SYHealth HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices ENG June 2020 | Page 5

and/or other healthcare professionals or subsequent healthcare providers with copies of
your records to assist them in treating you.
• SYHealth participates in the San Diego Health Connect Health Information Exchange (HIE)
network with other health care providers and organizations. Your health information will be
shared with this regional HIE, patients have the option to opt-out of participating in the HIE,
but then doctors and nurses will not be able to search for your health information through
the HIE. Patients who chose not to participate must complete the Health Information Exchange
Patient Opt-Out Form, visit the SYHealth web site at www.SYHealth.org or call the
Call Center at: 1(619) 662-4100 for further assistance.
• Payment: We may use and disclose your health information to obtain payment for health
care services that we or others provide to you. This includes uses and disclosures to:
‣submit health information and receive payment from your health insurer, HMO, or other
company that pays the cost of some or all of your health care (payor), or
‣verify that your payor will pay for your health care.
However, we will comply with your request not to disclose health information to your health
plan if the information relates solely to a healthcare item or service for which we have
been paid out of pocket in full. Example: We may send a bill containing PHI to you or to a
third-party payer, such as your health insurer.
• Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose your health information for our health
care operations, such as internal administration and planning that improve the quality and
cost effectiveness of the care we provide you. This also include uses and disclosures to:
‣Evaluate the quality and competence of our health care providers, nurses and other
health care workers,
‣ to other health care providers to help them conduct their own quality reviews, compliance
activities or other health care operations,
‣train students, residents and fellows, or
‣identify health-related services and products that may be beneficial to your health and
then contact you about the services and products.
We may also disclose your health information to third parties to assist us in these activities
(but only if they agree in writing to maintain the confidentiality of your health information).
In addition, SYHealth may use and disclose your health information under the following
circumstances:
• Business Associates (BA): We provide some services through contracts with BA’s.
Examples include certain diagnostic tests, a copy service to make copies of medical records,
etc. We require the BA to appropriately safeguard your individually identifiable health
information they have in their possession.
• Appointment Reminders: We may contact you to remind you that you have an appointment
at SYHealth. You may opt-out of appointment reminders.
• Disaster Relief Efforts: We may disclose Health Information about you to an entity
assisting in a disaster relief effort so that others can be notified about your condition,
status and location.
• Relatives, Caregivers and Personal Representatives: Unless you object, we may
disclose your health information to family members, caregivers or personal representatives
SYHealth | HIPAA - NPP
4