Bonnie Baldwin MD Plastic Surgery

Consultants in Plastic Surgery, P.A., are required to:

• Maintain the privacy of your health information
• Provide you with this notice as to our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your information we collect and maintain about you
• Abide by the terms of this notice
• Notify you if we are unable to agree to a requested restriction
• Accommodate reasonable requests you may have to communicate health information by alternative means or at alternative locations

We reserve the right to change our practices and to make the new provisions effective for all protected health information we maintain. Should our information practices change, we will mail a revised notice to the address you have supplied us, or if you agree, we will email the revised notice to you.

We will not use or disclose your health information without your authorization, except as described in this notice. We will also discontinue to use or disclose your health information after we have received a written revocation of the authorization according to the procedures included in the authorization.

Each time you visit Consultants in Plastic Surgery, P.A., a record of your visit is made. Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment, and a plan for future care or treatment. This information, often referred to as your health or medical record, serves as a:

• Basis for planning your care and treatment
• Means of communication among the many health professionals who contribute to your care
• Legal document describing the care you received
• Means by which you or a third party payer can verify that services billed were actually provided
• Tool in educating health professionals
• Source of data for medical research
• Source of information for public health officials charged with improving the health of this state and the nation
• Source of data for our planning and marketing
• Tool with which we can assess and continually work to improve the care we render and the outcomes we achieve

Understanding what is in your record and how your health information is used helps you to: ensure its accuracy, better understand who, what, when, where, and why others may access your health information, and make more informed decisions when authorizing disclosure to others.

Although your health record is the physical property of Consultants in Plastic Surgery, P.A., the information belongs to you. You have the right to:

• Obtain a paper copy of this notice of information practices upon written request
• Inspect and copy your health record as provided for in 45 CFR 164.524
• Amend your health record as provided in 45 CFR 164.528
• Obtain an accounting of disclosures of your health information as provided in 45 CFR 164.528
• Request communications of your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations
• Request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your information as provided by 45 CFR 164.522
• Revoke your authorization to use or disclose health information except to the extent that action has already been taken

Examples of Disclosures for Treatment, Payment and Health Operations:

• We will use your health information for treatment

  For example: Information obtained by our office will be recorded in your record and used to determine the course of treatment that should work best for you. We will also provide your physician or a subsequent healthcare provider with your health information in order to assist in your care.

• We will use your health information for payment

  For example: We may include information with a bill to a third-party payer that identifies you, your diagnosis, procedures performed, and supplies used in rendering the service.

• We will use your health information for regular health operations

  For example: We may disclose your health information to a third party business associate Who performs billing, consulting, transcription services, and photo imaging for our practice.

  • Business Associates:

    There are some services provided in our organization through contacts with business associates. Examples include physician services in the emergency department and radiology department, certain laboratory test, and a copy service we use when making copies of your health record. When these services are contracted, we may disclose your health information to our business associate so that they can perform the job we’ve asked them to do and bill you or your third-party payer for services rendered. To protect your health information, however, we require the business associate to appropriately safeguard your information.

  • Notification:

    We may use or disclose information to notify or assist in notifying a family member, personal representative, or another person responsible for your care, your location, and general condition.

  • Communication with family:

    Health professionals, using their best judgment, may disclose to your caregivers, i.e. family members or a close personal friend, medical and financial information related to your treatment.

  • Research:

    We may disclose information to researchers when an institutional review board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your health information has approved their research.

  • Marketing:

    We may contact you to provide appointment reminders or information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.

  • Food and Drug Administration (FDA):

    We may disclose to the FDA health information relative to adverse events with respect to food, supplements, product and product defects, or post marketing surveillance information to enable product recalls, repairs, or replacement.

  • Worker Compensation:

    We may disclose health information to the extent, authorized and to the extent necessary to comply with laws relating to workers compensation or other similar programs established by law.

  • Public Health:

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

  • Law Enforcement:

    We may disclose health information for law enforcement purposes as required by law or in response to a valid subpoena.

Federal law makes provisions for your health information to be released to an appropriate health oversight agency, public health authority or attorney, provided that a work force member or business associate believes in good faith that we have engaged in unlawful conduct or have otherwise violated professional or clinical standards and are potentially endangering one or more patients, workers or the public.

If you believe we have violated your medical information privacy rights, you have the right to file a complaint with our office or directly to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

To file a complaint, you must do so in writing within 180 days of the suspected violation, providing as much detail regarding the suspected violation and mail to:

Consultants in Plastic Surgery
7737 Southwest Freeway, Suite 201
Houston, Texas 77074

There would be no retaliation for your filing a complaint. For more information, additional questions or additional information you may contact our office.