This notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully.   If any part of this document is unclear to you, please contact us using the information provided at the end of this document.

Treatment, Payment and Operations

We may use and/or disclose your information in order to provide you with treatment, support payment for services, or in other ways that are necessary to operate our business.  For example:

• Treatment:  If you are an individual receiving services from Residential Resources and we accompany you to a doctor’s appointment, we might disclose information on your behalf to aid in your treatment.
• Payment:  If you are an individual receiving services from Residential Resources, we will generally need to disclose information about you to your insurance company or to Medicaid.
• Operations:  If you are an individual receiving services from Residential Resources, we may need to discuss your information with your staff in order to ensure that we are providing a quality level of service.

In the above examples, except in the case of emergencies or extraordinary circumstances, we will obtain your consent for disclosure.

Consent Is Not Required

Sometimes, we may have to disclose your information in ways that do not require your specific authorization.  Listed below are the circumstances under which your information could be disclosed without your expressed consent.

• The FDA may require it.
• A Worker’s Compensation investigation may require it.
• It may become a matter of Public Health.
• We may need to disclose for law enforcement purposes.
• Your relationship with a correctional institution may require it.
• We may need to disclose if we believe there is evidence of criminal activity such as abuse or neglect.
• We may disclose your information if there is a serious threat to the health and safety of you or another person.
• We may need to disclose your information in support of legal proceedings.
• In certain circumstances, we may need to disclose your information for research purposes.
• We may need to disclose your information in order to support health oversight activities.
• There are certain specialized government functions that may compel us to disclose your information.
• Other state or federal laws may compel us to disclose your information.
• We may need to provide information about you after your death.

Other Uses

There are just a few other ways your information could be disclosed, depending on choices you have made with us, or certain circumstances.  These include:

• Calls: We might contact you in order to remind you of appointments or discuss your treatment.  In some cases, we may leave messages.
• Notification: We might notify, or assist in notifying, a family member or friend of your location and general condition.
• Communications: We might disclose to a family member, or close personal friend, health information relevant to that person’s involvement in your care or payment.

In the above cases, we will use our best judgment, when you are not present or available, given your previously expressed or written directions, to decide whether, and what, to disclose.

Your Rights

While the actual records that we maintain about you belong to us, the information contained in those records belongs to you.  This entitles you to the following:

• You may request restrictions on our use or disclosure.  We will make our best effort to comply with those restrictions and, if we cannot, we will notify you.
• You may obtain a paper copy of this Notice of Privacy Practices upon request.
• You may inspect and obtain a copy of your health information.
• You may amend incorrect health information.
• You may obtain an accounting of certain disclosures of your health information which have occurred in the past six (6) years.
• You may choose to receive confidential communications from us according to your preference.
• You may revoke your authorization for us to use or disclose your health information, except when we have already done so.

Our Responsibilities

We have a number of responsibilities regarding your personal information which we take very seriously.

• We will maintain the privacy of your health information.
• We will provide you with a notice that helps you understand what information we collect and maintain about you and how that information may be disclosed.
• We will abide by the terms of that notice.

Changes to Our Notice of Privacy Practices

We reserve the right to change this Notice and to make the new provisions effective for all protected health information we maintain. Should our Notice change, we will mail a revised Notice to the address you have given us.  If you would like to change the address we have on file, please contact us using the information at the end of this document.

To Report Complaints

If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with our HIPAA Officer or with the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.  We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.  To contact us, please use the information at the end of this document.  Otherwise, please address your complaint to:

Office of the Secretary
US Dept. of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Ave, SW
Washington, DC  20201

Governing Law

This notice is governed by federal law.  For information, please see:

45 CFR Parts 160, 162 and 164

In some cases state laws may actually be more restrictive than federal law.  If you need guidance about which laws apply or are having difficulty understanding or exercising your rights, please contact us using the information below.

Contact Us

You may contact the WKS HIPAA Officer at any time:

By Phone:    (800) 287-2911
By Web:    www.resresources.com
By Mail:    WKS, Inc, 34 West Street, Keene, NH  03431

This notice becomes effective on January 1st, 2012.