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.
This notice applies to the health information maintained by Wellness Counseling LLC in providing counseling and related healthcare services, including in-person and telehealth care. It applies to our workforce and others acting on our behalf who must follow our privacy practices.
Questions or requests: Contact our Privacy Officer / Practice Director at (734) 778-0663 or [email protected]. Please do not include sensitive clinical details in ordinary email; ask us for a secure way to communicate.
See or receive your records. You may ask to inspect or receive an electronic or paper copy of the health information we maintain about you in records used to make decisions about your care. Contact our Privacy Officer to make a request. We generally respond within 30 days, or sooner when applicable law requires. If a lawful extension is needed, we will explain it in writing. A reasonable, cost-based fee may apply. Certain records, including separately maintained psychotherapy notes, are excluded from the HIPAA access right. When we deny access, we will explain the reason and any available review rights.
Request a correction. Ask our Privacy Officer to correct information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete and explain the change requested. We may deny a request in circumstances allowed by law. We generally respond within 60 days; if denied, we will explain why in writing and how to submit a statement of disagreement.
Request confidential communications. You may ask us to contact you in a specific way or at a different address or number. We will accommodate reasonable requests. Tell us whether voicemail, texts, email, or contact with another person could create a privacy concern.
Request limits on use or sharing. You may ask us to restrict information used or disclosed for treatment, payment, healthcare operations, or involvement of others in your care. We do not have to agree to every request. If we agree, we will follow the restriction except as permitted by law, such as for emergency treatment. If you pay in full out of pocket for an item or service, you may require us not to disclose information about that item or service to your health plan for payment or healthcare operations, unless disclosure is required by law.
Request an accounting of disclosures. You may request a list of certain disclosures made during the previous six years, including who received the information and why. Exceptions include many disclosures for treatment, payment, operations, or with your authorization. One accounting in a 12-month period is free; we may charge a reasonable fee for additional requests after informing you of the fee.
Receive this notice or use a representative. You may receive a paper copy promptly, even if you agreed to an electronic copy. A legally authorized personal representative may exercise rights for you, subject to applicable law. We verify that person’s authority. Parents’ and guardians’ rights to a minor’s information depend on the applicable law and circumstances.
We use or disclose health information as permitted or required by law. The examples below are not permission to bypass stricter confidentiality rules. Michigan law, professional confidentiality requirements, and 42 CFR Part 2 may require consent or impose additional limits even when HIPAA would otherwise permit sharing.
Treatment. We use information to assess your needs and provide and coordinate care. For example, a therapist may review your history to develop a treatment plan or, when permitted and with any required consent, coordinate with another treating professional.
Payment. We use or disclose information to obtain payment for services. For example, we may provide an insurer with service dates, billing codes, and supporting information needed for a claim, subject to required authorizations and applicable restrictions.
Healthcare operations. We use information to run our practice, support clinical supervision, evaluate quality, train personnel, and manage services. For example, a clinical supervisor may review information as permitted to support quality of care. Contractors with access to protected information must meet applicable privacy and security obligations, including business associate agreements when required.
Care-related contact. We may contact you about appointments, scheduling changes, or treatment-related information using an appropriate communication method and any required consent. You may request reasonable limits on how we contact you.
Public health and safety. When authorized or required, disclosures may include reporting suspected abuse or neglect, reporting certain health conditions or medication problems, or helping prevent a serious and imminent threat to health or safety. We follow the legal conditions and any stricter confidentiality requirements for each disclosure.
Oversight and legal requirements. We may disclose information to authorized oversight agencies, including for licensing, audits, inspections, or compliance investigations. We must disclose information when a law requires it, including to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to review our compliance.
Legal proceedings, law enforcement, and government functions. We may disclose information when the requirements for a valid court order, other lawful process, a permitted law-enforcement purpose, workers’ compensation, or a special government function are met. A subpoena alone does not automatically permit release of protected counseling or Part 2 records. We assess applicable privilege, consent, notice, and court-order requirements before responding.
Other limited purposes. When legally permitted and all required safeguards are met, information may be disclosed for research, to a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director, or for organ or tissue donation. This notice does not authorize a disclosure that Michigan law or Part 2 prohibits.
Michigan law protects confidential professional counseling and social work communications. We obtain the consent or other legal authority required before disclosing protected communications. Exceptions can include specified mandatory reporting duties and other disclosures specifically authorized by law. We do not treat the general HIPAA permissions listed above as overriding a stricter state-law requirement. We also follow any additional laws protecting particular information, such as certain HIV-related information.
Family and others involved in care. We follow your preferences and any required consent when sharing information with family, friends, or others helping with care or payment. If you cannot communicate a preference, a limited disclosure may be made in your best interest only when applicable law permits. Similar safeguards apply to disaster-relief disclosures.
Written permission. We obtain your written authorization for uses or disclosures requiring it, including most uses and disclosures of separately maintained psychotherapy notes, marketing uses requiring authorization, and any sale of protected health information requiring authorization. Other uses or disclosures not described in this notice will be made only with your written authorization. You may revoke an authorization in writing by contacting our Privacy Officer, except to the extent we have already relied on it or another legal exception applies.
Fundraising. If we contact you for fundraising as permitted by law, you may tell us not to contact you again, and that choice will not affect your treatment or payment. Before using Part 2 records for fundraising, we will give you a clear opportunity to choose not to receive those communications.
If we receive or maintain substance use disorder records protected by 42 CFR Part 2, additional federal restrictions apply. We obtain any required consent before using or disclosing these records and honor the limits that apply to them. A consent for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations may permit a HIPAA-covered recipient to redisclose records as allowed by HIPAA, subject to Part 2’s continuing restrictions on proceedings against you.
Part 2 records, or testimony describing their contents, cannot be used or disclosed in civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative investigations or proceedings against you without your written consent or a court order meeting Part 2 requirements and a subpoena or other legal mandate compelling disclosure. For example, a routine subpoena seeking your Part 2 treatment records for a case against you is not sufficient by itself. Any consent for use in a proceeding must meet Part 2’s separate-consent requirements.
Information disclosed as permitted by HIPAA may be redisclosed by a recipient and may no longer be protected by HIPAA. Other protections, including applicable Part 2 restrictions, may still apply.
We are required by law to protect your health information, provide this notice, and follow the notice currently in effect. We will notify you as required by law if a breach compromises your unsecured protected health information. We may revise this notice and apply the new terms to information we already hold and to information received later. The revised notice will state its effective date and be available on our website, in our office, and upon request.
Contact the Privacy Officer / Practice Director, Wellness Counseling LLC, at (734) 778-0663 or [email protected] to ask a question, exercise a right, or report a privacy concern. Tell us what happened and how we may safely contact you. We will provide a secure way to submit details when needed.
You may also complain to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. Call 1-800-368-1019, write to 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20201, or use the HHS privacy complaint process. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.
