Notice of Privacy Practices

Effective date: September 19, 2026

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.

This notice applies to health information maintained by Texas Lung and Sleep, PLLC at our Webster and Sugar Land locations and through our telehealth services. “You” means the patient; parents, guardians, and other legally authorized representatives may exercise rights on a patient’s behalf as allowed by law.

Your information. Your rights.

See or obtain your records

You may request to inspect or receive a paper or electronic copy of the medical and billing information we maintain about you. We respond within the time required by law. When Texas law applies to a written request for an electronic health record and our system can fulfill it, we provide the record no later than the 15th business day. Otherwise, HIPAA generally requires action within 30 days, with a permitted extension and written explanation when applicable. Any fee will be limited to what the law permits. We will explain a denial and any available review rights in writing.

Ask for a correction

If you believe information is incorrect or incomplete, you may request an amendment. If we decline, we will explain why in writing, generally within 60 days, subject to a legally permitted extension, and explain how to submit a statement of disagreement.

Request confidential communication

You may ask us to contact you in a particular way or at an alternative address. We accommodate reasonable requests. Tell our office how you prefer us to communicate.

Request limits on use or disclosure

You may ask us to restrict information used or shared for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations. We do not have to agree to every request, except where required by law. If you pay for a service in full out of pocket and request that we not disclose it to your health plan for payment or healthcare operations, we will honor that request unless disclosure is required by law. Information subject to an agreed restriction may still be used for necessary emergency treatment as permitted by law.

Receive a list of certain disclosures

You may request an accounting of certain disclosures made in the six years before your request. The accounting does not include all disclosures; for example, disclosures for treatment, payment, healthcare operations, and those you authorized are generally excluded. One accounting in a 12-month period is free. We will tell you in advance about any permitted fee for another accounting.

Obtain this notice and choose a representative

You may request a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically. A person with legal authority may exercise rights for you after we verify that authority. A parent’s access to a minor’s information may be limited when the law gives the minor confidentiality rights or permits other exceptions. We respect those limits.

How we use and share information

• Treatment: to evaluate and treat you, coordinate care, and communicate with other treating clinicians. For example, we may send findings to your child’s pediatrician.
• Payment: to obtain payment, verify coverage, request authorization, and bill health plans or responsible parties.
• Healthcare operations: to manage the practice, improve quality, conduct permitted administrative activities, and contact you about your care. Service providers handling protected information for us must have appropriate safeguards and agreements when required.

Subject to applicable legal conditions, we may also use or disclose information for public health reporting; reporting abuse or neglect; preventing a serious threat to health or safety; health oversight; approved or otherwise legally permitted research; workers’ compensation; organ donation; coroners, medical examiners, or funeral directors; certain law-enforcement or government functions; and court, administrative, or other legal proceedings. A request or subpoena does not automatically permit disclosure: the applicable legal requirements must be satisfied.

We may contact you about appointments, treatment alternatives, or related health services as permitted by law. We apply any stricter Texas or federal protections that govern a particular record, including applicable protections for mental-health, HIV-related, genetic, and substance-use information.

Your choices and written permission

You may tell us whether to share relevant information with family, friends, or others involved in your care or payment, or in a disaster-relief situation. If you cannot express a preference, we may share information when professional judgment and the law permit it in your best interests.

Uses and disclosures not described in this notice require your written authorization when required by law. This includes most uses and disclosures of psychotherapy notes, marketing that requires authorization, and a sale of protected health information. You may revoke an authorization in writing, except to the extent we have already acted in reliance on it. We do not sell your protected health information.

If we contact you for fundraising, you may opt out of further fundraising communications without affecting your treatment or payment.

Records with additional privacy protections

If we receive or maintain substance-use-disorder patient records protected by 42 CFR Part 2, we will follow the additional rules that apply to those records. Such records cannot be used or disclosed in civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative investigations or proceedings against you without your written consent or a qualifying court order and subpoena. Other permitted disclosures remain subject to Part 2. Before using Part 2 information for fundraising communications, we will provide a clear advance notice and a choice about receiving those communications.

Our responsibilities

We must safeguard protected health information, provide this notice, and follow its terms. We will notify you as required if a breach compromises the privacy or security of your information. We will not use or disclose information beyond what is described here without written permission when required by law.

Questions and complaints

You may raise a privacy concern with our office or file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. We will not retaliate against you for making a complaint or exercising your privacy rights.

To complain to HHS, visit HHS privacy complaint instructions, call 1-877-696-6775, or write to the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20201.

Changes to this notice

We may revise this notice as permitted by law and apply the revised practices to information we already hold and information we receive later. The current notice will be available on our website, at our offices, and upon request.

Adapted from the HHS healthcare-provider model notice, revised February 2026. See also the Texas Attorney General’s medical privacy guidance.