We are required by applicable federal and state law to maintain the privacy of your health information. We are also required to give this notice about our privacy practices, and our legal duties and your rights concerning your health information. We must follow the privacy practices described in this notice while it is in effect. (Placeholder — confirm the current effective date with Dr. Christy's office; the original notice was effective April 14, 2003.)

We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of this notice at any time, as permitted by applicable law, and to make those changes effective for all health information we maintain, including information created or received before the changes. Before making a significant change, we will update this notice and make the new version available upon request.

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

Uses and Disclosures of Health Information

We use and disclose health information about you for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations. For example:

Treatment — We may use or disclose your health information to a physician or other healthcare provider providing treatment to you.

Payment — We may use or disclose your health information to obtain payment for services we provide to you.

Healthcare Operations — We may use or disclose your health information in connection with our healthcare operations, including quality assessment and improvement activities, reviewing the competence or qualifications of healthcare professionals, evaluating practitioner and provider performance, conducting training programs, accreditation, certification, licensing, or credentialing activities.

Your Authorization — In addition to treatment, payment, or healthcare operations, you may give us written authorization to use or disclose your health information for any purpose. You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time; revocation will not affect any use or disclosure already made under it. Unless you give us written authorization, we cannot use or disclose your health information for any reason except those described in this notice.

To Your Family and Friends — We must disclose your health information to you, as described in the Patient Rights section below. We may disclose health information to a family member, friend, or other person to the extent necessary to help with your healthcare or with payment for your healthcare, but only if you agree that we may do so.