MRI Associates Notice of Privacy Practice

MRI Associates
Website: www.mri.associates
Effective Date: January 1, 2026
Last Updated: June 1, 2026

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

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Our Commitment to Your Privacy

MRI Associates (“we,” “us,” or “our”) is committed to protecting the privacy of your health information. We are required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH”), and Florida law to maintain the privacy of your Protected Health Information (“PHI”), to provide you with this Notice describing our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to PHI, to notify affected individuals following a breach of unsecured PHI, and to abide by the terms of the Notice currently in effect.

“Protected Health Information” or “PHI” means information that identifies you and relates to your past, present, or future physical or mental health, the health care provided to you, or the payment for that care.

This Notice applies to all PHI created or received by MRI Associates, including PHI maintained by our facilities, our personnel, our business associates, and any organized health care arrangement in which we participate.

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How We May Use and Disclose Your PHI Without Your Authorization

The following categories describe the ways we may use and disclose your PHI without first obtaining your written authorization. Not every permitted use or disclosure is listed; however, all permitted uses and disclosures fall within one of the categories below.

1. Treatment

We may use and disclose your PHI to provide, coordinate, or manage your health care and related services. This includes sharing PHI with referring physicians, radiologists who interpret your images, technologists who perform your imaging study, consulting providers, and other health care professionals involved in your care.

Example: We may send your imaging results to the physician who ordered the study so that physician can determine the appropriate course of treatment.

2. Payment

We may use and disclose your PHI to obtain payment for the services we provide. This may include sharing information with your health plan, insurance carrier, or other payer to determine eligibility, obtain prior authorization, submit claims, and collect payment.

Example: We may send claim information to your insurance company so they will pay us for the imaging study you received.

3. Health Care Operations

We may use and disclose your PHI for our health care operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary to run our facilities, support our health care services, and ensure that all patients receive quality care.

Examples: quality assessment and improvement activities, evaluating provider performance, training programs for technologists and staff, accreditation, certification, licensing, credentialing activities, business planning, customer service, and resolving internal grievances.

4. Appointment Reminders, Treatment Alternatives, and Health-Related Benefits

We may use and disclose your PHI to remind you of upcoming appointments, to inform you about treatment alternatives, or to tell you about health-related services that may be of interest to you.

5. Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care

Unless you object, we may disclose to a family member, other relative, close personal friend, or any other person you identify, PHI directly relevant to that person’s involvement in your care or in payment related to your care. We may also disclose PHI to notify a family member or other person responsible for your care of your location, general condition, or death.

6. Disaster Relief

We may disclose PHI to a public or private organization (such as the American Red Cross) assisting in disaster relief efforts, so that your family can be notified about your condition, status, and location.

7. Public Health Activities

We may disclose PHI for public health activities, including: preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability; reporting births, deaths, and reportable conditions; reporting child abuse or neglect; reporting reactions to medications or problems with products; notifying people of recalls of products they may be using; and notifying a person who may have been exposed to a communicable disease.

8. Victims of Abuse, Neglect, or Domestic Violence

When required or permitted by law, we may disclose PHI about an individual whom we reasonably believe is a victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence to a government authority authorized to receive such reports.

9. Health Oversight Activities

We may disclose PHI to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law, including audits, investigations, inspections, licensure, and disciplinary actions necessary for the government to monitor the health care system, government programs, and compliance with civil rights laws.

10. Judicial and Administrative Proceedings

We may disclose PHI in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose PHI in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if reasonable efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.

 

We may disclose PHI for law enforcement purposes as required by law (for example, mandatory reporting of gunshot wounds), in response to a valid subpoena or court order, to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person, or under other circumstances permitted by law.

12. Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors

We may disclose PHI to a coroner or medical examiner to identify a deceased person or determine a cause of death. We may also disclose PHI to funeral directors as necessary for them to carry out their duties.

13. Organ and Tissue Donation

If you are an organ donor, we may release PHI to organizations that handle organ procurement, organ, eye, or tissue transplantation, or to an organ donation bank, as necessary to facilitate organ or tissue donation and transplantation.

14. Research

We may use and disclose your PHI for research purposes when an institutional review board or privacy board has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your PHI, or when the research uses only de-identified information.

15. To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety

We may use and disclose PHI when necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to your health and safety or to the health and safety of the public or another person. Any disclosure would be made only to someone able to help prevent the threat.

16. Military and Veterans

If you are or were a member of the armed forces, we may disclose PHI as required by military command authorities. We may also disclose PHI about foreign military personnel to the appropriate foreign military authority.

17. National Security and Intelligence Activities

We may disclose PHI to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities authorized by law.

18. Protective Services for the President and Others

We may disclose PHI to authorized federal officials so they may provide protection to the President, other authorized persons, or foreign heads of state, or to conduct special investigations.

19. Workers’ Compensation

We may disclose PHI as authorized to comply with workers’ compensation laws and other similar legally established programs that provide benefits for work-related injuries or illnesses.

