Patient Information

Welcome to Bee Busy Wellness Center, your neighborhood clinic. We provide complete primary health care for all ages. Thank you for choosing us as your clinic. We hope you are pleased with your care here.

Payment Information:

We offer our care on a sliding fee scale based on family income and size to individuals and families with no insurance or a high deductible. You won’t be turned away due to inability to pay. To apply for the sliding fee scale, bring proof of income with you when you register. We will arrange a payment plan.

Examples:

• Your two most recent pay stubs
• An unemployment check stub
• A copy of your most recent income tax form

Our staff can also help you enroll in public health insurance programs if you are eligible.

Our clinic accept most private insurance plans. If you need more information, call our billing department at 713-771-2292. A billing specialist will review your insurance with you and explain our billing arrangements.

Primary Medical Care including:

• Basic care for health problems and illnesses
• Adult and pediatric medicine
• Well-child exams and immunizations
• Well-women exams and screening tests
• Pregnancy testing
• Sexually transmitted infections (STI) testing
• Family planning
• Prenatal up to 30 weeks and post partum care
• Health education
• Language interpreters (with prior notice)

The billing office phone number 713-771-2292.

Making an appointment:

Except in urgent situations, we would like you to call several days ahead for an appointment. To help us give you the right kind of appointment, please tell the receptionist enough information about your medical concern. Also, if you need an appointment on the same day you call, call early in the morning. We will do the best we can to see you. Preventive care, such as family planning, well-child exams and physicals, are usually scheduled two to three weeks in advance. On your first visit, plan to spend the first 15 minutes completing the registration forms. Bring a list (or the bottles) of all your prescriptions. Bring your insurance card.

Since we do not provide child care services, if you are bringing children who do not have an appointment, please bring someone along to care for your children during your appointment. Our staff cannot take this responsibility.

When the Clinic is Closed:

If you have an urgent health problem after regular clinic hours, call the clinic’s phone number. An automated system will give you instructions on how to speak with an on call provider. A nurse, doctor, or nurse practitioner will return your call as soon as possible to advise you about what steps to take at home, or will advise you to call 911 or go t a local hospital. Please call during regular clinic hours if your question or concern can wait.

If you have an emergency needing immediate attention, call 911 for assistance.

Hospitalizations:

If you need to be hospitalized, your choice of hospitals is usually determined by your health plan or medical insurance.

Specialty Care Referrals:

We also provide referrals to other specialists when you need them. Examples include dental care and eye exams as well as individual, couple and family counseling. These may be offered on site at our clinic.

Patient Rights and Responsibilities:

• Dignity as an individual human being.
• You have the right to the same consideration and treatment as anyone regardless of your:
  • Ability to pay
  • Beliefs
  • Marital status
  • Age, sex, race, or national origin
  • Sexual orientation
  • Gender identity or transgender status
  • Physical or mental ability

Privacy regarding your health care:

We take your privacy as a patient seriously.

Please do not have anyone else call to talk about your medical condition. To protect your confidentiality, we can give information only to you. We give information about children under age 18 only to their parents or legal guardians. If you are under 18, we may see you for family planning, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy related visits without parental consent and will not reveal your information.

All children under 18 should have a parent with them for the visit. If this is not possible, another adult should be with the child, and a parent should be available by phone. If someone other than a parent or legal guardian brings your child (under age 18) to an appointment, please send a signed note with them giving permission for that person to authorize care.

Confidentiality of your records:

Your records are the property of the clinic and are kept in strictest confidence. The clinic can show them to others only when:

• You give written permission, such as requests for copies to other health care providers
• A court requires the clinic to produce them
• Nothing in the information names or identifies you
• You file a workers’ compensation claim

You have the right to review your clinic record with your health care provider. Other patient rights are described in the Notice of Health Information Practices. A current copy is available for you at the front desk.

Understand Your Health Care. You have the right to ask:

• What is my problem exactly?
• What are the recommended treatments?
• How much will each one cost?
• How long will each one take?
• What are the risks, if any?

Consent or Refusal of Treatment:

As the patient, it is your decision. You have the right to refuse recommended treatment or exams. Make sure you read and understand consent forms before signing them. However, you are also responsible for understanding the risks of your decisions. Please don’t hesitate to ask questions.

With these rights, you also have the following responsibilities:

• To be honest with the clinic staff
• To understand your health problems to your satisfaction
• To follow the treatment plan, or tell your care provider that you don’t think you can or want to follow the plan
• To keep appointments or notify the clinic when you cannot keep them
• To give the clinic your current address and phone number
• To pay for your care according to the sliding fee scale, or provide information on your insurance coverage

Concerns About Your Care

If you have any concerns about any aspect of your care, ask to speak to the Clinic Manager. If the problem is not resolved to your satisfaction, your concern will be referred to the Executive Director.

How to Become Involved In the Clinic

Bee Busy Wellness Center is a private, nonprofit organization with a community-based Board of Directors. Over half of the Board members are patients at the clinics.

If you are interested in serving on the Board or in another area, or have other suggestions, call our Executive Director at 713-771-2292.

Notice of Health Information Practices

Bee Busy Wellness Center
This notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please read it carefully.

Your Health Record/Information
Each time you visit a health care provider or hospital a record of your visit is made. Usually this record has your symptoms, exam and test results, diagnoses, treatment, and a plan for future care or treatment. This information is often called your health or medical record. It serves as a:

• Basis to plan your care and treatment.
• Way the health professionals who care for you communicate with each other.
• Legal document describing the care you received.
• Way you and/or your insurance company can be sure that services billed were actually done.
• Source of data for facility and service planning.
• Source of information to improve the care and services we give to our patients.
• Source of information for public health officials who have the goal of improving the health of the nation.

Understanding what is in your record and how your health information is used helps you to:

• Be sure it is correct.
• Know who, what, when, where, and why others may have your health information.
• Make better decisions when allowing disclosure to others.

Your Rights to Your Health Information
Although your health record belongs to Bee Busy Wellness Center, the information in it belongs to you. You have the right to:

• Ask to restrict certain uses and disclosures of your record. We do not have to agree to your request if it is not practical for us to do so or if we believe it will have a negative impact on the care we may give you. Write down your request and give it to the clinic manager.
• Get a paper copy of the current Notice of Information Practices (this notice). Ask the front desk staff for this.
• Look at and/or ask for a copy of your health record. Ask your provider how to do this.
• Ask for a correction or change to your health record. Write down your request and give it to the clinic manager. We do not have to make the change you request.
• Get a list of where and to whom your health information has been sent for reasons other than treatment, payment, or health care operations. Write down your request and give it to the clinic manager.
• Ask for communications of your health information by other means or at other locations. This would include requests such as contacting you at a specific telephone number or by mail to a specific address. Ask the front desk staff to make these changes in your record.
• Cancel your authorization to use or disclose health information except when the action has already been taken. Write down your request and give it to the clinic manager.

Our Responsibilities

Bee Busy Wellness is required to:

• Keep your health information private.
• Give you this notice about our privacy practices.
• Do what we say in this notice.
• Tell you if we are unable to agree to a request.

Bee Busy Wellness Center reserves the right to change our privacy practices for all protected health information we keep. If our Notice changes, we will post the current copy on the clinic bulletin board and on our web site (http://www.mybbwc.org). You may also ask for the current copy when you are in one of our clinic. We will not use or give out your health information without your permission, except as described in this notice.