Heritage Optical is committed to maintaining the privacy of protected health information.  This Notice of Policies describes how Heritage uses and discloses patient health information. This Notice applies to all protected health information as defined by federal regulations.




Each time a patient visits one of our practices; a record of their visit is made. Typically, this record contains a record of any symptoms, examination and test  results, diagnoses, treatment, and a plan for future care or treatment. This information, often referred to as the patient health or medical record, serves as a:

ﾕ    Basis for planning patient care and treatment,
ﾕ    Means of communication among the many health professionals who contribute to the patientﾒs care,
ﾕ    Legal document describing the care the patient received,
ﾕ    Means by which the patient or a third-party payer can verify that services billed were actually provided,
ﾕ    Tool in educating heath professionals,
ﾕ    Source of data for medical research,
ﾕ    Source of information for public health officials charged to improve the health of the state and nation,
ﾕ    Source of data for our planning and marketing, and
ﾕ    Tool by which we can assess and continually work to improve the care we render and outcomes we achieve.

Understanding what is in the patient record and how this health information is used helps patients to: ensure its accuracy; better understand who, what, when, where, and why others may access their health information; and make more informed decisions when authorizing disclosure to others.

Although the patient health record is the physical property of our practice, the information belongs to the patient. Patients have the right to:

ﾕ    Obtain a paper copy of this notice of privacy practices upon request,
ﾕ    Inspect and copy their health record,
ﾕ    Amend their health record
ﾕ    Obtain an accounting of disclosures of their health information
ﾕ    Request confidential communications of their health information, and
ﾕ    Request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of their information.

Our practice is required to:

ﾕ    Maintain the privacy of patient health information,
ﾕ    Provide the patient with a notice as to our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to information we collect and maintain about them,
ﾕ    Abide by the terms of the privacy notice,
ﾕ    Notify the patient if we are unable to agree to a requested restriction, and
ﾕ    Accommodate reasonable requests the patient may have to communicate their health information.

We reserve the right to change our practices and to make the new provisions effective for all protected health information we maintain. We will keep a posted copy of the most current notice in our facility containing the effective date.  In addition, each time a patient visits our facility for treatment, they may obtain a copy of the current notice in effect upon request.

We will not use or disclose patient health information in a manner other than permitted by HIPPA and Michigan State law, without the patientﾒs written authorization, which they may revoke, except to the extent that action has already been taken.



Any concerns or questions about this policy can be addressed by contacting the Privacy Officer at:

Heritage Optical Center, Inc.
Attn:  Privacy Request
19010 Livernois Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48221
1.800.252.2053 toll-free
1.313.863.7710 facsimile
corporate@heritageoptical.com