Privacy Policy

Notice of Privacy Practices

Drs. Roy and Associates LLC, also known as Roy Vision and RoyVision.com

17495 W. Capitol Dr.

Brookfield, WI 53045

Privacy Officer – Dr. Lynne Roy

Email – [email protected]

IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE FEDERAL REGULATIONS OF HIPAA’S PRIVACY RULE, THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN OBTAIN ACCESS TO THE INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY

We respect our legal obligation to keep health information that might identify you private. We are obligated by law to provide you with notice of our privacy practices. This notice describes how we protect your health information and what rights you have regarding it.

TREATMENT, PAYMENT, AND HEALTH-CARE OPERATIONS

The most common reasons we would use or disclose your health information is for treatment, payment, or for business operations. We routinely use and disclose your medical information within the office on a daily basis. We do not need specific permission to use or disclose your medical information in the following matters, although you have the right to request that we do not.

Examples of how we might use or disclose health information for treatment purposes might include:

Setting up or changing appointments including leaving messages with those at your home or office who may answer the phone or leaving messages on answering machines, voice mails or emails; calling your name out in a reception room environment; prescribing glasses, contact lenses, or medications as well as relaying this information to suppliers by phone, fax or other electronic means including initial prescriptions and requests from suppliers for refills; notifying you that your ophthalmic goods are ready, including leaving messages with those at your home or office who may answer the phone, or leaving messages on answering machines, voice mails or emails; referring you to another doctor for care not provided by this office; obtaining copies of health information from doctors you have seen before us; discussing your care with you directly or with family or friends you have inferred or agreed may listen to information about your health; sending you postcards or letters or leaving messages with those at your home who may answer the phone or on answering machines, voice mails or emails reminding you it is time for continued care; at your request, we can provide you with a copy of your medical records via email transmission

Examples of how we might use or disclose health information for payment purposes might include:

Asking you about your vision or medical insurance plans or other sources of payment; preparing and sending bills to your insurance provider or to you; providing any information required by third party payors in order to insure payment for services rendered to you; sending notices of payment due on your account to the person designated as responsible party or head of household on your account with fee explanations that could include procedures performed and for what diagnosis: collecting unpaid balances either ourselves or through a collection agency, attorney, or district attorney’s office. At the patient’s request we may not disclose health care information that you have paid for out of pocket. This only applies to those encounters related to the care you want restricted.

Examples of how we might use or disclose health information for business operations might include:

Financial or billing audits; internal quality assurance programs; participation in managed care plans; defense of legal matters; business planning; certain research functions; informing you of products or services offered by our office; compliance with local, state, or federal government agencies request for information; oversight activities such as licensing of our doctors; Medicare or Medicaid audits; providing information regarding your vision status to the Department of Public Safety, a school nurse, or agency qualifying for disability status

USES AND DISCLOSURES FOR OTHER REASONS NOT NEEDING PERMISSION

In some other limited situations, the law allows us to use or disclose your medical information without your specific permission. Most of these situations will never apply to you but they could.

• When a state or federal law mandates that certain health information be reported for a specific purpose
• For public health reasons, such as reporting of a contagious disease, investigations or surveillance, and notices to and from the federal Food and Drug Administration regarding drugs or medical devices
• Disclosures to government or law authorities about victims of suspected abuse, neglect, domestic violence, or when someone is or suspected to be a victim of a crime
• Disclosures for judicial and administrative proceedings, such as in response to subpoenas or orders of courts or administrative hearings
• Disclosures to a medical examiner to identify a deceased person or determine cause of death or to funeral directors to aid in burial
• Disclosures to organizations that handle organ or tissue donations
• Uses or disclosures for health related research
• Uses or disclosures to prevent a serious threat to health or safety of an individual or individuals
• Uses or disclosures to aid military purposes or lawful national intelligence activities
• Disclosures of de-identified information
• Disclosures related to a workman’s compensation claim
• Disclosures of a “limited data set” for research, public health, or health care operations
• Incidental disclosures that are an unavoidable by-product of permitted uses and disclosures
• Disclosure of information needed in completing form from a school related vision screening, information to the Department of Public Safety, information related to certification for occupational or recreational licenses such as pilots license.
• Disclosures to business associates who perform health care operations for Asheville Vision and Wellness who commit to respect the privacy of your information. We also require any business associate to require any sub-contractor to comply with our privacy policies.
• Unless you object, disclosure of relevant information to family members or friends who are helping you with your care or by their allowed presence cause us to assume you approve their exposure to relevant information about your health

