Notice of Privacy Practices

Before launch: the practice's official notice goes here

Note to the practice: the sections below outline the rights and categories that HIPAA requires this notice to cover, so the page is structured correctly and easy to read. Your official Notice of Privacy Practices, the one your patients sign for and the one your attorney or your state dental association template provides, should replace the summary text below before this site goes live. It needs your effective date, your privacy officer's name and contact details, and any Texas-specific provisions.

This page exists because federal law requires it. A dental practice that is a HIPAA covered entity and maintains a website about its services must post its Notice of Privacy Practices on that website. The practice's current site does not have one posted, so this is a gap worth closing at launch.

How your health information may be used and shared

In the ordinary course of care, a dental practice uses and shares health information for three main purposes, and generally may do so without asking you to sign a separate authorization each time:

• Treatment. Providing your dental care and coordinating it with other providers, such as sending records to a specialist you are referred to
• Payment. Billing and collecting payment for care, including submitting claims to your dental insurance and confirming coverage
• Health care operations. Running the practice, such as quality review, staff training, scheduling, and business management

Other situations

Health information may also be used or shared in a limited set of other circumstances defined by law, such as public health reporting, responding to a court order or lawful subpoena, reporting suspected abuse or neglect, workers' compensation matters, and specific law enforcement or health oversight requests.

Uses and disclosures not described in this notice, including most uses of psychotherapy notes, any sale of health information, and use of your information for marketing, require your written authorization. You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time.

Your rights over your health information

Under federal law you have the following rights regarding the health information the practice holds about you:

• Ask to see and get a copy of your dental records, usually within 30 days of your request
• Ask the practice to correct information you believe is incorrect or incomplete
• Ask for a list of certain disclosures the practice has made of your information
• Ask the practice to limit how it uses or shares your information, and to require a restriction on disclosure to your health plan for care you paid for entirely out of pocket
• Ask to be contacted in a specific way or at a specific address, such as only by mobile phone
• Get a paper copy of this notice, even if you agreed to receive it electronically
• Be notified if there is a breach affecting your unsecured health information
• File a complaint if you believe your privacy rights were violated, without any retaliation for doing so

How to exercise a right, or raise a concern

Call or text the office at (713) 668-8383, or write to Bellaire Dental Group, 6699 Chimney Rock Rd, Suite 101, Houston, TX 77081. Ask for the person responsible for privacy at the practice.

You may also file a complaint directly with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. Filing a complaint will not affect the care you receive here.

This notice and the website privacy policy are different documents

This notice covers the health information created and kept in the course of your dental care. Information you type into a form on this public website is covered by our separate website Privacy Policy, which is why we ask you not to send health details through the website.