EAP STATEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AND AGREEMENT OF CONFIDENTIALITY
The services provided by your EAP may include: consultation, coaching, short-term counseling, information and/or referral services. All of these services are provided at no cost to you. If your situation requires further or more
specialized services, a referral will be made to other resources within our agency or the community. It is important to note that any costs associated with additional services will be your responsibility. Your health insurance plan may cover some of the costs and the EAP staff will assist to the fullest extent possible.
YOUR RIGHTS AS A CLIENT OF OUR PROGRAM
As a client of Child and Family Services’ Employee Assistance Program (C+FS EAP), you are entitled and welcome to:
- Inquire about the professional qualifications of C+FS EAP staff who will be providing services for you;
- Inquire about and comment on agency/program policies and procedures;
- Make suggestions as to how our services and/or procedures may be improved;
- All personal information provided will be managed in accordance with HIPAA regulations, a copy of these
regulations and agency/program’s Confidentiality Policy will be made available upon request
Resolution of Concerns/Complaints
C+FS EAP is dedicated to providing the highest quality services. If we do not meet the standard of care that was expected, we encourage you to reach out to any C+FS EAP staff member. The concern/complaint will be explored to
the fullest extent possible. We will provide the results of the exploration process to the extent possible, while adhering to HIPAA requirements.
Cancellation/No-Show Policy:
In an effort to respect availability of appointments, we kindly request that you provide a minimum of 24 hours’ notice if you are unable to attend your scheduled session. This notice will allow for someone else to take advantage of this appointment slot. If cancellation notice is not provided within 24 hours, the scheduled session may be counted as one of your allowed sessions through EAP.
In the Event of Building Evacuation:
If for any reason there is an evacuation, the C+FS EAP staff will provide direction to safely exit the building. You may resume meeting at conclusion of evacuation if times allows or reschedule as needed.
Notice of Privacy:
The Health Insurance and Probability Act of 1996 (‘HIPAA’) requires that we provide you with a copy of the Agency’s Privacy Practices upon request, and that we make a good faith attempt to obtain your acknowledgment of the receipt.
Consent to Telehealth and In-person services:
Telehealth and in-person services allow the EAP counselor to consult, coach and educate in-person and using interactive audio, video or data communication. I have the right to confidentiality. Any information disclosed by me during the course of service is confidential under the guidelines of HIPAA excluding information given around state requirements for mandated reporting, duty to warn and where there is a real and immediate threat of suicide.
CHILD and FAMILY SERVICES’
NOTICE OF PRIVACY 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.
If you have any questions about this Notice please contact
our Privacy Officer, Laura Yager, lyager@cfsbny.org.
This Notice of Privacy Practices describes how we may use and disclose your protected health information to carry out treatment, payment or health care operations and for other purposes that are permitted or required by law. It also describes your rights to access and control your protected health information. “Protected health information” is information about you, including demographic information, that may identify you and that relates to your past, present or future physical or mental health or condition and related health care services.
We are required to abide by the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices. We may change the terms of our notice at any time. The new notice will be effective for all protected health information that we maintain at that time. Upon your request, we will provide you with any revised Notice of Privacy Practices. You may request a revised version by accessing our website, or calling the office and requesting that a revised copy be sent to you in the mail or asking for one at the time of your next appointment.
1. USES AND DISCLOSURES OF PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION
Your protected health information may be used and disclosed by us and others outside of our office who are involved in your care and treatment for the purpose of providing health care services to you. Your protected health information may also be used and disclosed to pay your health care bills and to support our operations.
Following are examples of the types of uses and disclosures of your protected health information that we are permitted to make. These examples are not meant to be exhaustive, but to describe the types of uses and disclosures that may be made by our office.
Treatment: We will use and disclose your protected health information to provide, coordinate, or manage your health care and any related services. This includes the coordination or management of your health care with another provider. For example, your protected health information may be provided to a physician to whom you have been referred to ensure that the physician has the necessary information to diagnose or treat you. In addition, we may disclose your protected health information from time-to-time to another physician or health care provider (e.g., a specialist or laboratory) who, at the request of your physician, becomes involved in your care by providing assistance with your health care diagnosis or treatment to your physician.
Payment: Your protected health information will be used and disclosed, as needed, to obtain payment for your health care services provided by us or by another provider. This may include certain activities that your health insurance plan may undertake before it approves or pays for the health care services we recommend for you such as: making a determination of eligibility or coverage for insurance benefits, reviewing services provided to you for medical necessity, and undertaking utilization review activities.
Health Care Operations: We may use or disclose, as needed, your protected health information in order to support our business activities. These activities include, but are not limited to, quality assessment activities, employee review activities, training of employees, licensing, fundraising activities, and conducting or arranging for other business activities.
We will share your protected health information with third party “business associates” that perform various activities (for example, billing or transcription services) for our practice. Whenever an arrangement between our office and a business associate involves the use or disclosure of your protected health information, we will have a written contract that contains
terms that will protect the privacy of your protected health information. We may use or disclose your protected health information, as necessary, to
provide you with information about treatment alternatives or other health related benefits and services that may be of interest to you. You may contact our Privacy Officer to request that these materials not be sent to you. We may use or disclose your demographic information and the dates that you received treatment from your physician, as necessary, in order to contact you for fundraising activities supported by our office. If you do not want to receive these materials, please contact our Privacy Officer and request that these fundraising materials not be sent to you.
Other Permitted and Required Uses and Disclosures That May Be Made Without Your Authorization or Opportunity to Agree or Object (this list is for purposes of providing examples and is not an exhaustive list of all permitted uses and disclosures)
We may use or disclose your protected health information in the following situations without your authorization or providing you the opportunity to agree or object. These situations include:
Required By Law: We may use or disclose your protected health information to the extent that the use or disclosure is required by law. The use or disclosure will be made in compliance with the law and will be limited to the relevant requirements of the law. You will be notified, if required by law, of any such uses or disclosures.
