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Privacy Policy

HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices

(Revised September 23, 2013)

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MENTAL HEALTH INFORMATION MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED, AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION.  PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

  1. Who We Are

 

This Notice describes the privacy practices of The Whole Child and other facility personnel. It applies to services furnished to you and/or a family member as a Client/Consumer of The Whole Child.

  1. Privacy Obligations

During your and/or your child’s enrollment, The Whole Child creates a record of the care and services received. We need this record to provide you and/or your child with quality treatment and to comply with certain legal and payment requirements. We refer to this information as “Protected Health Information” or “PHI”. The Whole Child is committed to protecting the confidentiality of this information and advising you about the ways in which we may use and disclose your Protected Health Information (PHI).

This notice will tell you about the ways in which we may use and disclose your PHI. We also describe your rights and certain obligations that we have regarding the use and disclosure of PHI. We are required by law to:

PHI; and

The Whole Child will use and disclose your PHI for many different reasons. Some of the uses or disclosures will require your prior written authorization; others, however, will not. Below you will find the different categories of uses and disclosures, with some examples.

  1. Permissable Uses and Disclosures Without Your Written Authorization
  1. Certain Other Uses and Disclosures that Do Not Require Your Consent

 

  1. Uses and Disclosures Requiring Your Written Consent

 

 

  1. Your Rights Regarding Your Protected Health Information

 

  1. Right to Inspect and Copy You have the right to inspect and copy your and/or your child’s PHI that is used to make decisions about care. Usually, this includes medical and billing records, but does not include psychotherapy notes. To inspect and copy PHI that may be used to make decisions about you and/or your child, you must submit your request in writing (“Request for Access to Medical Information”) to the Privacy Officer at The Whole Child. If you request a copy of the information, we will charge a fee in amount of $0.15 (15 cents) for each page. Additional fees may be added for the cost of postage or other supplies associated with your request. If your health information is available electronically, under certain circumstances, you may be able to obtain this information in an electronic format. The Whole Child does reserve the right to deny requests to inspect and copy PHI in certain limited circumstances. If you are denied access to PHI, you may request, in writing, that the denial be reviewed. At that time, another licensed health care professional chosen by The Whole Child will review your request and the denial. The person conducting the review will not be the person who previously denied your request. We will comply with the outcome of the review.
  2. Limitations to PHI inspection and copy for minors If you are a parent or legal guardian of a minor, certain portions of the minor’s mental health record will not be accessible to you; for example, records pertaining to mental health care services for which the minor can lawfully give consent and therefore which the minor has the right to inspect or obtain copies of the record; or the mental health care provider determines, in good faith, that access to the patient records requested by the representative would have a detrimental effect on the provider’s professional relationship with the minor patient or on the minor’s physical safety or psychological well-being.
  3. Right to Amend If you feel that PHI we have about you and/or your child is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to include additional information in your medical record. You have the right to request an amendment for as long as all of the information, both old and new, is kept by or for The Whole Child. To request an amendment, a request must be made in writing and submitted to the Privacy Officer at The Whole Child. In addition, you must provide a reason that supports your request. The Whole Child reserves the right to deny your request for an amendment if it is not in writing or does not include a reason to support the request. In addition, we may deny your request if you ask us to amend information that: was not created by us, unless the person or entity that created the information is no longer available to make the amendment; is not part of the PHI kept by The Whole Child; is not part of the information which you would be permitted to inspect and copy; or is believed to be accurate and complete.
  4. Right to an Accounting of Disclosures You have the right to request an “accounting of disclosures.” This is a list of the disclosures we made of PHI about you and/or your child, excluding disclosures for the purpose of treatment, payment or healthcare operations. To request this list or accounting of disclosures, you must submit your request in writing to the Privacy Officer at The Whole Child. Your request must state a time period, which may not be more than six years prior to your request. Your request should indicate in what form you want the list (for example, on paper, electronically). The first list you request within a 12- month period will be free. For additional lists, we may charge you for the costs of providing the list. We will notify you of the cost involved and you may choose to withdraw or modify your request at that time before any costs are incurred.
  5. Right to Request Restrictions You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the PHI we use or disclose about you and/or your child for treatment, payment or health care operations. You also have the right to request a limit on the PHI we disclose about you and/or your child to someone who is involved in your care or the payment for your care, like a family member. We will do our best to honor your request; however, except when you fully pay out-of-pocket as explained below, we are not required to agree to your request. If we do agree, we will comply with your request unless the information is needed to provide you emergency treatment. To request restrictions, you must make your request in writing to the Privacy Officer at The Whole Child. In your request, you must tell us (1) what information you want to limit; (2) whether you want to limit our use, disclosure or both; and (3) to whom you want the limits to apply, for example, disclosures to your spouse.
  6. Right To Restrict Disclosure of Information For Certain Services You have the right to restrict the disclosure of information regarding services for which you or someone else has paid in full or on an out-of-pocket basis (in other words you, don’t ask us to bill your health plan or health insurance company). If you or someone else has paid in full for a service, we must agree to your request and we will not share this information with your health plan without your written authorization, unless the law requires us to share your information.
  7. 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. For example, you can ask that we only contact you at work or by mail. To request confidential communications, you must make your request in writing to the Privacy Officer at The Whole Child. We will not ask you the reason for your request. We will accommodate all reasonable requests. Your request must tell us how or where you wish to be contacted. If you do not tell us how or where you wish to be contacted, we do not have to honor your request.
  8. Right to Choose How PHI is Provided to You You have the right to choose how PHI is made available to you. While the preferred method of providing PHI to you is face to face, you may also ask to have the PHI sent to you at your primary household residence; at an alternate address (for example, sending information to your work address rather than your home address), or by alternative method including email instead of regular mail. The Whole Child will be agreeable to honor your requests providing that the PHI (in the format you requested) can be given to you without undue inconvenience. The Whole Child may not require an explanation as to the basis of the request as a condition of providing communications on a confidential basis.
  9. Right to a Copy of This Notice You have the right to a paper copy of this notice. You may ask us to give you a copy of this notice at any time. Even if you have agreed to receive this notice electronically, you are still entitled to a paper copy of this notice. To obtain a paper copy of this notice, ask any of our office staff. You also have the right to obtain this notice by email.
  10. Right to Revoke An Authorization If you provide us permission to use or disclose PHI about you and/or your child, you may revoke that permission, in writing, at any time. If you revoke your permission, we will no longer use or disclose PHI about you and/or your child for the reasons covered by your written authorization. Please understand that we are unable to take back any disclosures we have already made with your permission, and that we are required to retain our records of the care that we provided to you.
  11. Amendments to Privacy Rule (2013) Amendments were made in 2013 to the Privacy Rules which adopt the proposal in the interim rule requiring The Whole Child to provide you a copy of PHI to any individual patient requesting it in electronic form. The electronic format must be provided to you if it is readily producible. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) clarified that The Whole Child must provide you only with an electronic copy of PHI and not direct access to its electronic health record systems. The 2013 Amendments also give you the right to direct The Whole Child to transmit and electronic copy of PHI to an entity or person designated by you. Furthermore, the 2013 Amendments restrict the fees that The Whole Child may charge you for handling and reproduction of PHI, which must be reasonable, cost –based and identify separately the labor for copying PHI (if any). Finally, the 2013 Amendments modify the timeliness requirement for right of access, from up to 90 days currently permitted to 30 days, with a one-time extension of 30 additional days.

 

  1. Changes to This Notice
  1. Complaints

 

 

  1. Privacy Officer