Patient & PrivacyPolicies

Thank you for choosing Huron Dentistry as your dental care provider. We are committed to providing you the best dental care possible. An important part of that commitment is making the cost of optimal care as easy and manageable for our patients as possible by offering several payment options. Please read the entire Financial Policy prior to your treatment.

TERMS OF PAYMENT

Payment is due in full on the day that treatment begins.

PAYMENT OPTIONS

We accept:

• Cash
• Check
• Credit card (VISA , MasterCard, Discover Card, or American Express)
• CareCredit healthcare credit card

DENTAL INSURANCE

For patients with dental insurance we are happy to work with your carrier to maximize your benefit and directly bill them for reimbursement for your treatment. Most plans cover only a portion of the dental fee. We ask that you pay the estimated non-covered balance at the time of service. If we do not receive payment from your insurance carrier within 30 days, you will be responsible for payment of your treatment fees and collection of your benefits directly from your insurance carrier. Patients should be aware of their individual policy regulations, limitations and exclusions.

TREATMENT MODIFICATIONS

Once dental treatment has begun, changes in the anticipated treatment plan may be required, depending on oral conditions encountered. We will inform you if this occurs and you will be given the option of continuing or changing treatment.

REFUNDS

If you choose to discontinue care before treatment is complete, your refund will be determined upon review of your case.

CANCELLATION FEES

A fee of $50 is charged for patients who miss or cancel an appointment without 24-hour notice.

SERVICE CHARGES

Huron Dentistry charges $30 for returned checks.

UNPAID BALANCES

Accounts carrying an unpaid balance after 60 days will be assessed a late charge of 1.5% per month (18% annually). Any fees incurred to collect payment will be billed to the account.

FINANCIAL CONSENT

The patient (or guardian if the patient is a minor) agrees to be fully responsible for total payment of treatment performed in this office.

Thank you for choosing Huron Dentistry as your dental care provider. We are committed to providing you the best dental care possible. An important part of that commitment is adherence to a carefully planned schedule. Please read the entire Cancellation Policy prior to your treatment.

OUR COMMITMENT

When we reserve a specific appointment time for you, we will make every effort to see you as scheduled.

ARRIVAL TIME

To facilitate our adherence to a carefully planned schedule, we request that all patients arrive five minutes prior to the appointed time. Arrival more than fifteen minutes after the appointed time will count as a missed or canceled appointment and may need to be rescheduled.

CANCELLATION NOTICE

If appointment cancellation is necessary, at least 24-hour notice is required. Acceptable notice can be made by phone call, voicemail, or text message.

CANCELLATION FEES

A fee of $50 is charged for patients who miss or cancel an appointment without 24-hour notice.

DISMISSAL

Patients who miss or cancel excessively without 24-hour notice are subject to dismissal from the practice.

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.

OUR LEGAL DUTY

The Health Insurance and Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal program that requires that all medical and dental records and other individually identifiable health information used or disclosed by us in any form, whether electronically, on paper, or orally, are properly kept confidential. HIPAA gives you, the patient, significant rights to understand and control how your health information is used.

HIPAA provides penalties for covered entities, including our Practice, that misuse Protected Health Information (PHI). PHI is information about you, including demographic information, that may identify you and that relates to your past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition and related health care services. We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your PHI and to provide you with this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your PHI. We also have legal obligations to notify you in the event of a breach of unsecured PHI.

This Notice of Privacy Practices describes how we may use and disclose your PHI for treatment, payment, healthcare operations, and for other purposes that are permitted or required by law. It also describes your rights to access and control your PHI. This Notice of Privacy Practices takes effect on 04/01/2018, and remains in effect until we replace it. We are required to abide by the terms of the Notice of Privacy Practices that are in effect.

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, and to make new Notice provisions effective for all protected health information that we maintain. When we make a significant change in our privacy practices, we will change this Notice and post the new Notice clearly and prominently at our practice location, and we will provide copies of the new Notice upon request.

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

HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

We may use and disclose your health information for different purposes, including treatment, payment, and health care operations. For each of these categories, we have provided a description and an example. Some information, such as HIV-related information, genetic information, alcohol and/or substance abuse records, and mental health records may be entitled to special confidentiality protections under applicable state or federal law. We will abide by these special protections as they pertain to applicable cases involving these types of records.

Treatment. We may use and disclose your health information for your treatment. For example, we may disclose your health information to a specialist providing treatment to you.

Payment. We may use and disclose your health information to obtain reimbursement for the treatment and services you receive from us or another entity involved with your care. Payment activities include billing, collections, claims management, and determinations of eligibility and coverage to obtain payment from you, an insurance company, or another third party. For example, we may send claims to your dental health plan containing certain health information.

Healthcare Operations. We may use and disclose your health information in connection with our healthcare operations. For example, healthcare operations include quality assessment and improvement activities, conducting training programs, and licensing activities.

Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care. We may disclose your health information to your family or friends or any other individual identified by you when they are involved in your care or in the payment for your care. Additionally, we may disclose information about you to a patient representative. If a person has the authority by law to make health care decisions for you, we will treat that patient representative the same way we would treat you with respect to your health information.

Disaster Relief. We may use or disclose your health information to assist in disaster relief efforts.

Required by Law. We may use or disclose your health information when we are required to do so by law.

