Midi

Notice of Privacy Practices

Last Updated: November 14, 2025

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 of Privacy Practices (the “Notice”) describes how Medical Groups, as an affiliated covered entity composed of multiple distinct medical groups including but not limited to Integrative Women’s Care PC. IWC Medical Group, P.A., IWC Medical Group KS, P.A., and Robert G. Aptekar, M.D., P.C. (collectively, “we” or “our”) may use and disclose your protected health information to carry out treatment, payment, or business operations and for other purposes that are permitted or required by law. “Protected health information” or “PHI” is information about you, including demographic information, that may identify you and that relates to your past, present or future physical health or condition, treatment or payment for health care services.

This Notice also describes your rights to access and control your protected health information.

USES AND DISCLOSURES OF PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION:

Your protected health information may be used and disclosed by our health care providers, our staff, and others outside of our office that are involved in your care and treatment for the purpose of providing health care services to you, to support our business operations, to obtain payment for your care, and any other use authorized or required by law. 

TREATMENT:

We will use and disclose your protected health information to provide, coordinate, or manage your health care and any related services. This includes the coordination or management of your health care with a third party. For example, your protected health information may be provided to any other health care provider with whom you have an existing treatment relationship to ensure the necessary information is accessible to diagnose or treat you.  

PAYMENT:

Your protected health information may be used to bill or obtain payment for your health care services. For example, we may use your PHI in connection with processing payments for services provided to you.

HEALTH CARE OPERATIONS:

We may use or disclose, as needed, your protected health information in order to support the business activities of this office. These activities include, but are not limited to, improving quality of care, providing information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services, development or maintaining and supporting computer systems, legal services, and conducting audits and compliance programs, including fraud, waste and abuse investigations.  We may de-identify and anonymize your information such that it is no longer considered protected health information or personally identifiable information and as such, will not contain any reference to you. In that instance, we may modify or create derivative works which contain this de-identified and anonymized information and may use that information as may be necessary to enhance the services we are providing. In addition, we may use this de-identified information for non-commercial purposes including but not limited to analytics, research, preparation of case studies and other educational and research related publication and usage. Under no circumstances will we sell or commercially market your information.

USES AND DISCLOSURES THAT DO NOT REQUIRE YOUR AUTHORIZATION

We may use or disclose your protected health information in the following situations without your authorization. These situations include the following uses and disclosures: as required by law; for public health purposes; for health care oversight purposes; for abuse or neglect reporting; pursuant to Food and Drug Administration requirements; in connection with legal proceedings; for law enforcement purposes; to coroners, funeral directors and organ donation agencies; for certain research purposes; for certain criminal activities; for certain military activity and national security purposes; for workers’ compensation reporting; relating to certain inmate reporting; and other required uses and disclosures. Under the law, we must make certain disclosures to you upon your request, and when required by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate or determine our compliance with the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”). State laws may further restrict these disclosures.

USES AND DISCLOSURES THAT REQUIRE YOUR AUTHORIZATION:

Other permitted and required uses and disclosures will be made only with your consent, authorization or opportunity to object unless permitted or required by law. In such cases, without your authorization, we shall not use or disclose your protected health information.

You have the right to receive an accounting of certain disclosures of your protected health information that we have made, paper or electronic, except for certain disclosures which were pursuant to an authorization, for purposes of treatment, payment, healthcare operations (unless the information is maintained in an electronic health record), or for certain other purposes.

You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this Notice, upon request, even if you have previously requested its receipt electronically by e-mail.

REVISIONS TO THIS NOTICE:

We reserve the right to revise this Notice and to make the revised Notice effective for protected health information we already have about you as well as any information we receive in the future. You are entitled to a copy of the Notice currently in effect. Any significant changes to this Notice will be posted on the Services. You then have the right to object or withdraw as provided in this Notice.

BREACH OF HEALTH INFORMATION:

We will notify you if a reportable breach of your unsecured protected health information is discovered.

Notification will be made to you no later than 60 days from the breach discovery and will include a brief description of how the breach occurred, the protected health information involved and contact information for you to ask questions.

COMPLAINTS:

Complaints about this Notice or how we handle your protected health information should be directed to our HIPAA Privacy Officer. If you are not satisfied with the manner in which a complaint is handled you may submit a formal complaint to the Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights by sending a letter to 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, calling 1-877-696-6775, or visiting www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this Notice. If you have any questions about this Notice, please contact us at operations@joinmidi.com.

If you have Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota (BCBS MN) insurance or have another BCBS/Anthem plan and live in Minnesota, you will be receiving Midi services through a Herself Health credentialed provider under the following privacy practices:

Notice of Privacy Practices Herself Health 

Your Information. Your Rights. Our Responsibilities.

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. 

Your Rights

When it comes to your health information, you have certain rights. This section explains your rights and some of our responsibilities to help you. 

Receive an electronic or paper copy of your medical record 

  • You can ask to see or copy an electronic or paper copy of your medical record and other health information we have about you. Ask us how to do this. 
  • We will provide a copy or a summary of your health information within a reasonable time. 
  • If you ask to see or receive a copy of your record for purposes of reviewing current medical care, we may not charge you a fee. [Minn. Stat. § 144.292 subd. 6]
  • If you request copies of your patient records of past medical care, or for certain appeals, we may charge you specified fees. [Minn. Stat. § 144.292 subd. 6] 

Ask us to correct your medical record 

  • You can ask us to correct health information about you that you think is incorrect or incomplete. Ask us how to do this. 
  • We may say "no" to your request, but we'll tell you why in writing within 60 days. 

