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.

This Notice of Privacy Practices (“Notice”) is effective as of 06/16/2025

Our Privacy Obligations

VirtualCare Medical Group, P.A. on behalf of itself and its Affiliate medical groups1 (“VirtualCare Medical Group,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This Notice applies to all of the health information that identifies you and the care you receive from us (“PHI”). Your PHI may consist of paper, digital, or electronic records but could also include photographs, videos and other electronic transmissions or recordings that are created during your care and treatment.

We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your PHI, to provide you with this Notice, and to notify you in the event of a breach of your unsecured PHI. When we use or disclose your PHI, we are required to abide by the terms of this Notice (or other notice in effect at the time of the use or disclosure).

Changes to this Notice

We may change the terms of this Notice at any time. If we change this Notice, the changes may apply to all your Protected Health Information (“PHI”) that we maintain, including any PHI created or received prior to issuing the new notice. If we change this Notice, [we will post the new notice ADD FINAL POSTING GUIDANCE]. You also may obtain a copy of our current notice by contacting us using the contact information at the end of this Notice.

Permissible Uses and Disclosures Without Your Written Authorization

In general, we must obtain your written authorization before using or disclosing your PHI. However, we may use and disclose your PHI without your written authorization for the following purposes:

Treatment. We use and disclose your PHI to provide treatment and other services to you. For example, we may use your information to direct or recommend alternative treatments, therapies, health care providers, or settings of care to you or to describe other health-related products or services that may be of interest to you. We may also disclose PHI to other providers involved in your treatment.
Payment. We may use and disclose your PHI to obtain payment for health care services that we provide to you. For example, we may disclose PHI to claim and obtain payment from Medicare, Medicaid, your health insurer, HMO, or other company or program that arranges or pays the cost of your health care. We may also disclose PHI to your other health care providers when such PHI is required for them to receive payment for services they render to you.
Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose your PHI for our health care operations, which include internal administration and planning and various activities that improve the quality and cost effectiveness of the care that we deliver to you. For example, we may use PHI to evaluate the quality and competence of our health care providers or to resolve any complaints you may have and ensure that you are satisfied with our services.
Disclosure to Relatives, Close Friends and Other Caregivers. We may use or disclose your PHI to a family member, other relative, a close friend, or any other person identified by you when you are present for, or otherwise available prior to, the disclosure, if: (1) we obtain your agreement or provide you with the opportunity to object to the disclosure and you do not object; or (2) we reasonably infer that you do not object to the disclosure. If you are not present for or unavailable prior to a disclosure (e.g., when we receive a telephone call from a family member or other caregiver), we may exercise our professional judgment to determine whether a disclosure is in your best interest. If we disclose information under such circumstances, we would only disclose information that is directly relevant to the person’s involvement with your care.
As Required by Law. We may use and disclose your PHI when required to do so by any applicable federal, state or local law.
Public Health Activities. We may disclose your PHI: (1) to report health information to public health authorities for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability; (2) to report child abuse and neglect to a government authority authorized by law to receive such reports; (3) to report information about products under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; (4) to alert a person who may have been exposed to a communicable disease or may otherwise be at risk of contracting or spreading a disease or condition; and (5) to report information to your employer as required under laws addressing work-related illnesses and injuries or workplace medical surveillance.
Victims of Abuse, Neglect or Domestic Violence. We may disclose your PHI if we reasonably believe you are a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence to a government authority authorized by law to receive reports of such abuse, neglect, or domestic violence.
Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose your PHI to an agency that oversees the health care system and is charged with responsibility for ensuring compliance with the rules of government health programs such as Medicare or Medicaid.
Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. We may disclose your PHI in the course of a judicial or administrative proceeding in response to a legal order or other lawful process.
Law Enforcement Officials. We may disclose your PHI to the police or other law enforcement officials as required by law or in compliance with a court order.
Decedents. We may disclose your PHI to a coroner or medical examiner as authorized by law.
Organ and Tissue Procurement. We may disclose your PHI to organizations that facilitate organ, eye or tissue procurement, banking or transplantation.
Research. We may use and disclose your PHI for research purposes pursuant to a valid authorization from you or when an institutional review board or privacy board has waived the authorization requirement. Under certain circumstances, your PHI may be disclosed without your authorization to researchers preparing to conduct a research project, for research or decedents or as part of a data set that omits your name and other information that can directly identify you.
Health or Safety. We may use or disclose your PHI to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to a person’s or the public’s health or safety.
Specialized Government Functions. We may use and disclose your PHI to units of the government with special functions, such as the U.S. military or the U.S. Department of State under certain circumstances.
Workers’ Compensation. We may disclose your PHI as authorized by and to the extent necessary to comply with state law relating to workers’ compensation or other similar programs.

