Notice of Privacy Practices

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW HEALTH CARE INFORMATION MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. THE PRIVACY OF YOUR INFORMATION IS IMPORTANT TO US. PLEASE REVIEW THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY.

OUR LEGAL DUTY

We are required by federal and state law to maintain the privacy of your health information as defined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) and further expanded by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2010 (HITECH). We are also required to give you this notice about our privacy practices, our legal duties, and your rights concerning your health information. We must follow the privacy practices describes in this notice while it is in effect. This notice takes effect April 14, 2003 and will remain in effect until we replace it.

We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of this Notice at any time, provided such changes are permitted by applicable law. We reserve the right the make the changes in our privacy practices and the terms of our Notice effective for all health information that we maintain, including health information we created or received prior to making changes. Before we make a significant changes in our privacy practices, we will change this Notice and make the new notice available on request.

You may request a copy of our Notice at any time. For more information about our privacy practices, or for copies of this Notice, please contact us using the information listed at the end of this notice.

Your Authorization: In addition to our use of your health information for the following purposes, you may give us written authorization to use your health information or to disclose it to anyone for any purpose. If you give us this authorization, you may revoke it at anytime. Your revocation will not affect any use or disclosers permitted by your authorization while it was in effect. Unless you give us written authorization, we cannot use or disclose your health information for any reason except those described in this Notice.

USES AND DISCLOSURES OF HEALTH INFORMATION

We use and disclose health information about you without authorization for the following purposes.

Treatment: We may use and disclose your health information for your treatment. For example, we may disclose your health information to a physician or other healthcare provider providing treatment to you.

Payment: We may use and disclose your health information to obtain payment for services we provide to you. For example, we may send claims to your dental health plan containing certain health information.

Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose your health information in connection with our healthcare operations. For example, healthcare operations include quality assessment and improvement activities, reviewing the competence or qualifications of healthcare professionals, evaluating practitioner and provider performance, conducting training programs, accreditation, certification, licensing or credentialing activities.

To You Or Your Personal Representative: We must disclose your health information to you, as described in the Patient Rights section of this notice. We may disclose your health information to your personal representative, but only if you agree that we may do so.

Persons involved in Care: We may use or disclose health information to notify, or assist in the notification of (including identifying or locating) a family member, your personal representative or another person responsible for your care, of your location, your general condition or death. If you are present, then prior to use or disclosure of your health information, we will provide you with an opportunity to object to such uses or disclosures. In the event of your absence or incapacity or in emergency circumstances, we will disclose health information based on a determination using our professional judgement disclosing only health information that is directly relevant to the person’s involvement in your healthcare. We will also use our professional judgement and our experience with common practice to make reasonable inferences of your best interest in allowing a person to pick up filled prescriptions, medical supplies, x-rays, or other similar forms of health information.

Disaster Relief: We may use or disclose your health information to assist in disaster relief efforts.

Marketing Health-Related Services: We will not use your health information for marketing communications without your written authorization.

Required By Law: We may use or disclose your health information when we are required to do so by law.

Public Health and Public Benefit: We may use or disclose your health information to report abuse, neglect or domestic violence; to report disease, injury, and vital statistics; to report certain information to the Food and Drub Administration (FDA); to alert someone who may be at risk of contracting or spreading a disease; for health oversight activities; for certain law enforcement purposes; to avert a serious threat to health and safety; and to comply with workers’ compensation or similar programs.

Decedents: We may disclose health information about a decedent as authorized or required by law.

National Security: We may disclose to military authorities the health information of Armed Forces personnel under certain circumstances. We may disclose to authorize federal officials health information required by lawful intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities. We may disclose to correctional institution or law enforcement official having lawful custody the protected health information of an inmate or patient under certain circumstances.

Appointment Reminders: We may use or disclose your health information to provide you with appointment reminders (such as voice mail messages, postcards, letters or e-mail.

PATIENT RIGHTS

Access: You have the right to look at or get copies of your health information, with limited exceptions. You may request that we provide copies in a format other than photocopies. We will use the format you request unless we cannot practically do so. You must make a request in writing to obtain access to to your health information. You may obtain a form to request access by using the contact information listed at the end of this Notice. You may also request access by sending us a letter to the address at the end of this Notice. We will charge you a reasonable cost based fee or the cost of supplies and labor of copying. If you request copies, we will charge you $2 for each page, $25 per hour for staff time to copy your health information, plus postage if you want the copies mailed to you. If you request an alternate format, we will charge a cost based fee for providing your health information in that format. If you prefer, we will prepare a summary or an explanation of your health information for a fee. Contact us using the information listed at the end of this Notice for a full explanation of our fee structure.

Disclosure Accounting: You have the right to receive a list of instances in which we or our business associates disclosed your health information for purposes other than treatment. Payment, healthcare operations, and certain other activities, for the last 6 years, but not before April 14, 2003. If you request this accounting more than once in a 12-month period, we ma charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee for responding to these additional requests.

Restriction: You have the right to request that we place additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your health information. In most cases we are not required to agree to these additional restrictions, but if we do, we will abide by our agreement (except in certain circumstances where disclosure is required or permitted, such as an emergency, for public health activities, or when disclosure is required by law. We must comply with a request to restrict the disclosure of protected health information to a health plan for purposes of carrying out payment or health care operations (as defined by HIPPA) if the protected health information pertains solely to a health care item or service for which we have been paid out of pocket in full.

Alternative Communication: You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations. (you must make your request in writing). Your request must specify the alternative means or location, and provide satisfactory explanation of how payments will be handled under the alternative means or location you request.

Amendment: You have the right to request that we amend your health information. Your request must be in writing, and it must explain why the information should be amended. We may deny your request under certain circumstances.

Electronic Notice: You may receive a paper copy of this notice upon request, even if you have agreed to receive this notice electronically on our website or by electronic mail (e-mail).

QUESTIONS AND/OR COMPLAINTS

If you want more information about our privacy practices or have questions or concerns please contact us.

If you are concerned that we may have violated your privacy right, or you disagree with a decision we made about access to your health information or in response to a request you made to amend or restrict the use or disclosure of your health information or to have us communicate with you by alternative means or alternative locations, you may complain to us using the contact information listed at the end of this Notice. You may also submit a written complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will provide you with the address to file your complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services upon request. We will not retaliate in any way if you choose to file a complaint with us or with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Thank you for taking the time to review this Notice and how it affects you. We support and respect your right to the privacy of your health information.

Privacy Officer Joanne Winkler

contact: joanne@drgeraldmwinkler.com

Gerald M. Winkler, DMD PC 4 Cabot Place Suite 8 Stoughton, MA 02072

Facsimile 781 341-9234