20. Inmates

If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law enforcement official, we may release PHI to the institution or law enforcement official as necessary for your health and the health and safety of other individuals.

21. As Required by Law

We will disclose PHI when required to do so by federal, state, or local law.

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Uses and Disclosures That Require Your Written Authorization

We must obtain your written authorization before using or disclosing your PHI for purposes other than those described above. Specifically, the following uses and disclosures require your written authorization:

– Psychotherapy notes (in the limited circumstances where we maintain them)

– Marketing communications, except face-to-face communications and certain promotional gifts of nominal value

– Sale of PHI

– Most other uses and disclosures not described in this Notice

You may revoke your authorization in writing at any time, except to the extent we have already taken action in reliance on the authorization. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclose your PHI for the purposes covered by the authorization.

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Your Rights Regarding Your PHI

You have the following rights with respect to your PHI:

1. Right to Request Restrictions

You have the right to request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of your PHI for treatment, payment, or health care operations, and on disclosures to family members or others involved in your care. We are not required to agree to your request, except that we must agree to a request to restrict disclosure of PHI to a health plan if (a) the disclosure is for the purpose of carrying out payment or health care operations and is not otherwise required by law, and (b) the PHI relates solely to a health care item or service for which you, or another person on your behalf, has paid us in full.

To request a restriction, please submit your request in writing to the Privacy Officer at the address listed at the end of this Notice.

2. Right to Receive Confidential Communications

You have the right to request that we communicate with you about medical matters in a certain way or at a certain location. For example, you may request that we contact you only at home or only by mail. We will accommodate reasonable requests. To request confidential communications, submit your request in writing to the Privacy Officer.

3. Right to Inspect and Copy Your PHI

You have the right to inspect and obtain a copy of your PHI maintained in a designated record set, including medical and billing records, for as long as we maintain the PHI. To inspect or copy your PHI, submit a written request to the records custodian at the facility where you received services. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for copying, as permitted by HIPAA and Florida law.

We may deny your request in certain limited circumstances. If we deny your request, we will provide a written explanation and, in most cases, you will have the right to have the denial reviewed.

4. Right to Amend Your PHI

If you believe that PHI we maintain about you is incorrect or incomplete, you have the right to request that we amend it. To request an amendment, submit a written request to the Privacy Officer that includes the reason for your request.

We may deny your request if you ask us to amend information that: (a) was not created by us (unless the originator is no longer available); (b) is not part of the PHI kept by or for us; (c) is not part of the information you would be permitted to inspect and copy; or (d) is accurate and complete.

5. Right to an Accounting of Disclosures

You have the right to request an accounting of certain disclosures we have made of your PHI. The accounting will not include disclosures made: (a) for treatment, payment, or health care operations; (b) to you or pursuant to your authorization; (c) to persons involved in your care; (d) for national security or intelligence purposes; or (e) before April 14, 2003.

To request an accounting, submit a written request to the Privacy Officer specifying the time period (which may not be longer than six years from the date of the request). The first accounting in any 12-month period is free; we may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for additional accountings.

6. Right to a Paper Copy of This Notice

You have the right to a paper copy of this Notice, even if you have agreed to receive it electronically. You may request a paper copy at any time by contacting the Privacy Officer or any of our facilities. This Notice is also available at https://www.mri.associates/mri-associates-privacy-policy/

7. Right to Be Notified of a Breach

You have the right to be notified following a breach of your unsecured PHI, as required by HIPAA and the Florida Information Protection Act.

 

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Our Duties

We are required by law to:

– Maintain the privacy and security of your PHI

– Provide you with this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to PHI we collect and maintain about you

– Abide by the terms of the Notice currently in effect

– Notify you if we are unable to agree to a requested restriction

– Accommodate reasonable requests to communicate PHI by alternative means or at alternative locations

– Notify you, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and (where applicable) the media of a breach of unsecured PHI as required by law

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Changes to This Notice

We reserve the right to change this Notice at any time and to make the revised Notice effective for PHI we already have about you, as well as any PHI we receive in the future. We will post a copy of the current Notice at each of our facilities and on the Website at https://www.mri.associates/mri-associates-privacy-policy/.  The Notice will contain the effective date on the first page. You may request a paper copy of any revised Notice at any time.

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Complaints

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with us or with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. You will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint.

To file a complaint with MRI Associates:

Submit a written complaint to our Privacy Officer:

MRI Associates — HIPAA Privacy Officer

Amanda Maple

32615 US Hwy 19 N, Suite 4

Palm Harbor, FL 34684

amaple@mri.healthcare
727.992.7132

To file a complaint with the federal government:

You may file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Office for Civil Rights

200 Independence Avenue, S.W.

Washington, D.C. 20201

Toll-Free: 1-877-696-6775

Online: https://www.hhs.gov/ocr/complaints/

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Contact for Questions

If you have any questions about this Notice or how we use or disclose your PHI, please contact:

MRI Associates — HIPAA Privacy Officer

Amanda Maple
amaple@mri.healthcare
727.992.7132