Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy for Solace Point Therapy Clients

This notice describes how your mental health records may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please read it carefully. This policy is posted on our website at SolacePointTherapy.com. A paper copy is available upon request. This Privacy Policy is executed in English. You agree and acknowledge that you have reviewed this Privacy Policy in English.

Your Rights to Privacy under HIPAA Communications between psychotherapists and their clients are privileged and, therefore, are protected from forced disclosure in cases arising under federal law. There is a difference between "privileged conversations" and "documentation" in your mental health medical records, kept to document your care as required by law, professional standards, and other review procedures. HIPAA clearly defines what kind of information is to be included in your “Designated Medical Record,” as well as some material known as “Psychotherapy Notes,” which is not accessible to insurance companies and other third-party reviewers, and in some cases, not to the clients themselves. HIPAA provides privacy protections about your personal health information, called “protected health information” (PHI), which could personally identify you. PHI consists of three components: treatment, payment, and health care operations.

DEFINITIONS

"Treatment" refers to activities in which I provide, coordinate, or manage your mental health care or other services related to your mental health care. Examples include a psychotherapy session, psychological testing, or talking to your primary care physician about your medication or overall medical condition.

"Payment" is when I obtain reimbursement for your mental health care. The clearest example of this is filing insurance on your behalf to help pay for some of the costs of the mental health services provided for you.

"Health care operations" are activities related to the performance of my practice such as quality assurance. In mental health care, the best example of health care operations is when utilization review occurs, a process in which your insurance company reviews our work together to see if your care is “medically necessary.”

"The use of your protected health information" refers to activities my office conducts for filing your claims, scheduling appointments, keeping records, and other tasks within my office related to your care.

"Disclosures" refers to activities you authorize which occur outside my office such as the sending of your protected health information to other parties (i.e., your primary care physician, the school your child attends).

Uses and Disclosures of Protected Health Information Requiring Authorization

The law requires authorization and consent for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations. I may disclose PHI for the purposes of treatment, payment, and healthcare operations with your consent. Signing this general consent to care, and authorization to conduct payment and health care operations, authorizes me to provide treatment and to conduct administrative steps associated with your care (i.e., file insurance for you).

Additionally, if you want me to send any of your protected health information to anyone outside my office, you must sign specific authorization to release information to this outside party. A copy of that authorization form is available upon request. An example of this type of release of information might be your request that I speak with your child’s school/teacher about their ADHD condition, and what this teacher might do to be of help to your child. Before I speak with that teacher, you will have to sign the proper authorization.

There is a third special authorization provision that may be relevant to the privacy of your records: my psychotherapy notes. In recognition of the importance of the confidentiality of conversations between psychotherapist and client in treatment settings, HIPAA permits keeping “psychotherapy notes” separate from the overall designated medical record.

“Psychotherapy notes” are session notes recorded in any medium by a mental health provider documenting and analyzing the contents of a conversation during a private, group, or joint family counseling session, and kept separate from the rest of the individual’s medical record. Official psychotherapy notes cannot be secured by insurance companies, nor can insurance companies insist upon their release for payment of services. Psychotherapy notes are necessarily more private, and contain much more personal information about you, hence the need for increased security of the notes. Psychotherapy notes are not the same as your “progress notes,” which contain information about your care and appointments, such as medication prescriptions and monitoring, assessment/treatment start and stop times, the modalities of care, frequency of treatment furnished, results of clinical tests, summary of your diagnoses, functional status, treatment plan, symptoms, prognosis, and progress to date.

Certain payors of care, such as Medicare and Workers Compensation, require the release of both your progress notes and my psychotherapy notes in order to pay for your care. If I am forced to submit your psychotherapy notes, in addition to your progress notes for reimbursement for services, you will need to sign an additional authorization directing me to release my psychotherapy notes. Most of the time, I will be able to limit reviews of your protected health information to only your “designated record set,” which includes all identifying paperwork you completed when you first started your care here, all billing information, a summary of our first appointment, your mental status examination, your individualized comprehensive treatment plan, your discharge summary, progress notes, reviews of your care by managed care companies, results of psychological testing, and any authorization letters or summaries of care you have authorized me to release on your behalf. The actual test questions or raw data of psychological tests are not part of your “designated mental health record.”

