REUNION RX pharmacy

Notice of Privacy Practices

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.

I. Our Duty to Safeguard Your Protected Health Information

We are committed to preserving the privacy and confidentiality of your health information.  We are required by certain state and federal regulations to implement policies and procedures to safeguard your health information. We are required by state and federal regulations to abide by the privacy practices described in this notice, including any future revisions that we may make to the notice as may become necessary or as authorized by law.

Individually identifiable information about your past, present, or future health or condition, the provision of health care to you, or payment for the health care treatment or services you receive is considered protected health information (PHI).  Accordingly, we are required to provide you with this Privacy Notice that contains information regarding our privacy practices to explains how, when and why we may use or disclose your PHI and your rights and our obligations regarding any such uses or disclosures.

We reserve the right to change this notice at any time and to make the revised or changed notice effective for PHI that we already have about you as well as any information we receive in the future about you. Should we revise/change this Privacy Notice, we will promptly post the revision, on our website at www.reunionrx.com.  You also may request and obtain a copy of any new/revised Privacy Notice from the contact person identified on the last page of this notice.

Should you have questions concerning our Privacy Notice, our contact information is listed on the last page of this notice.

II. How We May Use and Disclose Your Protected Health Information

We use and disclose protected health information for a variety of reasons. We have a limited right to use and/or disclose your protected health information for purposes of treatment, payment, or for health care operations.  For other uses and disclosures, you must give us your written authorization to release your protected health information unless the law permits or requires us to make the use or disclosure without your authorization.

Should it become necessary to release or give access to your protected health information to an outside party performing services on our behalf (e.g., maintaining our computers), we will require the party to have a signed agreement with us that the party will extend the same degree of privacy protection to your information as we do.

The privacy law permits us to make some uses or disclosures of your protected health information without your consent or authorization. The following describes each of the different ways that we may use or disclose your protected health information. Where appropriate, we have included examples of the different types of uses or disclosures. These include:

1. Use and Disclosures Related to Treatment

We may use and disclose your protected health information to review, interpret and dispense your medications.  We may contact your physician to resolve questions about your prescriptions.  We may release protected health information about you to those who are involved in providing medical and nursing care services and treatments to you such as nurses, nursing aides, therapists, physicians, other pharmacists, etc.  We may also disclose your protected health information to outside entities performing other services related to your treatment such as long term care facilities, hospitals, home health/hospice agencies, etc.

2. Use and Disclosures Related to Payment

We may use or disclose your protected health information to bill and collect payment for items or services we provided to you. For example, we may contact your insurance company, health plan, or another third party to obtain payment for your medications, check to see if specific medications are covered by your health plan, and provide your health plan or its agents with information they need to pay us for medications we dispense or so that they may otherwise manage your prescription benefit.

3. Use and Disclosures Related to Health Care Operations

We may use or disclose your protected health information for the performance of certain functions in monitoring and improving the quality of care and services that you and others receive. For example, we may use your protected health information to evaluate the effectiveness of the care and services you are receiving.  We may also disclose your protected health information for auditing, care planning, quality improvement, and learning purposes.

4. Use and Disclosures Related to Treatment Alternatives, Health-Related Benefits and Services

We may use or disclose your protected health information for purposes of contacting you to inform you of treatment alternatives or health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you, such as a newly released medication or treatment that has a direct relationship to a treatment or medical condition.

III. Uses and Disclosures Requiring Your Written Authorization

For uses and disclosures of your protected health information beyond the above excepted purposes, we are required to have your written authorization, except as otherwise required or permitted by law. You have the right to revoke an authorization at any time to stop future uses or disclosures of your information except to the extent that we have already undertaken an action in reliance upon your authorization. Your revocation request must be provided to us in writing.  Our contact information for purposes of revoking your authorization is listed on the last page of this notice. You may use our Authorization for Use or Disclosure of Protected Health Information form and/or our Revocation of an Authorization form to submit your request to us. Copies of these forms are available upon request.

