THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN ACCESS THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

R DRUGS ETC is required by law to maintain the privacy of protected health information and to provide individuals with notice of its legal duties and privacy practices with respect to protected health information.  R DRUGS ETC is also required to abide by the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices.   This privacy policy will tell you:

How we may use and disclose your protected information

What Information is Protected

Information protected by this privacy policy includes information that R DRUGS ETC receives or creates that identifies you and concerns;

How We May Use or Disclose Your Protected Information

Use and Disclosure of Your Protected Information for which your Consent or Authorization is not Required

Treatment, Payment and Healthcare Operations:  We may use or disclose your protected information to provide you with treatment, obtain payment for your treatment, or perform health care operations. Some examples of how we may use or disclose your protected information for these reasons are:

Treatment: We may use or disclose your protected health information to dispense prescription medications or devices to you, provide you with information and counseling on your drug therapy, and communicate with your physician, your physician’s staff, emergency treatment personnel or other health care professionals to ensure you receive appropriate treatment.

Payment: We may use or disclose your protected information to determine the amount of your copayment responsibility and to obtain payment for your treatment from your insurer or pharmacy benefit manager. Health Care Operations: We may use your protected information to review the performance of our pharmacists, to prevent fraud and to develop compliance programs in order to offer more effective and comprehensive treatment to you.

Communications With You: We may use your protected information to contact you. We may contact you to ensure that your prescription is working effectively, or to provide you with refill reminders or information about treatment alternatives.

Health Oversight Activities: We may disclose your protected information to agencies authorized by law to perform audits, investigations or inspections for the oversight of the health care system, government benefit programs, government regulatory programs or civil rights laws.

Judicial and Administrative Proceedings: We may disclose your protected information in response to a court order, administrative order, subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process. Others Involved in Your Health Care and Disaster Relief: Unless you object, we may disclose to a family member, other relative, close personal friend or any other person identified by you protected health information related to that person’s involvement in your health care.  We may also use or disclose to a person responsible for your care your protected health information that relates to your location, general condition or death.  If the opportunity for you to agree or object to any such disclosure cannot be provided due to emergency circumstances, we will make these disclosures if they are in your best interests.  Additionally, we may disclose protected health information relating to your location, general condition or death to any public or private entity authorized to assist in disaster relief efforts.

Public Health:  We may disclose your protected health information to a public health authority authorized to collect such information for the purpose of:

(a) preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability;

(b) reporting disease or injury;

(c) reporting vital events such as births or deaths;

(d) conducting public health surveillance, public health investigations and public health interventions;

(e) at the direction of a public health authority, to an official of a foreign government agency acting in collaboration with a public health authority; or

(f) reporting child abuse or neglect.

Law Enforcement: We may disclose your protected information as required by law in response to requests from law enforcement.

Business Associates: We may hire third parties to perform certain services for us. We may disclose your protected information to these third parties so that they can perform the services we have asked them to do. These third parties will be required to protect your health information and will not be allowed to use your information for any purpose other than to provide the services we have requested.

Special Circumstances: We may disclose your protected information in certain special circumstances. Such circumstances include:

(a) disclosures to agencies authorized by law to collect information for national security and intelligence activities;

(b) disclosures for specialized government functions in the event that you are a veteran or are in the military;

(c) disclosures to a coroner or medical examiner for the purpose of identifying you, determining a cause of death or other duties authorized by law;

(d) disclosures to the FDA for the purpose of activities related to the quality, safety or effectiveness of FDA regulated products;

(e) disclosures to a funeral director to allow him to carry out his duties;

(f) disclosures for review of product quality and safety;

(g) disclosures to prevent or lessen a serious threat to health or safety of an individual or the public, or the information is necessary to apprehend an individual; or

(h) disclosures to comply with requirements for worker’s compensation programs.

The examples given above are for illustration only. They may not be all-inclusive.

Other Uses and Disclosures

We will obtain your written authorization before using or disclosing your protected information for any reason other than those included in this notice. You may revoke your authorization in writing at any time. Upon receipt of your written revocation, we will stop using or disclosing your protected information, except to the extent that we have already taken action in reliance on the authorization.

Your Rights

You have the following rights concerning your protected information.

To Obtain a Paper Copy of this Notice Upon Request – You may request a paper copy of this Notice at any time by contacting our Privacy Officer.

To Inspect and Obtain a Copy of Your Protected Information – You have the right to inspect and receive a copy of the protected information we maintain about you. To do so, contact our Privacy Officer. We may request that you submit a written request and may charge you a fee for the costs of copying and mailing your protected information. We may deny your request to inspect and copy in certain limited circumstances, such as if we have reasonably determined that providing access to such protected information would endanger your life or safety or cause substantial harm to you or another person. If we deny your request, we will notify you in writing and provide you with the opportunity to request a review of the denial.

To Request an Amendment of Protected Information – If you feel that the protected information we maintain about you is incomplete or incorrect, you may request that we amend it.

To request an amendment, contact our Privacy Officer. We may request that you submit a written request. The request must include the reason you are requesting the amendment. In certain cases, we may deny your request for amendment.

To Request a Restriction on Certain Uses and Disclosures of Protected Information – You have the right to request additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your protected information. Your request must be submitted in writing to our Privacy Officer. We are not required to agree to a requested restriction.

To Receive an Accounting of Disclosures of Protected Information – You have the right to receive an accounting of the disclosures that we have made of your protected information during the six years prior to the date on which the accounting is requested. The accounting will not include disclosures:

(a) made for treatment, payment or health care operations;

(b) made directly to you;

(c) made to persons involved in your health care or made for notification purposes;

(d) made for national security or intelligence purposes; or

(e) disclosures authorized by you.  The right to receive an accounting is subject to certain other exceptions, restrictions and limitations.

To request an accounting of disclosures, contact our Privacy Officer. We may request that you submit your request in writing. Requests must specify the time period for which you wish to receive an accounting. The first accounting you request within a 12 month period will be provided free of charge, but you may be charged for additional accountings. We will notify you of the cost involved and you may then withdraw or modify your request.

To Request Communications of Protected Information by Alternative Means – You may request that we contact you about your protected information by alternative means or at alternative locations. We will accommodate all reasonable requests. To make a request, you must submit a written request to our Privacy Officer.

Changes to the Notice

The effective date of this notice is April 10, 2006.  We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice at any time and to make the new notice provisions effective for all protected health information that we maintain.  If this Notice is changed we will make a current copy of the Notice available to you at our pharmacy. 

For More Information

If you have questions or would like additional information about R DRUGS ETC’s privacy practices, you may contact our Privacy Officer at 585-262-3760 or at R. DrugsETC, Inc., 222 Alexander Street, Suite 2700, Rochester, NY 14607.

Complaints

If you believe that your rights have been violated, you can file a complaint in writing to the address above or online at www.rdrugsetc.com by clicking on “contact us” or by writing to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. There will be no retaliation for filing a complaint.