We routinely use your health information inside our office for these purposes without any special permission.  If we need to disclose your health information outside of our office for these reasons, we usually will not ask you for special written permission.

USES AND DISCLOSURES FOR OTHER REASONS WITHOUT PERMISSION

In some limited situations, the law allows or requires us to use or disclose your health information without your permission.  Not all of these situations will apply to us; some may never come up at our office at all.  Such uses or disclosures are:

• when a state or federal law mandates that certain health information be reported for a specific purpose;
• for public health purposes , such as contagious disease reporting, investigation or surveillance; and notices to and from the federal Food and Drug Administration regarding drugs or medical devices.,
• disclosures to governmental authorities about victims of suspected abuse, neglect or domestic violence;
• uses and disclosures for health oversight activities, such as for the licensing of doctors; for audits by Medicare or Medicaid; or for investigation of possible violations of health care laws;
• disclosures for judicial and administrative proceedings, such as in response to subpoenas or orders of courts or administrative agencies;
• disclosures for law enforcement purposes, such as to provide information about someone who is or is suspected to be a victim of a crime; to provide information about a crime at our office; or to report a crime that happened somewhere else;
• disclosure to a medical examiner to identify a dead person or to determine the cause of death; or to funeral directors to aid in burial; or to organizations that handle organ or tissue donations,
• uses or disclosures for health related research;
  uses and disclosures to prevent a serious threat to health or safety;
• uses or disclosures for specialized government functions, such as for the protection of the president or high ranking government officials; for lawful national intelligence activities; for military purposes; or for the evaluation and health of members of the foreign service;
• disclosures relating to worker's compensation programs;
• incidental disclosures that are an unavoidable by product of permitted uses or disclosures;
• disclosures to "business associates" who perform health care operations for us and who commit to respect the privacy of your health information,