Use of our website implies consent to abide by our Privacy Policy.

Our Privacy Policy extends our Terms of Use and clarifies in detail how your personal data is collected and may be used when you access our website or any of our other services. This document also describes the particular personal data we collect and how we secure and disclose it. The terms “you” and “visitors” are used throughout this content to refer to any people who access this site at any time.

Scottsdale Cosmetic Dentistry Excellence reserves the right to update this Privacy Policy. Notice is not required, and we, therefore, encourage our visitors to review this policy periodically. If you access our website after the policy has been updated, that action implies acknowledgment and acceptance of the changes.

Our Commitment to Your Privacy

Scottsdale Cosmetic Dentistry Excellence is committed to protecting the privacy of all who accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and access our website. If our practice is to be your dental care provider, we will request personal information. If you provide us such information, we will never sell, trade, or give away that data to another individual or organization. In addition, we employ the most advanced technologies available to us to ensure the security and confidentiality of all personal data in our possession. Note that this privacy statement may be updated at any time, and only the current statement applies. You will always be able to find the current version of this privacy statement on our website. In the upcoming section, we will discuss in greater detail our commitment to privacy and how we collect data.

Personally Identifiable Information

Personally identifiable information (PII) is any data that can be traced directly to a specific person. Examples of PII include credit and debit card numbers, credit history, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, email addresses, personal health information, names, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and street addresses.

Scottsdale Cosmetic Dentistry Excellence will never collect your personally identifiable information unless you volunteer that PII to us. Some visitors, for instance, may choose to share personally identifiable information when they submit a form or correspond with us via email. It is never necessary to share personally identifiable information with us just to browse our website.

Collecting Personally Identifiable Information

Collecting personally identifiable information supports our business operations and is never done for any other purposes. We may obtain PII directly from a patient, via patient-related transactions, and from third parties, such as a health insurance provider.

Nonpersonal Information

Scottsdale Cosmetic Dentistry Excellence may gather non-personal information at any time. Such data is generally anonymous and often involves visitor statistics, such as how many people visit, which pages are visited, the web browsers being used, and so forth, and we may also collect IP addresses.

Cookies

A cookie is a small text file stored on a local device for the purposes of website recordkeeping. We do employ cookies on our website, but we never link the data stored in a cookie to any personally identifiable information that you submit to us while using our website.

We use session ID cookies on our website. These session-based cookies make navigating our website more convenient, and we never use them for any other purpose. Furthermore, any session-based cookie will expire as soon as you have closed your web browser.

If you would like additional information about cookies, including how to remove them from your computer or other devices, then we encourage you to visit allaboutcookies.org. You can reject our use of cookies and still access our website. However, some aspects of our website may be inaccessible, or the features available to you may be limited.

Google Analytics

Our website employs Google Analytics, which allows us to track how visitors are interfacing with our content. This system requires cookies, which are small text files that are stored on your computer and contain information about your activity on our site. This data, including your IP address, is sent to Google, and Google stores that data on servers that are located in the United States.

If anonymity is legally required, such as for citizens of the European Union, the system will truncate the IP address prior to transmitting it to Google. There are scenarios where the full IP address is sent to Google and then truncated by them, but these are exceptional cases. Google only uses the data provided on our behalf to evaluate our website, such as session length and pages per visit. Google will not associate your full or anonymized IP address with any other data it stores about you. You can opt to disable cookies through your web browser; however, doing so may disable some aspects of this site.

You also have the right to prevent Google Analytics from tracking and storing your data. To do this, you can install the opt-out browser add-on, which Google makes available for most web browsers. There are alternative options as well, such as an opt-out cookie, which you can learn more about in the links provided below. If you would like to learn more about data collection with Google Analytics and your privacy and rights, visit Google’s Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and product-specific Terms of Service.

If you would like to install the opt-out add-on for your browser, you can download it here.

How We Use Personally Identifiable Information

Unless otherwise disclosed to you in this Privacy Policy or at the time the PII is collected, we never share your PII with any third party except with the following exceptions. We share the information with our employees in service of your needs. We may share the information with other parties based on a request that you make, and we may share PII in order to comply with all applicable laws. We will never sell your information to a third party without your explicit consent.

