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.

Our goal is to take appropriate steps to attempt to safeguard any medical or other personal information that is provided to us. We are required to: (I) maintain the privacy of medical information provided to us; (II) provide notice of our legal duties and privacy practices; and (III) abide by the terms of our Notice of Privacy Practices currently in effect.

This notice describes the practices of our employees and staff. These individuals will follow the terms of this notice. In addition they may share medical information with others for the treatment, payment, or heath care operations purposes described with this notice.

In the ordinary course of receiving treatment and health care services from us, you will be providing us with personal information such as:

• Your name, address, and phone number.
• Information relating to your medical history.
• Your insurance information and coverage.
• Information concerning your doctor, nurse, or other medical providers.

In addition, we will gather certain medical information about you and will create a record of the care provided to you. Some information also may be provided to us by other individuals or organizations that are part of your "circle of care" - such as the referring physician, your other doctors, your health plan, and close friends or family members.

We may used and disclose personal and identifiable health information about you in different ways. All of the ways in which we may used and disclose information will fall within one of the following categories, but not every use or disclosure in a category will be listed.

We will use health information about you to furnish services and supplies to you, in accordance with out policies and procedures. For example, we will use your medical history, such as any presence of absence of heart disease, to assess your health and perform requested ultrasound or other diagnostic services.

We will use and disclose health information about you to bill for our services and to collect payment from you or your insurance company. For example, we may need to give a payer information about your current medical condition so that it will pay us for the services that we have furnished you. We may also need to inform your payer of the tests that you are going to receive in order to obtain prior approval or to determine whether the service is covered.

We may use and disclose information about you for the general operation of our business. For example, we sometimes arrange for accreditation organizations, auditors, or other consultants to review our practice, evaluate our operations, and tell us how to improve our services.

There are a number of public policy reasons why we may disclose information about you. We may disclose health information about you when we are required to do so by federal, state, or local law.

We may disclose protected health information about you in connection with certain public health reporting activities. For instance, we may disclose such information to a public health authority authorized to collect or receive PHI for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability, or at the direction of a public health authority. Public health authorities include state health departments, the Center for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency, to name a few.

We are also permitted to disclose protected health information to a public health authority or other government authority authorized by law to receive reports of child abuse or the Food and Drug Administration's power for the following activities: to report adverse events, product defects or problems, or biological product deviations, to track products, to enable product recalls, repairs, or replacements, or to conduct post-marketing surveillance.

We may disclose your protected health information in situations of domestic abuse or elder abuse.

We may disclose protected health information in connection with certain health oversight activities of licensing and other agencies. Health oversight activities include audit, investigation, inspection, licensure, or disciplinary actions, and civil, criminal, or administrative proceedings or actions or any other activity necessary for the oversight of 1) the health care system, 2) governmental benefit programs for which health care information is relevant to determining beneficiary eligibility, 3) entities subject to governmental regulatory programs for which health information is necessary for determining compliance with program standards, or 4) entities subject to civil rights laws for which health information is necessary for determining compliance.

We may disclose information in response to a warrant, subpoena, or other order of a court or administrative hearing body, and in connection with certain government investigations and law enforcement activities.

We may release personal health information to a coroner or medical examiner to identify a decreased person or determine the cause of death. We also may release person health information to organ procurement organizations, transplant centers, and eye or tissue banks.

We may release your personal health information to workers' compensation or similar programs.

Information about you also will be disclosed when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your heath and safety or the health and safety of others.

We may use or disclose certain personal health information about your condition and treatment for research purposes where an Institutional Review Board or a similar body referred to as a Privacy Board determines that your privacy interests will be adequately protected in the study. We may also used and disclose your protected health information to prepare or analyze a research protocol and for other research purposes.

If you are a member of the Armed Forces, we may release personal health information about you as required by military command authorities. We also may release personal health information about foreign military personnel to the appropriate foreign military authority.

We may disclose your protected health information for legal or administrative proceedings that involve you. We may release such information upon order of a court or administrative tribunal. We may also release protected health information in the absence os such an order and in response to a discovery or other lawful request, if efforts have been made to notify you or secure a protective order.

Our Business Associates

We sometimes work with outside individuals and businesses who help us operate our business successfully. We may disclose your health information to these business associates so that they can perform the tasks that we hire them to do. Our business associates must guarantee to us that they will respect the confidentiality of your personal and identifiable health information.

Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care.

We may disclose information to individuals involved in your care of in the payment for your care, but we will obtain your agreement before doing so. This includes people and organizations that are part of your "circle of care" - such as your spouse, your other doctors, or an aide who may be providing services to you. Although we must be able to speak with your other physicians or health care providers, you can let us know if we should not speak with other individuals, such as your spouse or family.

ADDITIONAL REASONS

Appointment Reminders. We may used and disclose medical information to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment or that you should schedule an appointment.

Treatment Alternatives.

We may used and disclose your personal health information in order to tell you about or recommend possible treatment options, alternatives, or health-related services that may be of interest to you.

OTHER USES AND DISCLOSURES
OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We are required to obtain written authorization from you for any other uses and disclosures of medical information other than those described above. If you provide us with such permission, you may revoke that permission, in writing, at any time. If you revoke your permission, we will no longer use or disclose personal information about you for the reasons covered by your written authorization. We will be unable to take back any disclosures already made based upon your original permission.