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Poinsett Psychiatric Innovations, PA makes every effort to safeguard your private healthcare information. Our full Notice of Privacy Practices statement can be found here.
With each visit to our Practice, a separate encounter progress note is completed, and this progress note typically includes a record of your current symptoms, medications, any laboratory studies, results of symptom screening tools, a full mental status examination, diagnoses, and proposed treatment/care plan. Also, information is included which supports either continued need for treatment or need for termination from treatment. As patients are also seen for individual psychotherapy, there will be notations concerning the major themes explored in therapy, the type of therapeutic interventions, and a general statement regarding therapeutic progress. Not only does your established medical record assist with the provision of high-quality treatment and care, it also needs to meet legal requirements.
Under current law, our Practice must do the following: 1) maintain your medical record as a privileged and private document; 2) provide you with a description of the legal duties and privacy obligations under which our Practice operates; and 3) follow the current Notice of Privacy Practices. Our Practice reserves the right to change certain terms and practices of this Notice, and any changes would cover previously obtained information and information obtained forward from the date of the change in policy. You have the right at any time to request to speak in person with the Privacy Officer for our Practice.
Under routine conditions of care, our Practice may release certain portions of your medical record to other physicians who are seeing you on consultation. Prior to the release of the information, our Practice would request written Release of Information from you following a discussion with your treating physician. As our Practice is only a fee-for-service operation, your medical records will never be released to any insurance company or third party for purposes of billing and treatment without your consent. Your insurance company will not be contacted by our Practice for pre-approval of treatment and care. Our Practice will not release any portions of your medical record, without your written permission, to any family members, significant others, friends, or clergy members.
You have the specific right to review and request a copy of your electronic medical record at any time. However, under federal law, this right does not extend to the inclusion of psychotherapy notes. Please note that there may be a fee for processing, printing, and mailing copies of the electronic medical record. Should you wish to review the contents of your electronic medical record, a written request must be made. The request will be forwarded to your treating physician for review. If the physician denies the request, you have the right to request a review. A licensed independent healthcare professional will be selected by our Practice to examine your request. It is understood that our Practice will comply with the outcome of the review process.
You have the right to modify or add information to the electronic medical record if you believe that the documented information is either incorrect or incomplete. The request for this action must be made in written form and submitted to our Practice. It is very important that you provide a reason supporting your request. Under certain conditions, your request may be denied. At that point, you would be contacted by our Privacy Officer to discuss the situation, and you have the right to file a statement of disagreement. Our Practice may then submit a rebuttal if it is felt to be appropriate. You would be provided with a copy of the rebuttal.
You have the right to request an Accounting of Disclosures of your electronic medical record. This consists of a list of individuals who have accessed your electronic medical record. To obtain this Disclosure, you must submit the request in written form to our Practice. The first Disclosure release in a 12 month period is free of charge. Any other requested Disclosures within the same 12 month period will involve a charge. You will be notified of the total charge prior to the production of the Disclosure, and you may at that time cancel or adjust your request prior to incurring any fees.
Under certain circumstances, portions of your electronic medical record or the complete electronic medical record may be released without first obtaining your written permission. However, under no circumstances will any portion of your electronic medical record be released in the following situations: 1) for any type of research activity; 2) for any type of fundraising event; and 3) for any business activity outside the scope of services provided by our Practice. Your electronic medical record may be released under the following circumstances: 1) as required by federal, state, or local law authorities; 2) as required by Court or Administrative Order including subpoena, request for discovery, or any other lawful process; and 3) as required by Workers’ Compensation laws. Your electronic medical record may also be released if you are a member of the United States military or an inmate of a correctional institution. Information may also be released if you are in custody of a law enforcement official or if a federal agency for intelligence, counterintelligence, or national security activities requests release as authorized by law. Our Practice, in good faith, may release your electronic medical record if it is felt that you are the victim of neglect, abuse, or domestic violence. Certain limited information may be released, in good faith, if it felt that the release would prevent a serious threat to your safety, your health, the safety of other individuals, or the health of other individuals. Finally, portions of your electronic medical record may be released to medical examiners, coroners, funeral directors, and organ donation services if the information is felt to be of necessary disclosure for any of the above individuals to meet their legal duties.
If you feel that the privacy and confidentiality of your electronic medical record has been violated or compromised in some manner, you have the right to file a complaint with the Privacy Officer for our Practice. The complaint must be in written format.
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