The information on www.danielbirkmd.com (the “Website”) is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical professional help, advice, diagnosis, treatment or hands on training experience. Providers who post information or instructional materials on the Website are not providing health care services through the use of this Website.

Use of, or posting of information, images or educational materials on, the Website does not constitute establishment of a physician-patient or clinical relationship with any individual, nor establishment or offer to enter into a business relationship with any medical professional, institution or organization.

Any reliance on any information provided by the Website or individuals using the Website is solely at your own risk. Daniel Birk, MD, NSPC Brain & Spine Surgery, its employees, and associated parties are not liable for any adverse events which occur from use of the Website or as a result of any medical conditions you may have.
Information on this Website should never replace the advice of a physician.

All content is copyright and used under license as appropriate. Reproduction is stricly prohibited without prior written authorization.

IF YOU HAVE, OR ARE HAVING, A MEDICAL EMERGENCY, YOU SHOULD CONTACT YOUR PHYSICIAN OR LOCAL EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SYSTEM, OR GO TO YOUR LOCAL EMERGENCY ROOM.
 
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Your use of this Website is acceptance of these Terms of Use and represents the same effect as physically signing an agreement. We have the right to amend these Terms of Use at any time without notice to you by posting the revised Terms of Use on the Website. You agree that you are bound by those changes by continuing to use the Website.

This Notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed, and how you can get access to your medical information.

Our practice is dedicated to protecting your medical information. We are required by law to maintain the privacy of protected health information and to provide you with this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to protected health information. Our practice is required by law to abide by the terms of this Notice.

This Notice of Privacy Practices describes how we may use and disclose your protected health information to carry out treatment, payment or health care operations and for other purposes that are permitted or required by law. It also describes your rights to access and control your protected health information. Protected health information is information about you, including demographic information, that may identify you and that relates to your past, present or future physical or mental health or condition and related health care services.

Our office is required to abide by the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices. We may change the terms of our notice, at any time. The new notice will be effective for all protected health information that we maintain at that time. Upon your request, we will provide you with any revised Notice of Privacy Practices. To request a revised notice you may call the office and request that a revised copy be sent to you in the mail or asking for one at the time of your next appointment.

HOW YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION WILL BE USED AND DISCLOSED:

We will use your medical information as part of rendering patient care. For example, your medical information may be used by the doctor or nurse treating you, by the business office to process your payment for the services rendered and in order to support the business activities of the practice, including, but not limited to, use by administrative personnel reviewing the quality of the care you receive, employee review activities, training of medical students, licensing, contacting or arranging for other business activities.

We may also use and/or disclose your information in accordance with federal and state laws for the following purposes:

Appointment Reminders.
We may contact you to provide appointment reminders.
Treatment Information.
We may contact you with information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.
Disclosure to Department of Health and Human Services.
We may disclose medical information when required by the United States Department of Health and Human Services as part of an investigation or determination of our compliance with relevant laws.
Family and Friends.
Unless you object, we may disclose your medical information to family members, other relatives or close personal friends when the medical information is directly relevant to that person's involvement with your care.
Notification.
Unless you object, we may use or disclose your medical information to notify a family member, a personal representative or another person responsible for your care of your location, general condition or death.
Disaster Relief.
We may disclose your medical information to a public or private entity, such as the American Red Cross, for the purpose of coordinating with that entity to assist in disaster relief efforts.
Health Oversight Activities.
We may use or disclose your medical information for public health activities, including the reporting of disease, injury, vital events and the conduct of public health surveillance, investigation and/or intervention. We may disclose your medical information to a health oversight agency for oversight activities authorized by law, including audits, investigations, inspections, licensure or disciplinary actions, administrative and/or legal proceedings.
Abuse or Neglect.
We may disclose your medical information when it concerns abuse, neglect or violence to you in accordance with federal and state law.
Legal Proceedings.
We may disclose your medical information in the course of certain judicial or administrative proceedings.
Law Enforcement.
We may disclose your medical information for law enforcement purposes or other specialized governmental functions.
Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors.
We may disclose your medical information to a coroner, medical examiner or a funeral director.
Organ Donation.
If you are an organ donor, we may disclose your medical information to an organ donation and procurement organization.
Research.
We may use or disclose your medical information for certain research purposes if an Institutional Review Board or a privacy board has altered or waived individual authorization, the review is preparatory to research or the research is on only decedent's information.
Public Safety.
We may use or disclose your medical information to prevent or lessen a serious threat to the health or safety of another person or to the public.
Workers' Compensation.
We may disclose your medical information as authorized by laws relating to workers= compensation or similar programs.
Business Associates.
We may disclose your health information to a business associate with whom we contract to provide services on our behalf. To protect your health information, we require our business associates to appropriately safeguard the health information of our patients.

