THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
Strategic Therapeutic Solutions, LLC ("STS") is required by law to protect the privacy of your health information, to give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, and to follow the terms of the notice currently in effect. Some of the services we provide, including our substance use disorder programs, are also protected by federal confidentiality rules at 42 CFR Part 2, which give those records extra protection. Texas law, including Texas Health and Safety Code Chapters 181 and 611, also protects your health and mental health information.
Your rights
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 a copy of your health record. You can ask to see or get a paper or electronic copy of your health record and other health information we have about you. We will provide a copy or a summary, usually within 30 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable, cost based fee.
- Ask us to correct your record. You can ask us to correct health information that you think is incorrect or incomplete. We may say no, 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 (for example, a particular phone number) 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, and we may say no if it would affect your care. If you pay for a service in full out of pocket, you can ask us not to share that information with your health insurer for payment or operations, and we will say yes unless a law requires us to share it.
- 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 before the date you ask, who we shared it with, and why. We will include all disclosures except those for treatment, payment and health care operations, and certain others, such as any you asked us to make. We provide one accounting a year free.
- Get a copy of this notice. You can ask for a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically.
- 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 confirm the person has this authority before we act.
- File a complaint if you feel your rights are violated. You can complain to our Privacy Officer using the details at the end of this notice, or to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by writing to 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20201, calling 1 877 696 6775, or visiting www.hhs.gov/ocr/complaints. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.
Your choices
For certain health information, you can tell us your choices about what we share. 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, or to 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 share your information if we believe it is in your best interest, and we may also share information when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.
We will never share your information for marketing purposes or sell your information unless you give us written permission. We will never share psychotherapy notes without your written permission, except as the law allows. If we contact you for fundraising, you can tell us not to contact you again.
Our uses and disclosures
We typically use or share your health information in the following ways:
- Treat you. We can use your health information and share it with other professionals who are treating you. Example: your therapist may share information with our psychiatric nurse practitioner about your condition.
- Run our organization. We can use and share your health information to run our practice, improve your care and contact you when necessary. Example: we use health information to review the quality of our services.
- Bill for your services. We can use and share your health information to bill and get payment from health plans or other entities. Example: we give information about you to your health insurance plan so it will pay for your services.
How else can we use or share your health information?
We are allowed or required to share your information in other ways, usually in ways that contribute to the public good. We have to meet many conditions in the law before we can share your information for these purposes:
- Helping with public health and safety issues, such as reporting suspected abuse, neglect or domestic violence, or preventing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety
- Doing research, under strict conditions
- Complying with the law, including when federal or state agencies ask to confirm we are following privacy law
- Responding to organ and tissue donation requests and working with a medical examiner or funeral director
- Addressing workers’ compensation, law enforcement and other government requests, as permitted by law
- Responding to lawsuits and legal actions, in response to a court or administrative order or a subpoena, subject to the extra protections described below
Special protections for substance use disorder records (42 CFR Part 2)
Records of substance use disorder treatment that we receive or create as a federally assisted substance use program have additional protection under federal law (42 CFR Part 2). In summary:
- Consent for treatment, payment and operations. We may use and share these records for treatment, payment and health care operations only with your written consent. You may give a single consent that covers all future uses and disclosures for those purposes, and you can revoke it in writing at any time, except to the extent we have already acted on it.
- No use against you in legal proceedings. Your substance use disorder records, or testimony about their content, may not be used or disclosed in any civil, criminal, administrative or legislative investigation or proceeding against you unless you give specific written consent or a court issues an order that meets the requirements of 42 CFR Part 2, along with a subpoena or similar legal mandate.
- Disclosures without consent. We may share these records without your consent only in limited situations allowed by Part 2, such as a medical emergency, certain research, audits and evaluations, reporting suspected child abuse or neglect under state law, or as required by a qualifying court order.
- Fundraising. If we ever wish to use your records for fundraising, you will be given a clear opportunity to opt out first.
- Breach notification. If there is a breach of your substance use disorder records, we will notify you as required by law.
- Redisclosure. Anyone who receives these records with your consent may be restricted by federal law from sharing them further.
Violations of 42 CFR Part 2 may be reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights at the contact details above.
Our responsibilities
- 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 we can in writing. If you tell us we can, you may change your mind at any time by letting us know in writing.
Changes to the terms of this notice
We can change the terms of this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The new notice will be available on request, in our office and on our website.
Contact our Privacy Officer
Privacy Officer: [name]. Strategic Therapeutic Solutions, LLC, 8303 Southwest Freeway, Suite 100, Houston, TX 77074. Phone: (713) 485 4207. Email: [privacy email, for example privacy@stshealing.com].