For Healthcare Operations

  • To Business Associates for services that involve the use of PHI

  • For Research purposes

  • To Avoid Harm

  • For Specific Government Functions

  • For Public Health and Safety issues as required by law

For More Information or to Report a Problem

If you have questions and would like additional information, you may contact the OnBalance Privacy Officer at privacy@onbalancehealth.com.

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with the Privacy Officer at OnBalance health, or your educational institution, or with the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There will be no retaliation for filing a complaint.

Changes to This Notice

We reserve the right to change our practices and to make the new provisions effective for all PHI we maintain. Should our information practices change, we will mail a revised notice to the address you’ve supplied us.