Notice of Privacy Practices

Who this notice covers

This notice applies to Omnia Health, located at 110 Oak Hill Blvd, Suite 100, Newnan, GA 30265, and to everyone who provides care or handles records on our behalf. We are required by law to keep your protected health information private, to give you this notice describing our legal duties and privacy practices, and to follow the terms of the notice currently in effect.

"Protected health information," or PHI, means information that identifies you and relates to your health, your care, or payment for your care.

How we use and disclose your information

We may use and share your PHI without your written authorization for the following purposes.

• Treatment. To provide, coordinate and manage your care. For example, we may send your imaging or endoscopy results to a hospital where you are scheduled for surgery, or share your history with an anesthesiologist, a dietitian, your primary care physician, or another specialist involved in your care.
• Payment. To bill and collect for your care. For example, to verify your benefits, obtain prior authorization from your insurer, or submit a claim with the diagnosis and procedure codes your plan requires.
• Health care operations. To run the practice well and keep quality high. For example, internal quality review, outcome tracking, accreditation and credentialing, training, and business management.
• Appointment and care reminders. To contact you about appointments, pre-operative instructions, prescriptions, follow-up care, and health-related services that may benefit you.
• Business associates. To vendors who perform services for us and need PHI to do so, such as our electronic records, scheduling, billing, communications and hosting providers. Each is bound by a written agreement requiring them to protect your information to the same standard we do.
• People involved in your care. To a family member, friend or other person you identify, to the extent relevant to their involvement in your care or payment. If you are not present or are unable to agree, we will use our professional judgment about what is in your best interest.

Other uses permitted or required by law

We may also use or disclose your PHI, without your authorization, when the law requires or permits it, including:

• When required by federal, state or local law.
• For public health activities, including reporting disease, births and deaths, and adverse events related to medications or devices.
• To report suspected abuse, neglect or domestic violence, as required or permitted by law.
• To health oversight agencies for audits, investigations, inspections and licensure.
• In response to a court or administrative order, subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process.
• For law enforcement purposes, within the limits the law allows.
• To coroners, medical examiners and funeral directors, as necessary for them to carry out their duties.
• For organ, eye or tissue donation.
• For research, when an institutional review board or privacy board has approved a waiver, or in limited circumstances permitted by law.
• To avert a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of you or another person.
• For specialized government functions, including military, national security and protective services.
• For workers' compensation, as authorized by law.

Uses that always require your written authorization

We will obtain your written authorization before we use or disclose your PHI for marketing that involves payment from a third party, before any sale of your PHI, and before disclosing psychotherapy notes, except in the narrow circumstances the law allows. Any other use or disclosure not described in this notice will be made only with your written authorization.

You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time. Revoking it stops future uses and disclosures made under that authorization, but it cannot undo anything already done in reliance on it.

Substance use disorder records

Some records we receive about you, for example from a psychological evaluation before bariatric surgery or from a prior treating provider, may be protected by a separate federal rule for substance use disorder records (42 CFR Part 2). Those records get extra protection:

• You may give a single written consent covering all future uses and disclosures of those records for treatment, payment and health care operations.
• You may withdraw that consent at any time, in writing, except to the extent we have already acted on it.
• If you give that consent, a recipient that is a HIPAA covered entity or business associate may further disclose those records as HIPAA permits. Any disclosure we make on your consent is accompanied by a copy of the consent or a clear explanation of its scope.
• These records keep special protection regardless: they may not be used or disclosed to investigate you, or to bring or support a criminal charge, a civil action, or an administrative or legislative proceeding against you, unless the specific requirements of Part 2 are met, which normally means your written consent or a court order.
• You may request a list of disclosures of these records. The scope of that accounting depends on how the records were disclosed and on the phase-in dates in the federal rule, so ask us and we will tell you exactly what we can produce.

These protections come from a separate federal rule (42 CFR Part 2), which was amended in 2024 to align more closely with HIPAA. If you have a question about a specific record, ask our Privacy Officer rather than assuming the general description above answers it.

Your rights

• To see and get a copy of your records. You may inspect and obtain a copy of the health information we use to make decisions about your care, including an electronic copy if we hold it electronically. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee. We will respond within 30 days.
• To ask us to correct your records. If you believe information is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us in writing to amend it. We may deny the request in certain circumstances, and if we do, we will explain why in writing and you may submit a statement of disagreement.
• To get a list of disclosures. You may request an accounting of certain disclosures we have made in the six years before your request, other than those for treatment, payment and operations and a few other exceptions.
• To ask us to limit what we use or share. You may request a restriction. We are not required to agree, with one exception: if you pay for a service in full, out of pocket, you may require us not to disclose that information to your health plan for payment or operations, and we must comply.
• To choose how we contact you. You may ask us to contact you at a particular address or phone number, or by a particular method. We will accommodate reasonable requests.
• To get a paper copy of this notice. You may ask for a paper copy at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically.
• To be notified of a breach. We will notify you if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.
• To choose someone to act for you. If you have given someone medical power of attorney or if someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights and make choices about your information.

To exercise any of these rights, write to our Privacy Officer, Dr. Roger Eduardo, at 110 Oak Hill Blvd, Suite 100, Newnan, GA 30265, or call (470) 742-1832.

Our duties

We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your PHI, to let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised it, to follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice, and to give you a copy of it.

We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us in writing that we may.

Changes to this notice

We may change this notice and make the new terms effective for all information we maintain, including information created or received before the change. The current notice is always posted on this page with its effective date, and a copy is available at our office.

Complaints

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with us by writing to our Privacy Officer, Dr. Roger Eduardo, at Omnia Health, 110 Oak Hill Blvd, Suite 100, Newnan, GA 30265, or by calling (470) 742-1832.

You may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, at 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20201, by calling 1-877-696-6775, or at hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints.

We will never retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

Questions

Call us at (470) 742-1832 or email info@omniahealthga.com. For how this website itself handles information, see our Privacy Policy.