Insurance Accounting
Management Services Corporation

Insurance Accounting Management Services Corporation

Notice of Privacy Practices

IMPORTANT:  THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR PATIENTS MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GAIN ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION.  PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

As an essential part of our commitment to our customers, Insurance Accounting Management Services Corporation (hereafter I.A.M.S.C.) maintains the privacy of certain confidential health care information about your patients, known as Protected Health Information or PHI.  We are required by law to protect the health care information provided to us.

This Notice not only describes our privacy practices and your legal rights, but lets you know, among other things, how I.A.M.S.C. is permitted to use and disclose PHI about you, how your patients can access and copy that information, how you may request an amendment of that information, and how you may request restrictions on our use and disclosure of your patient’s PHI.

I.A.M.S.C. is also required to abide by the terms of the version of this Notice currently in effect. In most situations we may use this information as described in this Notice without your permission, but there are some situations where we may use it only after we obtain your patient’s written authorization, if we are required by law to do so.

We respect the privacy of your patients, and treat all health care information about your patients with care under strict policies of confidentiality that all of our staff are committed to following at all times.

PLEASE READ THE ATTACHED DETAILED NOTICE.  IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT IT, PLEASE CONTACT OUR PRIVACY OFFICER, AT (864) 306-0966.

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR PATIENTS MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION.  PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

Purpose of Notice: I.A.M.S.C. is required by law to maintain the privacy of certain confidential health care information, known as Protected Health Information or PHI, and to provide you with a notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your patient’s PHI. This Notice describes your patient’s legal rights, advises you of our privacy practices, and lets you know how I.A.M.S.C. is permitted to use and disclose PHI about your patients.

Uses and Disclosures of PHI: I.A.M.S.C. may use PHI for the purposes of payment and health care operations, in most cases without your patient’s written permission.  Examples of our use of your patient’s PHI:

Payment Activities we undertake in order obtain reimbursement for the services you provide to your patients, include such things as organizing your patient’s PHI and submitting bills to insurance companies, management of billed claims for services rendered, medical necessity determinations and reviews, utilization review, and collection of outstanding accounts.

Health Care Operations  This includes quality assurance activities, licensing, and training programs to ensure that our personnel meet our standards of care and follow established policies and procedures, obtaining legal and financial services, conducting business planning, processing grievances and complaints, creating reports that do not individually identify your patients for data collection purposes, and certain marketing activities.

Reminders of Scheduled Transports and Information on Other Services.  We may also contact your patients to remind them of any scheduled appointments or non-emergency ambulance and medical transportation, or for other information about alternative services you provide or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to them.

Use and Disclosure of PHI Without Your Authorization.   I.A.M.S.C. is permitted to use PHI without a patient’s written authorization, or opportunity to object in certain situations, including:

• For I.A.M.S.C.’s use in obtaining payment for services provided to your patients or in other health care operations;

For the treatment activities of another health care provider;

• To another health care provider or entity for the payment activities of the provider or entity that receives the information (such as your hospital or insurance company);

• To anotherhealth care provider (such as the hospital to which your patients are transported/admitted) for the health care operations activities of the entity that receives the information as long as the entity receiving the information has or has had a relationship with your service/practice and the PHI pertains to that relationship;

• For health care fraud and abuse detection or for activities related to compliance with the law;

• To a family member, other relative, or close personal friend or other individual involved in the patient’s care if we obtain your patient’s verbal agreement to do so or if we give your patient an opportunity to object to such a disclosure and your patient does not raise an objection.  We may also disclose health information to your patient’s family, relatives, or friends if we infer from the circumstances that the patient would not object. (For example, we may assume your patient agrees to our disclosure of their personal health information to your spouse when their spouse has called the ambulance for them or is present during a visit.)   In situations where your patient is not capable of objecting  (because your patient is not present or due to your incapacity or medical emergency), we may, in our professional judgment, determine that a disclosure to your patient’s family member, relative, or friend is in your patient’s best interest. In that situation, we will disclose only health information relevant to that person's involvement in your patient’s care. (For example, we may inform the person who accompanied your patient in the ambulance or during a visit that your patient may have certain symptoms and we may give that person an update on your patient’s vital signs and treatment that is being administered by our ambulance crew);

• To a public health authority in certain situations (such as reporting a birth, death or disease) as required by law, as part of a public health investigation, to report child or adult abuse or neglect or domestic violence, to report adverse events such as product defects, or to notify a person about exposure to a possible communicable disease as required by law;

