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Notice of Privacy Practices
I. Who We Are
This Notice of Privacy Practices describes the privacy practices of Vitara, LLC and its affiliates, including certain affiliated professional entities, their physicians, healthcare practitioners, and other personnel.
II. Our Privacy Obligations
We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your health information, also known as Protected Health Information or PHI, and to provide you with this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your PHI.
We are also obligated to notify you following a breach of unsecured PHI. When we use or disclose your PHI, we are required to abide by the terms of this Notice, or any updated notice in effect at the time of the use or disclosure.
III. Permissible Uses and Disclosures Without Your Written Authorization
In some situations described in Section IV, we must obtain your written authorization before using or disclosing your PHI. However, we do not need written authorization for the following types of uses and disclosures.
A. Treatment, Payment, and Healthcare Operations
Treatment: We may use and disclose your PHI to provide treatment, including diagnosing and treating illness or injury and sharing information with other healthcare providers involved in your care.
Payment: We may use and disclose your PHI to obtain payment for services we provide to you.
Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose your PHI for internal administration, planning, quality improvement, complaint resolution, practitioner evaluation, fraud and abuse detection, and compliance activities.
B. Disclosure to Relatives, Close Friends, and Other Caregivers
We may disclose your PHI to a family member, close personal friend, or another person identified by you when you are present for, or otherwise available prior to, the disclosure and we obtain your agreement, provide an opportunity to object and you do not object, or reasonably infer that you do not object.
If you are not present, or agreement cannot practicably be obtained due to incapacity or emergency, we may use professional judgment to determine whether disclosure is in your best interests.
C. Public Health Activities
We may disclose your PHI for public health activities, including preventing or controlling disease, reporting child abuse or neglect, reporting information about products regulated by the FDA, alerting persons at risk of communicable disease exposure, and fulfilling workplace medical reporting obligations where required by law.
D. Victims of Abuse, Neglect, or Domestic Violence
We may disclose your PHI to governmental authorities authorized to receive reports of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence if we reasonably believe you are a victim.
E. Health Oversight Activities
We may disclose your PHI to health oversight agencies responsible for monitoring the healthcare system and government healthcare programs.
F. Judicial and Administrative Proceedings
We may disclose your PHI in the course of judicial or administrative proceedings in response to a court order or other lawful process.
G. Law Enforcement Officers
We may disclose your PHI to police or other law enforcement officials as required or permitted by law or in compliance with a court order, grand jury subpoena, or administrative subpoena.
H. Decedents
We may disclose your PHI to a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director as authorized by law.
I. Research
We may use or disclose your PHI without consent or authorization if an Institutional Review Board or Privacy Board approves a waiver of authorization.
J. Health or Safety
We may use or disclose your PHI to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to a person’s or the public’s health or safety.
K. Specialized Government Functions
We may use and disclose your PHI to government units with special functions, including the U.S. military or the U.S. Department of State, under certain circumstances.
L. Workers’ Compensation
We may disclose your PHI as authorized by and to the extent necessary to comply with state law relating to workers’ compensation or similar programs.
M. As Required by Law
We may use and disclose your PHI whenever required to do so by law.
IV. Uses and Disclosures Requiring Your Written Authorization
A. Use or Disclosure with Your Authorization
We must obtain your written authorization for uses and disclosures of PHI for marketing purposes, disclosures that constitute the sale of PHI, and other uses or disclosures not otherwise described in this Notice.
B. Highly Confidential Information
Federal and state law may require special privacy protections for certain highly confidential information, including certain information related to mental health, developmental disabilities, alcohol and drug abuse treatment, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, genetic testing, child abuse and neglect, domestic abuse of an adult with a disability, or sexual assault.
To disclose highly confidential information for a purpose other than one permitted by law, we must have your written authorization.
C. Revocation of Authorization
You may revoke your authorization in writing, except to the extent we have already acted in reliance upon it, by contacting the Privacy Officer listed below.
V. Your Rights Regarding Your Protected Health Information
A. Further Information and Complaints
If you would like more information about your privacy rights, believe your privacy rights were violated, or disagree with a decision regarding access to your PHI, you may contact our Privacy Officer. You may also file a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.
B. Right to Request Additional Restrictions
You have the right to request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of your PHI for treatment, payment, healthcare operations, or disclosure to individuals involved in your care. In some circumstances, we may be required to comply, and in others we will consider reasonable requests when appropriate.
C. Right to Receive Confidential Communications
You may request that we communicate your PHI by alternative means or at alternative locations, and we will accommodate reasonable written requests.
D. Right to Inspect and Copy Health Information
You may request access to your medical record file and billing records to inspect or request copies. Under limited circumstances, access to a portion of records may be denied. If you request copies, we may charge a cost-based fee as permitted by law.
E. Right to Request Amendment
You have the right to request that we amend PHI maintained in your medical record file or billing records. We may deny a request when permitted by law, such as when we believe the information is accurate and complete.
F. Right to Receive an Accounting of Disclosures
You may request an accounting of certain disclosures of your PHI made by us during a period not exceeding six years before the request date. We may charge a reasonable fee for more than one accounting in a twelve-month period.
G. Right to Receive a Copy of This Notice
You may request a copy of this Notice by email or in paper format by contacting us at hello@vitara.org.
VI. Effective Date and Duration of This Notice
A. Effective Date
This Notice is effective on January 1, 2024.
B. Right to Change Terms of This Notice
We may change the terms of this Notice at any time. If we do, we may make the revised notice effective for all PHI we maintain, including information created or received before the revision. Updated notices may be posted on our website and may also be requested by contacting us.
VII. Privacy Officer
Vitara, LLC
Knoxville, TN
hello@vitara.org
If you have questions about this Notice or want to exercise a privacy-related right, please contact us at the email above.