If you volunteer your email address or other PII, we will only ever use that information to respond to that particular correspondence. We will never give that information to a third party with the intent of them marketing their services and products to you directly.

We do reserve the right to disclose your personally identifiable information as required by law. This may be necessary to protect our rights or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or other legal process served on Scottsdale Cosmetic Dentistry Excellence.

Protecting Your Personal Information

The security of all information you share with us is of paramount importance. We employ the latest technologies available to secure your information. We employ electronic, procedural, and manual controls in order to maintain the confidentiality and preserve the integrity of the PII in our possession as well as safeguard it against unauthorized access. Some of the techniques employed by us include encryption, firewall technologies, locked files, user authentication, and intrusion detection software. We also take steps to identify the information that must be protected, to provide an adequate level of protection for that data, and to grant access to it as permitted or required by law.

Every employee of Scottsdale Cosmetic Dentistry Excellence must agree to and abide by our Privacy Policy. Only authorized personnel are provided access to patients’ personal information and only so far as is necessary for them to do their jobs. That may include processing medical records or posting payments as well as communicating with health care providers, insurance providers, medical product or service providers, and pharmacies. These employees are required to maintain confidentiality and only to share this information on a privileged and need-to-know basis. They are expressly prohibited from making unauthorized disclosures of any personal information that we obtain about our patients. Any employee who violates our privacy policy is subject to termination and other disciplinary actions.

Patient Rights

We acknowledge that any patient from which we collect personal information may have certain legal rights regarding that information. Patients have the right to be told of our privacy policies and how we handle personal data. Patients also have the right to know the specific information we have collected, how we obtained it, and with who we intend to share it. If such information has any errors or omissions, a patient has the right to request that the information be corrected and/or completed. We will, at all times, do everything reasonably within our ability to help our patients exercise their privacy rights, and we will never attempt to dissuade them from exercising their rights.

Our Use of Phone Numbers

When you share with us a phone number, you give us consent to contact you via that number, whether it is a landline, a cell phone, or another device. We reserve the right to contact you in person, via recorded messages, by use of automated dialing equipment, through SMS messaging, or by any other means of which your device is capable as is allowed by law and for reasonable business purposes.

Social Security Number Protection Policy Statement

Scottsdale Cosmetic Dentistry Excellence will comply with all legal and contractual duties concerning the confidentiality of Social Security numbers. We protect the confidentiality of Social Security numbers by disclosing them only as permitted by law. Scottsdale Cosmetic Dentistry Excellence limits access, use, and disclosure in a manner consistent with our Privacy Policy, and we are committed to preventing their unlawful disclosure through the use of physical, electronic, and procedural protective measures.

Jurisdiction

Scottsdale Cosmetic Dentistry Excellence is located in Arizona. As such, this Privacy Policy only applies to services offered by Scottsdale Cosmetic Dentistry Excellence in the United States. It is not intended to subject Scottsdale Cosmetic Dentistry Excellence to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, territory, or country other than that of the State of Arizona and the United States of America. If you are viewing this website from outside the United States, be aware that this Privacy Policy may not apply to you.

Access and Update of Personal Information

If you would like information about your PII that we possess, want to update your PII, or have questions concerning this Privacy Policy, contact us online or call us at 480 585 1853.

HIPAA Privacy Statement

The following statement indicates how your health information may be used and disclosed. It also indicates how you can get access to that information. Please review this document carefully. The security and confidentiality of your personal health information (PHI) is extremely important to us.

Scope of Notice

This notice applies to all of your health records that we create or receive. Such records may include information about your conditions, treatments, diagnostic tests and images, and other health and dental information that may be related to our purposes on your behalf.

Our Legal Duties

Scottsdale Cosmetic Dentistry Excellence has a legal responsibility to uphold the privacy of all protected health information in its possession. We must also provide individuals notice of our legal duties as well as our privacy policies in regard to protected health information. Individuals must be notified when a breach of unsecured protected health information may have affected them. Finally, we must abide by all practices defined in this document at the moment it is posted, and until it is altered or replaced.

