WELCOME PACKET
INFORMATION
Blue Sky Specialty Pharmacy | 1501 Belle Isle Ave #150 Mount Pleasant SC 29464 | Tel (843) 352-7662
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 describes how we may use and disclose your protected
health information to carry out treatment, payment or health
care operations and for other purposes that are permitted or
required by law. It also describes your rights to access and
control your protected health information. "Protected health
information" is information about you, including demographic
information, that may identify you and that relates to your past,
present, or future physical or mental health or condition and
related health care services. We are required to abide by the
terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices. We may change the
terms of our notice, at any time the new notice will be effective
for all protected health information that we maintain at that
time. Upon your request, we will provide you with any revised
Notice of Privacy Practices by calling the Pharmacy and
requesting that a revised copy be sent to you in the mail or asking
for one at the time of your next visit.
USES & DISCLOSURES OF PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION
Uses and Disclosures of Protected Health Information based upon your written
consent will be asked by your pharmacist to sign a consent form. Once you have
consented to use and disclosure of your protected health information for treatment,
payment and health care operations by signing the consent form, your pharmacist will
use or disclose your protected health information as described in Section 1. Your
pharmacist, our pharmacy staff and others outside of our pharmacy that are involved
in your care and treatment for the purpose of providing health care services to you.
Your protected health information may also be used and disclosed to pay your health
care bills and to support the operation of the pharmacy.
The following are examples of the types of uses and disclosures of your protected
health care information that the pharmacy is permitted to make one you have signed
our consent form. These examples are not meant to be exhaustive, but to describe
the types of uses and disclosures that may be made by our pharmacy once you have
provided consent.
De-identified patient information may be supplied to Pharmacy Hubs to assist in
efficiency and cost reduction efforts to patients surrounding prescription fulfillment.
TREATMENT
We will use and disclose your protected health information to provide, coordinate, or
manage your health care and any related services. This includes the coordination or
management of your health care with a third party that has already obtained your
permission to have access to your protected health information. For example, your
protected health information may be provided to a physician to whom you have been
transferred to ensure that the physician has the necessary information to diagnose or
treat you. In addition, we may disclose your protected health information from time-
to-time to another pharmacy or health care provider (e.g., specialist or laboratory)
who, at the request of your physician, becomes involved in your care by providing
assistance with your health care diagnosis or treatment to your physician.
PAYMENT
Your protected health information will be used, as needed, to obtain payment for
your health care services. This may include certain activities that your health
insurance plan may undertake before it approves or pays for health care services,
such as; making a determination or eligibility of coverage for insurance benefits,
reviewing services provided to you for medical necessity, and undertaking utilization
review activities. For example, obtaining approval for a prescription may require that
your relevant protected health information be disclosed to the health plan to obtain
approval for the prescription.
HEALTH CARE OPERATIONS
We may use or disclose, as-needed, your protected health information in order to
support the business activity of your pharmacy. These activities include, but are not
limited to, quality assessment activities, employee review activities, licensing,
marketing and conducting or arranging for other business activities. For example, we
may ask your name and your physician's name when you deliver a prescription to be
filled. We may also call you by name when your prescription is ready. We may use or
disclose your protected health information, as necessary, to contact you to remind
you of a prescription that has not been picked up. We will share your protected health
information with third party "business associates" that perform various activities (e.g.,
billing services) for the pharmacy. Whenever an arrangement between our pharmacy
and a business associate involves the use or disclosure of your protected health
information, we will have a written contract that contains terms that will protect the
privacy of your protected health information. We may use or disclose your protected
health information, as necessary, to provide you with information about treatment
alternative or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to
you. We may also use and disclose your protected health information for other
marketing activities. For example, your name and address may be used to send you a
newsletter about our pharmacy and the services we offer. We may also send you
information about products or services we offer. We may also send you information
about products or services that we believe may be beneficial to you. You may contact
our Privacy Contact to request these materials not be sent to you.
USES & DISCLOSURES OF PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION
BASED UPON YOUR WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION
Other uses and disclosures of your protected health information will be made only
with your written authorization, unless otherwise permitted or required by law as
described below. You may revoke this authorization, at any time, in writing, except to
the extent that your pharmacist or the pharmacy has taken an action in reliance on
the use or disclosure indicted in the authorization.
OTHER PERMITTED & REQUIRED USES AND DISCLOSURES
THAT MAY BE MADE WITH YOUR CONSENT, AUTHORIZATION,
OR OPPORTUNITY TO OBJECT
We may use and disclose your protected information in the following instances. You
have the opportunity to agree or object to the use or disclosure of all or part of your
protected health information. If you are not present or able to agree or object to the
use or disclosure of the protected health information, then your pharmacist may,
using professional judgement, determine whether the disclosure is in your best
interest. In this case, only the protected health information that is relevant to your
health care will be disclosed.
Others involved in Your Health Care: unless you object, we may disclose to a member
of your family, a relative, a close friend or any other person you identify, your
protected health information that directly relates to that person's involvement in
your health care. If you are unable to agree or object to such a disclosure, we may
disclose such information as necessary if we determine that it is in your best interest
based on our professional judgement. We may use of disclose your protected health
information to an authorized public or private entity to assist in disaster relief efforts
and to coordinate uses and disclosures to family or other individuals involved in your
health care.
EMERGENCIES
We may use or disclose your protected health information in an emergency
treatment situation. If this happens, your pharmacist shall try to obtain your consent
as soon as reasonably practicable after the delivery of treatment. If you pharmacist is
required by law to treat you and has attempted to obtain your consent, he or she may
still use or disclose your protected health information to treat you.
1