Some state and federal laws may apply more stringent privacy protections to certain health information about you, such as mental health or developmental disability treatment information or substance use disorder records. We must obtain your consent or authorization in order to use such information for a purpose unless otherwise permitted by law.

Uses and Disclosures Requiring Your Written Authorization

Except for the uses and disclosures described above, we will only use or disclose your PHI when you give us your written authorization.

Marketing. We must obtain your written authorization prior to using your PHI for purposes that are marketing under the HIPAA privacy rules. For example, we will not accept any payments from other organizations or individuals in exchange for making communications to you about treatments, therapies, health care providers, settings of care, case management, care coordination, products or services unless you have given us your authorization to do so or the communication is permitted by law.
We may provide refill reminders or communicate with you about a drug or biologic that is currently prescribed to you so long as any payment we receive for making the communication is reasonably related to our cost of making the communication. In addition, we may market to you in a face-to-face encounter and give you promotional gifts of nominal value without obtaining your written authorization.
Sale of PHI. We will not make any disclosure of PHI that is a sale of PHI without your written authorization.
Psychotherapy Notes. We will not use or disclose psychotherapy notes about you without your authorization except for use by the mental health professional who created the notes to provide treatment to you, for our mental health training programs or to defend ourselves in a legal action or other proceeding brought by you.

If you provide us with authorization to use or disclose your PHI and later change your mind, you may revoke your authorization by delivering a written revocation statement to us using the contact information at the end of this Notice. However, your revocation will not have any effect on uses or disclosures we made in reliance on your authorization prior to receiving your written revocation statement.

Your Individual Rights

You have the following rights regarding your PHI. If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact information at the end of this Notice.

Right to Request Additional Restrictions. You may request restrictions on our use and disclosure of your PHI (1) for treatment, payment and health care operations, (2) to individuals (such as a family member, other relative, close personal friend or any other person identified by you) involved with your care or with payment related to your care, or (3) to notify or assist in the notification of such individuals regarding your location and general condition. While we will consider all requests for additional restrictions carefully, we are not required to agree to a requested restriction unless the request is to restrict our disclosure to a health plan for purposes of carrying out payment or health care operations, the disclosure is not required by law and the information pertains solely to a health care item or service for which you (or someone on your behalf other than the health plan) have paid us out of pocket in full. If you make a request, we will send you a written response.
Right to Receive Communications by Alternative Means or at Alternative Locations. You may request, and we will accommodate, any reasonable written request for you to receive your PHI by alternative means of communication or at alternative locations.
Right to Inspect and Copy Your Health Information. You may request access to your medical record file and billing records maintained by us in order to inspect and request copies of the records. Under limited circumstances, we may deny you access to a portion of your records. If you request copies, we may charge you a reasonable copy fee.
Right to Amend Your Records. You may request that we amend your PHI maintained in your medical record file or billing records. We will comply with your request unless we believe that the information that would be amended is accurate and complete or other special circumstances apply.
Right to Receive An Accounting of Disclosures. You may request an accounting of certain disclosures of your PHI made by us during any period of time prior to the date of your request provided such period does not exceed six years. If you request an accounting more than once during a twelve (12) month period, we may charge you a reasonable fee for the accounting statement.
Right to Receive Paper Copy of this Notice. You may request a paper copy of this Notice, even if you agreed to receive such notice electronically.

For Additional Information; Complaints

If you desire additional information about your privacy rights, disagree with a decision that we made about access to your PHI, or are concerned that we have violated your privacy rights, you may contact us using the contact information at the end of this Notice. You may also file written complaints with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“OCR”). Upon request, we will provide you with the correct contact information for OCR. We will not retaliate against you if you file a complaint with us or OCR.

Contact Us

You may contact us at:

Privacy Office
228 Park Avenue S
NPMB 31583
New York, NY 10002
844-301-0093
legal@fabrichealth.com