Privacy Policy

West Morris Dental, PC Notice of Privacy Practices for Protected Health Information

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.

Confidentiality Practices:
West Morris Dental, PC is committed to protecting your health information. This notice explains how we will use, share and protect your health information. It also explains your rights to privacy of your health information as required by law. If our confidentiality practices change, a new notice will be mailed to you within sixty (60) days of the change.

Uses, Sharing and Protection of Health Information

The law only allows our staff to use your health information when doing their jobs or to share your information when it is necessary to run the program. When health information is shared with other agencies or organizations, our office requires them to keep your health information confidential. Your health information will be shared to approve or deny treatment, and to determine if you are getting the right dental treatment. For example, doctors and assistants employed by our practice may review the treatment plan created for you by your health care provider to make sure the care you receive is covered by your dental insurance.

The Practice Will Use and Share Your Health Information Without Authorization to:

Make payments to your health care providers for dental services provided to you.
Coordinate payment for your care between the practice, other health plans, and other insurance companies that may be responsible for the cost of your care.
Coordinate your care between the practice, other health plans, and health care providers to improve the quality of your health care.
Evaluate the performance of your health care provider. For example, the practice contracts with consultants to review office and other facilities’ medical records to check on the quality of care you received.
Release information to its attorneys, accountants, and consultants so that the practice is run efficiently and to detect and prosecute insurance fraud and abuse.
Send you helpful information such as insurance benefit updates, free orthodontic exams and consumer protection information.
Share information with government agencies or organizations that provide benefits or services when the information is necessary in order for you to receive those benefits or services.

The Program May Disclose Your Health Information Without Authorization:

To public health agencies for activities such as disease control and prevention, problems with medical products or medications.
If you are the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence.
To health oversight agencies responsible for the Medicaid Program such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its Office of Civil Rights.
In court cases or judicial and administrative hearings when required by law to run the practice.
To coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors so they can carry out their jobs as required by law.
To organizations involved with organ donation and transplantation, communicable disease registries and cancer registries.
To entities authorized to conduct a research project.
To prevent a serious threat to a person’s or the public’s health and safety.
To the military if you are or have been a member of the armed services.
To a correctional facility or law enforcement officials to maintain the health, safety, and security of the corrections systems, if you are held in custody.
To workers’ compensation programs that provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness without regard to fault.
To law enforcement or national security and intelligence agencies, and to protect the President and others as required by law.

With your consent, the practice is permitted by federal privacy laws to make uses and disclosures of your health information for purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations. Protected health information is the information we create and obtain in providing our services to you. Such information may include documenting your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment, and applying for future care or treatment. It also includes billing documents for those services.

Example of uses of your health information for treatment purposes:

A nurse obtains treatment information about you and records it in a health record. During the course of your treatment, the doctor determines a need to consult with another specialist in the area. The doctor will share the information with such specialist and obtain input.

Example of use of your health information for payment purposes:

We submit a request for payment to your health insurance company. The health insurance company requests information from us regarding medical care given. We will provide information to them about you and the care given.

Example of Use of Your Information for Health Care Operations:

We obtain services from our insurers or other business associates such as quality assessment, quality improvement, outcome evaluation, protocol and clinical guidelines development, training programs, credentialing, medical review, legal services, and insurance. We will share information about you with such insurers or other business associates as necessary to obtain these services.

Your Health Information Rights

The health record we maintain and billing records are the physical property of the practice. The information in it, however, belongs to you. You have a right to:

Request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your health information by delivering the request in writing to our office. We are not required to grant the request but we will comply with any request granted;
Obtain a paper copy of this Notice of Privacy Practices for Protected Health Information (“Notice”) by making a request at our office;
Request that you be allowed to inspect and copy your health record and billing record—you may exercise this right by delivering the request in writing to our office;
- Appeal a denial of access to your protected health information except in certain circumstances;
Request that your health care record be amended to correct incomplete or incorrect information by delivering a written request to our office;
File a statement of disagreement if your amendment is denied, and require that the request for amendment and any denial be attached in all future disclosures of your protected health information;
Obtain an accounting of disclosures of your health information as required to be maintained by law by delivering a written request to our office. An accounting will not include internal uses of information for treatment, payment, or operations, disclosures made to you or made at your request, or disclosures made to family members or friends in the course of providing care;
Request that communication of your health information be made by alternative means or at an alternative location by delivering the request in writing to our office; and,
Revoke authorizations that you made previously to use or disclose information except to the extent information or action has already been taken by delivering a written revocation to our office.