• For health oversight activities including audits or government investigations, inspections, disciplinary proceedings, and other administrative or judicial actions undertaken by the government (or their contractors) by law to oversee the health care system;

• For judicial and administrative proceedings as required by a court or administrative order, or in some cases in response to a subpoena or other legal process;

• For law enforcement activities in limited situations, such as when there is a warrant for the request, or when the information is needed to locate a suspect or stop a crime;

• For military, national defense and security and other special government functions;

• To avert a serious threat to the health and safety of a person or the public at large;

• For workers' compensation purposes, and in compliance with workers’ compensation laws;

• To coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors for identifying a deceased person, determining cause of death, or carrying on such duties as authorized by law;

• For research projects involving general statistics across broad spectrums, but this will be subject to strict oversight and approvals and health information will be released only when there is no risk or a minimal risk to your patient’s privacy and when adequate safeguards are in place in accordance with the law;

• We may use or disclose health information about your patients in a way that does not personally identify them or reveal who they are.

• Any other use or disclosure of PHI, other than those listed above will only be made with your patient’s written authorization, (the authorization must specifically identify the information we seek to use or disclose, as well as when and how we seek to use or disclose it). Your patients  may revoke their authorization at any time, in writing, except to the extent that we have already used or disclosed medical information in reliance on that authorization.

Patient Rights: The patients have a number of rights with respect to the protection of your PHI, including:

The Right To Access, Copy or Inspect Your Patient’s PHI.   This means that upon your request we will provide to your office our copies which you may inspect and copy most of the medical information about your patient’s that we maintain.

We will normally provide you with access to this information within 30 days of your request.  We may also charge you a reasonable fee  to copy any medical information that your patient’s have the right to access.  In limited circumstances, we may deny you access to your patient’s medical information, and you may appeal certain types of denials.

We have forms available to request access to your patient’s PHI and we will provide a written response if we deny you access and let you know your appeal rights.  If you wish to inspect and copy your patient’s medical information, you should contact the privacy officer listed at the end of this Notice.

The Right To Amend Your Patient’s PHI. You have the right to ask us to amend written medical information that we may have about your patient.  We will generally amend your patient’s information within 60 days of your request and will notify you when we have amended the information.  We are permitted by law to deny your request to amend your patient’s  medical information only in certain circumstances, like when we believe the information you have asked us to amend is correct.  If you wish to request that we amend the medical information that we have about your patients, you should contact the privacy officer listed at the end of this Notice.

The Right To Request an Accounting of Use and Disclosure of Your Patient’s PHI. You may request an accounting from us of certain disclosures of your patients medical information that we have made in the last six years prior to the date of your request.  We are not required to give you an accounting of information we have used or disclosed for purposes of payment or health care operations, or when we share your patient’s health information with our business associates, our employees, or a medical facility from/to which we have transported your patient or referred your patient for admission/consultation.

We are also not required to give you an accounting of our uses of protected health information for which you have already given us written authorization.  If you wish to request an accounting of the medical information about your patient that we have used or disclosed that is not exempted from the accounting requirement, you should contact the privacy officer listed at the end of this Notice.

The Right To Request That We Restrict the Uses and Disclosures of Your Patient’s PHI. You have the right to request that we restrict how we use and disclose your medical information that we have about your patients for payment or health care operations, or to restrict the information that is provided to the family, friends and other individuals involved in your patient’s health care.  But if you request a restriction and the information you asked us to restrict is needed to provide your patients with emergency treatment, then we may use the PHI or disclose the PHI to a health care provider to provide your patient with emergency treatment.  I.A.M.S.C. is not required to agree to any restrictions you request, but any restrictions to which  I.A.M.S.C. agrees will be honored.

Internet, Electronic Mail, and the Right To Obtain a Copy of This Paper Notice on Request. We maintain on this web site a prominently posted copy of this Notice and make the Notice available electronically through the web site.  To obtain a copy of these policies on paper, please contact the privacy officer listed at the end of this Notice.

Revisions to the Notice: I.A.M.S.C. reserves the right to change the terms of this Notice at any time, and the changes will be effective immediately and will apply to all protected health information that we maintain.  Any material changes to the Notice will be promptly posted in our facilities and posted to our web site. You can get a copy of the latest version of this Notice by contacting the privacy officer identified below.

Your Legal Rights and Complaints: You also have the right to complain to us, or to the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services if you believe your patient’s privacy rights have been violated. You will not be penalized in any way for filing a complaint with us or with the government.  Should you have any questions, comments or complaints you may direct all inquiries to the privacy officer listed at the end of this Notice.