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Andrea M. Spruyt, O.D.

Privacy Notice

WestGlen Eyecare - Notice of Privacy Practices

We respect our legal obligation to keep health information that identifies you private. We are obligated by law to give you notice of our privacy practices. This Notice describes how we protect your health information and what rights you have regarding it.

TREATMENT, PAYMENT, AND HEALTH CARE OPERATIONS: The most common reason why we use or disclose your health information is for treatment, payment or health care operations. Examples of how we use or disclose information for treatment purposes are: setting up an appointment for you; testing or examining your eyes; prescribing glasses, contact lenses, or eye medications and faxing them to be filled; referring you to another doctor or clinic for eye care or services; or getting copies of your health information from another professional that you may have seen before us. Examples of how we use or disclose your health information for payment purposes are: asking you about your health or vision care plans, or other sources of payment; preparing and sending bills or claims; and collecting unpaid amounts (either ourselves or through a collection agency or attorney). "Health care operations" means those administrative and managerial functions that we have to do in order to run our office. Examples of how we use or disclose your health information for health care operations are: financial or billing audits; internal quality assurance; personnel decisions; participation in managed care plans; defense of legal matters; business planning; and outside storage or our records. 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 will obtain your 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 disclosure 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 disclosure for health related research; uses and disclosures to prevent a serious threat to health or safety; disclosures of de-identified information; disclosures relating to worker's compensation programs; disclosures of a "limited data set" for research, public health, or health care operation; 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. Unless you object, we will also share relevant information about your care with your family or friends who are helping you with your eye care.

APPOINTMENT REMINDERS: We may call or write to remind you of scheduled appointments, or that it is time to make a routine appointment. We may also call or write to notify you of other treatments or services available at our office that might help you.

OTHER USES AND DISCLOSURES We will not make any other uses or disclosures of your health information unless you sign an "authorization form". The content of an "authorization form" is determined by federal law. Sometimes, we may initiate the authorization process or you may initiate the process to send your information to someone else. Typically, in this situation you will give us a completed authorization form, or you can use one of ours. If we initiate the process and ask you to sign an authorization form, you do not have to sign it. If you do not sign the authorization, we cannot make the use or disclosure. If you do sign, you may revoke it at any time unless we have already acted in reliance upon it. Revocations must be in writing.

YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION: The law gives you many rights regarding your health information. You can ask us to restrict our uses and disclosures for purposes of treatment (except emergency treatment), payment or health care operations. We do not have to agree to do this; but if we agree, we must honor the restrictions that you want. To ask for a restriction, send a written request and ask us to communicate with you in a confidential way, such as by phoning you at work rather than at home, by mailing health information to a different address, or by using e-mail. We will accommodate these requests if they are reasonable. If you want to ask for confidential communications, send a written request and ask to see or to get photocopies of your health information. By law, there are a few limited situations in which we can refuse to permit access or copying. For the most part, however, you will be able to review or have a copy of your health information within 30 days of asking us (or 60 days if the information is stored offsite). You may have to pay for photocopies in advance. If we deny your request, we will send you a written explanation and instructions about how to get an impartial review of our denial if one is legally available. By law, we can have one 30-day extension of the time if we send you a written notice. If you want to review or get photocopies of your health information, send a written request and ask us to amend your health information if you think that it is incorrect or incomplete. If we agree, we will amend the information within 60 days from when you ask us. We will send the corrected information to persons who we know got the wrong information and other requests that you specify. If we do not agree, you can write a statement of your position, and we will include it with your health information along with any rebuttal statement that we may write. Once your statement of position and/or our rebuttal is included in your health information, we will send it along whenever we make a permitted disclosure of your health information. By law, we can have one 30-day extension of time to consider a request for amendment if we notify you in writing of the extension. If you want to ask us to amend your health information, send a written request, including your reasons for the amendment. Get a list of the disclosures that we have made of your health information within the past year. By law, the list will not include: disclosures for purposes of treatment, payment or health care operations; disclosures with your authorization; incidental disclosure; disclosures required by law; and some other limited disclosure. You are entitled to one such list per year without charge. If you want more frequent lists, you will have to pay for them in advance. We will usually respond to your request within 60 days of receiving it, but by law we can have one 30-day extension of time if we notify you of the extension in writing. If you want a list, send a written request. Get additional paper copies of this Notice of Privacy Practices upon request. It does not matter whether you got one electronically or in paper form already. If you want additional paper copies send a written request.

OUR NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES: By law, we must abide by the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices. We reserve the right to change this notice at any time as allowed by law. If we change this Notice, the new privacy practices will apply to your health information that we already have, as well as to such information that we may generate in the future. If we change our Notice of Privacy Practices, we will post the new notice in our office, have copies available in our office, and post it on our website.

COMPLAINTS: If you think that we have not properly respected the privacy of your health information, please let us know either in person, by phone, or preferably in a written complaint. You may also contact the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights.

If you would like more information about our privacy practices, please contact our privacy officer.

  Jeffry D. Gerson, O.D., F.A.A.O.

contact lenses, and low vision, as well as some resident education.

He then moved into a private practice with emphasis on contact lenses. He practiced there for nearly 3 years, seeing a wide mix of patients from very young children to senior citizens. He then moved onto Mid America Retina Consultants where he only saw patients with retinal disease Through his years in practice, he has become particularly interested in advancements in contact lens materials, retinal treatments and advancements in technology leading to more efficient examination. He has been involved in clinical trials, and lectures frequently to optometrists nationally on these topics. He has also authored numerous articles in scientific journals. Because of his wide experience in practices and types of practices, he enjoys seeing patients of all ages, and especially those with challenging eye conditions.
 
Dr. Gerson’s professional memberships include the American Optometric Association as well as the Kansas and Missouri optometric associations. He is a fellow of both the Academy of Optometry and Optometric Retina Society. He is quite active in volunteer work locally, and involved on several organizational boards. 
 

Most of all, he enjoys spending time with his wife Karen, and their son Gilli. They enjoy traveling, outdoor activities, and just hanging out. He is also an avid cyclist and has participated in many organized rides, including the MS 150 on multiple occasions.

 Pam Lorentz, Optician