NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

Ossip Optometry

This Notice of Privacy Practices 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. 

By law, we must abide by the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices. We reserve the right to change this notice at any time in compliance with and as allowed by law. If we change this notice, the new privacy practices will apply to your health information that we already have as well as to information that we may generate in the future.  If we change our Notice of Privacy Practices, we will post the new notice in our office, have copies available in our office, and post it on our website (www.ossip.com)

Uses and Disclosures of Protected Health Information

Treatment: We use information for treatment purposes, when, for example, we set up an appointment for you, when our technician or doctor tests your eyes, when the doctor prescribes glasses or contact lenses, when the doctor prescribes medication, when our staff helps you select and order glasses or contact lenses, and when we show you low vision aids. We may disclose your health information outside of our office for treatment purposes if, for example, we refer you to another doctor or clinic for eye care or low vision aids or services, if we send a prescription for glasses or contacts to another to be filled, when we provide a prescription for medication to a pharmacist, or when we phone to let you know that your glasses or contact lenses are ready to be picked up.  Sometimes we may ask for copies of your health information from another professional that you may have seen before us.

Payment: We use your protected health information to obtain payment for your health care services. For example, our staff asks you about health or vision care plans that you may belong to, or about other sources of payment for our services, when we prepare bills to send to you or your health or vision care plan, when we process payment by credit card, and when we try to collect unpaid amounts due. We may disclose your health information outside of our office for payment purposes when, for example, bills or claims for payment are mailed, faxed, or sent by computer to you or your health or vision plan, or when we occasionally have to ask a collection agency or attorney to help us with unpaid amounts due.  Our staff also discloses your protected health information to third party payors/insurance company to obtain information regarding eligibility or coverage for insurance benefits. 

Health Care Operations: We use and disclose your protected health information in order to support the business activities of our practice.  These activities include, but are not limited to financial and billing audits, development of business plans, quality assurance activities, employee review and training activities, and training of health care students,

Outside Business Associates: We may share your protected health information with third party business associates that perform various activities (e.g., billing, transcription services) for the practice. Whenever an arrangement between our office and a business associate involves the use or disclosure of your protected health information, we will have a written contract that contains terms that will protect the privacy of your protected health information.

Marketing: We may use or disclose your protected health information, as necessary, to provide you with information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.  For example, your name and address may be used to send you a newsletter about our practice and the services we offer. We may also contact you by mail, telephone, or e-mail regarding information about products or services that we believe may be beneficial to you.  You may contact our Privacy Officer to request that these materials not be sent to you.

Appointment Reminders: We may use or disclose your health information to provide you with appointment reminders (such as voicemail messages, postcards, or letters).

Uses and Disclosures Without Consent or Authorization

The law allows or requires us in some situations to use or disclose your health information without your permission. Such uses or disclosures are:

Inspection/Copy of Your Record: You have the right to inspect and copy your protected health information.  Under federal law, you may not view or copy the following records:  information compiled in reasonable anticipation of, or use in, a civil, criminal, or administrative action or proceeding, and protected health information that is subject to law that prohibits access to protected health information. 

Requests to Further Restrict Disclosure: You have the right to ask us to restrict our uses and disclosures for purposes of treatment (except emergency treatment), payment or health care operations. We do not have to agree to do this, but if we agree, we must honor the restrictions that you want.

Request Communication by Alternate Methods or Location: You have the right to ask us to communicate with you in a confidential way, such as by phoning you at work rather than at home, by mailing health information to a different address, or by using an E-mail address. We will accommodate reasonable requests.  We may also condition this accommodation by asking you for information as to how payment will be handled or specification of an alternative address or other method of contact.

Amending Your Records: You have the right to ask us to amend your protected health information if you think that it is incorrect or incomplete.  In certain cases, we may deny your request for an amendment. If we deny your request for amendment, you have the right to file a statement of disagreement with us and we may prepare a rebuttal to your statement and will provide you with a copy of any such rebuttal. If we agree to amend your information, we will do so within 60 days of the date of your request.

Right to Record of Information Disclosures: You have the right to receive an accounting of certain disclosures we have made, if any, of your protected health information, except for disclosures for purposes of treatment, payment, or health care operations as described in this Notice of Privacy Practices. It will exclude disclosures we have made to you, to personal care givers, family members or friends involved in your care, or for notification purposes.  You have the right to receive specific information regarding these disclosures that have occurred after April 14, 2003, but not more retroactive than six years.

Right to Privacy Statement: You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this notice from us upon request.  You may also obtain this notice electronically at www.ossip.com.

Requests for the above must be sent in writing to the address, fax or E-mail shown at the end of this notice. 

