HIPAA Privacy Statement

Introduction

At Ebb Tide Treatment Centers, we are committed to keeping your protected health information (PHI) confidential. This Notice of Health Information Practices is required by law and describes how and when we use or disclose your protected personal health information. Disclosure may occur without your authorization for purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations. This notice also describes your rights as they relate to your protected health information as defined by federal regulations called HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).

Understanding Your Health Record/Information

Each session at Ebb Tide Treatment Centers is documented. Typically, this record contains your symptoms, physical exam, assessments, therapy sessions, any test results, diagnoses, treatment, and a plan for future care or treatment if appropriate. This information makes up your “medical record” or personal and protected health information, and serves as a:

• basis for planning your care and treatment;
• means of communication with other health professionals who contribute to your care;
• legal document describing the care you received;
• means by which you or a third-party payer can verify that services billed were actually provided;
• source of information for public health officials charged with protecting the health of this state and the nation (only under very restricted circumstances);

Your Rights

Although your health record is the physical property of Ebb Tide Treatment Centers, the information belongs to you. You have the right to:

• obtain a paper copy of this notice of information practices upon request;
• request a copy of your health record;
• request an amendment to your health record;
• obtain an accounting of disclosures of your health information;
• request disclosure of your health information by alternative means (fax, e-mail);
• request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your information;
• revoke your authorization to use or disclose health information except to the extent that disclosure is required by law or disclosure has already occurred.

Our Responsibilities

Ebb Tide Treatment Centers is required to:

• maintain the privacy of your health information;
• provide you with this notice as to our legal duties and privacy practices about information we collect and maintain;
• abide by the terms of this notice;
• notify you if we are unable to agree to a requested amendment or restriction, and;
• accommodate reasonable requests you may have to communicate health information to other providers;
• records are purged (burned or shredded) seven (7) years after the client has left treatment.

Disclosures for treatment, payment, and health operations may include the following:

• Treatment: Information obtained by a physician, or other member of your treatment team will be recorded in your record and used to determine the course of treatment that should work best for you.
• Insurance reimbursement. We bill insurance companies and therefore will send information contained in the medical record as requested.
• Continuous Quality Improvement Activities. Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Activities are activities that are nationally recognized to evaluate and improve patient care. CQI activities may include periodic chart reviews to determine the effectiveness and appropriateness of care, completeness of charting, trends in illness and therapy and more. This information is used in an effort to continually improve the quality and effectiveness of the health care and services we provide. These activities are performed internally as to protect patient confidentiality.
• Notification: We may use or disclose information to notify or assist in notifying a family member, in case of emergency. The law requires health care providers break confidentiality under certain circumstances, which include a patient endangering themselves or others.
• Public health: As required by law we may disclose your health information to public health or legal authorities charged with preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability.
• Law Enforcement: We may disclose health information for law enforcement purposes as required by law or in response to a valid subpoena. Federal law makes provision for your health information to be released to an appropriate health oversight agency, public health authority or attorney, if a member of the work force (employee) or business associate, believes in good faith, that we have engaged in unlawful conduct or have otherwise violated professional or clinical standards and are potentially endangering one or more patients, workers or the public.