Notice of Privacy Practices

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As required by the privacy regulations created as a result of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA):

 

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL/PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY.

 

Our Commitment To You

We understand that medical information about you and your health is personal. We create a record of care and services that you receive in our office. We need this record to provide you with quality care and to comply with certain legal requirements. Your health record contains personal information about you and your health. This information about you that may identify you and that relates to your past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition and related health care services is referred to as Protected Health Information (“PHI”). This Notice of Privacy Practices describes how we may use and disclose your PHI in accordance with applicable law.  It also describes your rights regarding how you may gain access to and control your PHI.

 

We are required by law to maintain the privacy of PHI and to provide you with notice of my legal duties and privacy practices with respect to PHI. We are required to abide by the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices. We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices at any time. Any new Notice of Privacy Practices will be effective for all PHI that we maintain at that time. We will provide you with a copy of the new revised Notice of Privacy Practices by posting a copy, sending a copy to you in the mail upon request, or providing one to you at your next appointment.

 

How We May Use and Disclose Health Information About You

For Treatment: Your PHI may be used by and disclosed to those who are involved in your care for the purpose of providing, coordinating, or managing your health care treatment and related services. This includes consultation with clinical supervisors or other treatment team members.  We may disclose PHI to any other consultant only with your authorization.

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For Payment: We may use and disclose PHI so that we can receive payment for the treatment services provided to you. This will only be done with your authorization. Examples of payment-related activities are: making a determination of eligibility or coverage for insurance benefits, processing claims with your insurance company, reviewing services provided to you to determine medical necessity, or undertaking utilization review activities. If it becomes necessary to use collection processes due to lack of payment for services, we will only disclose the minimum amount of PHI necessary for purposes of collection.

 

For Health Care Operations: We may use or disclose, as needed, your PHI in order to support our business activities including, but not limited to, quality assessment activities, employees review activities, licensing, and conducting or arranging for other business activities (e.g., billing or typing services) provided we have a written contract with the business that requires it to safeguard the privacy of your PHI. For training or teaching purposes PHI will be disclosed only with your authorization.

 

Required by Law: Under the law, we must make disclosures of your PHI to you upon your request.  In addition, we must make disclosures to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services for the purpose of investigating or determining our compliance with the requirements of the Privacy Rule.

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Without Authorization: Applicable law and ethical standards permit us to disclose information about you without your authorization only in a limited number of other situations. The types of uses and disclosures that may be made without your authorization are those that are:

• Required by Law, such as the mandatory reporting of child abuse or neglect or mandatory government agency audits or investigations (such as the social work licensing board or the health department).

• Required by court order.

• Necessary to prevent or lessen a serious or imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public

 

Verbal Permission: We may use or disclose your information to family members that are directly involved in your treatment with your verbal permission.

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With Authorization: Uses and disclosures not specifically permitted by applicable law will be made only with your written authorization, which may be revoked.

 

Short Message Service (SMS): We may, upon your opting-in, send you SMS messages for appointment reminders, scheduling changes, account notices, and other similar notifications. You may opt-out at any time by replying to any SMS message with “STOP”. We do not share or sell phone numbers or SMS opt-in information for marketing purposes. 

 

Your Rights Regarding Your Personal Health Information
You have the following rights regarding PHI we maintain about you.  To exercise any of these rights submit your request in writing to my office at the above address.

• Right of Access to Inspect and Copy. You have the right, which may be restricted only in exceptional circumstances, to inspect and copy PHI that may be used to make decisions about your care. Your right to inspect and copy PHI will be restricted only in those situations where there is compelling evidence that access would cause serious harm to you. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for copies.

• Right to Amend. If you feel that the PHI we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask me to amend the information although we are not required to agree to the amendment.

• Right to Accounting of Disclosures. You have the right to request an accounting of certain of the disclosures that we make of your PHI. We may charge you a reasonable fee if you request more than one accounting in any 12-month period.

• Right to Request Restriction. You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the use or disclosure of your PHI for treatment, payment, or health care operations. We are not required to agree with your request.

• Right to Request Confidential Communication. You have the right to request that we communicate with you about medical matters in a certain way or at a certain location.  

• Right to a Copy of this Notice. You have the right to a copy of this notice.  

 

Complaints
If you believe we have violated your privacy rights, you have the right to file a complaint in writing to our office at the above address, or with the Secretary of Health and Human Services at 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, DC  20201 or by calling (202) 619-0257. We will not penalize you for filing a complaint.

 

Effective date of this Notice: February 13, 2025.

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