Privacy Policy

this notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please read it carefully.

access living is required to give you this notice of privacy practices to comply with the regulations established under federal and state laws. This notice is intended to describe your rights, and to inform you of the ways we may use and disclose your protected health information.

access living may gather or obtain health information about you from different sources in order to provide you some of our services. Some examples of when we may need to obtain health information about you are to:

• make sure you are eligible for our services;
• help you transition from a nursing home;
• help you reintegrate into the community;
• help you choose housing and modifications that may be needed;
• assess your ability to work, or
• help you advocate with your doctor or other healthcare professionals, among other instances.

you have the right to:

• request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your
  information, however, we are not required to agree to any
  requested restrictions;
• obtain a copy of our notice of privacy practices in an accessible
  format upon request. To ask for a copy of this notice, please
  contact the staff member working with you or our privacy officer.
• inspect and obtain a copy of your medical information that we maintain;
• request to amend the medical information that we maintain. We
  may deny your request in some cases, for example, if we did not
  create the record, or if it is accurate and complete. If your request
  is denied you may write a statement of disagreement and
  require it to be included with all future releases of your protected
  health information;
• request communications of your protected health information
  by alternative means or
  alternate locations;
• revoke your authorization to use or disclose protected health
  information except to the
  extent that action has already been taken;
• receive an accounting of disclosures made of your protected
  health information, and
• receive notification of a breach of unsecured protected health
  information.

you may exercise any of your rights by communicating in the way that works best for you. Feel free to communicate in the format of your choice (example: a tape-recorded request).

if you get services from access living under the authority of another agency, they may require that we refer you to them in order to exercise your rights regarding protected health
information.

we may use or disclose protected health information without your permission for purposes described below. Not every possible use or disclosure is listed.

services: we may use and disclose your protected health information to provide you with our services. For example, we may give your protected health information to service coordinators, job coaches, interns, or volunteers who are involved in providing you with services and are required to know some of your protected health information in order to provide you with those services. We may also give your protected health information to other organizations working with us that are also providing services to you so they have the information they need to serve you.

But, we will only provide those organizations your protected health information if they agree in writing to protect that information like we do. We will provide them with only the minimum amount of your protected health information required.

payment functions:we may use or disclose protected health information about you to collect payment for the services you receive, and to coordinate benefits. For example, we may give information about you to department of healthcare and family services or the department of human services so they will pay us for services we provided to you.

operations:we may use and disclose protected health information when necessary to operate access living’s programs and make sure all consumers receive quality service. For example, we may use information for quality assessment and improvement activities, legal services, audit services, and fraud and abuse detection programs.
required by law:we may use and disclose your protected health information as required by state or federal law.

public health:we may give your protected health information to public health authorities to: prevent or control disease, report injury, report child abuse or neglect and domestic violence, report reactions to medications, and report birth or death.

health oversight activities:we may give your protected health information to health oversight agencies, like the department of healthcare and family services or the department of human services during audits, investigations, inspections and other proceedings related to oversight of the health care system. These kinds of activities are necessary for government agencies to make sure that we are doing what they pay us for, properly and…