Notice Of Privacy Practices
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      MindWeal Health Notice Of Privacy Practices

      MindWeal Health Notice Of Privacy Practices

      Introduction

      We are furnishing you with this Notice of Privacy Practices as mandated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This document outlines the permissible ways in which we might use or disclose your Protected Health Information (PHI) for treatment, payment, healthcare operations, and other legally allowed purposes. It also details your entitlement to access and manage your PHI. The term 'Protected health information' or PHI encompasses information about you, including demographic details, that can identify you and pertains to your past, present, or future physical or mental health, along with associated healthcare services.

      We are required to abide by the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices. We may change the terms of our notice, at any time. The new notice will be effective for all PHI that we maintain at that time. Upon your request, we will provide you with any revised Notice of Privacy Practices. You may request a revised version by accessing our website or calling the office and requesting that a revised copy be sent to you or asking for one at the time of your next appointment. If you have any questions about our Notice of Privacy Practices, you can contact our Privacy Officer by calling us at (618) 310-0085 or emailing us at contact@MindWeal.com.

      Safeguarding PHI Within the Office

      We do not store any paper charts in our office. All patient charts are stored in our Electronic Medical Record (EMR). If we receive any documents related to your treatment in mail, we scan it and upload it to EMR and shred the paper document. We regularly train our staff on the obligation to protect the privacy of your PHI. Only staff members who have a “need to know” are permitted access to your medical records and other PHI. Our staff understands the legal and ethical obligation to protect your PHI and that violation of this Notice or Privacy Practices will result in discipline in accordance with our personnel policy.

      Uses and Disclosures of PHI

      Your PHI may be used and disclosed by your physician, our office staff and others outside of our office who are involved in your care and treatment for the purpose of providing health care services to you. Your PHI may also be used and disclosed to pay your health care bills and to support the operation of your physician’s practice. Following are examples of the types of uses and disclosures of your PHI that your physician’s office is permitted to make. These examples are not meant to be exhaustive, but to describe the types of uses and disclosures that may be made by our office.

      1. Treatment: We will use and disclose your PHI to provide, coordinate, or manage your health care and any related services. This includes the coordination or management of your health care with another provider. For example, we would disclose your PHI, as necessary, to your pediatrician or to the home health agency that provides care to you. We will also disclose PHI to other providers (physicians, mid-level providers, therapists or counselors) who may be treating you. For example, your PHI may be provided to a physician to whom you have been referred to ensure that the physician has the necessary information to diagnose or treat you. Also, we may send your progress notes to your Pediatrician or Primary Care Provider to update them about your treatment plan for mental health. In addition, we may disclose your PHI from time-to-time to another physician or health care provider (e.g., a specialist or laboratory) who, at the request of your physician, becomes involved in your care by providing assistance with your health care diagnosis or treatment to your physician.
      2. Payment: Your PHI will be used and disclosed, as needed, to obtain payment for your health care services provided by us or by another provider. This may include certain activities that your health insurance plan may undertake before it approves or pays for the health care services we recommend for you such as: making a determination of eligibility or coverage for insurance benefits, reviewing services provided to you for medical necessity, and undertaking utilization review activities. For example, obtaining approval for a hospital stay may require that your relevant PHI be disclosed to the health plan to obtain approval for the hospital admission.
      3. Health Care Operations: We may use or disclose, as needed, your PHI in order to support the business activities of your physician’s practice. These activities include, but are not limited to, quality assessment and improvement activities, employee review activities, training of medical students, licensing, fraud and abuse compliance, fundraising activities, and conducting or arranging for other business activities like business planning and development, business management and general administrative activities. For example, we may use a self-sign in kiosk at the front desk; we may call you by name in the waiting room when we are ready to serve you. We may send you text messages, leave a message on your answering machine or voicemail with general medical information and may request for you to contact us for more detailed information.

      We will share your PHI with third party “business associates” that perform various activities (for example, billing or transcription services) for our practice. Whenever an arrangement between our office and a business associate involves the use or disclosure of your PHI, we will have a written contract that contains terms that will protect the privacy of your PHI.

      We may use or disclose your PHI, as necessary, to provide you with information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you. You may contact our Privacy Officer to request that these materials not be sent to you.

      1. To Patient & Legal Guardians: We will disclose PHI to the patient (as clinically appropriate for their age) and to all the legal guardians listed on the chart (unless specifically restricted by law). You are required to fill out a “Request to restrict release of Information” form if any of the legal guardians is restricted by law to obtain a patient's PHI.

      Uses and Disclosures of PHI Based Upon Your Written Consent

      Should you wish for family members or friends to access information about your treatment, you'll need to complete an Authorization to Release Information Form. On this form, you will provide the names of all legal guardians. Additionally, you will specify which family members or friends are permitted to receive details about your treatment.

