Your rights at a glance

• Request an electronic or paper copy of your medical records and certain other health information.

• Request an amendment to information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete.

• Ask for confidential communications through a reasonable alternative method or location.

• Request restrictions on certain uses or disclosures, including certain insurer disclosures when you pay in full out of pocket.

• Request an accounting of certain disclosures of your information.

• Request a paper copy of this notice, even if you receive it electronically.

• Choose an authorized personal representative and file a privacy complaint without retaliation.

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1. Your rights and how to use them

Access your health information

You may ask to inspect or obtain an electronic or paper copy of the health information we maintain about you, subject to exceptions allowed by law. We generally respond within 30 days, subject to permitted extensions. Where fees are allowed, we may charge only a reasonable, cost-based amount for permitted copying or delivery costs and will explain any applicable fee in advance. We do not charge fees prohibited by HIPAA or other applicable law, including search or retrieval fees for a patient’s own HIPAA access request. We will explain any denial and applicable review rights. Not all separately maintained psychotherapy notes are subject to the right of access.

Request an amendment

You may ask us to correct health information you believe is incorrect or incomplete. We generally respond within 60 days, subject to permitted extensions. We may deny the request in certain circumstances and will explain the reason and your options in writing.

Request confidential communications or restrictions

You may ask us to contact you in a specific reasonable way or at another address; we will accommodate reasonable requests. You may also ask us to limit certain uses or disclosures for treatment, payment, or health care operations. We are generally not required to agree, except that, when you pay in full out of pocket for a service, we must generally honor a request not to disclose that service to your health plan for payment or health care operations unless disclosure is otherwise required by law.

Request an accounting of disclosures

You may request a list of certain disclosures made during the prior six years, including the recipient and purpose, subject to exceptions (for example, many disclosures for treatment, payment, and health care operations are excluded under HIPAA). One accounting in any 12-month period is generally free; a reasonable cost-based fee may apply to additional accountings. For records covered by 42 CFR Part 2, additional accounting and recipient-list rights may apply, subject to the effective dates and limits of those requirements.

Get a copy; choose a representative; complain

You may obtain this notice in paper or electronic form. A person authorized under applicable law, such as an appropriately authorized guardian or health care representative, may exercise rights for you after we verify the person’s authority. Rights concerning a minor’s records depend on applicable law and the circumstances of the care provided.

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, contact our privacy contact listed above. You may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, at https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/filing-a-complaint/ or by calling 1-877-696-6775. We will not retaliate for filing a complaint.

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2. Your choices about sharing information

When appropriate under law, you may tell us your preference about sharing information with family, friends, caregivers, or others involved in your care or payment for care, and about sharing information for disaster relief. If you cannot tell us your preference, we may act in your best interest to the extent permitted by law and may share information when necessary to reduce a serious and imminent threat to health or safety. Additional rules may limit the sharing of substance-use disorder records and certain counseling notes.

We generally must obtain your specific written authorization for uses or disclosures of psychotherapy notes (with limited exceptions), uses or disclosures of protected health information for marketing where HIPAA requires authorization, and any sale of protected health information. An authorization generally can be revoked in writing except to the extent we have already relied on it. Extra protections and separate consents may apply to substance-use disorder (SUD) counseling notes and Part 2 records. A general website inquiry, email subscription, advertising lead form, or cookie preference does not constitute a HIPAA authorization to use or disclose your protected health information for advertising.

If we conduct fundraising communications permitted by law, you may ask us not to contact you for fundraising. If records protected by 42 CFR Part 2 are used for fundraising in circumstances permitted by law, we will provide the advance opportunity to opt out required by Part 2. You are not required to agree to use of your health records for advertising as a condition of obtaining care, except where an applicable law specifically permits otherwise.

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3. How we typically use and disclose health information

Treatment

We may use and share health information with clinicians and other professionals involved in providing, coordinating, or referring you for treatment, as permitted by law. For example, your clinician may coordinate with another treating professional. Part 2 records may require your written consent before disclosure outside the program, unless an exception applies.

Payment

We may use and disclose information to bill for services, process claims, verify coverage, and receive payment from health plans or other responsible payers, as permitted by law. For example, a health plan may need information to process a claim. Special consent requirements can apply to Part 2 records.

Health care operations

We may use and disclose information for lawful practice operations, such as quality improvement, staff supervision, credentialing, compliance, care coordination, auditing, and business administration. Vendors that access protected health information on our behalf must be subject to appropriate legal safeguards and agreements where required.

