Solara Privacy Policy
Notice of Privacy Practices - Solara Wellness LLC (HIPAA Notice) Effective Date: August 10, 2021
Our Responsibilities:
This organization is required to: Maintain the privacy of your health information Provide you with a notice as to our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to information we collect and maintain about you Abide by the terms of this notice, notify you if we are unable to agree to a requested restriction. Accommodate reasonable requests you may have to communicate health information by alternative means or at alternative locations. We reserve the right to change our practices and to make the new provisions effective for all protected health information we maintain. Should our information practices change, we will post changes at Solara Wellness, at www.solarawellness.net,or email/mail a revised notice to the address you've supplied us. We will not use or disclose your health information without your authorization, except as described in this notice.
1. Uses of Disclosures for Treatment, Payment and Health Operations:
We will use your health information for treatment purposes. For example: Information obtained will be recorded in your record and used to determine the course of treatment that should work best for you. Your health information may be provided to a delegate physician or a physician to whom you have been referred for evaluation to ensure that the physician has the necessary information to diagnose or treat you. We may also share your 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, massage therapist, or acupuncturist becomes involved in your care by providing assistance with your health care diagnosis or treatment to your physician, massage therapist or acupuncturist.
We will use your health information for payment purposes. For example: A bill may be sent to you or a third-party payer such as an insurance company, the Medicare program or any other organization, person or program that may be responsible for paying for services. The information on or accompanying the bill may include information that identifies you, as well as your diagnosis, procedures, and supplies used.
We will use your health information for regular health operations. For example: Health care providers within the organization, the risk or quality improvement manager, or members of the quality improvement team may use information in your health record to assess the care and outcomes in your case and others . This Information will then be used in an effort to continually improve the quality and effectiveness of the healthcare and service we provide.
Business Associates: There are some services provided in our organization through contracts with business associates. Examples include, but not limited to insurance billing, marketing, appointment confirmation, booking, etc. These business associates are associated through separate companies who are independent contractors. There may be additional independent contractors implemented at any given time. When these services are contracted, we may disclose your health information to our business associate so that they can perform the job we've asked them to do. Such as bill you or your third-party payer for services rendered, etc. Though unlikely, if these associates fail to protect your information, Solara Wellness will take the appropriate measures of notification, but is not held accountable for breaches made by business associates. To protect your health information, however, we require the business associate to appropriately safeguard your information.
Notification: We may use or disclose information to notify or assist in notifying a family member, personal representative, or another person responsible for your care, your location, and general condition.
Technological Communication: When you send information via email or text, or when we send you an email the information that is sent may not be secure, due to a lack of encryption. This means a third party may be able to access the information and read it, since it is transmitted over the internet and is at risk of interception. Once the email is received by you, someone may be able to access your email account and read it. Communication through technological means, including email, does provide risk to patient information. Once signed, I understand the risk and give consent to communicate through email or text. Permission is granted to communicate with Solara Wellness for the same patient's personal medical information via unencrypted email and the risk of unencrypted messaging is understood. Solara Wellness can also send appointment reminders via business associates in line with the standards in the former section.
Communication with family: Health professionals, using their best judgment, may disclose to a family member, other relative, close personal friend or any other person you identify, health information relevant to that person's involvement in your care or payment related to your care.
Workers' Compensation: We may disclose health information to the extent authorized by and to the extent necessary to comply with laws relating to workers compensation or other similar programs established by law.
Research: We may disclose information to researchers when their research has been approved by an institutional review board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your health information.
Public Health: As required by law, we may disclose your health information to public health or legal authorities charged with 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
Contact: We may contact you to provide appointment reminders or information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you or otherwise provide information about additional services or health care products you may find useful.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA): We may disclose to the FDA health information relative to adverse events with respect to food, supplements, product and product defects, or post marketing surveillance to enable product recalls, repairs, or replacement. Organ procurement organizations: Consistent with applicable law, we may disclose health information to organ procurement organizations or other entities engaged in the procurement, banking, or transplantation of organs for the purpose of tissue donation and transplant.