Examples of uses or disclosures that would require your written authorization include, but are not limited to, the following:

  1. A request to provide your protected health information to an attorney for use in a civil litigation claim.
  2. A request to provide certain information to an insurance or pharmaceutical company for the purposes of providing you with information relative to insurance benefits or  new medications that may be of interest to you.
  3. A request to provide PHI to another individual or facility, where no exception from the written authorization requirement applies.

IV. Uses and Disclosures of Information That Do Not Require Your Consent or Authorization

State and federal laws and regulations in some instances either require or permit us to use or disclose your protected health information without your consent or authorization.  For example, may share health information with:

  1. Service Vendors:

At times, we must provide your health information to outside companies so that they may help us operate more efficiently.  For example, our computer software company may have access to your information as they assist us in maintaining our computer files.  These companies perform their duties under our direction and are required to protect your health information and use it only for authorized purposes.

  1. Courts and government bodies:

As a licensed pharmacy, we are required to provide the Drug Enforcement Agency with information regarding the dispensing of certain medications.  We may also provide information to government agencies for health care related investigations, audits or inspections: to comply with workers’ compensation laws; or for certain national security or intelligence activities.  If you are involved in a legal matter, we may be ordered to provide your health information to a court or other party.  In those cases, only the specific information required by law, or court order will be disclosed.

  1. Public Health and safety entities:

As required or permitted by law, we may disclose protected health information about you  to the Food and Drug Administration, local health department, or to law enforcement agencies if the disclosure will prevent or control disease, or prevent a serious threat to the health and safety of an individual or the public.

  1. For Research Purposes:

We may disclose your protected health information for research purposes without your authorization only when a privacy board has approved the research project. We may use or disclose your protected health information to individuals preparing to conduct an approved research project in order to assist such individuals in identifying persons to be included in the research project. Researchers identifying persons to be included in the research project will not be permitted to remove protected health information from our control.  If it becomes necessary to use or disclose information about you that could be used to identify you by name, we will obtain your written authorization before permitting the researcher to use your information. Researchers will be required to sign a Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement form before being permitted access to protected health information for research purposes.  A sample copy of this agreement may be obtained from our business office.

  1. To Personal Representatives:

If you are an adult or emancipated minor, we may disclose protected health information about you to a personal representative acting on your behalf in making decisions about your health care.  If a family member calls a ReunionRX representative on your behalf, we may provide information about your prescriptions, but only if he or she is able to tell us certain information about you, for example: a prescription number, social security  number , date of birth, etc.

This is done for the convenience of you and your family, so that the people close to you may continue to be involved in your care.  If for any reason you do not want us to disclose your health information to your family, you have the right to request a restriction as provided below in section VI.

V. Your Rights Regarding Your Protected Health Information

You have the following rights concerning the use or disclosure of your protected health information that we create or that we may maintain about you:

  1. To Request Restrictions on Uses and Disclosures of Your Protected Health Information:

You have the right to request that we limit how we use or disclose your protected health information for treatment, payment or health care operations. You also have the right to request a limit on the protected health information we disclose about you to someone who is involved in your care or the payment for your care or services. For example, you could request that we not disclose to family members or friends information about a medical treatment you received.

Should you wish a restriction placed on the use and disclosure of your protected health information, you must submit such request in writing.  Such request should be submitted using our Request to Restrict The Use and Disclosure of Protected Health Information form.  Our contact information for purposes of making such a request is listed on the last page of this notice.

We are not required to agree to your restriction request.  You will be informed if we decline your request.  If we accept your request, we will comply with your request not to release such information unless the information is needed to provide emergency care or treatment to you.

  1. The Right to Inspect and Copy Your Health and Billing Records:

You have the right to inspect and copy your protected health information, such as your prescription and billing records. In order to inspect and/or copy your protected health information, you must submit a written request to us. If you request a copy of your prescription or billing information or other records, we may charge you a reasonable fee for the paper, labor, mailing, and/or retrieval costs involved in filing your requests. We will provide you with information concerning the cost of copying your protected health information prior to performing such service.  Such requests should be submitted on our Request for Inspection/Copy of Protected Health Information form.