      On occasion, you might ask us to share your PHI with particular individuals or entities for specific purposes and durations. Such scenarios could involve sensitive PHI disclosures, including details about HIV status, sexually transmitted diseases, mental health treatment, or substance abuse services. Additionally, you might authorize disclosures to parties unrelated to treatment, payment, or healthcare operations, like attorneys if you're part of litigation either personally or on behalf of another. Should you want us to proceed with these disclosures, we'll request your signature on the relevant form to grant authorization.


      Additional Authorized and Necessary Uses and Disclosures Exempt from Requiring Your Consent or Input

      We reserve the right to utilize or reveal your PHI in the circumstances outlined below, even without seeking your authorization or allowing you a chance to express agreement or dissent. These circumstances encompass:

        • Emergencies: If you are incapacitated and require emergency medical treatment, we will use and disclose your PHI to ensure you receive the necessary medical services. We will attempt to obtain your consent as soon as practical following your treatment.
      • Communication barriers: If we try but cannot obtain your consent to use or disclose your PHI because of substantial communication barriers and your physician, using his or her professional judgment, infers that you consent to the use and disclosure, we will make the use or disclosure.
      • Required By Law: We may use or disclose your PHI to the extent that the use or disclosure is required by law. The use or disclosure will be made in compliance with the law and will be limited to the relevant requirements of the law. You will be notified, if required by law, of any such uses or disclosures.
      • Public Health: We may disclose your PHI for public health activities and purposes to a public health authority that is permitted by law to collect or receive the information. For example, a disclosure may be made for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability.
      • Communicable Diseases: We may disclose your PHI, if authorized by law, to a person who may have been exposed to a communicable disease or may otherwise be at risk of contracting or spreading the disease or condition.
      • Health Oversight: We may disclose PHI to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law, such as audits, investigations, and inspections. Oversight agencies seeking this information include government agencies that oversee the health care system, government benefit programs, other government regulatory programs and civil rights laws.
      • Abuse or Neglect: We may disclose your PHI to a public health authority that is authorized by law to receive reports of child abuse or neglect. In addition, we may disclose your PHI if we believe that you have been a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence to the governmental entity or agency authorized to receive such information. In this case, the disclosure will be made consistent with the requirements of applicable federal and state laws.
      • Food and Drug Administration: We may disclose your PHI to a person or company required by the Food and Drug Administration for the purpose of quality, safety, or effectiveness of FDA-regulated products or activities including, to report adverse events, product defects or problems, biologic product deviations, to track products; to enable product recalls; to make repairs or replacements, or to conduct post marketing surveillance, as required.
      • Legal Proceedings: We may disclose PHI in the course of any judicial or administrative proceeding, in response to an order of a court or administrative tribunal (to the extent such disclosure is expressly authorized), or in certain conditions in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process.
      •  Law Enforcement: We may also disclose PHI, so long as applicable legal requirements are met, for law enforcement purposes. These law enforcement purposes include (1) legal processes and otherwise required by law, (2) limited information requests for identification and location purposes, (3) pertaining to victims of a crime, (4) suspicion that death has occurred as a result of criminal conduct, (5) in the event that a crime occurs on the premises of our practice, and (6) medical emergency (not on our practice’s premises) and it is likely that a crime has occurred.
      • Coroners, Funeral Directors, and Organ Donation: We may disclose PHI to a coroner or medical examiner for identification purposes, determining cause of death or for the coroner or medical examiner to perform other duties authorized by law. We may also disclose PHI to a funeral director, as authorized by law, in order to permit the funeral director to carry out their duties. We may disclose such information in reasonable anticipation of death. PHI may be used and disclosed for cadaveric organ, eye or tissue donation purposes.
      • Research: We may disclose your PHI to researchers when their research has been approved by an institutional review board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your PHI.
      • Criminal Activity: Consistent with applicable federal and state laws, we may disclose your PHI, if we believe that the use or disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public. We may also disclose PHI if it is necessary for law enforcement authorities to identify or apprehend an individual.
      • Military Activity and National Security: When the appropriate conditions apply, we may use or disclose PHI of individuals who are Armed Forces personnel (1) for activities deemed necessary by appropriate military command authorities; (2) for the purpose of a determination by the Department of Veterans Affairs of your eligibility for benefits, or (3) to foreign military authority if you are a member of that foreign military services. We may also disclose your PHI to authorized federal officials for conducting national security and intelligence activities, including for the provision of protective services to the President or others legally authorized.
      • Workers’ Compensation: We may disclose your PHI as authorized to comply with workers’ compensation laws and other similar legally established programs.
      • Inmates: We may use or disclose your PHI if you are an inmate of a correctional facility and your physician created or received your PHI in the course of providing care to you.
      • DHHS: We must disclose your PHI to you upon request and to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to investigate or determine our compliance with the privacy laws.

