Notice of Privacy Practices

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. 

PLEASE READ OUR PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY BEFORE USING OUR SERVICES, OUR WEBSITE, OR OUR MOBILE APPLICATION.

‍Effective Date:  August 15, 2022

Last Updated: September 26, 2024

This Medical Information Privacy Notice (the “Notice”) describes the privacy practices of Aspire Medical Group, P.C. and the providers affiliated with this group (collectively, “Group,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) as they pertain to the use and disclosure of your Medical Information. At Aspire Medical Group, P.C., we respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. We thank you for visiting our website and for trusting us with your healthcare needs. This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes the privacy practices of Aspire Medical Group, P.C. (“Aspire,” “we,” “us” or “our”), outlining how we collect, use, and disclose your Personal Information when you visit our website, webpages, and mobile application (“Site”), as well as through social media, marketing activities, and other services (collectively, the “Service”). This Policy does not cover third-party websites or applications that may collect information or be linked to our Service. 

Aspire Medical Group, P.C. is a medical practice that provides comprehensive healthcare services, focusing on patient diagnosis, treatment, and management of medical conditions. The practice is supported by affiliated licensed medical professionals, including physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers, who are subject to state licensing regulations. These providers may be part of Aspire Medical Group, P.C. or independent practitioners affiliated with the group (“Providers”). Aspire also manages administrative, compliance, and technology services to facilitate its healthcare operations, including maintaining the website and mobile applications linked to this Notice.

Aspire Medical Group, P.C. is a covered entity under HIPAA, and thus, we adhere to HIPAA’s strict guidelines for handling your Protected Health Information (PHI).

 A. International Users; Use Outside the U.S.

Our Service is intended for users in the United States only. If you are located outside the U.S., please do not use the Service. If you do use the Service while outside the U.S., your Personal Information may be transferred, processed, or maintained in jurisdictions that may have different or less stringent protections than those provided in your home country or state.

B. Children’s Privacy

Our practice provides medical services to patients of all ages, including children. We collect and process Personal Information from children under the age of 18 in compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and HIPAA. Any Personal Information about children under the age of 18 must be provided by a parent or legal guardian, and we will use and disclose this information only as permitted by law and with parental or guardian consent.

Parents and legal guardians have the right to access and control their child’s medical records, as well as the ability to request changes or deletions to the Personal Information of minors in accordance with state and federal law. If you believe that we have collected any Personal Information from a minor without proper consent, please contact us at info@aspiremedgroup.com, and we will take immediate steps to address the situation.

A. Information You Provide Us
Personal Information you may provide to us through the Service includes:

• Contact City, state, zip code, biological sex, and age.
• Profile related Information: Information you provide through intake surveys, including health conditions, medications, mental health details, and other relevant health data.
• Communications: Messages and communications you exchange with us via email, phone, text, social media, or other direct communication.
• Transactional Preferences for receiving marketing communications and engagement details with those communications.
• Program Information: Information related to services or programs you participate in through our mobile app or website.

B. Information from Automated Data Collection; Cookies and Trackers
We receive certain information automatically, collected through third-party services such as Meta, Google Analytics, and other analytics tools. This includes:

• Performance and Analytics: Data about your device, browser, and interactions with our website.
• Advertising and Marketing: Data collected by advertising networks (e.g., Meta, Google, and Microsoft Bing) about your interactions over time with our website and other websites, allowing personalized advertisements and performance tracking.

A. Service Delivery
We use your Personal Information to:

• Provide, operate, update, analyze, and improve our Service and business.
• Maintain your user profile and account.
• Process orders and deliver services through the platform.
• Communicate with you about the Service, including updates, security alerts, and support.
• Understand your needs and personalize your experience with our Service.
• Provide customer support and respond to inquiries.

B. Marketing, Advertising, and Analytics
We may use your Personal Information for:

• Interest-Based Advertising: We work with third-party platforms like Meta, Google Ads, and Bing Ads to display personalized ads and measure their effectiveness.
  
  

C. Compliance and Protection
We may use your Personal Information to:

• Comply with legal requests and obligations, including subpoenas or requests from government authorities.
• Enforce our agreements, terms of service, and policies.
• Investigate and prevent fraudulent, unauthorized, or harmful activities.
  Protect the rights, property, and safety of Aspire Medical Group, our users, and the public.

D. Anonymization, Aggregation, or De-identification
We may de-identify or anonymize your Personal Information to use it for our lawful business purposes, including research and development of new services.

