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.  

WE ARE REQUIRED BY LAW TO PROTECT MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU. 

We are required by law to protect the privacy of medical information about you and that identifies you. This medical information may be information about healthcare we provide to you or payment for healthcare provided to you. It may also be information about your past, present, or future medical condition. 

We are also required by law to provide you with this Notice of Privacy Practices explaining our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to medical information. We are legally required to follow the terms of this Notice. In other words, we are only allowed to use and disclose medical information in the manner that we have described in this Notice. 

We may change the terms of this Notice in the future. We reserve the right to make changes and to make the new Notice effective for all medical  information that we maintain. If we make changes to this Notice, we will:

• Have copies of the new Notice available upon request at each of our service loctions. 

The rest of this Notice will:

• Discuss how we may use and disclose medical information about you. 
• Explain your rights with respect to medical information about you. 
• Describe how and where you may file a privacy-related complaint. 

If at any time you have any questions about information in this Notice or about our privacy policy, procedures or practices, you can contact our Compliance Officer at info@desertagavewellness.com

WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU IN SEVERAL CIRCUMSTANCES. 

We use and disclose medical information about patients every day. This section of our Notice explains in some detail how we may use and disclose medical information about you in order to provide healthcare, obtain payment for that healthcare, and operate our business efficiently. This section then briefly mentions several other circumstances in which we may use or disclose medical information about you. For more information about any othe these uses or discloser, or about any of our privacy policies, procedures or practices, you can contact our Compliance Officer at info@desertagavewellness.com

1. TREATMENT  We may use and disclose medical information about you to provide healthcare treatment to you. In other words, we may use and disclose medical information about you to provide, coordinate or manage your healthcare and related services. This may include communicating with other healthcare providers regarding your treatment and coordinating and managing your healthcare with others. 

Example: Jane is a patient at the health department. The receoptionist may use medical information about Jane when setting up an appointment. The nurse practitioner will likely use information about Jane when reviewing Jane's condition and ordering a blood test. The laboratory technician will likely use medical information about Jane when processing or reviewing her blood test results. If, after reviewing the results of the blood test, the NP concludes that Jane should be referred to a specialist, the nurse may disclose medical information about Jane to the specialist to assist the specialist in providing appropriate care to Jane. 

2. PAYMENT  We may use and disclose medical information about you to obtain payment for healthcare services that you received. This means tha, within the health department, we may use medical information about you to arrange for payment (such as preparing bills and managing accounts).

3. HEALTHCARE OPERATIONS We may use and disclose medical information about you in performing a variety of business activities that we call "healthcare operations". These "healthcare operations" activities allow us to, for example, improve the quality of care we provide and reduce healthcare costs. For example, we may use of disclose medical information about you in performing the following activities:

• Reviewing and evaluating the skills, qualification, and performance of healthcare providers taking care of you.
• Providing training programs for students, trainees, healthcare providers or non-healthcare professionals to helpm them practice or improve their skills. 
• Cooperating with outside organizations that evaluate, certify or license healthcare providers, staff or facilities in a particular field or specialty. 
• Reviewing and improving the quality, efficiency and cost of care that we provide to you and our other patients. 
• Improving healthcare and lowering costs for groups of people who have similar health problems and helping manage and coordinate care for these groups of people. 
• Cooperating with outside organizations that assess the quality of the care others and we provide, including government agencies and private organizations. 
• Planning for our organization's future operations. 
• Resolving grievances without our organization. 
• Reviewing our activities and using or disclosing medical information in the event that control of our organization significantly changes. 
• Working with others (such as lawuers, accountants and other providers) who assist us to comply with this Notice and other applicable laws. 
• De-identifying medical information in accordance with the safe harbor method or expert determination methode set forth under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and its implementing regulations. 
• Using or disclosing such de-identified data to third-parities for commerical purposes, in compliance with the law. 

Example: Jane was diagnosed with diabetes. The health department used Jane's medical information - as well as medical information from all of the other health department patients diagnosed with diabetes - to develop an educational program to help patients recognize the early symptoms of diabetes. (Note: The educational program would not identify any specific patients without their permission.)

4. PERSONS INVOLVED IN YOUR CARE  We may disclose medical information about you to a relative, close personal friend or any other person you identify if that person is involved in your care and the information is relevant to your care. If the patient is a minor, we may disclose medical information about the minor to a parent, guardian or other person responsible for the minor except in limited circumstances. For more information on the privacy of minors' information, contact our Compliance Officer at info@desertagavewellness.com

We may also use or disclose medical information about you to a relative, another person involved in your care or possibly a disaster relief organization (such as the Red Cross) if we need to notify someone about your location or condition. 

You may ask us at any time not to disclose medical information about you to persons involved in your care. We agree to your request and not disclose the information except in certain limited circumstances, such as emergencies, or if the patient is a minor. If the patient is a minor, we may or may not be able to agree to your request. 

Example: Jane's husband regularly comes to the health department with Jane for her appointments and he helps her with her medication. When the nurse practitioner is discussing a new medication with Jane, Jane invites her husband to come into the private room. The nurse practitioner discusses the ned medication with Jane and Jane's husband. 

