Notice of Privacy Practices

Our Responsibility

PG Direct Care LLC ("Practice," "We," or "Us") is committed to protecting the privacy of your medical information. Your care and treatment is recorded in a medical record that is considered protected health information ("PHI"). To best meet your medical needs, we share your PHI with the providers and facilities involved in your care. We share your information only to the extent necessary to collect payment for services we provide and to conduct our business operations. Practice staff is trained to be sensitive to the privacy and confidentiality of your PHI. Except as outlined below, we will not use or disclose your PHI for any other purpose unless you have signed a Medical Record Release Authorization form.

Uses and Disclosure of Your PHI

We may use and share your PHI in the following ways without requiring your authorization. Not every use or disclosure is listed, but each falls into one of the following areas:

• To provide, coordinate, or manage your medical treatment and services. Providers involved in your care use information in your medical record to plan a course of treatment, which may include procedures, medications, tests, and more. We may also disclose your PHI to institutions and individuals outside the Practice who are or will be providing treatment to you.
• To bill and receive payment for the treatment and services you received — for example, forwarding information regarding your medical procedures and treatment to arrange payment, or preparing a bill for you or the person responsible for your payment.
• To run our practice, improve your care, and contact you when necessary — for example, to conduct an evaluation of the treatment and services we provide.
• To remind you about appointments and, from time to time, to communicate with you about treatment alternatives and other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.
• For public health and safety issues, such as preventing disease, health research, helping with product recalls, reporting adverse reactions to medications, or reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence.
• For a health oversight agency, the Department of Health and Human Services for compliance with federal privacy law, organ procurement organizations, and a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director upon your death.
• For special government functions such as military, national security, and presidential protective services.
• In response to a court order, subpoena, or warrant, and to law enforcement officials in certain limited circumstances.
• If we have substance use disorder patient records about you, subject to 42 CFR Part 2, we cannot use or share information in those records in civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative investigations or proceedings against you without your consent or a court order and subpoena.
• If we have psychotherapy notes or behavioral health records, we cannot use or share information in those records without your specific consent or a court order.

Rights That You Have

When it comes to your health information, you have certain rights, and we have certain responsibilities to help you exercise them:

• You can ask to see or get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record by filling out a Medical Record Authorization form and submitting it to Practice. We will provide a copy within the time limits mandated under state law.
• You can ask us to correct your medical record if you think it is incorrect or incomplete, by completing a Health Information Amendment form and submitting it to our office. We may decline your request, but we will tell you why in writing within 60 days.
• You can ask us not to share certain medical record information for treatment or payment.
• You can ask us not to share your medical records with the statewide Health Information Exchange.
• You can ask us to communicate with you by email or standard SMS messaging.
• You can ask us to contact you in a certain way or at a certain location.
• You can ask for an accounting of the times we have shared your medical record for the last 6 years, who we shared it with, and why.
• You can ask for a paper copy of this Notice at any time.
• You can choose someone to whom information may be disclosed, or if someone is your legal guardian, that person can make choices about your medical record.

Breach Notification

We are required to notify you in writing of any breach of your unsecured PHI as soon as possible, but in any event no later than 60 days after we discover the breach.

At times it may be necessary for us to provide your PHI to one or more outside persons or organizations who assist us with our payment/billing activities and health care operations. In each case, we require these business associates, and any of their subcontractors, to appropriately safeguard the privacy of your information.

Our Notice of Privacy Practices

We are required by law to maintain the privacy of our patients' PHI. We are required to abide by the terms of this Notice so long as it remains in effect. We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice as necessary. You may receive a copy of any revised notice at any of our clinic locations or on this website.

Complaints

A signed Acknowledgment of Receipt for this Notice is provided as part of the patient enrollment process, separate from this website posting.