How we protect your health information.

This notice describes how medical information about you and your baby may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully.

For how we handle information on this website (contact forms, cookies, and so on), see our Privacy notice.

Your rights

When it comes to your health information, you have certain rights. You can:

• Get a copy of your records. Ask to see or get an electronic or paper copy of your and your baby's records. We will provide a copy or a summary, usually within 30 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.
• Ask us to correct your records. Ask us to correct information you think is incorrect or incomplete. We may say no, but we will tell you why in writing within 60 days.
• Request confidential communications. Ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, a different phone number or email). We will say yes to all reasonable requests.
• Ask us to limit what we use or share. Ask us not to use or share certain information. We are not required to agree, and we may say no if it would affect your care. If you pay for a service out of pocket in full, you can ask us not to share information about it with your health insurer, and we will say yes unless the law requires us to share it.
• Get a list of those with whom we've shared information. Ask for a list (accounting) of the times we've shared your information for six years before the date you ask, who we shared it with, and why. This does not include sharing for treatment, payment, or our operations, or sharing you asked us to make.
• Get a copy of this notice. Ask for a paper copy at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically.
• Choose someone to act for you. If you have given someone medical power of attorney, or someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights. As the parent or guardian, you exercise these rights for your baby.
• File a complaint if you feel your rights are violated. Contact Isabel Price using the information below, or file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20201, 1-877-696-6775, or www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

Your choices

For certain health information, you can tell us your choices about what we share. You have both the right and the choice to tell us to:

• Share information with your family, close friends, or others involved in your care.
• Share information in a disaster relief situation.

If you are not able to tell us your preference, for example if you are unconscious, we may share your information if we believe it is in your best interest, or when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety. We never share your information for marketing or sell your information without your written permission.

Our uses and disclosures

We typically use or share your health information in the following ways:

• To treat you and your baby. For example, with your permission, Isabel may send a visit summary to your baby's pediatrician or your OB-GYN, or talk with another provider involved in your care.
• To run our practice. For example, to schedule visits, send reminders, keep records, and improve our care.
• To bill for our services. For example, to collect payment and to prepare a superbill you request for your own insurance claim.

How else can we use or share your health information?

We are allowed or required to share your information in other ways, usually in ways that contribute to the public good. We have to meet many conditions in the law before we can share it for these purposes:

• Help with public health and safety issues, such as reporting suspected abuse or neglect of a child (as Texas law requires), or preventing a serious threat to anyone's health or safety.
• Comply with the law, including sharing with the Department of Health and Human Services if it wants to see that we are complying with federal privacy law.
• Respond to lawsuits and legal actions, such as a court or administrative order or a subpoena.
• Address law enforcement, health oversight, and other government requests, such as for law enforcement purposes, health oversight activities authorized by law, or special government functions.
• Work with a medical examiner or funeral director when an individual dies.

We use secure service providers (for example, our scheduling, forms, and payment systems) that sign agreements to protect your information. Texas law also protects your health information, and we will not disclose it electronically except as the law allows.

Our responsibilities

• We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.
• We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.
• We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it.
• We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us we can in writing. If you tell us we can, you may change your mind at any time by letting us know in writing.

Changes to the terms of this notice

We can change the terms of this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The new notice will be available upon request, at our visits, and on our website.

Contact

Privacy questions or requests: Isabel Price, IBCLC, Motherhood Begins LLC · isabel@motherhoodbegins.com · (512) 522-8156