HIPAA Compliance: Protecting Your Health Information
The Practice of Dr. Patrick Savoy | Oakdale, Louisiana
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN ACCESS THIS DATA. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
At our clinic, we believe that protecting your privacy is just as important as protecting your health. Dr. Patrick Savoy and our entire team are legally required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to maintain the confidentiality of your Protected Health Information (PHI). This notice outlines our commitment to you and your rights regarding the data we maintain in our Oakdale office.
1. How We Use Your Information for Your Care
We use your health data to ensure you receive the highest quality of treatment. We do not require your written permission for the following essential medical activities:
- Coordinating Your Treatment: We share your information with the medical professionals involved in your recovery. For example, Dr. Savoy may discuss your surgical progress with the nurses at Oakdale Community Hospital or share diagnostic results with your primary care physician to ensure your follow-up care is seamless.
- Managing Payment: We use your data to verify coverage and collect payment for the services we provide. Even for our cash-pay services like The Drip Clinic or Medical Weight Loss, we maintain your records with the same high level of HIPAA security used for insurance-billed surgeries.
- Clinic Operations: We use your information to run our practice efficiently and maintain the “Savoy Standard” of care. This includes internal quality reviews and staff training to ensure our clinical protocols remain at the cutting edge.
- Keeping You Informed: We may use your contact details to reach out with appointment reminders for your surgery, IV sessions, or follow-up consultations.
2. Legal and Community Safety Disclosures
In specific situations, the law requires or permits us to share your information without your authorization. These include:
- Public Safety and Health: We may disclose information to prevent serious threats to your health or the safety of the community, or to report issues to public health authorities (such as controlling the spread of disease).
- Legal Compliance: We will share data if required by a court order, a legal subpoena, or other formal law enforcement requests.
- The Coroner’s Office: Because Dr. Savoy serves as the Chief Deputy Coroner for Allen Parish, we may disclose information to coroners or medical examiners as necessary to perform duties required by Louisiana law.
- Specialized Government Functions: This includes disclosures required for military activity, national security, or workers’ compensation claims.
3. Your Rights as a Patient
You are the owner of your health journey, and you have specific rights regarding the information we hold:
- Accessing Your File: You have the right to look at or receive a copy of your medical and billing records. Simply submit a written request to our office, and we will facilitate this for you.
- Correcting Your Records: If you believe your medical history is inaccurate or incomplete, you can ask us to update it. We want your chart to be as precise as Dr. Savoy’s surgical work.
- Requesting Confidentiality: You can ask us to contact you in a specific way—for example, only calling your cell phone instead of your home phone, or sending mail to a specific address.
- Limiting Information Use: You have the authority to ask us to restrict how we use your information for treatment or billing. While federal law does not require us to agree to every restriction, we will always strive to honor your request when possible.
- Tracking Disclosures: You may request a list (an “accounting”) of the times we have shared your information for reasons other than treatment, payment, or clinic operations.
4. Our Professional Responsibility
We reserve the right to update this notice as federal laws or our clinic’s practices evolve. Any changes will apply to all the information we maintain, including data we received before the update. A current copy of this notice will always be available in our Oakdale clinic and on our website.
5. Questions and Concerns
If you believe your privacy has been compromised, or if you have questions about how we handle your data, please reach out to us. We value your trust and will never penalize you for raising a concern.
Please Contact: Angela, Office Manager
The Practice of Dr. Patrick Savoy
142 Hospital Drive, Oakdale, LA 71463
Phone: 318-335-0303