We Value Your Privacy!

NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

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.

DATE OF NOTICE:  April 2003

Under applicable law, we are required to protect the privacy of your individual “Protected Health Information”.  We are also required to provide you with this Notice regarding our policies and procedures that affect your Protected Health Information.  We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice and to make new Notice provisions effective for all Protected Health Information we maintain. You may request a copy of our current Notice by contacting us in writing or visiting our website.

Uses, Disclosures and Storage of Protected Health Information

• We are permitted to make certain types of uses and disclosures under applicable law for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations purposes. We may obtain information to dispense prescriptions and for the documentation of pertinent information in your records that may assist us in managing your medication therapy or your overall health. For treatment purposes, such use and disclosure will take place in providing, coordinating, or managing healthcare and its related services by one or more of your providers, such as when your pharmacist consults with your physician or a specialist regarding your medications, treatment or condition.
• For reimbursement purposes, your Protected Health Information may be disclosed to one or several intermediaries employed by your health plan sponsor including but not limited to insurers, pharmacy benefits managers, claims administrators and computer switching companies.
• We store some of your Protected Health Information in electronic computer files. We backup our electronic records daily and employ other precautions to safeguard the integrity of your Protected Health Information.  In spite of these precautions it is possible but unlikely that a computer crash or other technological failure could cause the loss of data.
• We may contact you directly to provide refill reminders, health screenings, wellness events, inoculations, vaccinations or information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.
• We may use and disclose your Protected Health Information if we are contacted by another pharmacy who states they have your request and consent to transfer pharmacy records to them.
• From time to time we may employ the services of business associates who may assist us in one or more tasks and who may use, change or create Protected Health Information. Business associates are required to comply with all the privacy regulations on your behalf.
• We may disclose Protected Health Information about you without your authorization to comply with workers compensation laws, as required by law enforcement, legal proceedings, public health requirements, health oversight activities and as required by law.
• We may use your name to reference your prescriptions and pharmaceutical care services. You may be required to sign a signature log form to acknowledge receipt of service, to acknowledge receipt of this Notice and the disclosure of Protected Health Information as outlined herein. This information may be disclosed by us to other persons who ask for you or your prescriptions by name. You may restrict or prohibit these uses and disclosures by notifying a pharmacist in writing of your restriction or prohibition. We are not required to honor those requests.  We are able to provide treatment services to you even if you object to sign the acknowledgment of the receipt of this Notice or if we decide not to honor a request regarding the information in this document. In the event of an emergency or your incapacity, we will do in our reasonable judgment what is consistent with your known preference, and what we determine to be in your best interest.  We will inform you of any such uses or disclosures if uses and disclosures would require your signed authorization under such circumstances and give you an opportunity to object as soon as practicable.
• We may disclose to one of your family members, to a relative, to a close personal friend, or to any other person identified by you, Protected Health Information that is directly relevant to the person’s involvement with your care or payment related to your care.  In addition we may use or disclose the Protected Health Information to notify, identify, or locate a member of your family, your personal representative, another person responsible for care, or certain disaster relief agencies of your location, general condition, or death.  If you are incapacitated, there is an emergency, or you object to this use or disclosure, we will do in our judgment what is in your best interest regarding such disclosure and will disclose only the information that is directly relevant to the person’s involvement with your healthcare. We will also use our judgment and experience regarding your best interest in allowing people to pick-up filled prescriptions, or other similar forms of Protected Health Information.
• Other uses and disclosures will be made only with your written authorization, and you may revoke your authorization by notifying us in writing.

Requests made regarding your Protected Health Information

• You may ask us to restrict uses and disclosures of your Protected Health Information to carry out treatment, payment, or healthcare operations, or to restrict uses and disclosures to family members, relatives, friends, or other persons identified by you who are involved in your care or payment for your care.  However, we are not required to agree to your request.
• You have the right to request the following with respect to your Protected Health Information: (i) inspection and copying; (ii) amendment or correction; (iii) an accounting of the disclosures of this information by us (we are not required to account to you for disclosures made for treatment, payment, operations, disclosures to you, disclosures to your care givers, for notifications or as otherwise excluded by law); and (iv) the right to receive a paper copy of this notice upon request.  We may require you to pay for this request to cover our costs of copying, labor and postage.
• In addition, you may request, and we must accommodate the request, if reasonable, to receive communications of Protected Health Information by alternative means (fax) or at alternative locations.  For example, if you need a printout of your medications for tax purposes, we would need a signed release to fax it to you or to provide it to anyone other than the patient himself or herself.  Please contact us at 703-777-5333 to obtain a release form.
• If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, you may address your concerns in writing to our Privacy Officer or to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20201. You will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint.
• Please make all requests or complaints regarding your Protected Health Information in writing to the Pharmacist-In-Charge who serves as our Privacy Officer.