Business Associate Contract/HIPAA
The following contract terms are
intended to specify VIOPSYS Inc.’s obligations to you as a Business
Associate under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
("HIPAA"). Under HIPAA, health care providers have certain
obligations to protect information about their patients. This kind of information
is called "Protected Health Information." These obligations are
spelled out in regulations issued by the United States Department of Health and
Human Services ("HHS").
These provisions are intended to
be interpreted consistently with HIPAA and all regulations issued by HHS under
it. They are also intended to incorporate by reference all other terms and
conditions and agreements which apply to the services provided by VIOPSYS Inc. (the “Program”).
Most eye care providers are
required to comply with HIPAA. The question whether you must comply with HIPAA
and what your compliance program should include is one only you can answer.
However, VIOPSYS Inc. will comply with the following conditions with
every eye care provider which uses the Services, whatever their status under
HIPAA.
One HIPAA requirement is that
every health care provider must enter into a "Business Associate
Contract" with any other party which obtains or uses Protected Health
Information from or on behalf of the health care provider. This kind of party
is called a HIPAA "Business Associate." A Business Associate Contract
is intended to require the Business Associate to preserve the confidentiality
of Protected Health Information. The required terms for every Business Associate
Contract have been specified in HIPAA privacy regulations published by HHS.
When you use the Program, you
frequently need to provide VIOPSYS Inc. with Protected Health
Information, such as for ordering goods or services, or transmitting claims for
payment. This makes VIOPSYS Inc. your Business Associate for purposes of
HIPAA. VIOPSYS Inc. therefore agrees to protect any Protected Health
Information it obtains from you or on your behalf when using the Services as
follows:
VIOPSYS Inc. will only
use or disclose Protected Health Information it obtains from you or on your
behalf for purposes of providing the Services to you, or as otherwise provided
in this Agreement.
VIOPSYS Inc. may use and
disclose Protected Health Information as necessary for its proper management
and administration, or to carry out its legal responsibilities.
At its reasonable discretion,
VIOPSYS Inc. may use Protected Health Information to perform data
aggregation services on behalf of eye care providers, manufacturers,
distributors, and optical laboratories.
VIOPSYS Inc. will not use
or disclose Protected Health Information it obtains from you or on your behalf
for any other activity or purpose, unless you have authorized VIOPSYS Inc. to do so in writing and such use or disclosure is otherwise permitted by
law. VIOPSYS Inc., 10 Knightsbridge Rd, Middletown, DE 19709 T e
l 800. 656. 7630 w w w. Retail Eyewear.com
VIOPSYS Inc. will establish and maintain
administrative and technical safeguards which it determines are reasonably
necessary to protect any Protected Health Information it obtains from you or on
your behalf.
If VIOPSYS Inc. becomes aware of any use or
disclosure of Protected Health Information obtained from you or on your behalf
which is not authorized under these Business Associate Terms and Conditions,
VIOPSYS Inc. will take such action as it determines is reasonably
necessary to stop such use or disclosure, prevent its recurrence, and mitigate any
harm it may have caused. VIOPSYS Inc. will also report any such
unauthorized use or disclosure to you.
If VIOPSYS Inc. contracts with or otherwise uses
any other person to process, transmit, store or otherwise use or disclose
Protected Health Information obtained from or on behalf of you, VIOPSYS Inc. shall ensure that such person agrees to the same restrictions and
requirements with respect to such information that apply to VIOPSYS Inc..
If one of your patients asks you to review or copy
Protected Health Information which VIOPSYS Inc. maintains for you or on
your behalf, upon your written request to our Privacy Officer, VIOPSYS Inc. will provide reasonable access to or copies of such information to you,
which you may provide to your patient. If necessary, VIOPSYS Inc. will
also make available any such information from any other person which has
obtained it on VIOPSYS Inc.’s behalf.
If you have agreed to a request from one of your patients
to amend Protected Health Information which VIOPSYS Inc. maintains for
you or on your behalf, VIOPSYS Inc. will add that amendment to its own
records of that Protected Health Information upon your written request to our
Privacy Officer. To the extent reasonable and feasible, VIOPSYS Inc.
will notify any other person to which VIOPSYS Inc. has disclosed such
information of the amendment. However, amendments cannot be made to previously
lab and product orders.
If one of your patients has requested you to provide an
accounting of disclosures of his or her Protected Health Information, you will
have access to your previously submitted claims and lab and product orders. If
you cannot access these transactions on the web site, upon your written request
to our Privacy Officer, VIOPSYS Inc. will promptly provide such an
accounting of previously sent transactions to you to provide to your patient.
Under HIPAA, HHS may from time to time investigate the
compliance of any health care provider with the HIPAA regulations. If you
should become the subject of such an investigation, VIOPSYS Inc. will
make its internal practices, books and records concerning its use and
disclosure of Protected Health Information obtained from you or on your behalf
available to HHS, at reasonable times and places and upon proper evidence of
the investigator's legal authority.
Consistent with the termination provisions of the Services
agreement, you may terminate your use of the Services at any time if you are not
satisfied with VIOPSYS Inc.’s compliance with these Business Associate
contract terms.
If you terminate your use of the Services for any reason,
VIOPSYS Inc. will stop using and disclosing all Protected Health
Information it has obtained from you or on your behalf, except in order to (a)
complete any transactions VIOPSYS Inc., 10 Knightsbridge Rd, Middletown,
DE 19709 T e l 800. 656. 7630 w w w. Retail Eyewear.com
or services which had not been completed as of the
termination, or (b) if needed as evidence in regulatory or law enforcement
investigative or enforcement proceedings, and administrative or judicial
proceedings pertaining to VIOPSYS Inc.’s compliance with these
provisions, the Eye Care Provider, and/or any individual(s) to whom the
Protected Health Information pertains.
VIOPSYS Inc. may amend these Business Associate
contract terms from time to time if VIOPSYS Inc. determines amendment is
reasonably necessary to ensure compliance with amendments to or changes in the
interpretation of HIPAA or any regulations issued under it, or to accommodate
changes in policies, processes or procedures used by VIOPSYS Inc. to
protect Protected Health Information. Any such amendment shall be effective
upon the publishing of the amended Business Associate Terms and Conditions on
the VIOPSYS Inc. website and the notification of those changes on the
main page of the web site. If you choose to use the Services after the date on
which such amendment is effective, you will be considered to have agreed to the
amended terms and conditions.
These Business Associate Contract terms incorporate VIOPSYS Inc.’s Terms and Conditions posted on www.VIOPSYS Inc..com by
reference In case of any conflict between these Business Associate Contract
terms and the Terms and Conditions on www.VIOPSYS Inc..com when applied
to the use, disclosure or protection of Protected Health Information by VIOPSYS Inc., these Business Associate Contract terms will supersede the Terms
and Conditions. The Terms and Conditions will supersede these Business
Associate Contract terms in case of any other conflict.
PLEASE SIGN THE LINE BELOW INDICATING THAT YOU UNDERSTAND
THE TERMS OF THE BUSINESS ASSOCIATE CONTRACT. YOU DO NOT NEED TO RETURN THIS
CONTRACT TO US. PLEASE SAVE IN YOUR FILES TO COMPLY WITH HIPAA.
____________________________
Your Signature Date
____________________________
VIOPSYS Inc. Date