Request confidential communications 

  • You can ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, home or office phone) or to send mail to a different address.
  • We will say "yes" to all reasonable requests.

Ask us to limit what we use or share 

  • You can ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment, or our operations (TPO). We are not required to agree to your request, and we may say "no" if it would affect your care. 
  • If you pay for a service or health care item out-of-pocket in full, you can ask us not to share that information for the purpose of payment or our operations with your health insurer. We will say "yes" unless a law requires us to share that information.
  • Minnesota Law requires consent for disclosure of treatment, payment, or operations information. [Minn. Stat. § 144.293 subd. 2]

Get a list of those with whom we've shared information

  • You can ask for a list (accounting) of the times we've shared your health information for six years prior to the date you ask, who we shared it with, and why. 
  • We will include all the disclosures except for those about treatment, payment, and health care operations, and certain other disclosures (such as any you asked us to make). We'll provide one accounting a year for free but will charge a reasonable, costbased fee if you ask for another one within 12 months. 

Get a copy of this privacy notice 

You can ask for a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you have agreed to receive the notice electronically. We will provide you with a paper copy promptly. 

  • You can complain if you feel we have violated your rights by contacting Herself Health Customer Support at (888) 290-1209.
  • You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by sending a letter to 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, calling 1-877-696-6775, or visiting www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/. 
  • We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint. 

Your Choices
For certain health information, you can tell us your choices about what we share. If you have a clear preference for how we share your information in the situations described below, talk to us. Tell us what you want us to do, and we will follow your instructions. 

In these cases, you have both the right and choice to tell us NOT to: 

  • Share information with your family, close friends, or others involved in your care 
  • Share information in a disaster relief situation 
  • Include your information in a hospital directory 

If you are not able to tell us your preference, for example if you are unconscious, we may go ahead and share your information if we believe it is in your best interest. We may also share your information when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.

In these cases we will never share your information unless you give us written permission: 

  • Marketing purposes
  • Sale of your information
  • Most sharing of psychotherapy notes

Minnesota Law also requires consent for most other sharing purposes. 

In the case of fundraising:

  • We may contact you for fundraising efforts, but you can tell us not to contact you again. 

Our Uses and Disclosures

How do we typically use or share your health information? We typically use or share your health information in the following ways. We need your consent before we disclose protected health information for treatment, payment, and operations purposes, unless the disclosure is to a related entity, or the disclosure is for a medical emergency and we are unable to obtain your consent due to your condition or the nature of the medical emergency. [Minn. Stat. § 144.293, subd. 2 and 5] 

Treat you 

We can use your health information and share it with other professionals who are treating you only if we have your consent. We can only release your health records to health care facilities and providers outside our network without your consent if it is an emergency and you are unable to provide consent due to the nature of the emergency. We may also share your health information with a provider in our network. [Minn. Stat. § 144.293, subd. 2 and 5] 


Example: A doctor treating you for an injury asks another doctor about your overall health condition. 

Run our organization

We can use and share your health information to run our practice, improve your care, and contact you when necessary. We are required to obtain your consent before we release your health records to other providers for their own health care operations. [Minn. Stat. § 144.293, subd. 2 and 5] 

Example: We use health information about you to manage your treatment and services.

Bill for your services

We can use and share your health information to bill and get payment from health plans or other entities only if we obtain your consent. [Minn. Stat. § 144.293, subd. 2 and 5] 

Example: We give information about you to your health insurance plan so it will pay for your services. 

How else can we use or share your health information?

We are allowed or required to share your information in other ways – usually in ways that contribute to the public good, such as public health and research. We have to meet many conditions in the law before we can share your information for these purposes. For more information see: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/index.html. 


Help with public health and safety issues 

We can share health information about you for certain situations such as:

  • Preventing disease 
  • Helping with product recalls
  • Reporting adverse reactions to medications
  • Reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence
  • Preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone's health or safety

Do research

We can use or share your information for health research if you do not object. [Minn. Stat. § 144.295 subd. 1] 

Comply with the law

We will share information about you if state or federal laws require it, including with the Department of Health and Human Services if it wants to see that we're complying with federal privacy law. [Minn. Stat. § 144.293 subd. 2] 

Respond to organ and tissue donation requests

We can share health information about you with organ procurement organizations only with your consent. [Minn. Stat. § 525A.14] 

Work with a medical examiner or coroner

We can share health information with a coroner and medical examiner when an individual dies. We need consent to share information with a funeral director. [Minn. Stat. § 390.11 subd. 7 (a)]

Address workers' compensation, law enforcement, and other government requests

We can use or share health information about you: 

  • For workers' compensation claims
  • For law enforcement purposes or with a law enforcement official with your consent, unless required by law. [Minn. Stat. § 144.293, subd. 2]
  • With health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law 
  • For special government functions such as military, national security, and presidential protective services with your consent, unless required by law. [Minn. Stat. § 144.293, subd. 2]

Respond to lawsuits and legal actions

We can share health information about you in response to a court or administrative order, or in response to a subpoena. [Minn. Stat. § 144.293 subd. 2] 

Other State Law

In Minnesota, we need your consent before we disclose protected health information for treatment, payment, and operations purposes, unless the disclosure is to a related entity, or the disclosure is for a medical emergency and we are unable to obtain your consent. [Minn. Stat. §§ 13.386, 254A.09] 

Our Responsibilities

  • We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information. 
  • We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.
  • We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it. 
  • We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us we can in writing. If you tell us we can, you may change your mind at any time. Let us know in writing if you change your mind.

For more information see: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/noticepp.html 

Changes to the Terms of this Notice

We can change the terms of this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The new notice will be available upon request, on our website.