Privacy Policy

Notice of Privacy Practices

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW WE MAY USE OR DISCLOSE YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

We respect our legal obligation to keep health information that identifies you private. We are obligated by law to give you notice of our privacy practices. This Notice describes how we protect your health information and what rights you have regarding it.

TREATMENT, PAYMENT, AND HEALTH CARE OPERATIONS

The most common reason why we use or disclose your health information is for treatment, payment or health care operations.

Examples of how we use or disclose information for treatment purposes are: setting up an appointment for you; testing or examining your eyes; prescribing glasses, contact lenses, or eye medications and faxing them to be filled or verifying the prescription if verification is requested by an outside laboratory, pharmacy, or retail establishment; showing you low vision aids; referring you to another doctor or clinic for eye care or low vision aids or services; or getting copies of your health information from another professional that you may have seen before us.
Examples of how we use or disclose your health information for payment purposes are: asking you about your health or vision care plans, or other sources of payment; preparing and sending bills or claims; and collecting unpaid amounts (either ourselves or through a collection agency or attorney). "Health care operations" mean those administrative and managerial functions that we must do to run our office.
Examples of how we use or disclose your health information for health care operations are: financial or billing audits; internal quality assurance; personnel decisions; participation in managed care plans; defense of legal matters; business planning; and outside storage of our records.

We routinely use your health information inside our office for these purposes without any special permission. If we need to disclose your health information outside of our office for these reasons, we usually will not ask you for special written permission. We will ask for special written permission when the use of your health information does not fall within the guidelines described above or if we feel there are mitigating circumstances that make the receipt of your permission advisable.

USES AND DISCLOSURES FOR OTHER REASONS WITHOUT PERMISSION

In some limited situations, the law allows or requires us to use or disclose your health information without your permission. Not all these situations will apply to us; some may never come up at our office at all. Such uses or disclosures are:

when a state or federal law mandates that certain health information be reported for a specific purpose;
for public health purposes, such as contagious disease reporting, investigation or surveillance; and notices to and from the Federal Food and Drug Administration regarding drug or medical devices;
disclosures to governmental authorities about victims of suspected abuse, neglect or domestic violence;
uses and disclosures for health oversight activities, such as for the licensing of doctors; for audits by Medicare or Medicaid; or for investigation of possible violations of health care laws;
disclosures for judicial and administrative proceedings, such as in response to subpoenas or orders of courts or administrative agencies;
disclosures for law enforcement purposes, such as to provide information about someone who is or is suspected to be a victim of a crime; to provide information about a crime at our office; or to report a crime that happened somewhere else;
disclosure to a medical examiner to identify a dead person or to determine the cause of death; or to funeral directors to aid in burial; or to organizations that handle organ or tissue donations;
uses or disclosures for health related research;
uses and disclosures to prevent a serious threat to health or safety;
uses or disclosures for specialized government functions, such as for the protection of the president or high-ranking government officials; for lawful national intelligence activities; for military purposes; or for the evaluation and health of members of the Foreign Service;
disclosures of de-identified information;
disclosures relating to worker's compensation programs;
disclosures of a "limited data set" for research, public health, or health care operations;
disclosures to "business associates" who perform health care operations for us and who commit to respect the privacy of your health information;

Unless you object, we will also share relevant information about your care with your personal representatives who are helping you with your eye and/or health care.

APPOINTMENT REMINDERS

We may call, write, or text to remind you of scheduled appointments and/or that it is time to make a routine appointment. We may also call, write, or text to notify you of other treatments or services available at our office that might help you. 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 or office answering machine/voicemail, or with someone who answers your phone if you are not at home or work.

YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION

The law gives you many rights regarding your health information. You can:

request restrictions on the health information we may use and disclose for treatment (except emergency treatment), payment, and/or health care operations. We are not required to agree to these requests. To request restrictions, please send a written request to the address below.
request us to communicate with you in a confidential way, such as phoning you at work rather than at home, mailing health information to a different address, or emailing to a separate email address. We will accommodate these requests if they are reasonable, and if you compensate us for any cost incurred to accommodate them. To request confidential communications, please send a written request to the address below.
request to inspect or copy your health information. If you request a copy of your health information, we may charge you a fee for the cost of copying, mailing, or other supplies. In certain circumstances we may deny your request to inspect or copy your health information, subject to applicable law. To inspect or receive copies of your health information, please send a written request to the address below.
request us to amend your health information if you think that it is incorrect or incomplete. You must give us a reason to support your request. We may deny your request to amend your health information if it is not in writing or does not provide a reason to support your request. We may also deny your request if the health information: was not created by us, unless the person that created the information is no longer available to make the amendment; is not part of the health information kept by or for us; is not part of the information you would be permitted to inspect or copy; or is accurate and complete. To request an amendment, please send a written request to the address below.
request an accounting of disclosures of your health information. Not all health information is subject to this request. Your request must state a time period for the information you would like to receive, no longer than 6 years prior to the date of your request. Your request must state how you would like to receive the report (paper, electronically). You are entitled to one such list per year without charge. To request a list of disclosures, please send a written request to the address below.
request to designate another party to receive your health information. If your request for access to your health information directs us to transmit a copy of the health information directly to another person, you must clearly identify the designated recipient and where to send the copy of the health information. To have us send your health information to a designated party, please send a written request to the address below.
request additional paper or digital copies of this Notice of Privacy Practices. To request additional paper or digital copies, please send a written request to the address below.

CONTACT PERSON

Our contact person for all questions, requests, or for further information related to the privacy of your health information is:

Alireza Somji, O.D.

7427 Branford Place, Suite #2,

Sugar Land, TX 77479

Phone: 281-313-2020

Email: info@horizon-eye.com

COMPLAINTS

If you think that we have not properly respected the privacy of your health information, you are free to complain to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. We will not retaliate against you if you make a complaint. If you want to complain to us, send a written complaint to the office contact shown above. If you prefer, you can discuss your complaint in person or by phone.

CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE

We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and to apply the revised practices to health information about you that we already have. Any revision to our privacy practices will be described in a revised notice that will be posted prominently in our facility. Copies of this notice are also available upon request at our reception area.

This Notice of Privacy Practices was last updated on August 4, 2025.