Patient Privacy & Health Information Policy
1. Your Privacy is Our Priority
This Notice describes how medical and dental information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully.
At Dental Associates of Boca Raton (operating under My Boca Smile), we are required by federal law (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 - HIPAA) and Florida state healthcare regulations to maintain the privacy of your Protected Health Information (PHI) and to provide you with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices.
2. How We May Use & Disclose Your PHI
We may use or disclose your health information for Treatment, Payment, and Health Care Operations (TPO) without requiring a separate signed authorization:
- Treatment: Our dentists, dental hygienists, and surgical assistants use your digital charts, X-rays (DEXIS panoramic / 3D CBCT scans), and periodontal charting to evaluate, diagnose, and deliver care.
- Payment: We transmit diagnostic codes (CDT codes), itemized dental claim forms, and tooth treatment history to your dental insurance provider (e.g., Delta Dental, MetLife, Aetna, Cigna) to verify benefits and process claims.
- Health Care Operations: We use aggregated clinical data for internal quality assessment, clinical audits, provider performance evaluations, and practice management software operations.
- Appointment Reminders: We may notify you of upcoming scheduled dental cleanings, appointments, or treatment plans via secure SMS, encrypted email, or web notifications.
3. Your Health Information Rights
Under HIPAA and Florida law, you hold substantial rights concerning your dental health records:
📑 Right to Inspect & Copy
You can access, view, and export electronic copies of your health records, radiographs, and financial ledgers via our secure Patient Portal.
✏️ Right to Amend Records
You may request in writing that we correct or update incomplete or inaccurate demographic or health information in your clinical chart.
📊 Accounting of Disclosures
You may request an itemized record of disclosures of your PHI made outside of routine treatment, payment, or health operations.
🔕 Right to Request Restrictions
You have the right to request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures, including paying out-of-pocket in full to restrict disclosures to insurers.
🔐 Confidential Communications
You may specify how and where we contact you (e.g., cell phone only, alternate email address, or portal safe-harbor messaging).
🚨 Breach Notification
You have the right to be notified promptly if an unauthorized breach of your unsecured Protected Health Information occurs.
4. Application Technical Safeguards
Our digital practice application incorporates enterprise-grade HIPAA Technical Safeguards (45 CFR § 164.312):
- Strict Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Clinical odontograms, operative notes, and treatment histories are restricted to licensed providers; administrative and billing staff access only authorized administrative fields.
- Session Integrity & Auto-Timeout: Authenticated sessions expire after periods of inactivity, preventing unauthorized physical workstation access.
- Zero Local Credit Card Storage (PCI-DSS): Patient payments utilize tokenized payment gateways; raw credit card numbers and CVV codes are never stored on practice servers.
- Tamper-Evident Electronic Signatures: Digital intake forms generate SHA-256 cryptographic verification hashes capturing legal name, timestamp, and network IP.
- Immutable Audit Logging: System activities, record access events, and treatment modifications are recorded in an append-only audit trail.
*Note on Production Compliance: Full HIPAA regulatory compliance requires organizational execution of Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) with cloud hosting providers, employee training programs, and periodic security risk assessments.
5. Privacy Officer Contact & HHS Complaints
If you have questions about this Notice, wish to exercise any of your rights, or believe your privacy rights have been violated, please contact our Practice Privacy Officer:
5295 Town Center Rd., Suite 200, Boca Raton, FL 33486
Phone: (561) 347-8266 | Email: privacy@mybocasmile.com
You may also file a formal written complaint with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights, 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201. We will never retaliate against any patient for filing a complaint.