We are glad to provide you with excellent dental services while also respecting your privacy. This notice discloses the privacy practices for information collected by this website, including:

-what personally identifiable information is collected from you through the website, how it is used, and with whom it may be shared;-how you can ensure the accuracy of the information;-our security procedures designed to protect the misuse of your information; and-your options regarding the use of your data.

COLLECTION, USE, AND SHARING OF INFORMATION

Our website permits us to access information that you voluntarily give us via email or other direct contact from you. We are the sole owners of such information collected on this site; we do not sell or rent this information to anyone.

We use your information to respond to your inquiries and requests, primarily to ensure we are meeting your expectations for dental services. We will not share your information with any third party outside of our organization, other than as necessary to fulfill your requests and to provide you with outstanding care.

We may occasionally contact you via email to notify you of specials, new products or services, or changes to this privacy policy (unless, of course, you direct us not to).

YOUR ACCESS TO AND CONTROL OVER INFORMATION

You may opt out of any future contacts from us at any time. By using the contact form on our website, you can:

-request a description of the information we have about you, if any;-correct any inaccurate information;-direct us to delete information related to you;-and share any concern you have about our use of information.

KEEPING YOUR PRIVATE INFORMATION SECURE

In an abundance of caution, we suggest that you not use our contact form to email us confidential information. While we will not disclose such information to anyone beyond those necessary to facilitate our care of you, such information could possibly be intercepted in transit by unauthorized entities.

DENTIST-APPROVED COOKIES

While it may seem funny, our dental website uses "cookies." A cookie is a piece of data stored on a site visitor's computer or device to improve access to our site and to identify you as a repeat visitor. For example, cookies eliminate the need for you to log in a password more than once, thereby saving time while on our site. Cookies can also enable us to remember the interests of our patients to enhance their experience on our site. So our cookies are safe for your teeth and help us serve you better! Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information on our site.

LINKS

We have linked our website to other sites that may be of help or interest to you. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other sites. Please be aware when leaving our site and read the other sites’ privacy statements to determine to what extent they collect or use personally identifiable information. We invite you to contact us if you feel that we can better implement this privacy policy.‍

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Notice of Privacy Practices 

Our Legal Duty 

Our Renken Dentistry and Schön Dental practices (“we,” “our,” “us”), like all other medical and dental practices, are required by applicable federal and state laws to maintain the privacy of your health information. We are also required to give you this notice about our privacy practices, our legal duties, and your rights concerning your health information. We must follow the privacy practices that are described in this notice while it is in effect. This notice went into effect April 14, 2003, with the latest revision February 16, 2026, and will remain in effect until modified or replaced. We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of this notice at any time, provided such changes are permitted by applicable law. We reserve the right to make the changes in our privacy practices and the new terms of our notice effective for all health information that we maintain, including health information we created or received before we made the changes. When we make a significant change in our privacy practices, we will change this notice and make the new notice available upon request. You may request a copy of our notice at any time. For more information about our privacy practices, or for additional copies of this notice, please contact us according to the means outlined in this notice. 

Uses and Disclosures of Health Information 

We use and disclose health information about you for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations. For example: 

Treatment: We may use or disclose your health information to a physician/dentist, dental auxiliaries, students and other healthcare providers providing treatment to you. 

Payment: We may use and disclose your health information to obtain payment for services we provide to you. 

Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose your health information in connection with our healthcare operations. Healthcare operations include quality assessment and improvement activities, reviewing the competence or qualifications of healthcare professionals, evaluating practitioner and provider performances, conducting training programs, accreditation, certification, licensing or credentialing activities. 

Your Authorization: In addition to our use of your health information for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations, you may give us written authorization to use or disclose your protected health information (“PHI”) to anyone for any purpose. Your written authorization is required, with limited exceptions, for the disclosure of psychotherapy notes, for the use or disclosure of PHI for marketing purposes where required by law, and for the sale of PHI. We will also obtain your written authorization before using or disclosing your PHI for purposes other than those described in this Notice or otherwise permitted or required by law. If you give us written authorization, you may revoke it at any time by submitting a written revocation. Upon receipt of your written revocation, we will stop using or disclosing your PHI as authorized, except to the extent that we have already taken action in reliance on your authorization. Unless you provide written authorization, we will not use or disclose your PHI for any purpose other than those described in this Notice or as otherwise permitted or required by law. 

To Your Family and Friends: We must disclose your health information to you, as described in the Patient Rights section of this notice. We may disclose your health information to a family member, friend or another person to the extent necessary to help with your healthcare or with payment for your healthcare, but only if you agree that we may do so. 

Persons Involved in Care: We may use or disclose health information to notify, or assist in the notification of (including identifying or locating) a family member, your personal representative or another person responsible for your care, of your location, your general condition, or death. If you are present, then prior to use or disclosure of your health information, we will provide you with an opportunity to object to such uses or disclosures. In the event of your incapacity or emergency circumstances, we will disclose health information

based on a determination using our professional judgment disclosing only health information that is directly relevant to the person’s involvement in your healthcare. We will also use our professional judgment and our experience with common practice to make reasonable inferences of your best interest in allowing a person to pick up prescriptions, dental supplies, X-rays, or other similar forms of health information. 

Marketing Health-Related Services: We may use Patient Information internally to offer goods and services we believe may be of interest. We may use Patient Information to contact you to inquire or survey about the Patient experience at the location(s) visited and the prospect of future services or improvements needed to continue as your services provider. We may also create and use aggregate Patient Information that is not personally identifiable to understand more about the common traits and interests of our Patients. 

