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. CARE Clinics, LLC (CARE Counseling and/or CAREfree Counseling) referred to throughout as CARE, we understand that you are sharing private and personal information with us and your privacy is very important. Your confidential and private information is called “protected heath information” (PHI) and is protected under the “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” (HIPAA). Below you will find information about HIPAA and applicable Minnesota State Law. This can be complicated, so some parts of this notice are very detailed to make sure you have and understand how your information may be used and/or disclosed, and your rights related to your private health information. If you have any questions, our privacy officer will be happy to help you understand our procedures and your rights. Her name and address are at the end of this notice. Contents of this notice
This notice will tell you how we handle your medical information. It tells how we use this information here in this office, how we share it with other professionals and organizations, and how you can see it. We want you to know all of this so that you can make the best decisions for yourself and your family. If you have any questions or want to know more about anything in this notice, please ask our privacy officer for an explanation or more details.
Each time you visit us or any doctor’s office, hospital, clinic, or other health care provider, information is collected about you and your physical and mental health. It may be information about your past, present, or future health or conditions, or the tests and treatment you got from us or from others, or about payment for health care. The information we collect from you is called “PHI,” which stands for “protected health information.” This information goes into your medical or health care records in our office. In this office, your PHI is likely to include these kinds of information:
We use PHI for many purposes. For example, we may use it:
When you understand what is in your record and what it is used for, you can make better decisions about who, when, and why others should have this information. Although your health care records in our office are our physical property, the information belongs to you. You can read your records, and if you want a copy we can make one for you (but we charge you for the costs of copying and mailing, if you want it mailed to you). In some very rare situations, you cannot see all of what is in your records. If you find anything in your records that you think is incorrect or believe that something important is missing, you can ask us to amend (add information to) your records, although in some rare situations we do not have to agree to do that. To obtain a copy of your records, we need a request in writing, and you will be asked to complete an ROI for yourself to help us document this request. A summary of treatment is often enough information for most people. If you want, our privacy officer, whose name is at the end of this notice, can explain more about this.
We are required to tell you about privacy because of a federal law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). HIPAA requires us to keep your PHI private and to give you this notice about our legal duties and our privacy practices. We will obey the rules described in this notice. Where more stringent state or federal law governs PHI, CARE will abide by the more stringent law. CARE reserves the right to amend Notice. All changes are applicable to PHI collected and maintained by CARE. We keep copies of our new notice of privacy practices at each CARE location if you want a physical copy and an electronic copy can be sent to your TN portal at any time. It is also posted on our website at www.CARE-Clinics.com.
Except in some special circumstances, when we use your PHI in this office or disclose it to others, we share only the minimum necessary PHI needed for those other people to do their jobs. The law gives you rights to know about your PHI, to know how it is used, and to have a say in how it is shared. So, we will tell you more about what we do with your information. CARE will use and disclose your PHI for routine purposes to provide for your care, and we will explain more about these below. For other uses, we must tell you about them and ask you to sign a written authorization form. However, the law also says that there are some uses and disclosures that don’t need your consent or authorization and these are noted below. In almost all cases we intend to use your PHI here or share it with other people or organizations to provide treatment to you, arrange for payment for our services, or some other business functions called “health care operations.” In other words, we need information about you and your condition to provide care to you. You have to agree to let us collect the information, use it, and share it to care for you properly. Therefore, you must sign the Consent to Psychotherapy Form before we begin to treat you. If you do not agree and consent, we cannot treat you.
Other uses and disclosures in health care:
If we want to use your information for any purpose besides those described above, we need your permission on a release of information form. If you do allow us to use or disclose your PHI, you can cancel that permission in writing at any time.
The law lets us use and disclose some of your PHI without your consent or authorization in some cases. Here are some examples of when we might do this.
We can share some information about you with your family or close others. We will only share information with those involved in your care and anyone else you choose, such as close friends or clergy. We will ask you which persons you want us to tell, and what information you want us to tell them, about your condition or treatment. You can tell us what you want, and we will honor your wishes as long as it is not against the law. If it is an emergency, and so we cannot ask if you disagree, we can share information if we believe that it is what you would have wanted and if we believe it will help you if we do share it. If we do share information, in an emergency, we will tell you as soon as we can. If you do not approve, we will stop, as long as it is not against the law.
When we disclose your PHI, we may keep some records of whom we sent it to, when we sent it, and what we sent. You can get an accounting (a list) of many of these disclosures.
As a consumer of mental health services offered by Mental Health Professionals and/or Practitioners working under a Mental Health Professional and/or Medication Manager licensed by the state of Minnesota, you have the right:
To exercise these rights, please submit a written request to the Practice at [email protected] or mail it to 7601 Wayzata Blvd, St. Louis Park, MN 55426.
If you need more information or have questions about the privacy practices described above, please speak to the privacy officer. As stated above, you have the right to file a complaint with us and with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We promise that we will not in any way limit your care here or take any actions against you if you complain. If you have any questions or problems about this notice or our health information privacy policies, please contact our privacy officer, Dr. Andrea Hutchinson, who is and can be reached by phone at 612.223.8898 or by e-mail at [email protected]. The effective date of this notice is June 2014 and updated March 2022.
We’re Here to helpOur wellness experts will be happy to take care of you. You can CLICK HERE to schedule an appointment now or call (612)223-8898. Meet CliniciansWe’re united by our commitment to providing effective, relevant, and innovative mental health support at all stages of your journey. Click Here to find out more about who we are, where we come from, and how we live out CARE’s mission every day. The professionals at CARE are actively collecting and creating resources to help with what you need. We’re Here for You. from https://care-clinics.com/privacy-policies/
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