____________________________________________________________________________________________ THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY. THE PRIVACY OF YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION IS IMPORTANT TO US. ____________________________________________________________________________________________

All of the physicians and employees at New Hope Natural Healing Center, Inc. use and share health information about you for treatment, to obtain payment for treatment, for administrative purposes and to evaluate the quality of care you receive. We are committed to protecting health information about you. Your health information is contained in a medical record and is the property of New Hope Natural Healing Center, Inc.

OUR LEGAL DUTY
We are required by federal and state law to maintain the privacy of your health information. We are also required to give you this Notice about our privacy practices, our legal duties and your rights concerning your information. We must follow our privacy practices that are described in this Notice while it is in effect. This notice is effective as of April 14, 2003 and will remain in effect until we replace it.

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 we maintain, including health information we created or received before we made the changes. Any significant changes in our privacy practices will be made available to you in the new Notice available upon request.

You may request a copy of our Notice at any time. For more information about our privacy practices, or any additional copies of this Notice, please contact us using the information listed at the end of this Notice.

HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION
We use and disclose health information about you for treatment, payment and healthcare operations.

Treatment: We may use or disclose your health information to a physician or other healthcare provider providing treatment to you.

Payment: We provide information to your insurance company in order to receive reimbursement from them, as per your policy and contract with your insurance carrier.

Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose your health information in connection with our healthcare operations. Healthcare operations include quality assessment and improvement activities, reviewing the competence or qualifications of healthcare professionals, evaluating practitioner and provider performance, conducting training, licensing or credentialing activities. Assess the quality of care and outcomes in your cases and similar cases. Learn how to improve our facility and services and determine how we can make improvements in the care and services we provide.

Appointments/Follow-up Calls: We may use information to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or follow-up regarding care received at our office or by our healthcare providers.

Individuals Involved in Your Care: We may share information with a family member or other person identified by you or who is involved in your care or payment related to your care. We may tell family or friends your condition. If you do not want information about you released to those involved in your care, see instructions for requesting a restriction under Your Health Information Rights.

Required By Law: We may use or disclose your health information when we are required to do so by federal, state or local law. For example, we may disclose your health information to respond to a court order or subpoena.

Health and Safety: We may disclose health information about you to avert a serious threat to the health and safety of you, any other person or the public.

National Security: We may disclose your health information to federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence and national activities authorized by law.

Public Health Risks: We may disclose information for the following health activities:

• To prevent or control disease, injury or disability.
• To report information related to victims of abuse or neglect.
• To notify a person who may have been exposed to a disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a disease.

Treatment Alternatives: We may use and disclose health information to tell you about or recommend possible treatment options or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.

YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION RIGHTS You have the right to:

• Request to inspect and/or obtain a copy of your health information and billing records. We may charge a fee for the costs associated with copying and/or mailing the information.
• Request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your health information. We will make every attempt to honor your request. However, we are not required to agree to your request for a restriction. In some instances we may be required by law to share your health information.
• Receive a list of all instances of our use or disclosure of your health information for purposes other than treatment, healthcare operations and payment (not including use or disclosure prior to April 14, 2003).
• Request to amend your health information. If you feel that health information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may request an amendment. Your request must be in writing and it must explain why the information should be amended. If the health information is found to be incorrect or incomplete, we will make an amendment to your health information. We may deny your request under certain circumstances.
• Request confidential communications. You may request that we communicate with you about health information in a particular manner or at a location other than your permanent address. For example, you may request that we contact you by mail rather than by telephone, or at work rather than at home. It is your responsibility to make sure we have the correct contact information.
• Receive a paper copy of this notice. You may request a copy of this notice at any time.

• Make sure that health information that identifies you is kept private.
• Provide you with this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your health information.
• Follow the terms of the notice.
• Notify you if we are unable to agree to a requested restriction on how your health information is used or disclosed.
• Accommodate reasonable requests for communication of your health information in a particular manner or to a location other than your permanent address.
• Obtain written authorization to disclose your health information for reasons other than those listed in this notice and permitted under law.

We fully support your right to the privacy of your health information. You will not be penalized in any way if you choose to file a complaint with us or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

CONTACT INFORMATION
New Hope Natural Healing Center, Inc.
Shell Harbor Plaza
2525 Tamiami Trail
Port Charlotte, FL 33952
941-766-1882
Fax: 941-766-1256
www.newhopenaturalhealing.com