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.

Developmental Pathways, Inc. is required by law to maintain the privacy of your health information and to provide you with notice of its legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your health information. If you have questions about any part of this notice or if you want more information about the privacy practices at Developmental Pathways, Inc. please contact:
 
Bob Ward, Privacy/Compliance Officer
Developmental Pathways
325 Inverness Drive South
Englewood, CO 80112
 
Effective Date of This Notice: April 14, 2003
  1. How Developmental Pathways may Use or Disclose Your Health Information

    Developmental Pathways collects health information about you, which is in your medical record. We need this information to provide you with quality care and to create a record of the care and services you receive at Developmental Pathways, Inc. Developmental Pathways is committed to protecting the privacy of your health information. The law permits Developmental Pathways to use or disclose your health information for the following purposes:
     
    1. Treatment.    We may use medical information about you to provide you with medical treatment or services. We may disclose medical information about you to doctors, psychologists, pharmacists, nurses, social workers, therapists, technicians, or other personnel involved in providing services to you. Different departments of Developmental Pathways, Inc. may also share medical information about you in order to coordinate the different services you need.
       
    2. Payment.    We may use and disclose medical information about you so that the treatment and services you receive at Developmental Pathways or other providers from whom you receive treatment or services, may be billed to, and payment may be collected from, you, an insurance company, a third party, Medicaid or other payer. To the extent possible, our staff and outside contractors or consultants will make reasonable efforts to assure that the use and disclosure of your personal health information is conducted in a secure and confidential manner.
       
    3. Regular Health Care Operations.    Developmental Pathways may use and disclose medical information about you for agency operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary to manage the operation and to monitor your quality of care. For example, we may use personal health information to evaluate our agency’s services, including the performance of our staff. We may also use personal health information for training purposes or to develop new policies, procedures, or programs that may benefit you or other individuals we support. Your medical information may be shared with survey reviewers and other accreditation bodies in accordance with current and on-going operating procedures.
       
    4. Information provided to you.
       
    5. Notification and communication with family.    We may disclose your health information to notify or assist in notifying a family member, your personal representative or another person responsible for your care about your location, your general condition or in the event of your death. If you are able and available to agree or object, we will give you the opportunity to do so prior to making this notification. If you are unable or unavailable to agree or object, our health professionals will use their best judgment in communication with your family and others.
       
    6. Required by law.    As required by law, we may use and disclose your health information as described below:
       
      1. Public health.    We may disclose your health information to public health authorities for purposes related to: preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability; reporting child abuse or neglect; reporting domestic violence; reporting to the Food and Drug Administration problems with products and reactions to medications; and reporting disease or infection exposure.
         
      2. Health oversight activities.    We may disclose your health information to health agencies during the course of audits, investigations, inspections, licensure and other proceedings.
         
      3. Judicial and administrative proceedings.    We may disclose your health information in the course of any administrative or judicial proceeding as required by a court order or subpoena.
         
      4. Law enforcement.    We may disclose your health information to a law enforcement official for purposes such as identifying or locating a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person, complying with a court order or subpoena and other law enforcement purposes.
         
      5. Deceased person information.    We may disclose your health information to coroners, medical examiners and funeral directors.
         
      6. Public safety.    We may disclose your health information to appropriate persons in order to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a particular person or the general public.
         
      7. Specialized government functions.    We may disclose your health information for military, national security, and prisoner purposes.
         
      8. Worker's compensation.    We may disclose your health information as necessary to comply with worker’s compensation laws.
         
    [Only the minimum necessary health information will be disclosed to accomplish the above purposes.]

    [If your state law materially limits or prohibits any of the uses and disclosures described above, each such use and disclosure described above must reflect the more stringent law.]
     
  2. When Developmental Pathways May Not Use or Disclose Your Health Information

    Except as described in this Notice of Privacy Practices, Developmental Pathways will not use or disclose your health information without your written authorization. If you do authorize Developmental Pathways to use or disclose your health information for another purpose, you may revoke your authorization in writing at any time.
     
  3. Your Health Information Rights
     
    1. a) You have the right to request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of your health information. Developmental Pathways is not required to agree to the restriction that you requested. We ask that such requests be made in writing. Appropriate forms may be obtained from Developmental Pathways’ contact person listed below.
       
    2. You have the right to inspect and copy your health information.
       
    3. c) You have a right to request that Developmental Pathways amend your health information that is incorrect or incomplete. Developmental Pathways is not required to change your health information and will provide you with information about Developmental Pathways’ denial and how you request a review. We ask that such requests be made in writing. Appropriate forms may be obtained from Developmental Pathways’ contact person listed below.
       
    4. d) You have a right to receive an accounting of disclosures of your health information made by Developmental Pathways, except that Developmental Pathways does not have to account for the disclosures described in parts 1 (treatment), 2 (payment), 3 (health care operations), 4 (information provided to you), and g (certain government functions) of section I of this Notice of Privacy Practices.
       
    5. You have a right to a paper copy of this Notice of Privacy Practices.
       
    If you would like to have a more detailed explanation of these rights or if you would like to exercise one or more of these rights, contact:

      Bob Ward, Privacy/Compliance Officer
    Developmental Pathways
    325 Inverness Drive South
    Englewood, CO 80112

  4. Changes to this Notice of Privacy Practices

    Developmental Pathways reserves the right to amend this Notice of Privacy Practices at any time in the future, and to make the new provisions effective for all information that it maintains, including information that was created or received prior to the date of such amendment. Until such amendment is made, Developmental Pathways is required by law to comply with this Notice.

    Revised notices will be communicated via the Developmental Pathways website, through local operations publications, meetings, or other distribution channels.
     
  5. Complaints

    Complaints about this Notice of Privacy Practices or how Developmental Pathways handles your health information, must be in writing and directed to:

      Bob Ward, Privacy/Compliance Officer
    Developmental Pathways
    325 Inverness Drive South
    Englewood, CO 80112

    For further information about this process, please contact the Privacy/Compliance Officer.  All complaints must be submitted in writing as stated above.

    If you are not satisfied with the manner in which this office handles a complaint, you may submit a formal complaint to:

      Department of Health and Human Services
    Office of Civil Rights
    Hubert H. Humphrey Bldg.
    200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
    Room 509F HHH Building
    Washington, DC 20201

    You may also address your complaint to one of the regional Offices for Civil Rights. A list of these offices can be found online at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/regmail.html.

    Updated January 2007
 
Copyright © 2007 Developmental Pathways, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
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