Public Health: We may disclose your protected health information for public health activities and purposes to a public health authority that is permitted by law to collect or receive the information. For example, a disclosure may be made for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability.
Communicable Diseases: We may disclose your protected health information, if authorized by law, to a person who may have been exposed to
a communicable disease or may otherwise be at risk of contracting or spreading the disease or condition.
Health Oversight: We may disclose protected health information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law, such as audits, investigations, and inspections. Oversight agencies seeking this information include government agencies that oversee the health care system, government benefit programs, other government regulatory programs and civil rights laws.
Abuse or Neglect: We may disclose your protected health information to a public health authority that is authorized by law to receive reports of child abuse or neglect. In addition, we may disclose your protected health information if we believe that you have been a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence to the governmental entity or agency authorized to receive such information. In this case, the disclosure will be made consistent with the requirements of applicable federal and state laws.
Legal Proceedings: We may disclose protected health information in the course of any judicial or administrative proceeding, in response to an order of a court or administrative tribunal (to the extent such disclosure is expressly authorized), or in certain conditions in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process.
Law Enforcement: We may also disclose protected health information, so long as applicable legal requirements are met, for law enforcement purposes. These law enforcement purposes include (1) legal processes and otherwise required by law, (2) limited information requests for identification and location purposes, (3) pertaining to victims of a crime, (4) suspicion that death has occurred as a result of criminal conduct, (5) in the event that a crime occurs on the premises of our practice, and (6) medical emergency (not on our
practice’s premises) and it is likely that a crime has occurred.
Criminal Activity: Consistent with applicable federal and state laws, we may disclose your protected health information, if we believe that the use or disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public. We may also disclose protected health information if it is necessary for law enforcement authorities to identify or apprehend an individual.
Uses and Disclosures of Protected Health Information Based upon Your Written Authorization
Other uses and disclosures of your protected health information will be made only with your written authorization, unless otherwise permitted or required by law. If you make such an authorization, you may revoke it at any time by providing a written notice of such. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclose your protected health information for the reasons covered by your written authorization. Please understand that we are unable to take back any disclosures already made with your authorization.
2. YOUR RIGHTS
Following is a statement of your rights with respect to your protected health information and a brief description of how you may exercise these rights. You have the right to inspect and copy your protected health information. This means you may inspect and obtain a copy of protected health information about you for so long as we maintain the protected health information. You may obtain your medical record that contains medical and billing records and any other records that we use for making decisions about you. As permitted by federal or state law, we may charge you a reasonable copy fee for a copy of your records.
Under federal law, however, you may not inspect or copy the following records: psychotherapy notes; information compiled in reasonable anticipation of, or use in, a civil, criminal, or administrative action or proceeding; and laboratory results that are subject to law that prohibits access to protected health information. Depending on the circumstances, a decision to deny access may be reviewable. In some circumstances, you may have a right to have this decision reviewed. Please contact our Privacy Officer if you have questions about access to your medical record.
You have the right to request a restriction of your protected health information. This means you may ask us not to use or disclose any part of your protected health information for the purposes of treatment, payment or health care operations. You may also request that any part of your protected health information not be disclosed to family members or friends who may be involved in your care or for notification purposes as described in this Notice of Privacy Practices. Your request must state the specific restriction requested and to whom you want the restriction to apply.
We are not required to agree to a restriction that you may request. If we agree to the requested restriction, we may not use or disclose your protected health
information in violation of that restriction unless it is needed to provide emergency treatment. With this in mind, please discuss any restriction you wish to request with us. You may request a restriction by contacting our Privacy Officer.
You have the right to request to receive confidential communications from us by alternative means or at an alternative location. We will accommodate reasonable requests. We may also condition this accommodation by asking you for information as to how payment will be handled or specification of an alternative address or other method of contact. We will not request an explanation from you as to the basis for the request. Please make this request in writing to our Privacy Officer.
You may have the right to have us amend your protected health information. This means you may request an amendment of protected health
information about you in a designated record set for so long as we maintain this information. In certain cases, we may deny your request for an amendment. If we deny your request for amendment, you have the right to file a statement of disagreement with us and we may prepare a rebuttal to your statement and will provide you with a copy of any such rebuttal. Please contact our Privacy Officer if you have questions about amending your medical record.
You have the right to receive an accounting of certain disclosures we have made, if any, of your protected health information. This right applies to disclosures for purposes other than treatment, payment or health care operations as described in this Notice of Privacy Practices. It excludes disclosures we may have made to you if you authorized us to make the disclosure, for a facility directory, to family members or friends involved in your care, or for notification purposes, for national security or intelligence, to law enforcement (as provided in the privacy rule) or correctional facilities, as part of a limited data set disclosure. You have the right to receive specific information regarding these disclosures that occur after April 14, 2003. The right to receive this information is subject to certain exceptions, restrictions and limitations.
You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this notice from us, upon request, even if you have agreed to accept this notice electronically.
3. COMPLAINTS
You may complain to us or to the Secretary of Health and Human Services if you believe your privacy rights have been violated by us. You may file a complaint with us by notifying our Privacy Officer of your complaint. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint. You may contact our Privacy Officer, Laura Yager or lyager@cfsbny.org for further information about the complaint process.
You may also contact the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Civil Rights for more information or to file a complaint. The contact information is: 200 Independence Avenue S.S., Washington, D.C., 20201 (877) 696-6775.
This notice was published and becomes effective on October 1, 2013.