Complaints

You may complain to us or to the Secretary of Health and Human Services if you believe your privacy rights have been violated by us.  You may file a complaint with us by notifying our Privacy Officer of your complaint.  We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

ALL WRITTEN REQUESTS AND COMPLAINTS MUST BE SUBMITTED IN WRITING TO:

Ossip Optometry
HIPAA Privacy Officer
5455 Harrison Park Lane
Indianapolis, IN 46216
Fax: 317-259-8609

Website Legal & Privacy Information:

All material contained in this website is ©1999, 2000, 2002, 2003,2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Ossip Optometry, P.C. This Web site may contain other proprietary notices and copyright information, the terms of which must be observed and followed.

Information on this Web site may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Information may be changed or updated without notice. Ossip Optometry, P.C. (herein after referred to as "Ossip") may also make improvements and/or changes in the products and/or the programs described in this information at any time without notice.

Ossip does not want to receive confidential or proprietary information from you through our Web site. Please note that any information or material sent to Ossip will be deemed NOT to be confidential. By sending Ossip any information or material, you grant Ossip an unrestricted, irrevocable license to use, reproduce, display, perform, modify, transmit and distribute those materials or information, and you also agree that Ossip is free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques that you send us for any purpose. However, we will not release your name or otherwise publicize the fact that you submitted materials or other information to us unless: (a) we obtain your permission to use your name; or (b) we first notify you that the materials or other information you submit to a particular part of this site will be published or otherwise used with your name on it; or (c) we are required to do so by law.

Personal information
At Ossip, we intend to give you as much control as possible over your personal information. In general, you can visit Ossip on the Web without telling us who you are or revealing any information about yourself. There are times, however, when we may need information from you, such as your name and address. It is our intent to let you know before we collect personal information from you on the Internet.

If you choose to give us personal information via the Internet that we or our business partners may need -- to correspond with you, process an order or provide you with a subscription, for example -- it is our intent to let you know how we will use such information. If you tell us that you do not wish to have this information used as a basis for further contact with you, we will respect your wishes. We do keep track of the domains from which people visit us. We analyze this data for trends and statistics, and then we discard it.

We have implemented these practices for the Ossip Home Page (www.ossip.com). We are also instructing our employees to include information on privacy practices everywhere information is collected on the Ossip Web, tailored to what that portion of the site does and reflecting the practices outlined here.

However, the Ossip site contains links to other Web sites. Ossip is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites.

There is a technology called "cookies" which can be used to provide you with tailored information from a Web site. A cookie is an element of data that a Web site can send to your browser, which may then store it on your system. Some Ossip pages use cookies so that we can better serve you when you return to our site. You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether to accept it.

If you have any questions or comments about our privacy practices, you can contact us at webmaster@ossip.com.

Global availability
Information Ossip publishes on the World Wide Web may contain references or cross references to Ossip products, programs and services that are not announced or available in your country. Such references do not imply that Ossip intends to announce such products, programs or services in your country. Consult your local Ossip business contact for information regarding the products, programs and services which may be available to you.

Business relationships
Ossip makes no representations whatsoever about any other Web site which you may access through this one. When you access a non-Ossip Web site, please understand that it is independent from Ossip, and that Ossip has no control over the content on that Web site. In addition, a link to a non-Ossip Web site does not mean that Ossip endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content, or the use, of such Web site. It is up to you to take precautions to ensure that whatever you select for your use is free of such items as viruses, worms, trojan horses and other items of a destructive nature. IN NO EVENT WILL OSSIP BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR OTHER CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES FOR ANY USE OF THIS WEB SITE, OR ON ANY OTHER HYPER LINKED WEB SITE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF PROGRAMS OR OTHER DATA ON YOUR INFORMATION HANDLING SYSTEM OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF WE ARE EXPRESSLY ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

THE DATA PROVIDED ON THIS WEB SITE AND RELATED COMMUNICATIONS ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY. IN ADDITION, ALL WARRANTIES ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Ossip's obligations and responsibilities regarding Ossip products or services are governed solely by the agreements under which they are sold or licensed.

Always check your software license agreements to make sure that you do not infringe the intellectual property rights of others. You must have the consent of the licensor or owner of the software before accessing or modifying it.

Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act of 1998
Any information contained on Ossip's past and present Web site pages regarding the Year 2000 and products and services offered by Ossip and its subsidiaries are "Year 2000 Readiness Disclosures" under the Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act of 1998, a U.S statute enacted on October 19, 1998. This designation also applies to information delivered through or derived from Ossip's past and present Web site pages.

Any information on our Web site pages regarding Year 2000 and non-Ossip products and services are "Republications" under the Act based on information supplied by other companies about the products and services they offer. Ossip has not independently verified the contents of these Republications and takes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of information contained in such Republications.