HEALTH INSURANCE PORTABILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT (“HIPAA”) POLICY
Last Updated: June 18, 2025
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
Vie Sante Medical, A California Nursing Corporation (“Vie Sante Medical”, “we,” “us” or “our”) understands the importance of privacy and are committed to maintaining the confidentiality of your medical information. We make a record of the medical care we provide, the services provided by non-medical staff and contractors, and may receive such records from others. These records are used to provide or enable others to provide quality medical and wellness care, to obtain payment for services provided to you, and to enable us to meet all professional and legal obligations necessary to operate this medical practice properly. Vie Sante Medical is required by law to maintain the privacy of protected health information, to provide you with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to protected health information, and to notify affected individuals following a breach of unsecured protected health information. This notice describes how we may use and disclose your medical information, and your rights and our legal obligations with respect to your medical information. If you have any questions about this Notice, please contact us as indicated below.
How Vie Sante Medical May Use or Disclose Your Health Information
Vie Sante Medical collects health information about you and stores it in a chart and on a computer. This is your medical record. The medical record is the property of Vie Sante Medical, but the information in the medical record belongs to you. The law permits us to use or disclose your health information for the following purposes:
Treatment. Vie Sante Medical uses medical information about you to provide your medical and wellness care. We disclose medical information to our employees, contractors, and others who engage in providing the care you need and request. For example, Vie Sante Medical may share your medical information with other physicians or other health care providers who will provide services that we do not provide. Or we may share this information with a pharmacist who needs it to dispense a prescription to you, or a laboratory that performs a test. Vie Sante Medical may share your medical information with the contracted providers who provide additional services you request from our practice such as yoga, sound bath, and massage services. Vie Sante Medical may also disclose medical information to members of your family or others who can help you when you are sick or injured, or after you die.
Payment. Vie Sante Medical uses and discloses medical information about you to obtain payment for the services we provide. For example, we give your health plan the information it requires before it will pay us. We may also disclose information to other health care and additional service providers to assist them in obtaining payment for the services they have provided to you.
Health Care Operations. Vie Sante Medical may use and disclose medical information about you to operate the medical practice. For example, we may use and disclose this information to review and improve the quality of care we provide, or the competence and qualifications of our professional staff. Or we may use and disclose this information to get your health plan to authorize services or referrals. We may also use and disclose this information as necessary for medical reviews, legal services and audits, including fraud and abuse detection and compliance programs and business planning and management. We may also share your medical information with our “business associates,” such as our billing service, which perform administrative services for us. Vie Sante Medical has written contracts with each of these businesses and all with whom we contract containing terms requiring them (and their subcontractors and employees) to protect the confidentiality and security of your protected health information. Vie Sante Medical may also share your information with other health care providers, health care clearinghouses or health plans that have a relationship with you, when they request this information to help them with their quality assessment and improvement activities, their patient-safety activities, their population-based efforts to improve health or reduce health care costs, their protocol development, case management or care-coordination activities, their review of competence, qualifications and performance of health care professionals, their training programs, their accreditation, certification or licensing activities, or their health care fraud and abuse detection and compliance efforts. We may also share medical information about you with the other health care providers, health care clearinghouses and health plans that participate with us in “organized health care arrangements” (OHCAs) for any of the OHCAs’ health care operations. OHCAs include hospitals, physician organizations, health plans, and other entities which collectively provide health care services. A listing of the OHCAs we participate in is available by request at the contact information included herein.
Appointment Reminders. Vie Sante Medical may use and disclose medical information to contact and remind you about appointments. If you are not home, we may leave this information on your answering machine or in a message left with the person answering the phone.
Sign-In Sheet. We may use and disclose medical information about you by having you sign in when you arrive at our office. We may also call out your name when we are ready to see you.
Notification and Communication With Family. Vie Sante Medical 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, unless you had instructed us otherwise, in the event of your death. In the event of a disaster, we may disclose information to a relief organization so that they may coordinate these notification efforts. We may also disclose information to someone who is involved with your care or helps pay for your care. If you are able and available to agree or object, Vie Sante Medical will give you the opportunity to object prior to making these disclosures, although we may disclose this information in a disaster even over your objection if we believe it is necessary to respond to the emergency circumstances. 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.