USES OR DISCLOSURES TO PATIENT REPRESENTATIVES

It is the policy of Drs. Roy and Associates, for our staff to take phone calls from individuals on a patient’s behalf requesting information about making or changing an appointment; the status of eyeglasses, contact lenses, or other optical goods ordered by or for the patient. Asheville Vision and Wellness staff will also assist individuals on a patient’s behalf in the delivery of eyeglasses, contact lenses, or other optical goods. During a telephone or in-person contact, every effort will be made to limit the encounter to only the specifics needed to complete the transaction required. No information about the patient’s vision or health status may be disclosed without proper patient consent. Drs. Roy and Associates and Roy Vision staff and doctors will also infer that if you allow another person in an examination room, treatment room, dispensary, or any business area within the office with you while testing is performed or discussions held about your vision or health care or your account that you consent to the presence of that individual.

OTHER USES AND DISCLOSURES

We will not make any other uses or disclosures of your health information unless you sign a written Authorization for Release of Identifying Health Information. The content of this authorization is determined by federal law. The request for signing an authorization may be initiated by Drs. Roy and Associates, or by you as the patient. We will comply with your request if it is applicable to the federal policies regarding authorizations. If we ask you to sign an authorization, you may decline to do so. If you do not sign the authorization, we may not use or disclose the information we intended to use. If you do elect to sign the authorization, you may revoke it at any time. Revocation requests must be made in writing to the Privacy Officer named at the beginning of this Notice.

YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION

The law gives you many rights regarding your personal health information.

You may ask us to restrict our uses and disclosures for purposes of treatment (except in emergency care), payment, or business operations. This request must be made in writing to Privacy Officer named at the beginning of this Notice. We do not have to agree to your request, but if we agree, must honor the restrictions you ask for.

You may ask us to communicate with you in a confidential manner. Examples might be only contacting you by telephone at your home or using some special email address. We will accommodate these requests if they are reasonable and if you agree to pay any additional cost, if any, incurred in accommodating your request. Requests for special communication requests must be made to the Privacy Officer named at the beginning of this Notice.

You may ask to review or get copies of your health information. There are a very few limited situations in which we may refuse your access to your health information. For the most part we are happy to provide you with the opportunity to either review or obtain a copy of your medical information. All requests for review or copy of medical information must be made in writing to the Privacy Officer named at the beginning of this Notice. While we usually respond to these requests in just a day or so, by law we have fifteen (15) days to respond to your request. We may request an additional thirty (30) day extension in certain situations.

Health care information you request copies of may be delivered to you in electronic format. The e-formats Asheville Vision and Wellness has approved as secure and protects the integrity of your health care information include secure email, an authorized Electronic Health Information system and media supplied by Asheville Vision and Wellness.

You may ask us to amend or change your health care information if you think it is incorrect or incomplete. If we agree, we will make the amendment to your medical record within thirty (30) days of your written request for change sent to the Privacy Officer named at the beginning of this Notice. We will then send the corrected information to you or any other individual you feel needs a copy of the corrected information. If we do not agree, you will be notified in writing of our decision. You may then write a statement of your position and we will include it in your medical record along with any rebuttal statement we may wish to include.

You may request a list of any non-routine disclosures of your health information that we might have made within the past six (6) years (or a shorter period if you wish). Routine disclosures would include those used for your treatment, payment, and business operations of Asheville Vision and Wellness. These routine disclosures will not be included in your list of disclosures. You are entitled to one such list per year without charge. If you want more frequent lists, you must pay for them in advance at a fee of $10 per list. We will usually respond to your written request (made to the Privacy Officer named at the beginning of this Notice) within thirty (30) days but we are allowed one thirty (30) day extension if we need the time to complete your request.

