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CareMind®

Privacy Policy

Notice of Privacy Practices

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION.

CareMind® is committed to maintaining and protecting the confidentiality of our patients' personal and sensitive information. We are required by federal and state law to protect the privacy of your individually identifiable health information and other personal information and to send you this Notice about our policies, safeguards and practices. When we use or disclose your confidential information, we are bound by the terms of this Notice or the revised Notice, if we revise it.

We will not disclose confidential information without your authorization unless it is medically necessary and if not disclosing the information may slow down or prevent delivery of life saving medical care. When we need to disclose individually identifiable information, we will follow the policies described in this Notice to protect your confidentiality.

Locations that maintain confidential information have procedures for accessing, labeling and storing confidential records. Access to our facilities is limited to care providers and authorized personnel. We restrict internal access to confidential information to employees who need to know that information to conduct our business. We train employees on policies and procedures designed to protect your privacy.

We will not use your confidential information or disclose it to others without your authorization, except for the following purposes:

  • Treatment: We may disclose your confidential information to your health care provider (e.g., internist) if the information necessary to provide medically necessary care and if the delay in providing such information would slow down or prevent delivery of life saving medical care.
  • Payment: We may use and disclose your confidential information to your insurance carrier to obtain and determine your health plan benefits, fulfill our responsibility to provide services to you as their member, and receive payment from your insurance carrier for providing services. The information disclosed is typically your diagnosis and proposed treatment plan.
  • Public Health Activities: We may disclose your confidential information for the following public health activities and purposes; (1) to report health information to public health authorities that are authorized by law to receive such information for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability; (2) to report child abuse or neglect to a government authority that is authorized by law to receive such reports; (3) to report information about a product or activity that is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to a person responsible for the quality, safety or effectiveness of the product or activity; and (4) to alert a person who may have been exposed to a communicable disease, if we are authorized by law to give this notice.
  • Health Oversight Activities: We may disclose your confidential information to a government agency that is legally responsible for oversight of the healthcare system or for ensuring compliance with the rules of government benefit programs, such as Medicare or Medicaid, or other regulatory programs that need health information to determine compliance.
  • To Comply with the Law: We may use and disclose your confidential information to comply with the law.
  • Judicial and Administrative Proceeding:. We may disclose your confidential information in a judicial or administrative proceeding or in response to a legal order.
  • Health or Safety: We may disclose your confidential information to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety or the health and safety of the general public.
  • Please note that the above is related to the disclosure of the patient record. Our psychiatrists and therapists keep minimal information that is required by regulatory agencies as part of the patient record. If any personal process notes are recorded, these are kept separate from the record. In this form, these are protected under the Federal Law and are not shared with anyone. We will not use or disclose your confidential information for any purpose other than the purposes described in this Notice without your written authorization.

Your Individual Rights

  • Right to Request Additional Restrictions: You may request restrictions on the use and disclosure of your confidential information for the treatment, payment, and health care operations purposes explained in this Notice. While we will consider all requests for restrictions carefully, we are not required to agree to a requested restriction.
  • Right to Inspect and Copy your Confidential Information: You may ask to inspect or to obtain a copy of your confidential information that is included in certain records we maintain. Under limited circumstances, we may deny you access to a portion of your records. If you request copies, we may charge you copying and mailing costs.
  • Right to Amend your Records: You have the right to ask us to amend your confidential information that is contained in your records. If we determine that the record is inaccurate, and the law permits us to amend it, we will correct it. If another person created the information that you want to change (e.g., a copy of a psychological assessment performed by another professional), you should ask that person to amend the information.
  • Upon request, you may obtain an accounting of disclosures we have made of your confidential information. If you wish to make any of the requests listed above under "Individual Rights," you must complete and mail a request for our attention.
  • If you want more information about your privacy rights, do not understand your privacy rights, are concerned that we have violated your privacy rights or disagree with a decision that we made about access to your confidential information, you may contact us. You may also file written complaints with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will not take any action against you if you file a complaint with the Secretary or us.