We will respond within thirty (30) days of receipt of such requests. Should we deny your request to inspect and/or copy your protected health information, we will provide you with written notice of our reasons of the denial and your rights for requesting a review of the denial, if any. In the event of a review, we will select a licensed health care professional not involved in the original denial process to review your request and our reasons for denial. We will abide by the reviewer’s decision concerning your inspection/copy requests.  Your denial review request should be submitted on our Denial of Inspection/Copy of Protected Health Information form. Copies of these forms are available from the contact person listed on the last page of this notice.

  1. The Right to Amend or Correct Your Protected health information:

You have the right to request that your protected health information be amended or corrected if you have reason to believe that certain information is incomplete or incorrect. You have the right to make such requests of us for as long as we maintain/retain your protected health information. Your requests must be submitted to us in writing. We will respond within sixty (60) days of receiving the written request, unless an extension is necessary, in which case you will be notified, and receive a response to your request within ninety (90) days. If we approve your request, we will make such amendments/corrections and notify those with a need to know of such amendments/corrections.

We may deny your request if:

    1. Your request is not submitted in writing;
    2. Your written request does not contain a reason to support your request;
    3. The information was not created by us, unless the person or entity that created the information is no longer available to make the amendment;
    4. It is not a part of the protected health information kept by us;
    5. It is not part of the information which you would be permitted to inspect and copy; and/or
    6. The information is already accurate and complete.

If your request is denied, we will provide you with a written notification of the reason(s) of such denial and your rights to have the request, the denial, and any written response (of reasonable length) you may have relative to the information and denial process appended to your protected health information.

Your amendment/correction request should be submitted on our Request for Amendment/Correction of Protected Health Information form. Copies of these forms are available from our business office.  Our contact information for the purpose of making such a request is listed on the last page of this notice.

  1. The Right to Request Confidential Communications:

You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your health matters in a certain way or at a certain location. For example, you may request that we not send any protected health information to our at a health care facility, but instead send communication for you to a residential address or Post Office Box.  We will agree to your request as long as it is reasonable for us to do so.

You may submit your requests on our Request for Restriction of Confidential Communications form. Our contact information is listed below.

  1. The Right to Request an Accounting of Disclosures of Protected Health Information:

You have the right to request that we provide you with a listing of certain disclosures of your protected health information that we have made over a specified period of time. This accounting will not include any information we have made for the purposes of treatment, payment, or health care operations or information released to you, your family or friends for notification purposes, disclosures made for national security purposes or to certain law enforcement officials, incidental disclosures, disclosures made as part of a limited data set for use in research, public health, etc, or any disclosures made pursuant to your authorization.

Your request must be submitted to us in writing and must indicate the time period for which you wish the information (e.g., January 1, 2012 through August 31, 2012). Your request may not include releases for more than six (6) years prior to the date of your request and may not include releases prior to January 1, 2011.  Your request must indicate in what form (e.g., printed copy or email) you wish to receive this information. We will respond to your request with sixty (60) days of the receipt of your written request. Should additional time be needed to reply, you will be so notified.  However, in no case will such extension exceed thirty (30) days. The first accounting you request during a twelve (12) month period will be free. There may be a reasonable fee for additional requests during the twelve (12) month period. We will notify you of the cost involved and you may choose to withdraw or modify your request at that time before any costs are incurred.

You may submit your requests on our Request for an Accounting of Disclosures of Protected Health Information form. 

  1. The Right to Receive a Paper Copy of This Notice:

You have the right to receive a paper copy of this notice even though you may have agreed to receive an electronic copy of this notice. You may request a paper copy of this notice at anytime or you may obtain a copy of this information from our website at www.reunionrx.com.  Our contact information is listed below.

VI. How to File a Complaint About Our Privacy Practices

If you have reason to believe that we have violated your privacy rights or our privacy policies and procedures, or if you disagree with a decision we made concerning access to your protected health information, you have the right to file a complaint with us or the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.   You will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint.

Effective Date of This Privacy Notice

The effective date of this Privacy Notice is January 1, 2011.

Contact Information for Questions, Complaints or Requests Regarding Your Health Information

Should you have any questions or requests regarding your protected health information please contact:

Janine Fiore, Privacy Officer

21 West Lincoln Ave

Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716

(848) 300-2340 Extension 150

Fax # (732) 291-5901

If you wish, you may also file a complaint with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.