A. Healthcare Providers: Aspire Medical Group, P.C. and its affiliated medical providers, who assist with treatment, payment, and other operations related to your healthcare services.
B. Service Providers: Third-party service providers who support the operation of our Service, such as hosting providers, customer support teams, and payment processors (e.g., Stripe).
C. Advertising and Marketing Providers: Advertising companies for delivering targeted ads and analyzing campaign effectiveness.
D. Business Partners: Partners with whom we collaborate on marketing or joint activities.
E. Professional Advisors: Lawyers, auditors, and other advisors who provide legal, financial, or regulatory support.
F. Authorities and Law Enforcement: We may share your Personal Information if required by law, such as to comply with legal requests, subpoenas, or investigations.
G. Business Transferees: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or part of Aspire Medical Group, P.C., we may transfer Personal Information as part of the transaction.

Access and Update Your Information: You may request access to or updates to your Personal Information by contacting us.

Opt-out of Marketing Emails: You can unsubscribe from marketing communications by following the opt-out instructions in any marketing email or by contacting us.

• Right to Access: Request information about the Personal Information we collect and process about you.
• Right to Delete: Request the deletion of your Personal Information.
• Right to Correct: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete Personal Information.
• Right to Opt Out: Opt-out of targeted advertising or data sales.

Your Medical Information may be used and disclosed by our health care providers, our staff, and others involved in your care and treatment for the purpose of providing health care services to you, to support our business operations, to obtain payment for your care, and for any other reason authorized or required by law. Not every use or disclosure is listed in this Notice, but our uses or disclosures of your Medical Information will fall into one of the categories below:

1. Treatment: to provide, coordinate, or manage your health care and any related services, or send you reminders about your care. This includes the coordination or management of your health care with a third party.
2. Billing: to bill you or obtain payment for the health care services we have furnished to you.
3. Healthcare Business Operations: to support the general business activities of our medical practices. These activities include, but are not limited to, improving quality of care, customer service, care coordination, population-based activities related to improving health, evaluating practitioner performance, providing information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services, development or maintaining and supporting computer systems, legal services, and conducting audits and compliance programs.

We may use or disclose your Medical Information without your written authorization in the following circumstances:

• As required by law
• For persons involved in your care when you are incapacitated or in an emergency
• For public health purposes
• For health care oversight purposes
• For reporting abuse, neglect, or domestic violence
• In connection with legal proceedings
• For law enforcement purposes
• For workers’ compensation
• To coroners, funeral directors, and organ donation agencies
• For certain research purposes
• For national security purposes
• To certain military personnel

Under the law, we must make certain disclosures to you upon your request and when we are required by government agencies to determine our compliance with applicable laws and regulations. State laws may further restrict these disclosures.

 For all other uses and disclosures of your Medical Information not described in this Notice, we will obtain your written authorization. Examples include:

• Selling your Medical Information to others
• Using or disclosing your Medical Information for certain communications not permitted without your written consent
• If you give us authorization, you may revoke it at any time in writing, except to the extent we have already acted based on the initial authorization.

Once you give us authorization to release your Medical Information, we cannot guarantee that the recipient to whom the information is provided will not disclose the information.

• Mental health
• Alcohol and Substance abuse
• Biometric information
• Genetic information
• Reproductive health
• Prescriptions
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• Communicable diseases

We will not disclose these records without your specific written consent unless otherwise permitted by law. If any use or disclosure of your information is prohibited or materially limited by these laws, we will follow the more stringent applicable protections.

HIPAA and Authorized Representatives for Minors:

Under HIPAA, a minor’s parent or guardian is generally considered the minor’s authorized representative and can access or consent to the disclosure of the minor’s protected health information (PHI). Exceptions exist where parents or guardians are not the authorized representatives. For substance use disorder treatment, a minor must consent to the disclosure of their treatment information. This applies regardless of the minor’s age (42 C.F.R. §2.14). If a minor can consent to their own medical treatment under state law, they also have the right to control the release of information related to that treatment (45 C.F.R. §164.502(g)(3)).

Massachusetts Law Exceptions:

Substance use disorder treatment: Minors aged 12 or older can consent to their own treatment, except for methadone maintenance therapy (G.L. c. 112, §12E).

Inpatient mental health treatment: Minors aged 16 or older can commit themselves to a mental health facility (G.L. c. 123, §10).