We may change the terms of this Notice at any time. If we change this Notice, we may make the new notice terms effective for all of your confidential information that we maintain, including any information we created or received before we issued the new notice. If we change this Notice, we will send you the new notice if you are an active patient of ours at that time.

HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices

This notice describes how medical information about you/child may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review carefully.

You have the right to:

  • Get a copy of your paper or electronic medical record
  • Correct your paper or electronic medical record
  • Request confidential communication
  • Ask us to limit the information we share
  • Get a list of those with whom we have shared your information
  • Get a copy of this privacy notice
  • Choose someone to act for you
  • File a complaint if you believe your privacy rights have been violated
  • You have some choices in the way that we use and share information as we:
    • Tell family and friends about your condition
    • Provide disaster relief
    • Include you in a hospital directory
    • Provide mental health care
    • Market our services and sell your information
    • Raise funds

When it comes to your health information, you have certain rights. This section explains your rights and some of our responsibilities to help you.

Get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record

  • You can ask to see or get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record and other health information we have about you.
  • We will provide a copy or a summary of your health information, usually within 30 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable, cost based fee.

Ask us to correct your medical record

  • You can ask us to correct health information about you that you think is incorrect or incomplete
  • We may say “no” to your request, but we will tell you why in writing within 60 days

Request confidential communications

  • You can ask us to contact you in a specific way or to send mail to a different address
  • We will say “yes” to all reasonable requests.

Ask us to limit what we use or share

  • You can ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment, or our operations. We are not required to agree to your request, and we may say “no” if it would affect your care.
  • If you pay for a service or health care item out of pocket in full, you can ask us not to share that information for the purpose of payment or payment or our operations with your health insurer. We will say “yes” unless a law requires us to share that information.

Get a list of those with whom we have shared information

  • You can ask for a list(accounting) of the times we have shared your health information for six years prior to the date you ask, who we shared it with, and why.
  • We will include all the disclosures except for those about treatment, payment, and health care operations, and certain other disclosures (such as any you asked us to make).

Get a copy of this privacy notice

  • You can ask for a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you have agreed to receive the notice electronically. We will provide you with a paper copy promptly.

Choose someone to act for you

  • If you have given someone medical power of attorney or if someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights and make choices about your health information
  • We will make sure the person has this authority and can for you before we take any action

File a complaint if you feel your rights are violated

  • You can complain if you feel we have violated your rights by contacting us
  • You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights
  • We will not retaliate against you for filling a complaint

For certain health information, you can tell us your choices about what we share

If you have a clear preference for how we share your information in the situations described below, talk to us

In these cases, you have both the right and choice to tell us to:

  • Share information with your family, close friends, or others involved in your care
  • Share information in a disaster relief situation
  • If you are not able to tell us your preference, for example if you are unconscious, we may go ahead and share your information if we believe it is in your best interest. We may also share your information when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health and safety.

In these cases, we never share your information unless you give us written permission:

  • Marketing purposes
  • Sale of your information
  • Most sharing of psychotherapy notes
  • In the case of fundraising, we will not contact you for fundraising

We Typically use or share your health information to in the following ways:

  • For workers’ compensation claims
  • For law enforcement purposes or with a law enforcement official
  • With health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law
  • For special government functions such as military, national security, and presidential protective services
  • Respond to lawsuits and legal actions
    • We can share health information about you in response to a court or administrative order, or in response to a subpoena.
  • We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.
    • We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.
  • We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it.
    • We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us that we can in writing. If you tell us, we can,
  • Respond to lawsuits and legal actions
  • We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.
  • We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.
  • We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it.
  • We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us that we can in writing. If you tell us, we can, you may change your mind at any time. Let us know in writing if you change your mind.

This Notice is effective as of September 1, 2015.

Reviewed by Axis Healthcare Group, P.C. d.b.a. CareMind® as of March, 2022.