Notice of Privacy Practices

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED, HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION, AND YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

NextGen Home Healthcare is required by law to maintain the privacy and security of protected health information and to give you this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices.

Your Rights

Get a Copy of Your Health Record

You may ask to inspect or obtain an electronic or paper copy of your health record and other health information we maintain about you. We will respond within the timeframe required by law and may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee where permitted.

Ask Us to Correct Your Record

You may ask us to correct health information you believe is incorrect or incomplete. We may deny certain requests and will explain the reason in writing when required.

Request Confidential Communications

You may ask us to contact you in a specific way or at a different address. We will accommodate reasonable requests.

Ask Us to Limit What We Use or Share

You may ask us not to use or disclose certain information for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations. We are not always required to agree. If you pay in full out of pocket for a service, you may ask us not to disclose information about that service to your health plan for payment or operations unless disclosure is otherwise required by law.

Accounting, Copy of This Notice, and Personal Representative

You may request an accounting of certain disclosures, request a paper copy of this Notice at any time, and authorize a legally recognized personal representative to act for you as permitted by law.

File a Privacy Complaint

You may complain if you believe your privacy rights have been violated. NextGen Home Healthcare will not retaliate against you for exercising your privacy rights or filing a complaint.

Your Choices

In some situations you may tell us your preferences about sharing information with family members, caregivers, friends, or others involved in your care or payment. If you cannot tell us your preference, we may use professional judgment and applicable law.

Uses or disclosures for marketing that require authorization, sale of protected health information, and most uses or disclosures of psychotherapy notes require written authorization. You may revoke an authorization in writing except to the extent we have already acted on it. NextGen Home Healthcare does not sell your protected health information.

How We Typically Use and Share Information

Treatment and Care Coordination

We may use and share your health information to assess and provide care, carry out the plan of care, coordinate with physicians and allowed practitioners, pharmacies, hospitals, therapists, durable medical equipment suppliers, caregivers, and other professionals involved in treatment as permitted by law.

Payment

We may use and share information to verify benefits, obtain prior authorization, submit claims, coordinate benefits, and collect payment from health plans, government programs, patients, or other responsible payers.

Healthcare Operations

We may use and share information to operate the agency, conduct quality assessment and performance improvement, train and supervise staff, support accreditation and regulatory activities, and perform other lawful healthcare operations.

Caregivers and Representatives

Home-based care often involves family members, caregivers, and representatives. We may share information with an authorized representative or, when permitted by law and consistent with your preferences, with a person involved in your care or payment. We will not treat a caregiver's involvement as unlimited authority to receive your information.

Other Uses and Disclosures Permitted or Required by Law

Subject to applicable safeguards and any law that is more protective, we may use or disclose health information when permitted or required for purposes such as:

• Public health and safety activities, including certain disease, product-safety, and abuse or neglect reporting
• Health oversight and regulatory activities
• Research when the applicable legal requirements are satisfied
• Compliance with laws that require a use or disclosure
• Organ and tissue donation, when applicable
• Medical examiner, coroner, and funeral-director functions
• Workers' compensation, certain law-enforcement requests, and other authorized government functions
• Judicial or administrative proceedings when the applicable legal requirements are met

Specially Protected Records

Massachusetts and federal law may provide additional protection for certain records, including some mental health and substance use disorder information. Where a more protective law applies, NextGen Home Healthcare follows that law.

Substance Use Disorder Records — 42 CFR Part 2

Our Responsibilities

• Maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information
• Follow the duties and privacy practices described in the current Notice
• Give you a copy of this Notice on request
• Notify you following a breach of unsecured protected health information when required by law
• Follow applicable federal and Massachusetts privacy laws that provide additional protection

Questions or Privacy Complaints

You may also file a privacy complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights:

Filing a complaint will not affect your care and NextGen Home Healthcare will not retaliate against you.

Changes to This Notice

We may change the terms of this Notice as permitted by law. Changes may apply to information we already maintain as well as information received in the future. The current Notice is available on request and on our website.