privacy policy

Privacy is important to us as a responsible participant in the health care industry. Our policy is to protect the privacy and confidentiality of our customers and those individuals whose health care information may be identified. This Privacy Policy describes what information we collect and how that information is protected and used.

 

HIPAA NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES FOR PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION

Personal health information about an individual that can be used to identify or contact that individual will be protected by us as "Individually Identifiable Health Information" in accordance with the requirements and definitions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 (Public Law 104-191) and any implementing regulations.

We also observe all other state and federal laws relating to transmission, storage, and access to medical records and other health care data.

 

DISCLOSURES WITH YOUR AUTHORIZATION

We must obtain your authorization to use or disclose health information in those situations not otherwise described in this Policy. If you do authorize us to use or disclose your medical information, you have the right to revoke that authorization at any time.

 

HOW WE MAY USE OR DISCLOSE YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION

Treatment: We may use and disclose medical information about you, including hearing test findings, in order to ensure that you receive proper medical treatment. For example, we may disclose your health information to another physician or health care provider involved in your care. We may also tell you about or recommend possible treatment options or alternatives.

Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care: We may discuss your medical care with family members or close personal friends who are involved in your medical care or payment for that care. You have the right to restrict any of these disclosures.

Limited Data Sets: We may use or disclose certain information that does not directly identify you for research, public health or health care operations if the recipient of that information agrees to protect the information.

For Health Care Operations: We may use and disclose medical information about you for our health care operations that are necessary to run our offices, maintain licensure, and to make sure that our patients receive quality care, services and products. For example, we may use your medical information to review our treatment and the services we provided and to evaluate the performance of our staff. Also, we may need to discuss your medical information with companies and individuals necessary to complete orders for hearing care devices and for the purpose of consultation and recommendation.

Health Oversight Activities: We may disclose your medical information to a health oversight agency such as licensing boards for activities authorized by law.

To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety: We may use and disclose medical information about you when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person. Any disclosure, however, would only be to someone able to help prevent the threatened harm.

Workers' Compensation: We may release medical information about you for workers' compensation or similar programs that provide benefits for work related injuries or illness as required or permitted by law if you are injured at work.

Legally Required: We will disclose medical information about you when required to do so by federal, state or local law. Under certain circumstances, we may release medical information about you if asked to do so by a law enforcement official. We may disclose medical information about you in response to a court or administrative order, a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process, but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain a protective order concerning the information requested.

Appointment Reminders/Order Status: We may contact you or your personal representative with a reminder postcard, email or telephone message that it is time for you to call our office and schedule an appointment. We may also contact you by telephone or email with regard to the status of your hearing aid, earmould, repair or assistive device order.

Incidental Uses and Disclosures: We may use or disclose your medical information if it is an incidental by-product of any of the uses or disclosures described above.

 

YOUR RIGHTS IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION

You have the following rights in connection with the medical information we maintain about you:

Right to Inspect and Copy: You have the right to inspect and copy your medical information that is in our possession. You may not, however, necessarily have access to information that is put together for use in a civil, criminal or administrative proceeding.

To inspect or copy your medical information, you must submit your request in writing to our company office. If you request a copy of the information, we may charge a fee for the costs of copying, mailing or other supplies associated with your request.

We may deny your request to inspect or copy your health information in certain very limited circumstances. If you are denied access to your medical information, you may be able to request that the denial be reviewed.

Right to Request Amendment: If you feel that your medical information is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend that information.

Right to Request Additional Privacy Protections: You have the right to request additional restrictions from those detailed in this notice. Your request must be submitted in writing to our office address below. However, we are not required to agree to all requests.

Right to Request Confidential Communication: You have the right to request that we communicate with you about medical matters in a certain way or at a certain location. For example, you can ask that we only contact you at work or by mail.

 

Security measures

When we transfer and receive certain types of sensitive information such as financial or health information, we redirect visitors to a secure server and will notify visitors through a pop-up screen on our site, We have appropriate security measures in place in our facilities to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of information that we have collected from you.

 

Website Visitor Information

For each visitor to our website, our server automatically recognizes only the consumer's domain name, but not the e-mail address unless provided.

We collect only the domain name, but not the e-mail address of visitors to our website, the e-mail addresses of those who communicate with us via e-mail, aggregate information on what pages consumers access or visit, information volunteered by the consumer, such as survey information and/or site registrations, name and address, telephone number, payment information (e.g., credit card number and billing address).

If you do not want to receive e-mail from us in the future, please let us know by sending us e-mail or otherwise contacting us. The information we collect is used to improve the content of our website, used to customize the content and/or layout of our website for each visitor, used to notify consumers about updates to our website.

With respect to cookies, we use cookies to store visitors preferences, record session information,  alert visitors to new areas that we think might be of interest to them when they return to our site, record past activity at a site in order to provide better service when visitors return to our site, customize website content based on visitors' browser type or other information that the visitor sends.

Customers may prevent their information from being used for purposes other than those for which it was originally collected by contacting us.

Upon request we provide site visitors with access to transaction information (e.g., dates on which customers made purchases, amounts and types of purchases) that we maintain about them, contact information (e.g., name, address, phone number) that we maintain about them.

Upon request, we offer visitors the ability to have inaccuracies corrected in contact information and transaction information about them.

 

PRIVACY POLICY CHANGES

We may change this Privacy Policy at any time by posting revisions to our website. Your use of the site constitutes acceptance of the provisions of this Privacy Policy and your continued usage after such changes are posted constitutes acceptance of each revised Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy or any revised policy, then please exit the website immediately.

 

ONLINE SERVICE AGREEMENT

Please see our online service agreement for other terms and conditions governing your use of our website.

 

COMPANY CONTACT INFORMATION

See www.blueskyhearing.com.au for all our contact details under the Contact Us link.