You may obtain additional copies of this Notice of Privacy Practices from our business office or online at our website address shown at the beginning of this Notice.

CHANGING OUR NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

By law, we must abide by the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices until we choose to substantially change the Notice. We reserve the right to change this Notice at any time. If we change this Notice, the new privacy practices will apply to your existing health information as well as any additional information generated in the future. If we change this Notice, we will post a new Notice in our office and on our website.

COMPLAINTS

If you think that anyone at Drs. Roy and Associates has not respected the privacy of your health information, you are encouraged to file a complaint to the Privacy Officer named at the beginning of this Notice. We are more than happy to try to resolve any concern you may have in writing. If we cannot resolve your concern at that level, you may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights or the state Attorney General’s Office. We will not retaliate against you if you make such a complaint.

Privacy Contact Officer: Dr. Lynne Roy

 

USE OF COOKIES AND DIGITAL TRACKING OF YOUR ACTIVITY ON ROYVISION.COM

This privacy policy (“policy”) will help you understand how Drs. Roy and Associates (“us”, “we”, “our”) uses and protects the data you provide to us when you visit and use https://royvision.com website (“our website”)

We reserve the right to change this policy at any time, of which you will be promptly notified by email. If you want to make sure that you are up to date with the latest changes, we advise you to frequently visit this page.

What User Data We Collect

When you visit the website or open an email, we may collect the following data:

• Your IP address.
• Your contact information and email address.
• Other information such as the services you need, your availability, existing eye prescriptions, problems you are having with your eyes, medical history as it relates to eye care and medical issues you may have or have had that could affect your eye health.
• Data profile regarding your online behavior on our blog.

Why We Collect Your Data

We are collecting your data for several reasons:

• To better understand your needs.
• To improve our services and products.
• To send you promotional emails containing the information we think you will find interesting.
• To contact you to fill out surveys and participate in other types of market research.
• To customize our outreach to you, according to your online behavior and personal preferences.

Safeguarding and Securing the Data

Drs. Roy and Associates (RoyVision and RoyVision.com) is committed to securing your data and keeping it confidential. Drs. Roy and Associates has done all in its power to prevent data theft, unauthorized access, and disclosure by implementing the latest technologies and software, which help us safeguard all the information we collect online.

Our Cookie Policy

Once you agree to allow our website to use cookies, you also agree to allow us to use the data it collects regarding your online behavior (analyze web traffic, web pages you visit and spend the most time on).

The data we collect by using cookies is used to customize our website to your needs. After we use the data for statistical analysis, the data is completely removed from our systems.

Please note that cookies don’t allow us to gain control of your computer in any way. They are strictly used to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not so that we can provide a better experience for you.

If you want to disable cookies, you can do it by accessing the settings of your internet browser. You can visit https://www.internetcookies.com, which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers and devices.

Links to Other Websites

Our blogs, emails, appointment scheduling engine and online contract lens order pages may contain links that lead to other websites. If you click on these links Drs. Roy and Associates. is not responsible for your data and privacy protection. The scheduling website, and online product ordering partner sites have their own privacy policies that become in-effect when you leave the site RoyVision.com. Visiting those websites is not governed by this privacy policy agreement. Make sure to read the privacy policy documentation of the website you go to from our website.

Restricting the Collection of your Personal Data

At some point, you might wish to restrict the use and collection of your personal data. You can achieve this by doing the following:

When you are filling the forms on the website, make sure to check if there is a box which you can leave unchecked, if you don’t want to disclose your personal information.

If you have already agreed to share your information with us, feel free to contact us via email and we will be more than happy to change this for you. Please contact the office manager at [email protected]

Drs. Roy and Associates (Roy Vision, royvision.com) will not lease, sell or distribute your personal information to any third parties for any reason, ever unless compelled by law enforcement through subpoena. Your personal information will only be used when we need to send you necessary information, if you agree to this privacy policy.