Notice of Privacy Practices (HIPAA)

1.Our duties

Eastern Virginia Advanced Care, LLC is required by law to keep your protected health information (PHI) private, to give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, to follow the notice currently in effect, and to notify you if a breach of your unsecured PHI occurs. We may change this notice; changes will apply to all information we hold, and the current notice will be posted at our offices and on this website.

2.How we may use and disclose your information without your written authorization

• Treatment: to provide, coordinate, and manage your care, including with other providers involved in your care.
• Payment: to bill and receive payment from you, Medicaid, managed care organizations, insurers, or other payers, including obtaining authorizations.
• Health care operations: to run our organization, such as quality improvement, staff training, licensing, CARF accreditation reviews, and audits.
• Appointment reminders and information about treatment options or services that may interest you.
• As required by law, including reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a child, elderly person, or person with a disability to appropriate Texas authorities.
• To avert a serious threat to health or safety of you or others, to the extent permitted by law.
• For health oversight activities, public health activities, and to the Secretary of Health and Human Services for compliance reviews.
• For judicial and administrative proceedings in response to a court order or as otherwise permitted by law, and for limited law enforcement purposes.
• To coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors; for workers’ compensation; and for specialized government functions, as permitted by law.
• To business associates who perform services for us under written agreements that require them to protect your information.

3.Family members and others involved in your care

Unless you object, we may share information relevant to their involvement with a family member, friend, or other person you identify who is involved in your care or payment for your care. If you are unable to agree or object, we may use professional judgment to decide whether sharing is in your best interest.

4.Uses that require your written authorization

We will obtain your written authorization before using or disclosing psychotherapy notes (with limited exceptions), using your information for marketing, or selling your information, and for any other use not described in this notice. You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time, except to the extent we have already acted on it.

5.Substance use disorder records and Texas law

If you receive substance use disorder services, records covered by federal confidentiality rules (42 U.S.C. § 290dd-2 and 42 C.F.R. Part 2) have additional protections and generally cannot be disclosed without your written consent, except as those rules allow. Records of mental health treatment are also protected by Texas law, including Texas Health & Safety Code Chapter 611 and the Texas Medical Records Privacy Act. Where state or federal law is more protective than HIPAA, we follow the more protective law.

6.Your rights

• Right to inspect and get a copy of your health record, including an electronic copy, usually within 15 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.
• Right to ask us to correct (amend) information you believe is incorrect or incomplete. We may deny the request in writing, with reasons.
• Right to request confidential communications, for example to be contacted only at a certain phone number or address.
• Right to ask us to limit what we use or share. We are not required to agree, except that we must agree not to share information with a health plan for services you paid for in full out of pocket, unless the law requires us to share it.
• Right to receive an accounting of certain disclosures we made in the six years before your request.
• Right to a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically.
• Right to choose someone to act for you, such as a legal guardian or a person with medical power of attorney.
• Right to be notified after a breach of your unsecured PHI.

7.Questions and complaints

To exercise your rights or ask questions, contact our Privacy Officer at 2600 South Loop West, Suite 240, Houston, TX 77054; phone 346-618-0372; email [email protected].

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with us or with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, D.C. 20201, 1-877-696-6775, or at hhs.gov/ocr/complaints. You may also contact the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.