AUTHORIZATIONS:
We will not use or disclose your medical information for any other purpose without your written authorization. Once given, you may revoke your authorization in writing at any time. To request a Revocation of Authorization form, you may contact:
Daniel Birk, MD,
1500-8A Route 112
Port Jefferson Station, New York 11776
(631) 828-3001

YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION:
You have the following rights with respect to your medical information:
 

• You may ask us to restrict certain uses and disclosures of your medical information.
• We are not required to agree to your request, but if we do, we will honor it.
• You have the right to receive communications from us in a confidential manner.
• Generally, you may inspect and copy your medical information. This right is subject to certain specific exceptions, and you may be charged a reasonable fee for any copies of your records.
• You may ask us to amend your medical information. We may deny your request for certain specific reasons. If we deny your request, we will provide you with a written explanation for the denial and information regarding further rights you may have at that point.
• You have the right to receive an accounting of the disclosures of your medical information made by our practice during the last six years (or following April 14, 2003), except for disclosures for treatment, payment or healthcare operations, disclosures which you authorized and certain other specific disclosure types.
• You may request a paper copy of this Notice of Privacy Practices for Protected Health Information.
• You have the right to complain to us and/or to the United States Department of Health and Human Services if you believe that we have violated your privacy rights. If you choose to file a complaint, you will not be retaliated against in any way. To complain to us, please contact:

 
REVISION OF NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice, making any revision applicable to all the protected health information we maintain. If we revise the terms of this Notice, we will post a revised notice at our office and will make paper copies of the revised Notice of Privacy Practices available upon request.
 
Legal Disclaimer for Web Site Use

Provision of education and research information only - always seek professional advice

This website is presented by Daniel Birk, MD and associated parties, for the purpose of disseminating general health information free of charge for the benefit of the public. This website is not a substitute for independent professional advice. Always obtain independent, personalized professional advice regarding a medical condition or suspected condition. Nothing contained in this website is intended to be used as medical advice and it is not intended to be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, nor should it be used for therapeutic purposes or as a substitute for your own health professional's advice. Daniel Birk, MD and associated parties do not accept any liability for any injury, loss or damage incurred by use of or reliance on the information.

Quality of information - always check the information

Daniel Birk, MD and associated parties make every effort to ensure the quality of the information available on this website and updates the information regularly. Before relying on the information on this website, however, users should carefully evaluate its accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance for their purposes, and should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances. Daniel Birk, MD and associated parties can not guarantee and assume no legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, currency or completeness of the information.
Links to external websites

This website may contain links to other websites which are external to the Daniel Birk, MD website. Daniel Birk, MD and associated parties take reasonable care in selecting linking websites. It is the responsibility of the user to make their own decisions about the accuracy, currency, reliability and correctness of information contained in linked external websites.

Linkage to external websites should not be taken to be an endorsement or a recommendation of any third party products or services offered by virtue of any information, material or content linked from or to this website. Users of links provided by this website are responsible for being aware of which organisation is hosting the website they visit.