Marketing. Vie Sante Medical may contact you to give you information about products or services related to your treatment, case management or care coordination, or to direct or recommend other treatments, therapies, health care providers or settings of care that may be of interest to you. Vie Sante Medical may similarly describe products or services provided by this practice and tell you which health plans this practice participates in. We may also encourage you to maintain a healthy lifestyle and get recommended tests, participate in a disease management program, provide you with small gifts, tell you about government sponsored health programs or encourage you to purchase a product or service when we see you, for which we may be paid. Finally, Vie Sante Medical may receive compensation which covers our cost of reminding you to take and refill your medication, or otherwise communicate about a drug or biologic that is currently prescribed for you. Vie Sante Medical will not otherwise use or disclose your medical information for marketing purposes or accept any payment for other marketing communications without your prior written authorization. The authorization will disclose whether we receive any compensation for any marketing activity you authorize, and we will stop any future marketing activity to the extent you revoke that authorization.
Sale of Health Information. Vie Sante Medical will not sell your health information without your prior written authorization. The authorization will disclose whether Vie Sante Medical will receive compensation for your health information if you authorize us to sell it, and we will stop any future sales of your information to the extent that you revoke that authorization.
Required by Law. As required by law, Vie Sante medical will use and disclose your health information, but we will limit our use or disclosure to the relevant requirements of the law. When the law requires us to report abuse, neglect or domestic violence, or respond to judicial or administrative proceedings, or to law enforcement officials, we will further comply with the requirements set forth below concerning those activities.
Public Health. Vie Sante Medical may, and are sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information to public health authorities for purposes related to: preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability; reporting child, elder or dependent adult 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. When we report suspected elder or dependent adult abuse or domestic violence, Vie Sante Medical will inform you or your personal representative promptly unless in our best professional judgment, we believe the notification would place you at risk of serious harm or would require informing a personal representative we believe is responsible for the abuse or harm.
Health Oversight Activities. Vie Sante Medical may, and is sometimes required by law, to disclose health information to health oversight agencies during the course of audits, investigations, inspections, licensure and other proceedings, subject to the limitations imposed by law.
Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. Vie Sante Medical may, and is sometimes required by law, to disclose your health information in the course of any administrative or judicial proceeding to the extent expressly authorized by a court or administrative order. We may also disclose information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process if reasonable efforts have been made to notify you of the request and you have not objected, or if your objections have been resolved by a court or administrative order.
Law Enforcement. Vie Sante Medical may, and is sometimes required by law, to 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, warrant, grand jury subpoena and other law enforcement purposes.
Coroners. Vie Sante Medical may, and is often required by law, to disclose your health information to coroners in connection with their investigations of deaths.
Organ or Tissue Donation. Vie Sante Medical may disclose your health information to organizations involved in procuring, banking or transplanting organs and tissues.
Public Safety. Vie Sante Medical may, and is sometimes required by law, to 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.
Specialized Government Functions. Vie Sante Medical may disclose your health information for military or national security purposes or to correctional institutions or law enforcement officers that have you in their lawful custody.
Workers’ Compensation. Vie Sante Medical may disclose your health information as necessary to comply with workers’ compensation laws. For example, to the extent your care is covered by workers’ compensation, we will make periodic reports to your employer about your condition. Vie Sante Medical is required by law to report cases of occupational injury or occupational illness to the employer or workers’ compensation insurer.
Change of Ownership
In the event that Vie Sante Medical’s practice is sold or merged with another organization, your health information/record will become the property of the new owner, although you will maintain the right to request that copies of your health information be transferred to another physician or medical group.
Breach Notification
In the case of a breach of unsecured protected health information, Vie Sante Medical will notify you as required by law. If you have provided us with a current e-mail address, we may use e-mail to communicate information related to the breach. In some circumstances our business associate may provide the notification. We may also provide notification by other methods as appropriate.