Privacy
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.
Accept Speech Language Therapy LLC (“Accept,” “we,” “us”) provides speech-language pathology and cognitive-communication services. We are required by law to protect the privacy of your health information, to give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, and to follow the terms of the notice currently in effect. Where New York law gives you more protection than federal law, we follow New York law.
Your rights
When it comes to your health information, you have certain rights.
- Get a copy of your health record. You can ask to see or get an electronic or paper copy of your health record and other health information we have about you. We will provide a copy or a summary, usually within 30 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.
- Ask us to correct your record. You can ask us to correct health information that you think is incorrect or incomplete. We may say no, but we will tell you why in writing within 60 days.
- Request confidential communications. You can ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, home or office phone) or to send mail to a different address. We will say yes to all reasonable requests.
- Ask us to limit what we use or share. You can ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment or our operations. We are not required to agree if it would affect your care. If you pay for a service in full out of pocket, you can ask us not to share that information with your health insurer, and we will say yes unless a law requires us to share it.
- Get a list of those with whom we’ve shared information. You can ask for a list (accounting) of the times we’ve shared your health information for six years before the date you ask, who we shared it with, and why. It will not include disclosures for treatment, payment and health care operations, and certain others (such as any you asked us to make). We provide one list a year for free and may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for another within 12 months.
- Get a copy of this notice. You can ask for a paper copy at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically.
- Choose someone to act for you. If you have given someone medical power of attorney, or someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights and make choices about your health information. We will make sure the person has this authority before we take any action.
- File a complaint if you feel your rights are violated. You can contact us using the information below. You can also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by writing to 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, calling 1-877-696-6775, or visiting hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.
Your choices
For certain health information, you can tell us your choices about what we share. If you have a clear preference for how we share your information in the situations below, talk to us and we will follow your instructions.
- You have both the right and the choice to tell us to share information with your family, close friends or others involved in your care, or to share information in a disaster relief situation. If you are not able to tell us your preference, for example if you are unconscious, we may share your information if we believe it is in your best interest, or when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.
- We never share your information for marketing purposes, and we never sell your information, unless you give us written permission.
Our uses and disclosures
We typically use or share your health information in the following ways.
- To treat you. We can use your health information and share it with other professionals who are treating you. For example, we may share an evaluation report with your doctor.
- To run our practice. We can use and share your health information to run our practice, improve your care and contact you when necessary, for example to schedule or confirm appointments.
- To bill for your services. We can use and share your health information to bill and get payment from health plans or other entities, for example to give information about you to Medicare or your health insurance plan so it will pay for your services.
We are allowed or required to share your information in other ways, usually in ways that contribute to the public good, such as public health and research. We have to meet many conditions in the law before we can share your information for these purposes:
- Helping with public health and safety issues, such as reporting suspected abuse, neglect or domestic violence, or preventing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety.
- Doing research, under the conditions the law sets.
- Complying with the law, including if the Department of Health and Human Services wants to see that we’re complying with federal privacy law.
- Responding to organ and tissue donation requests, and working with a medical examiner or funeral director.
- Addressing workers’ compensation, law enforcement and other government requests, for workers’ compensation claims, for law enforcement purposes or with a law enforcement official, with health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law, and for special government functions such as military, national security and presidential protective services.
- Responding to lawsuits and legal actions, in response to a court or administrative order, or to a subpoena.
Some health information has extra protection under New York law, for example HIV-related information, and we share it only as that law allows.
How we protect your information online
Information you give in our online evaluation intake, including insurance details and photos of your insurance card, is sent over an encrypted connection and stored encrypted with Amazon Web Services under a business associate agreement. Only Accept’s clinician can view it, after signing in with a password and a second verification step, and each view is logged. Appointment emails, our calendar and video meeting titles do not include your health or insurance information.
Our responsibilities
- We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.
- We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.
- We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it.
- We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us we can in writing. If you tell us we can, you may change your mind at any time. Let us know in writing if you change your mind.
Changes to the terms of this notice
We can change the terms of this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The new notice will be available on request, in our office and on our website.
Contact us
Privacy questions, requests and complaints: Dr. Evi Doli, Privacy Officer, Accept Speech Language Therapy LLC. Email accept.therapies@gmail.com or call 516-895-1276.