Notice of Privacy Practices

1. Our Legal Duties

We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of protected health information, provide you with this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, and follow the Notice currently in effect. We will notify affected individuals following a breach of unsecured protected health information when notification is required by law.

2. How We May Use and Disclose Health Information; Your Choices

We may use and share your health information to:

• Treat you, for example by sharing X-rays or treatment updates with your general dentist or an oral surgeon.
• Run our practice, including scheduling, appointment reminders, quality improvement, and staff training.
• Bill for your services, including working with your dental or medical insurance plan.

Subject to the conditions and limitations required by law, we may also use or share health information for:

• public health and safety activities
• research when legally permitted
• compliance with federal or state law
• organ and tissue donation
• coroners, medical examiners, or funeral directors
• workers’ compensation
• law enforcement or other authorized government requests
• health oversight activities
• lawsuits, court proceedings, or other legally authorized actions

Additional California privacy protections may apply to particular categories of information.

Your choices

You have the right and the choice to tell us whether to share your information with family members, close friends, or others involved in your care or payment for your care. For example, this could be a family member who brings you to appointments or helps pay for treatment. You can also tell us whether to share your information in a disaster-relief situation. If you are unable to tell us your preference, we may share your information if we believe it is in your best interest. We may also share it when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.

We will never use or share your information for marketing purposes, and we will never sell your information, unless you give us written permission. SmileCraft Orthodontics does not sell protected health information. Appointment reminders and information about your own orthodontic treatment are part of your care and are not marketing.

3. Uses and Disclosures Requiring Written Authorization

Uses or disclosures that are not described in this Notice and are not otherwise permitted or required by law will be made only with your written authorization. You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time. Revoking it does not undo any action we already took in reliance on it, and it does not recall materials already published or distributed.

Identifiable patient photographs used for website galleries, social media, advertising, or other promotional purposes require your written authorization. Whether you agree or decline will not affect your treatment.

4. Virtual Consultation and Referral Portals

Please use the designated portal on our Virtual Consultation or Dentist Referral page when you are instructed to submit medical or dental information, photographs, insurance details, radiographs, or other sensitive records. Do not send sensitive health information through ordinary email or a general website inquiry form.

5. Your Rights

• Get a copy of your records. You can ask to see or get an electronic or paper copy of your dental and medical record and other health information we have about you. We will provide a copy or a summary within 30 days of your request. If we need more time, we will tell you in writing the reason and when to expect it, within one extension of up to 30 days. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee as permitted by law.
• Ask us to correct your records. You can ask us to correct health information you think is incorrect or incomplete. We may say no, but if we do, we will tell you why in writing within 60 days. You may then submit a written statement of disagreement to be included with your record.
• Request confidential communications. You can ask us to contact you in a specific way, such as a particular phone number, or to send mail to a different address. We will say yes to all reasonable requests and will not ask you why.
• Ask us to limit what we use or share. You can ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment, or our operations. We are not required to agree, and we may say no if it would affect your care. If you pay for a service out of pocket in full, you can ask us not to share information about that service with your health plan for payment or operations purposes. We will say yes unless a law requires us to share that information.
• Get a list of those with whom we’ve shared information. You can ask for a list, called an accounting, of the times we’ve shared your health information in the six years before your request. It shows who we shared it with and why. It includes all disclosures except those for treatment, payment, and health care operations, and certain others, such as any you asked us to make. We will respond within 60 days, or tell you in writing if we need up to 30 more days. We provide one accounting a year free of charge. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee if you ask for another within 12 months.
• Get a copy of this Notice. You can ask for a paper copy of this Notice at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically.
• Choose someone to act for you. If someone has legal authority to act for you, such as a parent or legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights. We will verify that authority before we act.

6. How to Exercise Your Rights

To exercise any of the rights listed above, contact our Privacy Officer at (909) 321-8400, email info@smilecraftdoc.com, or mail your request to SmileCraft Orthodontics, Attn: Privacy Officer, 5660 Holt Blvd, Montclair, CA 91763. We will explain the steps for your request, including any written request or identity verification needed. Please do not include sensitive health information in ordinary email; contact us for instructions on submitting it through our designated portal. We will respond within the time required by applicable law and explain any applicable fees or reasons we cannot grant a request. You may request a paper copy of this Notice by phone or at our office.

7. Complaints

You may complain to our Privacy Officer using the contact information above. You may also submit a complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights through its HIPAA complaint process. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

8. Changes to This Notice

We may change the terms of this Notice as permitted by law, and revised terms may apply to health information we already maintain as well as information we receive in the future. The current Notice will be available on this website and at our office, with the effective date shown above.

9. Substance-Use-Disorder Records Subject to 42 CFR Part 2

SmileCraft Orthodontics does not provide, and does not represent itself as providing, substance use disorder (SUD) diagnosis, treatment, or referral for treatment. However, in the course of your care we may receive records from a federally assisted SUD treatment program. Those records are protected by 42 U.S.C. 290dd-2 and 42 CFR Part 2 (“Part 2 records”). This section applies only to qualifying Part 2 records we receive or maintain.

• We will use and disclose Part 2 records only as permitted by Part 2, HIPAA, and any consent you have given.
• Part 2 records, and testimony relaying their content, will not be used or disclosed in any civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative proceeding against you unless you give specific written consent or a court orders it.
• A court order may authorize use or disclosure only after notice and an opportunity to be heard is provided to you or the holder of the record, as required by 42 U.S.C. 290dd-2 and Part 2.
• A court order authorizing use or disclosure must be accompanied by a subpoena or other similar legal mandate compelling disclosure before the record is used or disclosed.
• We do not use Part 2 records for fundraising.
• When Part 2 records are shared based on your consent, the recipient may be permitted to redisclose them as allowed by law. Even then, the records still cannot be used against you in legal proceedings except as described above.