CLIENT PRIVACY
As a client at PreventEd, you have certain rights to privacy, or confidentiality. PreventEd collects health information about you and stores it in an electronic health record. The record is the property of PreventEd, but the information it contains belongs to you. Any information shared in your session with a PreventEd counselor will remain confidential, unless you give consent to disclose certain information.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires PreventEd to maintain the privacy of your record. HIPAA generally requires that any uses or disclosures of information in your electronic health record be limited to the minimum necessary to the purposes of the uses or disclosures. These circumstances include: 1) intent to harm oneself; 2) intent to harm someone else; 3) involvement in activities that could harm you or others; or 4) report of abuse (physical, emotional, or sexual). PreventEd is also permitted to use and disclose electronic health information internally and to entities with which it shares administrative control, or to outside auditors, regulatory agencies, and evaluators and for certain research purposes. Except for situations as described here, no one will be given specific information you disclose in the counseling sessions at PreventEd.
HIPAA also provides you certain rights with respect to the information in your medical record which are described below. Your information is protected by federal regulation 42 CFR Part 2. PreventEd may not disclose information in your records without your written consent, except in narrowly limited circumstances. Under 42 CFR Part 2, the terms of a written consent to disclose information must specify the scope and types of information to be disclosed, the parties to whom the information may be disclosed, the purpose of the disclosure and the timeframe of the consent. You may revoke a consent to disclose information relating to drug and alcohol verbally or in writing at any time.
PreventEd may ask for your written consent to disclose information for certain purposes, including releasing client information to or obtaining information from your other medical providers or contacting your family either for informational purposes or in the case of a medical or other emergency. PreventEd will not disclose your health information for these purposes without your consent.
Your Health Information Rights
In addition to protecting privacy and confidentiality, HIPAA and 42 CFR Part 2 afford you the following rights with respect to your health information:
- You have the right to a paper copy of this written notice of PreventEd’s privacy practices.
- You have a right to request a copy of your electronic health record or to receive your health information through a reasonable alternative means or at an alternative location. PreventEd requires that all such requests be put in writing.
- You have a right to request that PreventEd amend health information that is incorrect or incomplete. If PreventEd determines not to amend the health information, it will provide you with an explanation of the reason for the denial and your rights to disagree with the denial.
- You have a right to request restrictions on otherwise permitted uses and disclosures of your health information. PreventEd is not obligated to comply with such requests.
- You may request that we provide you with a written accounting of all disclosures made by us during a specific time period (not to exceed 6 years). We ask that such requests be made in writing on a form provided by our facility. Please note that an accounting will not apply to any of the following types of disclosures: disclosures made with your written consent for reasons of treatment, payment or health care operations; disclosures made to you or your legal representative, or any other individual involved with your care. You will not be charged for your first accounting request in any 12-month period. However, for any requests that you make thereafter, you will be charged a reasonable, cost-based fee.
Changes to this Notice of Privacy Practices
PreventEd reserves the right to amend this Notice of Privacy Practices at any time in the future, and to make the new provisions effective for all information that it maintains, including information that was created or received prior to the date of such amendment. Until amendment is made, PreventEd is required by law to comply with this Notice. Should our privacy practices change, we will provide all current and future patients with a copy of the revised Notice of Privacy Practices.
Effective date: November 18, 2021
Complaints and Inquiries Regarding Privacy Practices
Complaints and inquiries about this Notice of Privacy Practices or how PreventEd handles your health information should be directed to:
Deputy Executive Director
PreventEd
9355 Olive Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63132
If you are not satisfied with the manner in which this office handles a complaint, you may submit a formal complaint to one of the following:
Department of Health and Human Services
Office of Civil Rights
200 Independence Avenue, SW Room 509F, HHH Building
Washington, DC 20201
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS PRIVACY
Electronic communications (email, text, and cell phone) are not a confidential means of sharing information. Some of the potential risks of communicating in these ways include:
- other people accessing your devices you use to read emails or text messages;
- loss of your cell phone or other devices;
- email accounts can be hacked; text messages and emails are stored on servers;
- emails delivered to the wrong addresses because they were mistyped.
PreventEd makes every effort to keep all electronic communications (email, text, and cell phone) confidential, but cannot guarantee security of information when shared by these methods. Likewise, it is important for you to know who has access to your electronic devices, and use only those devices you know are safe.
INTERNET USER PRIVACY
PreventEd is committed to internet privacy. The only information we collect from your visit to our website is the name of your internet service provider, the browser and type of machine you are using, the website that referred you to us, the pages you request and the date and time you request them, the length of your visit, your city and state, and the number of times you return to our site. We use this information to generate statistics and measure site activity. No personal information is collected.
Your email address is only known to PreventEd if you submit an email comment or request to us via the website. Unless you request to receive ongoing information from PreventEd, your address will be deleted. Under no circumstances will PreventEd use your email address for future solicitations without your consent.
PreventEd makes every effort to ensure the secure collection and transmission of sensitive use information.
PreventEd does not sell, rent, share or disclose any of the information it gathers to any other organization.
Should you wish to contact PreventEd regarding a matter of privacy or any other issue or concern, you may do so by one of the following methods:
Email: info@prevented.org
Phone: 314-962-3456
Mail: PreventEd, 9355 Olive Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63132
Effective date: November 18, 2021