Legal Matters: In the event of a claim, litigation or other legal proceeding or contemplated legal matter, we may disclose health information to attorneys and individuals or organizations working for them. We may disclose health information for law enforcement purposes as required by law or in response to a valid subpoena. Federal law makes provision for your health information to be released to an appropriate health oversight agency, public health authority or attorney, provided that a workforce member or business associate believes in good faith that we have engaged in unlawful conduct or have otherwise violated professional or clinical standards and are potentially endangering one or more patients, workers or the public.
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 that is contained in a designated record set for as long as we maintain the protected health information. A designated record set contains medical and billing records, and any other records that the practice uses for making decisions about you. 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 protected health information that is subject to law that prohibits access to protected health information. Depending on the circumstances, a decision to deny access may be review-able. In some circumstances, you may have a right to have this decision reviewed. Please contact our Privacy Official 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 healthcare 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 be in writing and state the specific restriction requested and to whom you want the restriction to apply. Your provider is not required to agree to a restriction that you may request. If the provider believes it is in your best interest to permit use and disclosure of your protected health information, your protected health information will not be restricted. If your provider does 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 your provider. You may request a restriction by presenting your request, in writing, to the Privacy Official. The Privacy Officer will provide you with Restriction of Consent to Use and Disclosure of Protected Health Information form. Complete the form, sign it, and ask that the staff provide you with a photocopy of your request initialed by them. This copy will serve as your receipt.
3. Group Sessions or Visits:
It is possible that some of my individually identifiable health information will be disclosed if I choose to participate in a group session at Solara Wellness. I understand the following information about my rights:
I understand that I have the option to speak with my health provider or therapist individually.
I understand that I have the option to not participate in groups and to be treated individually if I choose.
I understand that discussions may occur regarding individually identifiable health information during a group session and by participating in the group .
It is my responsibility to keep health information and names about other participants private as they are expected to do for me.
4. For More Information or to Report a Problem If you have questions and would like additional information, you may contact, the HIPAA Privacy Official for Solara Wellness LLC, at 644 Migaldi Lane Ste 300 Lansing, MI 48917 or call us at 517.388.1507. If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with the HIPAA Privacy Official for Solara Wellness LLC or with the Secretary of Health and Human Services. There will be no retaliation for filing a complaint.
Notice of Privacy Practices Patient Acknowledgment
I have received and understand this Notice of Privacy Practices written in plain language. The notice provides in detail the uses and disclosures of my protected health information by this practice, my individual rights and the practices legal duties with respect to my protected health information. This includes, but is not limited to:
A statement that this practice is required by law to maintain the privacy of protected health information.
A statement that this practice is required to abide by the terms of the notice currently in effect.
Types of uses and disclosures that this practice is permitted to make for each of the following purposes: treatment, payment, and health care operations, and trusted business associates.
The risks associated with technological communication via email and text messaging through unencrypted means have been made clear and are accepted and understood, providing consent with emailing and text messaging.
A description of each of the other purposes for which this practice is permitted or required to use or disclose protected health information without my written consent or authorization.
A description of uses and disclosures that are prohibited or materially limited by law.
A description of other uses and disclosures that will be made only with my written authorization and that I may revoke such authorization. My individual rights with respect to protected health information and a brief description of how I may exercise these rights in relation to:
The right to complain to this practice and the Secretary of HHS if I believe my privacy rights have been violated, and that no retaliatory actions will be used against me in the event of such a complaint.
The right to request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of my protected health information and that this practice is not required to agree to a requested restriction.
The right to receive confidential communications of protected health information.
The right to inspect and copy protected health information.
The right to amend protected health information.
The right to request and account for disclosures of protected health information.
The right to obtain a paper copy of the Notice of Privacy Practices from this practice upon request.
This practice reserves the right to change the terms of its Notice of Privacy Practices and to make new provisions effective for all protected health information that it maintains. If changes occur, this practice will provide me with a revised Notice of Privacy Practices upon request.