If you want to exercise any of these rights, please contact, Joan Bozich in person or in writing, during normal hours. She will help you with assistance on the steps to exercise your rights.

You have the right to review this Notice before signing the consent authorizing use and disclosure of your protected health information for treatment, payment, and health care operations purposes.

Our Responsibilities

The practice is required to:

Maintain the privacy of your health information as required by law;
Provide you with a notice of our duties and privacy practices as to the information we collect and maintain about you;
Abide by the terms of this Notice;
Notify you if we cannot accommodate a requested restriction or request; and
Accommodate your reasonable requests regarding methods to communicate health information with you.

We reserve the right to amend, change, or eliminate provisions in our privacy practices and access practices and to enact new provisions regarding the protected health information we maintain. If our information practices change, we will amend our Notice. You are entitled to receive a revised copy of the Notice by calling and requesting a copy of our “Notice” or by visiting our office and picking up a copy.

To Request Information or File a Complaint

If you have questions, would like additional information, or want to report a problem regarding the handling of your information, you may contact Joan Bozich. You will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint.

Additionally, if you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a written complaint at our office by delivering the written complaint to Joan Bozich at 23 Route 46 East, Hackettstown, NJ 07840, or email info@westmorrisdental.com

You may also file a complaint by mailing it to the Secretary of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Ave, SW, HHH Building Room 509H, Washington, DC 20201

We cannot, and will not, require you to waive the right to file a complaint with the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a condition of receiving treatment from the practice. We cannot, and will not, retaliate against you for filing a complaint with the Secretary.

Other Disclosures and Uses

Unless you object, we may use or disclose your protected health information to notify, or assist in notifying, a family member, personal representative, or other person responsible for your care, about your location, and about your general condition, or your death.

Communication with Family

Using our best judgment, we may disclose to a family member, other relative, close personal friend, or any other person you identify, health information relevant to that person’s involvement in your care or in payment for such care if you do not object or in an emergency.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

We may disclose to the FDA your protected health information relating to adverse events with respect to products and product defects, or post-marketing surveillance information to enable product recalls, repairs, or replacements.

Workers Compensation

If you are seeking compensation through Workers Compensation, we may disclose your protected health information to the extent necessary to comply with laws relating to Workers Compensation.

Public Health

As required by law, we may disclose your protected health information to public health or legal authorities charged with preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability.

Abuse & Neglect

We may disclose your protected health information to public authorities as allowed by law to report abuse or neglect.

Correctional Institutions

If you are an inmate of a correctional institution, we may disclose to the institution, or its agents, your protected health information necessary for your health and the health and safety of other individuals.

Law Enforcement

We may disclose your protected health information for law enforcement purposes as required by law, such as when required by a court order, or in cases involving felony prosecutions, or to the extent an individual is in the custody of law enforcement.

Health Oversight

Federal law allows us to release your protected health information to appropriate health oversight agencies or for health oversight activities.

Judicial/Administrative Proceedings

We may disclose your protected health information in the course of any judicial or administrative proceeding as allowed or required by law, with your consent, or as directed by a proper court order.

Other Uses

Other uses and disclosures besides those identified in this Notice will be made only as otherwise authorized by law or with your written authorization and you may revoke the authorization as previously provided.

For More Information

If you have any questions about this notice or need more information, please contact the office Privacy Officer. West Morris Dental, PC, may change its Notice of Privacy Practices. Any changes will apply to information we already have, as well as any information we may get in the future. A copy of any new notice will be posted at our office as well as on our web site. You may ask for a copy of the current notice at any time, or get it on-line at info@westmorrisdental.com. Additionally, this platform uses cookies which enable us to identify your device when you move between different websites and applications, so that we can serve targeted advertising to you.

Effective 12/11/2018

Contact

23 US-46, Hackettstown, NJ 07840

Call To Schedule An Appointment

(908) 979-9779

Hours

Monday

10:00 AM - 8:00 PM

Tuesday

9:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Wednesday

9:00 AM - 7:00 PM

Thursday