We respect our legal obligation to keep private any health information that identifies you. We are obligated by law to give you notice of our privacy pracrices. This notice describes how we protect your health information and what rights you have regarding it. 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 we already have as well as to such information that we may generate in the future. The most common reasons why we use or disclose your health information are for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations. 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 disclosures are:

Required by Law: We may use or disclose your health information when mandated by a state or federal law, requested by a governmental authority, or for use in judicial or administrative proceedings.

Abuse or Neglect: We may disclose your health information to appropriate authorities if we reasonably believe that you are a possible victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence or the possible victim of other crimes.

National Security: We may disclose to military authorities the health information of Armed Forces personnel under certain circumstances. We may disclose to authorized federal officials health information required for lawful intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities. We may disclose to correctional institution or law enforcement officials having lawful custody of protected health information of inmate or patient under certain circumstances.

Family and Friends: We may disclose your health information to a family member, friend, or other persons to the extent necessary to help with your healthcare or with payment for your healthcare, but only if you agree that we may do so.

Appointment Reminders: We may call or write to remind you of sceduled appointments, or that it is time to make a routine appointment. We may also notify you of other treatments or services available. Unless you tell us otherwise, we will mail you an appointment reminder on a post card, and/or leave you a reminder message on your home answering machine or with someone who answers your phone if you are not at home.

Persons Involved In Care: We may use or disclose health information to notify, or assist in the notification of (including identifying or locating) a family member, your personal representative or another person responsible for your care, of your location, your general condition, or death. If you are present, then prior to use or disclosure of your health information, we will provide you with an opportunity to object to such uses or disclosures. In the event of incapacitation or emergency, we will disclose health information based on a determination using our professional judgment disclosing only health information that is directly relevant to the person's involvement in your healthcare. We will also use our judgment and experience with common practice to make reasonable inferences of your best interest in allowing a person to pick prescriptions, medical supplies, x-rays, or oyher similar forms of health information.

PATIENT RIGHTS The law gives you many rights regarding your health information.

Access: You have the right to look at or get copies of your health information, with limited expectations. You may request that we provide copies in a format other than photocopies. We will use the format you request unless we cannot feaibly do so. We reserve the right to charge you a reasonable fee for expenses such as copies and staff time. If you prefer, we will provide a summary or an explanation of your health information.

Disclosure Accounting: You have the right to receive a list of instances in which we or our business associates disclose your health information for purposes, other that treatment, payment, healthcare operations, and certain other activities, for the last 6 years, but not before April 14, 2003.

Restriction: You have the right to request that we place additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your health information. We are not required to agree to these additional restrictions, but if we do, we will abide by our agreement (except in emergency).

Alternative Communication: You have the right ot request that we communicate with you about health information by alternative means or at alternative locations. You must make a prior written request specifying the alternative means and/or location, and provide satisfactory explanation in writing.

Amendment: You have the right to request that we amend your health information. Your request for health in formation must be in writing and it must explain why the information must be amended. We reserve the right to deny your request under certain circumstances.

If youwant more information about our privacy practices or have any questions or concerns, please contact us. If you are concerned that we may have violated your privacy rights, or you disagree with a decision we made about access to your health information or in response to a request you made to amend or restrict use or disclosure of your health information or to have us communicate with you by alternative means or at an alternative location, you may complain to us using the contact information listed at the end of this notice. You may also submit a written complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will provide you with the address to file your complaint upon request. We support your right to privacy of your health information and will not retaliate in any way if you chose to file a complaint with us or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Contact Officer: Sarah Alfaro Telephone: (770)497-1339 Fax (770)497-1983 Email:optique@bellsouth.net Address: 10305 Medlock Bridge Road Ste. A-5 Duluth, GA 30097