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. Please review it carefully.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Get a copy of your paper or electronic health record
• Correct your paper or electronic health record
• Request confidential communication
• Ask us to limit the information we share
• Get a list of those with whom we’ve 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

Your Choices

You have some choices in the way that we use and share information as we:

• Discuss your needs with family and friends
• Provide disaster relief
• Provide mental health care
• Market our services and utilize your information through third party services
• Raise funds

Our Uses and Disclosures

We may use and share your information as we:

• Help you
• Run our organization
• Help with public health and safety issues
• Perform research
• Respond to organ and tissue donation requests
• Work with a health examiner or funeral director
• Comply with the law, including addressing workers’ compensation, law enforcement, and other government requests
• Respond to lawsuits and legal actions

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.

• You can ask to see or get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record and other health information we have about you. Ask us how to do this.
• 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 health record

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

Request confidential communications

• You can ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, home or office phone) 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.

Get a list of those with whom we’ve shared information

• You can ask for a list (accounting) of the times we’ve 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). We’ll provide one accounting a year for free but will charge a reasonable, cost-based fee if you ask for another one within 12 months.

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 health 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 act 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 by sending a letter to 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, calling 1-877-696-6775, or visiting www.hhs.gov/hipaa/filing-a-complaint/index.html.
• 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. If you have a clear preference for how we share your information in the situations described below, talk to us. Tell us what you want us to do, and we will follow your instructions. 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
• Include your information in a hospital directory

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. We may also share your information when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or 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

Our Uses and Disclosures

How do we typically use or share your health information?

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

Help you with treatment

We use your health information and share it with other professionals who are treating you. Example: A doctor treating you for an injury asks another doctor about your overall health condition.

Run our organization

We use and share your health information to run our practice, improve your care, and contact you when necessary. Example: We use health information about you to manage your treatment and 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, such as public health and research. We have to meet many conditions in the law before we can share your information for these purposes. For more information, see HHS.

Help with public health and safety issues

We can share health information about you for certain situations such as:

• Preventing disease
• Helping with product recalls
• Reporting adverse reactions to medications
• Reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence
• Preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety

Do research

We can use or share your information for health research.

Comply with the law

We will share information about you if state or federal laws require it, including with the Department of Health and Human Services if it wants to see that we’re complying with federal privacy law.

Respond to organ and tissue donation requests

We can share health information about you with organ procurement organizations.

Work with a health examiner or funeral director

We can share health information with a coroner, health examiner, or funeral director when an individual dies.

Address workers’ compensation, law enforcement, and other government requests

We can use or share health information about you:

• 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 cannot agree to limit uses/disclosures that are required by law.

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 upon request.
• 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. Let us know in writing if you change your mind.

Our Commitment to Safeguard Your Protected Health Information:

Because we are a health clinic that does not engage in any transactions that invoke coverage of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), the privacy practices described in this notice are voluntarily undertaken in order to safeguard your protected health information (PHI). Nothing in this notice should be construed as creating any contractual or legal rights for the recipient of our free services or other parties.

For more information on our responsibilities from HHS.

Additional Notices

We can share personal and health information about you with our Network Health Provider(s) and other providers you designate, including by electronic disclosure.

To the extent permitted by applicable laws, Virtual Care Services reserves the right to directly or through third parties de-identify personal and health information about you and to exploit such de-identified information for any purpose.

Virtual Care Services voluntarily complies with HIPAA privacy and security requirements as a best practice model for use and disclosure of Client information. Virtual Care Service is neither a Covered Entity nor Business Associate under HIPAA and is not legally obligated to comply with HIPAA privacy or security requirements.

State Notices & Disclosures

• California Residents, please review our Notice of Privacy Practices.
• Colorado Residents, special rights may apply. Contact us for details.
• Virginia Residents, special rights may apply. Contact us for details.
• Texas Residents, all virtual services comply with the Texas Health and Safety Code §181.101.

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 upon request, in our office, and on our website.

Privacy Official: If you have any questions or concerns about our privacy practices, please contact us using the information provided below.

Effective Date: This notice goes into effect on March 4, 2023.