This notice took effect on October 15, 2020. We have the right to update and replace our privacy policies at will and without notice. All changes will be permissible by law and with the intent of more effective protection of your health information. Whenever a significant change is made to our privacy practices, we will update this notice as well as post this notice clearly and prominently at our practice location. We will also provide copies of the new notice upon request.

You do not have to wait for changes to request a copy. You can request a copy of this notice at any time. For additional information concerning this topic or to acquire one or more facsimiles of this document, contact us. You will find the necessary contact information presented at the conclusion of this text.

How We May Apply and Divulge Your Personal Health Information

There are various purposes for which we may need to use and disclose your personal health information. These include treatment, payment, and health care operations. In the subsequent sections, we have provided a description specific to these and other categories.

Note that certain information is entitled to special confidentiality protections under applicable state and federal laws. These special cases may include genetic information, mental health records, alcohol and/or substance abuse records, and HIV-related information. We will abide by all special protections as they apply to these particular records on a case-by-case basis.

Treatment—Scottsdale Cosmetic Dentistry Excellence may use and disclose personal health information for the purposes of treatment, such as providing your record to a specialist who is overseeing your care.

Payment—We may apply and divulge your personal health information in seeking reimbursement for treatments, services, and products that you received from us or through us in the course of your care. Payment activities may include billing, claims management, collections, and determinations of eligibility and coverage to obtain payment from you, an insurance provider, or another third party. Claims sent to your dental insurance provider, for instance, may include personal health information.

Health Care Operations—We may apply and divulge your personal health information as is necessary to facilitate our health care operations. Such operations can include performing quality assurance, conducting training programs, and various licensing activities.

Involved Parties—We may divulge your personal health information to your family or friends or any other individual identified by you to be involved in your care or in the payment for your care. In addition, we may divulge information about you to a patient representative. If a person has the authority by law to make healthcare decisions for you, we will treat that patient representative the same way we would treat you with respect to your protected health information.

Disaster Relief—We may apply or divulge your personal health information to assist in disaster relief efforts.

Legal Requirements—We may use or divulge your personal health information when it is a legal requirement for us to do so.

Public Health Activities—We may divulge your personal health information for public health activities. This may include disclosures to:

• Prevent or control diseases, injuries, or disabilities
• Report child abuse or neglect
• Report reactions to medications
• Report problems with products or devices
• Notify a person of a recall, repair, or replacement of a product or device
• Notify a person who may have been exposed to a disease or condition
• Notify authorities if we believe that a patient has been a victim in some manner

National Security—There are certain scenarios in which we are required to divulge the personal health information of Armed Forces personnel. In such cases, the PHI would only be disclosed to the appropriate military authorities. It may also be necessary to divulge PHI to federal officials in matters of national security. In addition, if a patient or former patient is a prisoner or patient of a federal or state prison or jail, it may be necessary to divulge PHI to correctional institution officials.

Secretary of HHS—We may divulge your personal health information to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services when required due to an investigation concerning HIPAA, such as determining compliance.

Workers’ Compensation—We may divulge your personal health information to the degree we are authorized by and to the degree necessary to comply with laws relating to workers’ compensation and similar programs as established by law.

Law Enforcement—We may divulge your personal health information for law enforcement purposes as permitted by HIPAA, as required by law, and/or as a result of a subpoena or court order.

Health Oversight Activities—We may divulge your personal health information for oversight activities authorized by law. Such activities may include audits, credentialing, inspections, and investigations as is necessary for the government to monitor and license health care systems, government programs, and compliance with civil rights law.

Judicial and Administrative Proceedings—If a patient is involved in a lawsuit or other dispute, we may be required to disclose personal health information through a court or administrative order. We may also disclose such information in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process made by others involved in the dispute. However, we will only do that after efforts by the requesting party or us have been made to inform you. This gives you an opportunity to obtain an order protecting the information.

Research—We may divulge personal health information to researchers. We only share with researchers who have been approved by an institutional review board or privacy board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of all collected information.

Coroners, Medical Examiners, Funeral Directors—We may release personal health information to medical examiners and similar professionals. Such information may be necessary to identify a deceased person or determine a cause of death. Information may also be shared with funeral directors as is allowed by law in order for those people to carry out their professional duties.