We may utilize one or more third-party service providers to send an email or other communications to you on our behalf, including Patient satisfaction surveys. These service providers are prohibited from using your email address or other contact information for any purpose other than to send communications on our behalf. 

It is our intention to only send email communications that would be useful to you and that you want to receive. When you provide us with your email address as part of the registration or appointment setting process, we will place you on our list of patients to receive informational and promotional emails. In addition, patients and visitors to our website are given the opportunity to “opt-in” to receive electronic promotional communications by selecting the option to receive promotional emails from us on our website. 

Each time you receive a promotional email, you will be provided the choice to “opt-out” of future emails by following the instructions provided in the email, or you can “opt-out” at any time by following the instructions provided. 

Fundraising: We will not use your health information for fundraising activities without your written consent. Required by Law: We may use or disclose your health information when we are required to do so by law. 

Abuse or Neglect: We may disclose your health information to appropriate authorities if we reasonably believe that you are a possible victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence, or the possible victim of other crimes. We may disclose your health information to the extent necessary to avert a serious threat to your health or safety or the health or safety of others. 

SUD Treatment Information: If we receive or maintain any information about you from a substance use disorder treatment program that is covered by 42 CFR Part 2 (a “Part 2 Program”) through a general consent you provide to the Part 2 Program to use and disclose the Part 2 Program record for purposes of treatment, payment or health care operations, we may use and disclose your Part 2 Program record for treatment, payment and health care operations purposes as described in this Notice. If we receive or maintain your Part 2 Program record through specific consent you provide to us or another third party, we will use and disclose your Part 2 Program record only as expressly permitted by you in your consent as provided to us. In no event will we use or disclose your Part 2 Program record, or testimony that describes the information contained in your Part 2 Program record, in any civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative proceedings by any Federal, State, or local authority, against you, unless authorized by your consent or the order of a court after it provides you notice of the court order. 

National Security: We may disclose to military authorities the health information of Armed Forces personnel under certain circumstances. We may disclose, to authorized federal officials, health information required for lawful intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities. We may disclose to a correctional institution or law enforcement official having lawful custody of protected health information of an inmate or patient under certain circumstances. 

Appointment Reminders: We may use or disclose your health information to provide you with appointment reminders (such as voicemail messages, postcards, or letters). 

Cookies 

Our website utilizes “cookie” technology. “Cookies” are encrypted strings of text that a website stores on a user’s computer. Our website uses cookies throughout the online process to keep together information entered on multiple pages. For example, cookies enable our website to “remember” information provided to us. In addition, cookies are used to: 

1. Measure usage of various pages on our website to help us make our information more pertinent to your needs and easy for you to access; and

2. Provide functionality such, as online appointing, bill paying and other functionalities that we believe would be of interest and value to you. 

The two types of cookies that we use are referred to as “session” cookies and “persistent” cookies. Session cookies are temporary and are automatically deleted once you leave our website. Persistent cookies remain on your computer hard drive until you delete them. We do not use cookies to gather any personally identifiable information about you apart from what you voluntarily provide us in your dealings with us. Our cookies do not corrupt or damage your computer, programs or computer files. You may set your browser to block cookies. 

Patient Rights 

Access: You have the right to look at or get copies of your health information, with limited exceptions. You may request that we provide copies in a format other than photocopies. We will use the format you request unless we cannot practicably do so. We may charge a fee for producing dental records and X-rays as allowed by law. 

Disclosure Accounting: You have the right to receive a list of instances in which we or our business associates disclosed your health information for purposes other than treatment, payment, healthcare operations and certain other activities for the last 6 years, but not before April 14, 2003. If you request this accounting more than once in a 12-month period, we may charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee for responding to these additional requests. 

Restriction: You have the right to request that we place additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your health information. We are not required to agree to these additional restrictions, but if we do, we will abide by our agreement (except in an emergency). When you pay in full outside of your insurance plan for services you may request that we restrict this information and not disclose it to your healthcare plan or insurer. 

Breach Notification: We will provide you with notification of a breach of unsecured PHI as required by law. 

Alternative Communication: You have the right to request that we communicate with you about your health information by alternative means or to alternative locations. This request must be in writing. Your request must specify the alternative means or location, and provide a satisfactory explanation of how payments will be handled under the alternative means or location you request. 

Amendment: You have the right to request that we amend your health information. This request must be in writing, and it must explain why the information should be amended. We may deny your request under certain circumstances. 

Electronic Notice: If you received this notice on our website or by electronic mail (e-mail), you are also entitled to receive this notice in written form. 

Questions and Concerns 

If you would like additional information about our privacy practices or have questions, Renken Dentistry’s HIPAA Compliance Officer may be reached at 217.483.7177. Schön Dental’s HIPAA Compliance Officer may be reached at 217.483.7177. 

If you are concerned that we may have violated your privacy rights, or if you disagree with a decision we made about access to your health information or our handling of your response to a request you made to amend or restrict the use or disclosure of your health information, or to have us communicate with you by alternative means or at alternative locations, you may send your concerns to: 

Renken Dentistry 

Attn: HIPAA Compliance Officer 2801 Mansion Road 

Springfield, IL 62711 

Schön Dental 

Attn: HIPAA Compliance Officer 2809 Mansion Road, STE D Springfield, IL 62711 

You also may submit written concerns to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will provide you with the address to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services upon request. 

We support your right to maintain the privacy of your health information. We will not retaliate in any way if you choose to file a complaint with us or with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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