Dangerous diseases & STDs: Minors can consent to treatment if they believe they have contracted a contagious disease, including sexually transmitted diseases (G.L. c. 112, §12F).

Pregnant teens: Pregnant minors can consent to their own medical and dental treatment, except for abortion, which requires judicial approval (G.L. c. 112, §12F).

Parenting teens: Minor parents can consent to their own medical and dental treatment, as well as for their children (G.L. c. 112, §12F).

Family planning services: Minors can consent to family planning services (G.L. c. 111, §24E).

In these situations, the parent or guardian cannot consent to the release of the minor’s medical information; the minor must provide their own consent.

1. Right to Inspect and Copy
You have the right to inspect and obtain copies of your Medical Information. We will provide accessible medical records in a reasonable timeframe once we receive your request. We may charge a reasonable fee for copies of your medical records.

2. Right to Request Restrictions                                                                You can ask us to limit how we use or share your Medical Information. To do so, your request must be in writing and specify what limits you want and who they should apply to. Please note, we may not always agree to your request.

3. Right to Confidential Communications
You may request to receive confidential communications by alternative means or at an alternate location. We will accommodate reasonable requests submitted in writing that specify how or where you wish to receive these communications.

4. Right to Request Amendment                                                                    If you believe your Medical Information is incorrect or incomplete, you can ask us to correct or update it. If we deny your request, you can file a statement of disagreement with us. We may also provide a rebuttal and will share both statements with you.

5. Right to an Accounting of Disclosures
You have the right to receive an accounting of certain disclosures of your Medical Information that we have made, except for certain disclosures which were pursuant to an authorization, for purposes of treatment, payment, and healthcare business operations, or for certain other purposes.

6. Right to Receive Notification of a Breach
You have the right to be notified if there is a breach of your unsecured Medical Information.

7. Right to File a Complaint
You have the right to file a complaint if you believe your privacy rights have been violated. Complaints can be submitted to the Office of Civil Rights or other relevant regulatory authorities.

8. Right to Provide Authorization for Other Uses and Disclosures
Uses and disclosures of your Medical Information not covered by this Notice or by applicable laws will be made only with your written authorization. You may revoke your authorization at any time, in writing, except to the extent that we have already taken action based on the original authorization.

We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your Medical Information. If we detect a breach of your unsecured Medical Information, we will notify you in accordance with applicable law. Our security team may review account correspondence to address security, legal, or fraud issues. Notification of any breach will include a description of what happened, the Medical Information involved, and contact details for questions.

We reserve the right to update this Notice of Privacy Practices at any time. You will be notified of any material changes via email or other appropriate forms of communication. The revised notice will also be posted on our website. Continued use of our services will not imply automatic consent to the updated notice. You may be asked to acknowledge your understanding of the changes through electronic or written means.

For any inquiries regarding this Privacy Policy, to exercise your privacy rights, records requests, or special requests related to your Medical Information, you may contact us via email or postal mail:

Email: info@aspiremedgroup.com

Postal Mail:
Aspire Medical Group, PC
Attn: Privacy
275 Turnpike St, Ste 206
Canton, MA 02021

Complaints about this Policy or how we handle your Medical Information should be directed to info@aspiremedgroup.com. If you are not satisfied with the way a complaint is handled, you may submit a formal complaint to applicable state or federal agencies. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

• Aspire Medical Group has provided me with a copy of the Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP), and I acknowledge that I have read (or had the opportunity to read) and understand my rights regarding my personal and medical information.
• I have been given sufficient opportunity to ask questions and seek clarification on anything unclear to me, and all my questions have been answered to my satisfaction.
• I understand that my treatment, payment, health plan enrollment, or eligibility for benefits will not be affected if I choose not to sign this form.
• I understand that I may revoke this authorization at any time by submitting a written request to the Department or Office where I originally submitted it.
• To revoke consent, I can send a written request to info@aspiremedgroup.com or mail it to the address provided in the Contact Us section of the Privacy Policy.
• I understand and accept the terms of this agreement. I am signing this form voluntarily and confirm that I have the full legal authority to be bound by this agreement.
• By signing, I agree to the use of electronic records and signatures and acknowledge that I have read and understood the associated Consumer Disclosure regarding electronic transactions.
• The parties agree that this agreement may be executed using electronic signatures, which will be considered as legally binding as an original handwritten signature for all purposes. This includes, but is not limited to, faxed, scanned, or PDF-transmitted versions of the original signature.