It is the policy of our practice that all counselors and staff preserve the integrity and the confidentiality of protected health information (PHI) pertaining to our clients. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that our practice and its counselors and staff have the necessary medical and PHI to provide the highest quality medical care possible while protecting the confidentiality of the PHI of our clients to the highest degree possible. Clients should not be afraid to provide information to our practice, counselors, or our staff for the purposes of treatment, payment, and healthcare operations (TPO). To that end, our practice and its counselors and staff will:
-Adhere to the standards set forth in the Notice of Privacy Practices.
-Collect, use and disclose PHI only in conformance with state and federal laws and current client covenants and/or authorizations, as appropriate. Our practice and its counselors and staff will not use or disclose PHI for uses outside of the practice’s TPO, such as marketing, employment, life insurance applications, etc. without authorization from the client.
-Use and disclose PHI to remind clients of their appointments unless they instruct us not to.
-Recognize that PHI collected about clients must be accurate, timely, complete, and available when needed. Our practice and its counselors and staff will implement reasonable measures to protect the integrity of all PHI maintained about clients.
-Recognize that clients have a right to privacy.
-Our practice and its counselors and staff respect the client’s individual dignity at all times.
-Our practice and its counselors and staff will respect clients’ privacy to the extent consistent with providing the highest quality medical care possible and with the efficient administration of the facility.
-Act as responsible information stewards and treat all PHI as sensitive and confidential. Consequently, our practice and its counselors and staff will – Treat all PHI data as confidential in accordance with professional ethics, accreditation standards, and legal requirements.
-Not disclose PHI data unless the client (or his or her authorized representative) has properly authorized the release or the release is otherwise authorized by law.
-Recognize that, although our practice “owns” the counseling record, the client has a right to inspect and obtain a copy of his/her PHI. In addition, clients have a right to request an amendment to his/her counseling record if he/she believes his/her information is inaccurate or incomplete.
-Provide clients an opportunity to request the correction of inaccurate or incomplete PHI in their counseling records in accordance with the law and professional standards.
-All counselors and staff of our practice will adhere to any restrictions concerning the use or disclosure of PHI that clients have requested and have been approved by our practice.
-All counselors and staff of our practice must adhere to this policy. Our practice will not tolerate violations of this policy. Violation of this policy is grounds for disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment and criminal or professional sanctions in accordance with our practice’s personnel rules and regulations.
-Our practice may change this privacy policy in the future.
Any changes will be effective upon the release of a revised privacy policy and will be made available to clients upon request.
Client Privacy
It is the policy of our practice that all counselors and staff preserve the integrity and the confidentiality of protected health information (PHI) pertaining to our clients. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that our practice and its counselors and staff have the necessary medical and PHI to provide the highest quality medical care possible while protecting the confidentiality of the PHI of our clients to the highest degree possible. Clients should not be afraid to provide information to our practice, counselors, or our staff for the purposes of treatment, payment, and healthcare operations (TPO). To that end, our practice and its counselors and staff will:
-Adhere to the standards set forth in the Notice of Privacy Practices.
-Collect, use and disclose PHI only in conformance with state and federal laws and current client covenants and/or authorizations, as appropriate. Our practice and its counselors and staff will not use or disclose PHI for uses outside of the practice’s TPO, such as marketing, employment, life insurance applications, etc. without authorization from the client.
-Use and disclose PHI to remind clients of their appointments unless they instruct us not to.
-Recognize that PHI collected about clients must be accurate, timely, complete, and available when needed. Our practice and its counselors and staff will implement reasonable measures to protect the integrity of all PHI maintained about clients.
-Recognize that clients have a right to privacy.
-Our practice and its counselors and staff respect the client’s individual dignity at all times.
-Our practice and its counselors and staff will respect clients’ privacy to the extent consistent with providing the highest quality medical care possible and with the efficient administration of the facility.
-Act as responsible information stewards and treat all PHI as sensitive and confidential. Consequently, our practice and its counselors and staff will – Treat all PHI data as confidential in accordance with professional ethics, accreditation standards, and legal requirements.
-Not disclose PHI data unless the client (or his or her authorized representative) has properly authorized the release or the release is otherwise authorized by law.
-Recognize that, although our practice “owns” the counseling record, the client has a right to inspect and obtain a copy of his/her PHI. In addition, clients have a right to request an amendment to his/her counseling record if he/she believes his/her information is inaccurate or incomplete.
-Provide clients an opportunity to request the correction of inaccurate or incomplete PHI in their counseling records in accordance with the law and professional standards.
-All counselors and staff of our practice will adhere to any restrictions concerning the use or disclosure of PHI that clients have requested and have been approved by our practice.
-All counselors and staff of our practice must adhere to this policy. Our practice will not tolerate violations of this policy. Violation of this policy is grounds for disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment and criminal or professional sanctions in accordance with our practice’s personnel rules and regulations.
-Our practice may change this privacy policy in the future.
Any changes will be effective upon the release of a revised privacy policy and will be made available to clients upon request.