Privacy Policy

This privacy policy (PDF) discloses the privacy practices for www.AthensOrthopedicClinic.com. This privacy policy applies solely to information collected by this web site. It will notify you of the following:

1. What personally identifiable information is collected from you through the web site, how it is used and with whom it may be shared.
2. What choices are available to you regarding the use of your data.
3. The security procedures in place to protect the misuse of your information.
4. How you can correct any inaccuracies in the information.

Information Collection, Use, and Sharing

We are the sole owners of the information collected on this site. We only have access to collect information that you voluntarily give us via email or other direct contact from you. We will not sell or rent this information to anyone.  Information collected includes but is not limited to the following:

• Full Name
• Date of Birth
• Home / Work address
• Phone (home, cell, work)
• Email address(s)
• Credit Card information
• Any comments made at your discretion

We will use your information to respond to you, regarding the reason you contacted us. We will not share your information with any third party outside of our organization, other than as necessary to fulfill your request and provide accurate reconciliation for your account balance, e.g. insurance carrier or referring physician(s).

Unless you ask us not to, we may contact you via email in the future to tell you about specials, new products or services, or changes to this privacy policy; however, you may opt out at any time (see opt out policy below).

Your Access to and Control Over Information

You may opt out of any future contacts from us at any time. You can do the following at any time by contacting using our contact form.

You may also:

• Inquire into what data we have about you, if any.
• Change/correct any data we have about you.
• Express any concern you have about our use of your data.

Disclosure Notice Against Surprise Billing

Your Rights and Protections Against Surprise Medical Bills

When you get emergency care or get treated by an out-of-network provider at an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center, you are protected from surprise billing or balance billing.

What is “balance billing” (sometimes called “surprise billing”)?

When you see a doctor or other health care provider, you may owe certain out-of-pocket costs, such as a copayment, coinsurance, and/or a deductible. You may have other costs or have to pay the entire bill if you see a provider or visit a health care facility that isn’t in your health plan’s network.

“Out-of-network” describes providers and facilities that haven’t signed a contract with your health plan. Out-of-network providers may be permitted to bill you for the difference between what your plan agreed to pay and the full amount charged for a service. This is called “balance billing.” This amount is likely more than in-network costs for the same service and might not count toward your annual out-of-pocket limit.

“Surprise billing” is an unexpected balance bill. This can happen when you can’t control who is involved in your care—like when you have an emergency or when you schedule a visit at an in network facility but are unexpectedly treated by an out-of-network provider.

You are protected from balance billing for:

Emergency services

If you have an emergency medical condition and get emergency services from an out-of-network provider or facility, the most the provider or facility may bill you is your plan’s in network cost-sharing amount (such as copayments and coinsurance). You can’t be balance billed for these emergency services. This includes services you may get after you’re in stable condition, unless you give written consent and give up your protections not to be balanced billed for these post-stabilization services.

Certain services at an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center

When you get services from an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center, certain providers there may be out-of-network. In these cases, the most those providers may bill you is your plan’s in-network cost-sharing amount. This applies to emergency medicine, anesthesia, pathology, radiology, laboratory, neonatology, assistant surgeon, hospitalist, or intensivist services. These providers can’t balance bill you and may not ask you to give up your protections not to be balance billed.  

If you get other services at these in-network facilities, out-of-network providers can’t balance bill you, unless you give written consent and give up your protections.

You’re never required to give up your protections from balance billing. You also aren’t required to get care out-of-network. You can choose a provider or facility in your plan’s network.

When balance billing isn’t allowed, you also have the following protections:

• You are only responsible for paying your share of the cost (like the copayments,
• Co-insurance, and deductibles that you would pay if the provider or facility was in-network).
• Your health plan will pay out-of-network providers and facilities directly.

Your health plan generally must:

• Cover emergency services without requiring you to get approval for services in advance (prior authorization).
• Cover emergency services by out-of-network providers.
• Base what you owe the provider or facility (cost-sharing) on what it would pay an in-network provider or facility and show that amount in your explanation of benefits.
• Count any amount you pay for emergency services or out-of-network services toward your deductible and out-of-pocket limit.

If you believe you’ve been wrongly billed, you may contact:

• The federal phone number for information and complaints is: 1-800-985-3059
• For more information about your rights under federal law, visit https://www.cms.gov/nosurprises/consumers
• For more information about your rights under Georgia House Bill 888, visit https://www.gha.org/advocacy/health-care-finance

Medical Record Documentation and Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

We are committed to providing the highest quality of care by leveraging advanced technologies. We are now incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assist in generating medical record documentation. This informational PDF is to inform you about the use of AI in your healthcare documentation.

Security

We take precautions to protect your information. When you submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and offline.

Wherever we collect sensitive information (such as credit card data), that information is encrypted and transmitted to us in a secure way. You can verify this by looking for a closed lock icon at the bottom of your web browser, or looking for “https” at the beginning of the address of the web page.

While we use encryption to protect sensitive information transmitted online, we also protect your information offline. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, billing or customer service) are granted access to personally identifiable information. The computers/servers in which we store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment.

Updates

Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time and all updates will be posted on this page.

If you feel that we are not abiding by this privacy policy, you should contact us immediately with specific information regarding your claim via telephone at 706-549-1663.