Bay Pines VA Healthcare System

Privacy Office

The Bay Pines VA Healthcare System is committed to protecting your personal information and is required by law to maintain the privacy of your protected health information and to provide you with notice of its legal duties and privacy practices. VHA is also required to abide by the terms of this Notice and its privacy policies. Click here to read more information about VA’s privacy practices.

Your Privacy Rights as a Patient

You have the right to:

• Review your health information.
• Obtain a copy of your health information.
• Request your health information be amended or corrected.
• Request that we not use or disclose your health information.
• Request that we provide your health information to you in an alternative way or at an alternative location in a confidential manner.
• Receive an accounting or list of disclosures of your health information.

• Receive a paper copy of VHA’s Notice of Privacy Practices upon request.

Privacy Complaints

If you are concerned that your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the Bay Pines Privacy Officer at (727) 398-6661, extension 14626/17029 or in writing to:

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Enacted in 1966 and taking effect on July 5, 1967, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides that any person has a right to obtain access to federal agency records, except to the extent that such records (or portions of them) are protected from public disclosure by one of nine exemptions or by one of three special law enforcement record exclusions.

How to Submit a FOIA Request

There are no special forms required to submit a request, however, the Department of Veterans Affairs requires that your FOIA request:

• Be in writing (submitted via US Mail, special carrier, fax or email). If the requested records concern your personal privacy or that of another person, then the request must be signed.
  Reasonably describe the records so that they may be located with a reasonable amount of effort.
• State your willingness to pay applicable fees or provide a justification to support a fee waiver. Include a daytime telephone number and/or email address in case we need to contact you.

• Be submitted to the facility that maintains the records. If you don’t know where the records are located, submit your request to: vacofoiaservice@va.gov

Requests by Mail

If you want to submit a FOIA request by mail for record maintained by the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System, please follow the steps listed above and submit the request to:

Requests by E-Mail

If you want to submit a FOIA request by e-mail for records maintained by the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System, please follow the steps listed above and submit the request to: vhabayfoiaoffice@va.gov.

Requests by Fax

If you want to submit a FOIA request by fax for records maintained by the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System, please follow the steps listed above and submit the request to: (727) 319-1282.