NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

Lancaster Family Dental, 387 Sterling Street, Lancaster, MA 01523

Privacy Officer: Lissa Tonet
Phone Number: 978-365-5302
Effective Date of Notice: October 2023

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
OUR LEGAL DUTY
Federal and state laws require us to maintain the privacy of your health information. We are also required to provide this notice about our office’s privacy practices, our legal duties and your rights regarding your health information. We are required to follow the practices that are outlined in this notice while it is in effect.
We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of this notice at any time, provided such changes are permitted by applicable law. We reserve the right to make changes in our privacy practices and the new terms of our notice effective for all health information that we maintain, including health information we created or received before we made the changes. Before we make a significant change in our privacy practices, we will change this notice and make the new notice available upon request. For more information about our privacy practices or additional copies of this notice, please contact our Privacy Officer.

HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
We may use and disclose health information for different purposes, including treatment, payment and health care operations.

Treatment
We disclose health information to our employees and others who are involved in providing the care you need.  For example, we may use or disclose your health information to another dentist or other health care providers providing treatment that we do not provide. We may also share your health information with a pharmacist in order to provide you with a prescription.

Payment
We may use and disclose your health information to obtain payment for services we provide to you. For example, we may send claims to your dental health plan containing certain health information (unless you request that we restrict such disclosure to your health plan when you have paid out-of-pocket and in full for services rendered).

Health Care Operations
We may use and disclose your health information in connection with our health care operations. Health care operations include, but are not limited to, quality assessment and improvement activities, conducting training programs, and licensing or credentialing activities.

Your Family and Friends
We must disclose your health information to you, as described in the Patient Rights section of this notice. You have the right to request restrictions on disclosure to family members, other relatives, close personal friends or any other person identified by you.

Persons Involved in Your Care
We may use or disclose health information to notify or assist in the notification of (including identifying or locating) a family member, your personal representative or another person responsible for your care, of your location, your general condition or your death. If you are present, then prior to use or disclosure of your health information, we will provide you with an opportunity to object to such uses or disclosures. In the event of your incapacity or emergency circumstances, we will disclose health information based on a determination using our professional judgment disclosing only health information that is directly relevant to the person's involvement in your health care.

Marketing Health-Related Services
We may contact you about products or services related to your treatment, case management or care coordination or to propose other treatments or health-related benefits and services in which you may be interested. We may also encourage you to purchase a product or service when you visit our office. If you are currently an enrollee of a dental plan, we may receive payment for communications to you in relation to our provision, coordination or management of your dental care, including our coordination or management of your health care with a third party, our consultation with other health care providers relating to your care or if we refer you for health care. We will not otherwise use or disclose your health information for marketing purposes without your written authorization. We will disclose whether we receive payments for marketing activity you have authorized.

Change of Ownership
If this dental practice is sold or merged with another practice or organization, your health records will become the property of the new owner. However, you may request that copies of your health information be transferred to another dental practice.

Disaster Relief
We may use or disclose your health information to assist in disaster relief efforts.

Required by Law
We may use or disclose your health information when we are required to do so by law.

Public Health
We may, and are sometimes legally obligated to, disclose your health information to public health agencies for purposes related to preventing or  controlling  disease,  injury  or  disability;  reporting  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. Upon reporting suspected elder or dependent adult abuse or domestic violence, we will promptly inform you or your personal representative unless we believe the notification would place you at risk of harm or would require informing a personal representative we believe is responsible for the abuse or harm.

Abuse or Neglect
We may disclose your health information to appropriate authorities if we reasonably believe that you are a possible victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence or the possible victim of other crimes. We may disclose your health information to the extent necessary to avert a serious threat to your health or safety or the health or safety of others.

National Security
We may disclose to military authorities the health information of Armed Forces personnel under certain circumstances. We may disclose to authorized federal officials health information required for lawful intelligence, counterintelligence and other national security activities. We may disclose to correctional institutions or law enforcement officials having lawful custody of protected health information of inmates or patients under certain circumstances.

Secretary of HHS
We will disclose your health information to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services when required to investigate or determine compliance with HIPAA.

Worker’s Compensation
We may disclose your health information to the extent authorized by and to the extent necessary to comply with laws relating to worker’s compensation or other similar programs established by law.

Law Enforcement
We may disclose your health information for law enforcement purposes as permitted by HIPAA, as required by law, or in response to a subpoena or court order.

Judicial and Administrative Proceedings
If you are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose your health information in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose health information about you in  response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process instituted by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts have been made, either by the requesting party or us, to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.

Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors
We may release your health information to a coroner or medical examiner. This may be necessary, for example, to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We may also disclose your health information to funeral directors consistent with applicable law to enable them to carry out their duties.

Research
We may disclose your health information to researchers for research purposes. In this situation, written authorization is not required as approved by an Institutional Review Board or privacy board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your information.

Fundraising
We may use or disclose demographic information and dates of treatment in order to contact you for fundraising activities. If you no longer wish to receive these communications, notify us at the contact information provided above and we will stop sending further fundraising information.

Your Authorization
We will obtain your written authorization before using or disclosing your health information for purposes other than those provided for in this notice (or as otherwise permitted or required by law). You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time. Upon receipt of the written revocation, we will stop using or disclosing your health information, except to the extent that we have already taken action in reliance on the authorization.

PATIENT RIGHTS Access
You have the right to look at or get copies of your health information, with limited exceptions. You may request that we provide copies in a format other than photocopies. We will use the format you request unless we cannot practicably do so. You must make a request in writing to obtain access to your health information. You may obtain a form to request access by contacting our office. We will charge you a reasonable cost-based fee for expenses such as copies and staff time. You may also request access by sending us a letter. If you request copies, there may be a charge for time spent. If you request an alternate format, we will charge a cost-based fee for providing your health information in that format. If you prefer, we will prepare a summary or an explanation of your health information for a fee. Contact us for a full explanation of our fee structure.

Disclosure Accounting
You have a right to receive a list of instances in which we disclosed your health information for purposes other than treatment, payment, health care operations and certain other activities for the last six years. If you request this accounting more than once in a 12-month period, we may charge you a reasonable cost-based fee for responding to these additional requests.

Right to Request a Restriction
You have the right to request that we place additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your health information. We are not required to agree to these additional restrictions, but if we do, we will abide by our agreement (except in emergency). In the event you pay out-of-pocket and in full for services rendered, you may request that we not share your health information with your health plan. We must agree to this request.

Alternative Communication
You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your health information by alternative means or to alternative locations. You must make your request in writing. Your request must specify the alternative means or location and provide satisfactory explanation of how payments will be handled under the alternative means or location you request.  We will accommodate all reasonable requests. However, if we are unable to contact you using the ways or locations you have requests we may contact you using the information we have.

Amendment
You have the right to request that we amend your health information. (Your request must be in writing, and it must explain why the information should be amended). We may deny your request under certain circumstances.  If we deny your request, we will provide you with a written explanation of why we denied it and explain your rights.

Breach Notification
In the event your unsecured protected health information is breached, we will notify you as required by law. In some situations, you may be notified by our business associates.

Electronic Notice
You may receive a paper copy of this Notice upon request, even if you have agreed to receive this Notice electronically on our Web site or by electronic mail (email).

QUESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS
If you want more information about our privacy practices or have questions or concerns, please contact our Privacy Officer.
If you are concerned that we may have violated your privacy rights, or you disagree with a decision we made about access to your health information or in  response to a  request you made to amend or restrict the use or disclosure of your health information or to have us communicate with you  by alternative means  or at  alternative locations, you may send a wtitten complaint to our Privacy Officer  or to the U.S. Department of Health and  Human Services, Office  of Civil Rights. We will not retaliate against  you for filing a complaint.

Privacy Policy

This privacy policy sets out how Lancaster Family Dental uses and protects any information that you give Lancaster Family Dental when you use this website.

Lancaster Family Dental is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.

Lancaster Family Dental may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy is effective from 2024.

What we collect

We may collect the following information:

  • name and job title
  • contact information including email address
  • demographic information such as postcode, preferences and interests
  • other information relevant to customer surveys and/or offers

What we do with the information we gather

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

  • Internal record keeping.
  • We may use the information to improve our products and services.
  • We may periodically send promotional email about new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided.
  • From time to time, we may also use your information to contact you for market research purposes. We may contact you by email, phone, fax or mail.
  • We may use the information to customize the website according to your interests.
  • We may provide your information to our third party partners for marketing or promotional purposes.
  • We will never sell your information.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

How we use cookies

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer's hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyze web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyze data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to enable you to visit other websites of interest easily. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Controlling your personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

  • whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used by anybody for direct marketing purposes
  • if you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by writing to or contact us.

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting if you tell us that you wish this to happen.

You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998. A small fee will be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to 387 Sterling St.
Lancaster, MA 01523.

If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or contact us as soon as possible, at the above address. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

Our Contact Information:

Lancaster Family Dental
387 Sterling St.
Lancaster, MA 01523
978-365-5302