Catholic Social Services of Saint Clair County

2601 13th St
Port Huron, MI 48060

tel: (810) 987-9100
fax: (810) 987-9105

HIPPA Privacy Notice

CATHOLIC SOCIAL SERVICES OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
NOTICE OF INFORMATION PRACTICES

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.

 

We are required by law to provide you with this written Notice of Information Practices. This notice is provided to you so you know what our legal duties are and what we do to keep your protected health information (“PHI”) private. It will also tell you what your legal rights are concerning you PHI. We reserve the right to revise this Notice of Information Practices in accordance with applicable law. Any revisions will be effective for medical information we already have about you as well as any information we may receive in the future. If the changes are material, a new notice will be mailed to you before it takes effect.

Following are ways that we protect your personal information:

  • We limit access to PHI to only those individuals and agencies that need that information to provide services to you, to comply with legal, regulatory and accreditation standards, and as required by law.
  • We have procedures and physical safeguards in place to protect your PHI.
  • We have a Health Information Committee (HIPAA) that oversees privacy/security policy and procedure development, and confidentiality training and education of department employees.

Your Health Record and Your Rights
Whenever you visit Catholic Social Service of St. Clair County, we make a record of your visit. Typically, this record contains your health history, current symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment and plan for future care or treatment. Although your health records are the physical property of our department, you have the following rights with regard to the information contained in the record.

  • You have the right to request restrictions on our use of disclosure of your PHI, but we are not required to honor such a request. We will be bound by such restrictions only if we agree to do so in writing signed by our CEO.
  • You may request to inspect, copy and/or correct or make amendment (if necessary) to your health record. Amendment may be denied if certain conditions exist. If we deny your request, we will notify you in writing the reason for denial, how you can attach a statement of disagreement and how you can complain.
  • You may obtain an accounting of non-routine uses and disclosures, those other than for treatment, payment, and health care operations.
  • You may revoke your consent of authorization to use or disclose health information except to the extent that we have taken action in reliance on the consent or authorization.
  • You have the right not to be abused, neglected, threatened, or insulted when you receive treatment in this agency. If any of these things happen to you (or anyone else), you should report it to the clinician or the Executive Director/President of this agency.
  • If you should try to harm yourself or provoke others to harm you, agency staff will act to prevent this.
  • You have the right to a plan in your record telling how the clinician expects to help you. This is called your Treatment Plan. You will be told about your plan and progress.
  • You have the right to ask questions about your treatment and ask for a change if you think it is not helping.

Our Privacy Protection Practices
We may use or disclose your PHI for treatment, payment, or health care operations. Examples follow:

  • Payment: Your PHI may be used or disclosed in order to collect payment for the services we provide you.
  • Service Operations: This means that we may use PHI to assess the care and outcomes of our clients and the competence of the caregivers. We use this information to continually improve the quality and effectiveness of the health care and services that we provide.

Authorizations
We will not use or disclose your medical information for any reason, except those described in this notice, unless you provide us with written authorization to do so. We may request such an authorization to use or disclose your PHI for any purpose, but you are not required to give us such authorization as a condition of your treatment. If you give us permission, you have the right to change your mind and revoke it. This must be in writing also. We cannot take back any uses of disclosures already made with your permission.

We may also share your information in the following ways:

  • Appointment reminders – We, per your written authorization, may contact you to provide appointment reminders or treatment follow-up.
  • Law enforcement – We may disclose your PHI when we are required to do so by law or in response to a valid subpoena.
  • Health oversight agencies; Michigan Department of Community Health and other Public Health Agencies – We may disclose your PHI to the extent reasonably necessary to avert a serious threat to your health or safety or the health or safety of others. Your therapist is professionally trained, state certified, and has legal rights for privileged communication. This means that information about you or your family will not be shared with anyone outside the agency without your written consent. An exception to this policy will be made in the event that it would be necessary to keep you or others from being hurt or to keep you from harming yourself (i.e., if you threaten to kill yourself, a family member will be called (or the police) and we will attempt to have you hospitalized. If you threaten to kill someone else, the intended victim and the police will be called. If you report the suspected or actual abuse or neglect of a child or senior citizen, the Family Independence Agency will be called and a DSS-3200 will be written).

If you believe we have violated your privacy rights, you may complain to us or to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. You may file a complaint with us by contacting Patrick Cogley, President at (810)987-9100. To file a complaint with the Secretary of HHS, call or write Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20201, 1-877-696-6775.

We support your right of privacy protection for medical information. We will not retaliate in any way if you choose to file a complaint with us or with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

We reserve the right to change our privacy protection practices and to make the new provisions effective for Protected Health Information that we maintain. If we change our information practices, we will provide you with a revised notice upon your next visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

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