PRIVACY STATEMENT

We are committed to protecting your privacy and developing technology that gives you the most powerful and safe online experience. This Statement of Privacy applies to our Practice's Web site and governs data collection and usage. By using this website, you consent to the data practices described in this statement.

Collection of your Personal Information

This Practice collects personally identifiable information, such as your e-mail address, name, home or work address or telephone number. This Practice also collects anonymous demographic information, which is not unique to you, such as your ZIP code, age, gender, preferences, interests and favorites.

There is also information about your computer hardware and software that is automatically collected by this website. This information can include: your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times and referring Web site addresses. This information is used for the operation of the service, to maintain quality of the service, and to provide general statistics regarding use of this Web site.

Please keep in mind that if you directly disclose personally identifiable information or personally sensitive data through public message boards, this information may be collected and used by others.

This Practice encourages you to review the privacy statements of Web sites you choose to link to from the website so that you can understand how those Web sites collect, use and share your information. This Practice is not responsible for the privacy statements or other content on any other Web sites.

Use of your Personal Information

This Practice collects and uses your personal information to operate the Web site and deliver the services you have requested. This Practice also uses your personally identifiable information to inform you of other products or services available from this Practice and its affiliates. This Practice may also contact you via surveys to conduct research about your opinion of current services or of potential new services that may be offered.

This Practice does not sell, rent or lease its customer lists to third parties. This Practice may share data with trusted partners to help us perform statistical analysis, send you email or postal mail, provide customer support, or arrange for deliveries. All such third parties are prohibited from using your personal information except to provide these services and they are required to maintain the confidentiality of your information.

This Practice does not use or disclose sensitive personal information, such as race, religion, or political affiliations, without your explicit consent.

This Practice will disclose your personal information, without notice, only if required to do so by law.

Use of Cookies

The Web site uses "cookies" to help this Practice personalize your online experience. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a Web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.

Security of your Personal Information

This Practice secures your personal information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. This Practice secures the personally identifiable information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. When personal information (such as a credit card number) is transmitted to other Web sites, it is protected through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.

Changes to this Statement

This Practice will occasionally update this Statement of Privacy to reflect company and customer feedback. We encourage you to periodically review this Statement to be informed of how this Practice is protecting your information.

Contact Information

Please contact us by phone at 323-306-9632 or by mail at 1700 E. Cesar Chavez Ave, Suite 2500, Los Angeles, CA 90033.

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NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

YOUR PRIVACY

Los Angeles Center for Ear, Nose, Throat and Allergy (“LAENT”) adheres to the requirements outlined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”), which ensures the security and privacy of an individual’s medical records and promotes privacy and trust between patients and their healthcare providers.

LAENT will make available a current Notice of Privacy Practices to each individual that presents at our facilities for healthcare services. The Notice describes how we use and share patient personal health information.

LAENT’s Notice of Privacy Practices under HIPAA is also available below:

NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES UNDER HIPAA

Effective Date: August 10, 2021

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.

Your Rights
You have the right to:

• Get a copy of your paper or electronic medical record
• Correct your paper or electronic medical record
• Request confidential communication
• Ask us to limit the information we share
• Get a list of those with whom we’ve shared your information
• Get a copy of this privacy notice
• Choose someone to act for you
• File a complaint if you believe your privacy rights have been violated

Your Choices
You have some choices in the way that we use and share information as we:

• Tell family and friends about your condition
• Provide disaster relief
• Include you in a hospital directory
• Provide mental health care
• Market our services and sell your information
• Raise funds

Our Uses and Disclosures
We may use and share your information as we:

• Treat you
• Run our organization
• Bill for your services
• Help with public health and safety issues
• Conduct research
• Comply with the law
• Respond to organ and tissue donation requests
• Work with a medical examiner or funeral director
• Address workers’ compensation, law enforcement, and other government requests
• Respond to lawsuits and legal actions

1. Your Rights

When it comes to your health information, you have certain rights. This section explains your rights and some of our responsibilities to help you.

Get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record

• You can ask to see or get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record and other health information we have about you. Ask us how to do this.
• We will provide a copy or a summary of your health information, usually within 30 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.

Ask us to correct your medical record

• You can ask us to correct health information about you that you think is incorrect or incomplete. Ask us how to do this.
• We may say “no” to your request, but we’ll tell you why in writing within 60 days.