You may, in writing, revoke all authorizations to disclose protected health information at any time. You cannot revoke an authorization for release of information that has already been completed per your request, or if the authorization was obtained as a condition for obtaining insurance and the insurer has the right to contest the claim under the policy.

Business Associates

Disclosures HIPAA requires that I ensure that all those performing ancillary administrative service for my practice, referred to as “Business Associates,” sign and enter into a HIPAA compliant Business Associate Agreement so that your privacy is ensured at all times.

Uses and Disclosures Not Requiring Consent nor Authorization by Law

protected health information may be released without your consent or authorization for the following reasons:

Child Abuse (or suspected sexual abuse of a child)
Adult and Domestic Abuse
Health Oversight Activities (i.e., licensing board for Professional Counselors)
Judicial or Administrative Proceedings (i.e., if you are ordered here by the court)
Serious Threat to Health or Safety (i.e., out “Duty to Warn” Law, national security threats)
Workers Compensation Claims (if you seek to have your care reimbursed under Workers Compensation, all of your care is automatically subject to review by your employer and/or insurer.)

Solace Point Therapy will never release any information of any sort for marketing purposes.

Client’s Rights and My Duties

You have a right to the following:

The right to request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of your protected health information, which I may or may not agree to, but if I do, such restrictions shall apply unless our agreement is changed in writing.
The right to receive confidential communications by alternative means and at alternative locations. For example, you may not want your bills sent to your home address so I will send them to another location of your choosing.
The right to inspect and receive a copy of your protected health information in my designated mental health record set and any billing records for as long as protected health information is maintained in the records.
The right to amend material in your protected health information, although I may deny an improper request and/or respond to any amendment(s) you make to your record of care.
The right to an accounting of non-authorized disclosures of your protected health information;
The right to a paper copy of notices/information from me, even if you have previously requested electronic transmission of notices/information.
The right to revoke your authorization of your protected health information except to the extent that action has already been taken.

For more information on how to exercise each of these aforementioned rights, please do not hesitate to ask me for further assistance. I am required by law to maintain the privacy of your protected health information and to provide you with a notice of your Privacy Rights and my duties regarding your PHI.

I reserve the right to change my privacy policies and practices as needed with these current designated practices being applicable unless you receive a revision of my policies when you come for your future appointment(s).

My duties as a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker on these matters, include maintaining the privacy of your protected health information, to provide you this notice of your rights and my privacy practices with respect to your PHI, and to abide by the terms of this notice unless it is changed and you are so notified.

If you desire a copy of my internal policies for executing private practices, please let me know and I will get you a copy of these documents I keep on file for auditing purposes. ComplaintsIf you have concerns of any sort that my office may have compromised your privacy rights, please do not hesitate to speak to Jerry Woodards immediately about the matter. You will always find us willing to talk to you about preserving the privacy of your protected mental health information. You may also send a written complaint to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. HIPAA provides client protections related to the electronic transmission of data (the transaction rule), the keeping and use of client records (“privacy rules”), and storage and access to health care records (“the security rules”). HIPAA applies to all health care providers, including mental healthcare providers, and health care agencies, which are now required to provide clients a notification of their privacy rights as it relates to their health care records.

In mental health care, confidentiality and privacy are central to the success of the therapeutic relationship, and as such, I will do all I can to protect the privacy of your mental health records.
If you have any questions about any of the matters discussed in this document, please do not hesitate to ask me for further clarification. My Client Notification of Privacy Rights is my attempt to inform you of your rights in a simple yet comprehensive fashion. Please read this document as it is important you know what client protections HIPAA affords all of us.

Contacting Us

If you have questions regarding this Privacy Policy, its implementation, failure to adhere to this Privacy Policy and/or our general practices, send your comments to:

Solace Point Therapy

Jerry Woodards, MSW, LICSW

Clinical Director Solace Point Therapy

jerry@solacepointtherapy.com

(360) 977-4133