Fundraising—We may contact you as permitted by law with information pertaining to our sponsored activities, such as fundraising programs. If you prefer not to receive such communication from us, you may contact us to opt-out.

Other Uses and Disclosures of Personal Health Information

Your authorization is generally required for the use and disclosure of personal health information for marketing purposes. We will always contact and obtain written authorization before using or disclosing your personal health information in a manner that is not discussed in this notice unless required by law. You may revoke an explicit or implicit authorization in writing at your convenience. Once we receive such written revocation, we will stop using and disclosing your personal health information immediately.

Your Health Information Rights

Access—With few exceptions, it is within your rights to be aware of, see and obtain copies of your personal health information. To assert this right, you must make a request in writing. We have a form available for the purpose of such requests, and you can access it using the contact information presented at the conclusion of the document. Alternatively, you may send a personalized request to the address provided at the conclusion of the document. If you request information that we maintain on paper, we may provide facsimiles. If you request information stored electronically, we may provide a digital copy. If you request a particular form or format, we will provide it if it is readily available. If applicable, we will charge you the amount necessary to cover our costs for supplies, labor, and postage. For the specifics of our fee structure in this scenario, contact us using the information provided at the conclusion of the document. If we deny your request for access for any reason, you have a right to have that denial reviewed in accordance with the requirements of applicable law.

Disclosure Accounting—You have a right to an accounting of disclosures of your protected health information in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. There may be certain disclosures that are excepted and thus excluded from the accounting. To request an accounting of your PHI disclosures, you must submit your request in writing. You have a right to this information once a year at no cost to you. If you request this information additional times within a 12-month period, then we reserve the right to charge you in order to compensate for our cost each time beyond the first.

Right to Request a Restriction—You also have the right to demand additional restrictions on the use and/or disclosure of your personal information. Your written request must include three core elements: the specific information you want to limit, whether the limitation applies to use, disclosure, or both; and to whom you want the restriction to apply. Note that we are not obligated to act on your request except in the case where disclosure is to a provider for the purposes of carrying out payment or health care operations. Note also that in order for us to be obligated, said information must be related to a service and/or product for which you, or another on your behalf, have paid our practice in full.

Alternative Communication—It is within your rights to request that communication with you concerning your personal health information occur at an alternative location or through alternative means. You must make your request in writing. Your request must specify the substitute method or site as well as provide a satisfactory explanation of how payments will be facilitated under this new scenario. We will accommodate all reasonable requests, but if we are unable to contact you via the new means that you have specified, we may revert to the original contact information that we have on record.

Amendment—It is within your rights to demand that we add to your personal health information. You must make your request in writing and explain which information should be amended and why. We may have to refuse the request depending on the circumstances. If we agree to your request, we will amend your information and notify you upon completion. If we refuse your amendment, we will mail or email you a written explanation of why we denied it as well as your options moving forward.

Right to Notification of a Data Breach—If your sensitive information has become compromised in any manner, we will notify you in accordance with and as required by the law.

Electronic Notice—You may receive a physical copy of this notice upon request. You can make this request even if you have previously agreed to receive it electronically via email or our website.

Questions and Complaints

If you need additional information about our Privacy Policy or have any questions or concerns about our policies, we encourage you to contact us at your earliest convenience.

If you have any doubt at all that we have protected your privacy as required, disagree with our decisions concerning your protected health information, wish to respond to a refusal to amend or restrict your PHI or wish to respond to a refusal to change communications means and/or location, you can make a formal complaint to us using the contact information presented at the conclusion of the document. You may also submit a formal complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. If you require the mailing address to make that complaint, we will make it available to you upon request.

An individual’s right to protect his or her personal health information is very important to us. We will never seek to exact retribution because you choose to file a formal complaint through us or a governing body.

Privacy Officer: Jeffrey Clark
Address: 8765 East Bell Road, Suite 201, Scottsdale, AZ 85260
Telephone: 480 585 1853
Fax: 480 585 7695

Click here to download the HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices form

This Privacy Policy was last updated on December 13, 2021.