Views or recommendations provided in linked websites do not necessarily reflect those of Daniel Birk, MD and associated parties.
 
Your Privacy and the Internet
The nature of the Internet is such that Web servers automatically collect certain information about a visit to a website, including the visitor’s Internet Protocol (IP) address. IP addresses are unique numbers assigned by Internet Service Providers (ISP) to all devices used to access the Internet. Web servers automatically log the IP addresses of visitors to their sites. The IP address, on its own, does not identify an individual. However, in certain circumstances, such as with the co-operation of an ISP for example, it could be used to identify an individual using the site.

Unless otherwise noted, we do not automatically gather any specific information from you, such as your name, telephone number or email address. We would obtain this type of information only if you supply it to us, for example, by email or by filling in a contact form. In such cases, how your personal information is handled will be provided in a Personal Information Collection Statement.

In cases where services are provided by organizations outside of our website, such as social media platforms or mobile applications, IP addresses may be recorded by the Web server of the third-party service provider.

Using Files Located on Other Servers
To improve the functionality of our websites, certain files (such as open source libraries, images and scripts) may be delivered automatically to your browser via a trusted third-party server or content delivery network. The delivery of these files is intended to provide a seamless user experience by speeding response times and avoiding the need for each visitor to download these files.

Third-Party Social Media
Our use of social media serves as an extension of its presence on the Web. Social media account(s) are public and are not hosted on our servers. Users who choose to interact with via social media should read the terms of service and privacy policies of these third-party service providers and those of any applications used to access them.
 
Digital Markers (including cookies)
A digital marker is a resource created by the visitors' browser in order to remember certain pieces of information for the Web server to reference during the same or subsequent visit to the website. Examples of digital markers are "cookies" or HTML5 web storage. Some examples of what digital markers do are as follows:

• they allow a website to recognize a visitor who has previously accessed the site;
• they track what content is viewed on a site which helps website administrators ensure visitors find what they are looking for.

Our website uses sessional and persistent digital markers on its website. During your on-line visit, your browser exchanges data with danielbirkmd.com. The digital markers used do not allow us to identify individuals and do not contain personal information.

You may adjust your browser settings to reject digital markers, including cookies, if you so choose. However, it may affect your ability to interact with websites.

Web Analytics
Web analytics is the collection, analysis, measurement, and reporting of data about Web traffic and visits for purposes of understanding and optimizing Web usage. Information in digital markers may be used in conjunction with computer request data to identify and track your online interactions with the danielbirkmd.com website.
danielbirkmd.com  uses Google Analytics and log file analysis to improve the site. When your computer requests a danielbirkmd.com web page, the following types of information are collected and used for Web analytics:

• the originating IP address
• the date and time of the request
• the type of browser used
• the page(s) visited
• referral website

If you wish, you may opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics by disabling or refusing the cookies; by disabling JavaScript within your browser; or by using the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On.  Disabling Google Analytics or JavaScript will still permit you to access comparable information or services from our website. However, if you opt out by disabling or refusing the cookies; by disabling JavaScript within your browser; or by using the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On, this may affect your ability to access other websites.

danielbirkmd.com may use log file analysis internally and retains this information for a maximum period of 18 months.  After this period, the information is disposed of. The log information is not disclosed to an external third party service provider.

Data collected for Web analytics purposes may go outside of the United States  to Google servers and may be processed in any country where Google operates servers. Data may be subject to the governing legislation of that country. For further information about Google Analytics, please refer to the Google Analytics terms of service.

Information used for the purpose of Web analytics is not used in any manner that allows association of an individual with the data. Such data may be used for communications and information technology statistical purposes, audit, and evaluation, research, planning and reporting.

Inquiring about these Practices

Any questions, comments, concerns or complaints you may have regarding the administration of our Privacy Policy may be directed to us by writing to us at:
Port Jefferson Location
1500-8A Route 112
Port Jefferson Station, New York 11776