Public Health Activities. We may disclose your health information for public health activities, including disclosures to:

• Prevent or control disease, injury or disability;
• Report child abuse or neglect;
• Report reactions to medications or problems with products or devices;
• Notify a person of a recall, repair, or replacement of products or devices;
• Notify a person who may have been exposed to a disease or condition; or
• Notify the appropriate government authority if we believe a patient has been the victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence.

National Security. We may disclose to military authorities the health information of Armed Forces personnel under certain circumstances. We may disclose to authorized federal officials health information required for lawful intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities. We may disclose to a correctional institution or law enforcement official having lawful custody the protected health information of an inmate or patient.

Secretary of HHS. We will disclose your health information to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services when required to investigate or determine compliance with HIPAA.

Worker’s Compensation. We may disclose your PHI to the extent authorized by and to the extent necessary to comply with laws relating to worker’s compensation or other similar programs established by law.

Law Enforcement. We may disclose your PHI for law enforcement purposes as permitted by HIPAA, as required by law, or in response to a subpoena or court order.

Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose your PHI to an oversight agency for activities authorized by law. These oversight activities include audits, investigations, inspections, and credentialing, as necessary for licensure and for the government to monitor the health care system, government programs, and compliance with civil rights laws.

Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. If you are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose your PHI in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose health information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process instituted by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts have been made, either by the requesting party or us, to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.

Research. We may disclose your PHI to researchers when their research has been approved by an institutional review board or privacy board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your information.

Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors. We may release your PHI to a coroner or medical examiner. This may be necessary, for example, to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We may also disclose PHI to funeral directors consistent with applicable law to enable them to carry out their duties.

Fundraising. We may contact you to provide you with information about our sponsored activities, including fundraising programs, as permitted by applicable law. If you do not wish to receive such information from us, you may opt out of receiving the communications.

OTHER USES AND DISCLOSURES OF PHI

Your authorization is required, with a few exceptions, for disclosure of psychotherapy notes, use or disclosure of PHI for marketing, and for the sale of PHI. We will also obtain your written authorization before using or disclosing your PHI for purposes other than those provided for in this Notice (or as otherwise permitted or required by law). You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time. Upon receipt of the written revocation, we will stop using or disclosing your PHI, except to the extent that we have already taken action in reliance on the authorization.

YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION RIGHTS

Access. You have the right to look at or get copies of your health information, with limited exceptions. You must make the request in writing. You may obtain a form to request access by using the contact information listed at the end of this Notice. You may also request access by sending us a letter to the address at the end of this Notice. If you request information that we maintain on paper, we may provide photocopies. If you request information that we maintain electronically, you have the right to an electronic copy. We will use the form and format you request if readily producible. We will charge you a reasonable cost-based fee for the cost of supplies and labor of copying, and for postage if you want copies mailed to you. Contact us using the information listed at the end of this Notice for an explanation of our fee structure.

If you are denied a request for access, you have the right to have the denial reviewed in accordance with the requirements of applicable law.

Disclosure Accounting. With the exception of certain disclosures, you have the right to receive an accounting of disclosures of your health information in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. To request an accounting of disclosures of your health information, you must submit your request in writing to the Privacy Official. If you request this accounting more than once in a 12-month period, we may charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee for responding to the additional requests.

Right to Request a Restriction. You have the right to request additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your PHI by submitting a written request to the Privacy Official. Your written request must include (1) what information you want to limit, (2) whether you want to limit our use, disclosure or both, and (3) to whom you want the limits to apply. We are not required to agree to your request except in the case where the disclosure is to a health plan for purposes of carrying out payment or health care operations, and the information pertains solely to a health care item or service for which you, or a person on your behalf (other than the health plan), has paid our practice in full.

Alternative Communication. You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations. You must make your request in writing. Your request must specify the alternative means or location, and provide satisfactory explanation of how payments will be handled under the alternative means or location you request. We will accommodate all reasonable requests. However, if we are unable to contact you using the ways or locations you have requested we may contact you using the information we have.

Amendment. You have the right to request that we amend your health information. Your request must be in writing, and it must explain why the information should be amended. We may deny your request under certain circumstances. If we agree to your request, we will amend your record(s) and notify you of such. If we deny your request for an amendment, we will provide you with a written explanation of why we denied it and explain your rights.

Right to Notification of a Breach. You will receive notifications of breaches of your unsecured protected health information as required by law.

Electronic Notice. You may receive a paper copy of this Notice upon request, even if you have agreed to receive this Notice electronically on our website or by electronic mail (e-mail).

QUESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS

If you want more information about our privacy practices or have questions or concerns, please contact us.

If you are concerned that we may have violated your privacy rights, or if you disagree with a decision we made about access to your health information or in response to a request you made to amend or restrict the use or disclosure of your health information or to have us communicate with you by alternative means or at alternative locations, you may complain to us using the contact information listed at the end of this Notice. You also may submit a written complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will provide you with the address to file your complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services upon request.

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

Our Privacy Official: Aaron V. Ruhlig, D.D.S.
Telephone: (734) 434-6020
Fax: (734) 434-6151
Address: 3075 W. Clark Rd, Suite 209, Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Email: info@hurondds.com

Reproduction of this material by dentists and their staff is permitted. Any other use, duplication or distribution by any other party requires the prior written approval of the American Dental Association. This material is educational only, does not constitute legal advice, and covers only federal, not state, law. Changes in applicable laws or regulations may require revision. Dentists should contact their personal attorneys for legal advice pertaining to HIPAA compliance, the HITECH Act, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rules and regulations.

© 2010, 2013 American Dental Association. All Rights Reserved.