      Your Rights

      Here is an outline of your rights regarding your PHI, along with a concise explanation of how you can exercise these rights.

      • Right of access to your PHI: You have the right to inspect and copy your PHI. This means you may inspect and obtain a copy of PHI about you for so long as we maintain the PHI. You may obtain your medical record that contains medical and billing records and any other records that your physician and the practice use for making decisions about you. As permitted by federal or state law, we may charge you a reasonable copy fee for a copy of your records. Under federal law, however, you may not inspect or copy the following records: psychotherapy notes; information compiled in reasonable anticipation of, or use in, a civil, criminal, or administrative action or proceeding; and laboratory results that are subject to law that prohibits access to PHI. Also, your right of access may be limited if providing certain PHI to you may endanger the health or safety of yourself or others. Depending on the circumstances, a decision to deny access may be reviewable. In some circumstances, you may have a right to have this decision reviewed. To request access to your PHI, please request in writing to our Privacy Officer by filling out the form “Request to Release of Information to self” available on our website.
      • Right to restrict release of your PHI: You may also request that any part of your PHI not be disclosed to family members or friends who may be involved in your care or for notification purposes as described in this Notice of Privacy Practices. Your request must state the specific restriction requested and to whom you want the restriction to apply. Your physician is not required to agree to a restriction that you may request. If your physician does agree to the requested restriction, we may not use or disclose your PHI in violation of that restriction unless it is needed to provide emergency treatment. With this in mind, please discuss any restriction you wish to request with your physician. To request a restriction of your PHI, please request in writing to our Privacy Officer by filling out the form “Request to restrict Release of Information” available on our website.
      • Right to confidential communications: You have the right to request to receive confidential communications from us by alternative means or at an alternative location. We will accommodate reasonable requests. We will not require an explanation of your reasons for the request, but we will ask that you specify the alternative address or other method of contact and that you inform us of how payment for our medical services will be handled. Please make this request in writing to our Privacy Officer.
      • Right to amend PHI: You may have the right to have your physician amend your PHI. This means you may request an amendment of PHI about you in a designated record set for so long as we maintain this information. In certain cases, we may deny your request for an amendment. If we deny your request for amendment, you have the right to file a statement of disagreement with us and we may prepare a rebuttal to your statement and will provide you with a copy of any such rebuttal. Please contact our Privacy Officer if you have questions about amending your medical record. We will respond to your request as soon as possible, but no later than 30 days from the date of your request.
      • Right to accounting of disclosures: You have the right to receive an accounting of certain disclosures we have made, if any, of your PHI for up-to 6 years prior to the date of your request. This right applies to disclosures for purposes other than treatment, payment or health care operations as described in this Notice of Privacy Practices. It excludes disclosures we may have made to you if you authorized us to make the disclosure, for a facility directory, to family members or friends involved in your care, or for notification purposes, for national security or intelligence, to law enforcement (as provided in the privacy rule) or correctional facilities, as part of a limited data set disclosure. The right to receive this information is subject to certain exceptions, restrictions, and limitations. Please make your request in writing to our privacy officer if you wish to receive an accounting of certain disclosures. We will respond to your request as soon as possible, but no later than 30 days from the date of your request.
      • Right to copy of our Notice of Privacy Practices: You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this notice from us, upon request, even if you have agreed to accept this notice electronically. We may periodically amend this Notice of Privacy Practices and you have the right to obtain an updated Notice from our Privacy Officer at any time.

      Complaints

      If you feel that your privacy rights have been breached by us, you have the option to lodge a complaint with either us or the Secretary of Health and Human Services. To file a complaint with us, please notify our Privacy Officer. This can be done by completing the complaint form on our website, or by emailing contact@MindWeal.com and addressing it to the Privacy Officer. Rest assured, there will be no retaliation from our side for raising a complaint. Our Privacy Officer will address your concerns and respond within 30 days from the receipt of your complaint. For any additional inquiries regarding privacy practices, please feel free to reach out to your provider.


      Your agreement and acknowledgment

      By continuing to use MindWeal’s services, you acknowledge that you have read, fully understand, and agree to all components of the MindWeal Health Notice Of Privacy Practices. You confirm that you understand how your Protected Health Information (PHI) may be used or disclosed for your treatment, billing, or MindWeal Health’s operational purposes. Additionally, you agree that this notice outlines your rights and MindWeal Health’s responsibilities regarding your PHI. You acknowledge that this notice is available on MindWeal Health’s website at www.MindWeal.com and that MindWeal Health reserves the right to modify its privacy practices. By using our services, you agree to any such changes. You confirm that you understand that you may request an updated version of the Notice of Privacy Practices at any time by contacting our office, asking for one during your next appointment, or accessing it on our website