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4. Other permitted or required uses and disclosures

Depending on the circumstances and applicable conditions or restrictions, we may use or disclose health information for public-health activities; reporting abuse or neglect as required or permitted by law; preventing or reducing a serious threat to health or safety; health oversight and licensing; lawful research; certain workers’ compensation matters; to comply with legal requirements; for some law-enforcement and government requests; to coroners or medical examiners; and in response to legally valid court proceedings. We will apply the required legal safeguards, and stricter state or federal confidentiality rules where they apply. The fact that HIPAA may permit a disclosure does not necessarily mean that 42 CFR Part 2 or another law permits disclosure of a specific record.

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5. Stronger protections for substance-use disorder records (42 CFR Part 2)

Some information concerning the diagnosis, treatment, or referral for treatment of a substance use disorder may be subject to the federal confidentiality requirements in 42 CFR Part 2. These protections can apply to records created by a federally assisted substance-use disorder program or lawfully received from one. When Part 2 applies, we will follow its additional requirements, even if HIPAA would otherwise allow a use or disclosure.

Consent and permitted exceptions

As a general rule, a Part 2 program needs your written consent to use or disclose Part 2 records outside the program for treatment, payment, or health care operations, unless a specific Part 2 exception permits the use or disclosure. You may give a single consent covering future treatment, payment, and health care operations or a narrower consent as permitted by law. Other limited exceptions may permit disclosures, such as within the program or to qualifying service providers, during bona fide medical emergencies, for certain research or audits, for required reports of suspected child abuse or neglect, or under qualifying court orders. Not every HIPAA exception applies to Part 2 records.

Redisclosure after a valid consent

If Part 2 records are disclosed under a valid consent for treatment, payment, or health care operations to a recipient subject to HIPAA, that recipient may be permitted to use or disclose the information again as HIPAA allows, without obtaining a new consent for each such use. The prohibition on using Part 2 information in proceedings against you still applies. Other recipients may remain subject to Part 2 redisclosure restrictions as provided by law.

Proceedings against you

Records protected by Part 2, or testimony about their contents, generally cannot be used or disclosed in civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative investigations or proceedings against you without your written consent or a qualifying Part 2 court order accompanied by a subpoena or similar legal mandate. Applicable Part 2 procedures, including notice and an opportunity to be heard where required, must be followed. A routine subpoena alone does not automatically authorize disclosure of Part 2 records.

SUD counseling notes, additional rights, and fundraising

When a clinician separately maintains notes that meet the definition of “SUD counseling notes,” specific written consent is generally required to use or disclose those notes, subject to narrow exceptions. We will not combine a consent for use in proceedings against you with other consents when prohibited. Part 2 patients may also have special rights to request restrictions, receive applicable records of disclosures or recipient lists, and choose in advance whether to receive fundraising communications involving their Part 2 information, subject to the effective dates of the applicable rules.

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6. Additional protection under Kansas law

Kansas laws, licensing rules, and professional confidentiality obligations may impose additional protections for mental health and substance-use treatment records, depending on the professional, program, and record. For example, the rules governing community mental health treatment facilities, certain court-related treatment records, and licensed behavioral health professionals are not identical. When a state-law restriction applies and is not displaced by federal law, we follow that restriction as well as HIPAA and Part 2. We evaluate family access, minors’ records, subpoenas, and other disclosures under the specific rules governing the relevant services and records.

 

7. Our legal responsibilities

We are required to maintain the privacy and security of protected health information; provide this notice; follow the privacy practices described in the currently effective notice; and notify affected individuals of breaches as required by applicable law. We will not use or disclose information beyond what the law and this notice permit without an appropriate authorization or consent, unless another legal basis applies. We may be required to make certain information available to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to demonstrate compliance with privacy rules.

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8. Changes to this notice

We may update this notice and apply the revised terms to health information we maintain to the extent permitted by law. We will make a current notice available on our Website, in our office, and upon request. This notice must be reviewed when our privacy practices or applicable requirements materially change.

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9. How to contact us

The Caring Center of Wichita, LLC  

Attn: Peter Ninemire

714 S. Hillside, Wichita, KS 67211

Phone: 316-295-4800  

Fax: 316-295-4811. 

 

You may request a copy of this notice, ask about charges permitted for copies of records, or exercise your rights by contacting the office. Do not send sensitive clinical information through a general-purpose Website contact form.