5. REQUIRED BY LAW  We will use and disclose medical information about you whenever we are required by law to do so. There are many state and federal laws that require us to use and disclose medical information. For example, state law requires us to report gunshot wounds and other injuries to the police and to report known or suspected child abuse or neglect to the Department of Social Services. We will comply with those state laws and with all other applicable laws. 

6. NATIONAL PRIORITY USES AND DISCLOSURES  When permitted by law, we may use or disclose medical information about you without your permission for various activities that are recognized as "national priorities". In other words, the government has determined that under certain circumstances (described below), it is so important to disclose medical information, that it is acceptable to disclose medical information without the individual's permission. We will only disclose medical information about you in the following circumstances when we are permitted to do so by law. Below are brief descriptions of the "national priority" activities recognized by law. For more information on these types of disclosures, contact our Compliance Officer at info@desertagavewellness.com

• Threat to health or safety: We may use or disclose medical information about you if we believe it is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious threat to health or safety. 
• Public health activities: We may use or disclose medical information about you for public health activities. Public health activities require the use of medical information for various activities, including, but not limited to, activities related to investigating disease, reporting child abuse and neglect, monitoring drugs or devices regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, and monitoring work-related illnesses or injuries. For example, if you have been exposed to a communicable disease (such as a sexually transmitted disease), we may report it to the State and take other actions to prevent the spread of the disease. 
• Abuse, neglect or domestic violence: We may disclose medical information about you to a government authority, such as the Department of Social Services, if you are an adult and we reasonably believe that you may be a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. 
• Health oversight activities: We may disclose medical information about you to a health oversight agency - which is basically an agency responsbile for overseeing the healthcare system or certain government programs. For example, a government agency may request information from us while they are investigating possible insurance fraud. 
• Court proccedings: We may disclose medical information about you to a court or an officer of the court, such as an attorney. For example, we would siclose medical information about you to a court if a judge orders us to do so. 
• Law enrocement: We may disclose medical information about you to a law enforcement official for specific law enforcement purposes. For example, we may disclose limited medical information about you to a policy officer if the officer needs the information to help find or identify a missing person. 
• Coroners and others: We may disclose medical information about you to a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director or to organizations taht help with organ, eye and tissue transplants. 
• Workers' compensation: We may disclose medical information about you in order to comply with workers' compensation laws. 
• Research organizations: We may use or disclose medical information about you to research organizations if the organization has satisfied certain conditions about protecting the privacy of medical information. 
• Certain government functions: We may use or disclose medical information about you for certain government functions, including, but not limited to, military and vererans' activities and national secuirty and intelligence activities. We may also use or disclose medical information about you to a correctional institution in some circumstances. 

7. AUTHORIZATIONS Other than the uses and disclosures described about (#1-6), we will not use or disclose medical information about you without the "authorization" - or signed permission - of you or your personal representative. In some instances, we may wish to disclose medical information about you and we may contact you to ask you to sign an authorization form. In other instances, you may contact us to disclose medical information and we will ask you to sign an authorization form. If you sign a written authorization allowins us to disclose medical information about you, you may later revoke, or cancel, your authorization in writing (except in very limited circumstances related to obtaining insurance coverage).

Desert Agave Wellness

Effective Date: January 1, 2025

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.

OUR COMMITMENT TO YOUR PRIVACY

At Desert Agave Wellness PLLC, we are committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of your personal health information. This Notice describes how we may use and disclose your protected health information (PHI), and your rights regarding your health information.

HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION

We may use and share your information as we:

• Treat you – For example, sharing information with other healthcare providers involved in your care.

• Run our organization – To operate our practice, improve care, and contact you when necessary.

• Bill for services – To send claims to insurance companies and collect payment.

Other permitted or required uses and disclosures include:

• Public health and safety issues

• Reporting adverse reactions to medications

• Preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety

• Complying with laws and regulations

• Responding to legal actions or government requests

We will not use or share your information for marketing purposes or sell your information without your written permission.

YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION

You have the right to:

• Get a copy of your medical record – You may request access to your records in paper or electronic format.

• Correct your medical record – If you believe information is incorrect, you may request an amendment.

• Request confidential communications – You may ask to be contacted in a specific way.

• Ask us to limit what we use or share – You can request that we not use or share certain information, although we may not always be able to comply.

• Get a list of those with whom we’ve shared your information

• Get a copy of this privacy notice

• Choose someone to act for you – If someone is your legal guardian or power of attorney, that person can exercise your rights.

• File a complaint – If you feel your rights are violated, you may file a complaint with our office or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

OUR RESPONSIBILITIES

We are required by law to:

• Maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.

• Provide you with this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices.

• Follow the terms of the notice currently in effect.

• Notify you if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.

CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have any questions or complaints, please contact:

Desert Agave Wellness
7325 N. 16^th Street, Suite 135, Phoenix, AZ 85020
Phone: 602-935-5396
Email: info@desertagavewellness.com