Request confidential communications

• You can ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, home or office phone) or to send mail to a different address.
• We will say “yes” to all reasonable requests.

Ask us to limit what we use or share

• You can ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment, or our operations. We are not required to agree to your request, and we may say “no” if it would affect your care.
• If you pay for a service or health care item out-of-pocket in full, you can ask us not to share that information for the purpose of payment or our operations with your health insurer. We will say “yes” unless a law requires us to share that information.

Get a list of those with whom we’ve shared information

• You can ask for a list (accounting) of the times we’ve shared your health information for six (6) years prior to the date you ask, who we shared it with, and why.
• We will include all the disclosures except for those about treatment, payment, and health care operations, and certain other disclosures (such as any you asked us to make). We’ll provide one accounting a year for free but will charge a reasonable, cost-based fee if you ask for another one within 12 months.

Get a copy of this privacy notice

You can ask for a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you have agreed to receive the notice electronically. We will provide you with a paper copy promptly.

Choose someone to act for you

• If you have given someone medical power of attorney or if someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights and make choices about your health information.
• We will make sure the person has this authority and can act for you before we take any action.

File a complaint if you feel your rights are violated

• You can complain if you feel we have violated your rights by contacting us using the following information: Rachel McMenaman, [email protected], (323) 268-6731.
• You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by sending a letter to 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, calling 1-877-696-6775, or visiting www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/.
• We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

2. Your Choices

For certain health information, you can tell us your choices about what we share. If you have a clear preference for how we share your information in the situations described below, talk to us. Tell us what you want us to do, and we will follow your instructions.

In these cases, you have both the right and choice to tell us to:

• Share information with your family, close friends, or others involved in your care
• Share information in a disaster relief situation
• Include your information in a hospital directory

If you are not able to tell us your preference, for example if you are unconscious, we may go ahead and share your information if we believe it is in your best interest. We may also share your information when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.

In these cases, we never share your information unless you give us written permission:

• Marketing purposes
• Sale of your information
• Most sharing of psychotherapy notes

In the case of fundraising:

• We may contact you for fundraising efforts, but you can tell us not to contact you again.

3. Our Uses and Disclosures

How do we typically use or share your health information?
We typically use or share your health information in the following ways.

Treat you

We can use your health information and share it with other professionals who are treating you.

Example: A doctor treating you for an injury asks another doctor about your overall health condition.

Run our organization

We can use and share your health information to run our practice, improve your care, and contact you when necessary.

Example: We use health information about you to manage your treatment and services.

Bill for your services

We can use and share your health information to bill and get payment from health plans or other entities.

Example: We give information about you to your health insurance plan so it will pay for your services.

How else can we use or share your health information?

We are allowed or required to share your information in other ways – usually in ways that contribute to the public good, such as public health and research. We have to meet many conditions in the law before we can share your information for these purposes. For more information see: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/index.html.

Help with public health and safety issues

We can share health information about you for certain situations such as:

• Preventing disease
• Helping with product recalls
• Reporting adverse reactions to medications
• Reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence
• Preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety

Do research

We can use or share your information for health research.

Comply with the law

We will share information about you if state or federal laws require it, including with the Department of Health and Human Services if it wants to see that we’re complying with federal privacy law.

Respond to organ and tissue donation requests

We can share health information about you with organ procurement organizations.

Work with a medical examiner or funeral director

We can share health information with a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director when an individual dies.

Address workers’ compensation, law enforcement, and other government requests

As applicable, we can use or share health information about you:

• For workers’ compensation claims
• For law enforcement purposes or with a law enforcement official
• With health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law
• For special government functions such as military, national security, and presidential protective services

Respond to lawsuits and legal actions

We can share health information about you in response to a court or administrative order, or in response to a subpoena.

Our Responsibilities

• We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.
• We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.
• We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it.
• We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us we can in writing. If you tell us we can, you may change your mind at any time. Let us know in writing if you change your mind.

For more information see: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/noticepp.html.

Changes to the Terms of this Notice: We can change the terms of this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The new notice will be available upon request, in our office, and on our web site.

NOTE: LAENT’s Privacy Policy describes how it treats information that it collects through www.laent.com and other websites, online locations and apps of LAENT (collectively, the “Sites”), and the offline interactions other than those involving patient medical information.