HIPAA Privacy Policy

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

EMS Management and Consultants, Inc.

NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

EMS Management and Consultants, Inc. is committed to safeguarding the privacy and confidentiality of patients' protected health information (PHI). It is our policy to be in compliance with the requirements of federal and state laws related to protecting the privacy of health information, including the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (45 CFR, Parts 160 and 164, commonly called the “HIPAA Final Privacy Rule”). 
This notice explains how that information may be used and shared with others. It also explains your privacy rights regarding this kind of information. The terms of this notice apply to health information created or received by EMS Management and Consultants, Inc. We are required by law to make sure that medical information that identifies you is kept private; give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to medical information about you; and follow the terms of the notice that is currently in effect.

EMS Management and Consultants, Inc. is a covered entity providing billing and collection services. Payment activities may include but is not limited to: determining eligibility or coverage, coordination of benefits, billing and collections, medical necessity or coverage review, utilization review, or disclosing information to collection agencies. EMS Management and Consultants, Inc. will make reasonable efforts so that no more than the “minimum necessary” PHI is used or disclosed.

EMS Management and Consultants, Inc. may disclose PHI to Public Health entities for disease control, injury prevention and other epidemiological activities as required by federal, state or local law. EMS Management and Consultants, Inc. may disclose PHI to another covered entity or healthcare provider for payment activities. EMS Management and Consultants, Inc., as a covered entity, is responsible to comply with all HIPAA requirements and under these requirements is permitted to receive reports and information relating to service and treatment of patients.

Your medical information may be used and disclosed for the following purposes:

Payment: We may use and disclose PHI about you so that the treatment and services you received may be billed and payment may be collected from you, an insurance company, or another third party. For example, we may need to give your health plan information about treatment and services performed so your health plan will pay us or reimburse you for the treatment and services.

Required by Law: Medical information about you will be disclosed when required by federal, state or local laws.

To Business Associates: Some services are provided by or to EMS Management and Consultants, Inc. through contracts with business associates. Examples include EMS Management and Consultants, Inc. attorneys, consultants, collection agencies, and couriers. We may disclose information about you to our business associate so that they can perform the job we have contracted with them to do. To protect the information that is disclosed, each business associate is required to sign an agreement to appropriately safeguard the information and not to disclose the information unless specifically permitted by law.

Your medical information may be released in the following special situations:

Military and Veterans: If you are a member of the armed forces, we will release medical information about you as requested by military command authorities if we are required to do so by law, or when we have your written consent. We may also release medical information about foreign military personnel to the appropriate foreign military authority as required by law or with written consent.

Workers' Compensation: We may release medical information about you for workers' compensation or similar programs. These programs provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness. We are permitted to disclose this information to the parties involved in the claim without any specific consent, so long as the information is related to a workers' compensation claim.

Public Health: We may disclose medical information to public health authorities about you for public health activities. These disclosures generally include the following:

Lawsuits and Disputes: If you are involved in a lawsuit, dispute, or other judicial proceeding, we will disclose medical information about you only in response to a valid subpoena, court order, administrative order, or a grand jury subpoena, or with your written consent.

Law Enforcement: We may release medical information if asked to do so by a law enforcement official in response to a valid subpoena, court order, grand jury subpoena, or warrant, or with your written consent. In addition, we are required to report certain types of wounds, such as gunshot wounds and some burns. In most cases, reports will include only the fact of injury, and any additional disclosures would require your consent or a court order.

We may also release information to law enforcement that is not a part of the health record (in other words, non-medical information) for the following reasons:

Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors: We will release medical information to a coroner or medical examiner in the case of certain types of death, and we must disclose health records upon the request of the coroner or medical examiner. This may be necessary, for example, to identify you or determine the cause of death. We may also release the fact of death and certain demographic information about you to funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties. Other disclosures from your health record will require the consent of a surviving spouse, parent, a person appointed by you in writing, or your legally authorized representative.

National Security and Intelligence Activities: We will release medical information about you to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counter-intelligence, and other national security activities only as required by law or with your written consent.

Protective Services for the President and Others: We will disclose medical information about you to authorized federal officials so they may provide protection to the President, other authorized persons, or foreign heads of state, or conduct special investigations only as required by law or with your written consent.

Correctional Institution: If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law enforcement official, we will release medical information about you to the correctional institution or law enforcement official only as required by law or with your written consent.

Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to request an “accounting of disclosures.” This is a list of the disclosures we made of medical information about you. This list will not include disclosures for treatment, payment, and health care operations; disclosures that you have authorized or that have been made to you; disclosures for facility directories; disclosures for national security or intelligence purposes; disclosures to correctional institutions or law enforcement with custody of you; disclosures that took place before April 14, 2003; and certain other disclosures. To request this list of disclosures, you must submit your request in writing to EMS Management and Consultants, Inc., HIPAA Privacy Officer. Your request must state a time period for which you would like the accounting. The accounting period may not go back further than six years from the date of the request, and it may not include dates before April 14, 2003 . You may receive one free accounting in any 12-month period. We may charge you for additional requests.

Right to a Paper Copy of This Notice: You have the right to receive a paper copy of this notice. You may print a copy of this notice from our website, www.emsbilling.info

Changes to This Notice
The effective date of this notice is April 14, 2003. We reserve the right to change this notice. We reserve the right to make the revised or changed notice effective for medical information we already have about you, as well as any information we receive in the future. If the terms of this notice are changed, EMS Management and Consultants, Inc. will post the revised notice on our web site and in designated locations at EMS Management and Consultants, Inc.

Other Uses of Medical Information
Except as described above, EMS Management and Consultants, Inc. will not use or disclose your protected health information without a specific written authorization from you. If you provide us with this written authorization to use or disclose medical information about you, you may revoke that authorization, in writing, at any time. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclose medical information about you for the reasons covered by your written authorization, except to the extent we have already relied on your authorization. We are unable to take back any disclosures we have already made with your permission, and we are required to retain our records of the care that was provided to you.

Complaints
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with us or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. To file a complaint with EMS Management and Consultants, Inc., you must submit your request in writing to our HIPAA Privacy Officer at the address below. You will not be penalized for filing a complaint.

Attention: HIPAA Privacy Officer
EMS Management and Consultants, Inc.
4731B Commercial Park Court
Clemmons, NC  27012
Email: HIPAACompliance@emsbilling.us
Phone: 336-766-4448 Fax: 336-766-1279