Privacy Policies

Introduction

Please find below the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), dealing with the privacy and security of health information. HIPAA applies to the Orchard Place Campus, Child Guidance Center and PACE Juvenile Center. HIPAA also applies to our employees, volunteers, interns and consultants.

This notice describes how health information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully.

Our pledge

We understand that health information about your child and family is personal, and we are committed to protecting that information. In order to provide your child with quality care and to comply with certain legal requirements, we create a record of the care and services your child and family receive at Orchard Place (hereafter referred to as the Agency). This notice applies to all of the records of your child’s care generated by the Agency, whether made by Agency personnel or other practitioners involved in your child’s care.

This notice will tell you about the ways in which we may use and disclose health information about your child and family. We also describe your rights and certain obligations we have regarding the usage and disclosure of health information.

We are required by law to:

  1. Give you, as personal representative for your child, this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to health information about your child and family.
  2. Make sure that health information that identifies your child and family is kept private.
  3. Follow the terms of the Privacy Notice that is currently in effect.

Authorized uses of health information

Health information not covered by this notice will be disclosed only with your written permission. You may revoke that permission at any time in writing to your child’s therapist/caseworker. If you revoke your permission, we will no longer use or disclose health information about your child and family for the reasons covered by your written authorization. You understand that we are unable to take back any uses or disclosures we have already made with your permission, and we are required to retain our records of the care we provided to you.

Your rights regarding health information about your child and family

You have the following rights regarding health information we maintain about your child and family:

Right to Inspect and Copy

You have the right to inspect and copy health information that may be used to make decisions about your child’s care. Usually, this includes medical and billing records, but does not include psychotherapy notes, information compiled in reasonable anticipation of, or for use in, civil, criminal, or administrative proceedings, or psychological test materials.

To inspect and copy health information that may be used to make decisions about your child and family, contact your child’s therapist/caseworker. If you request a copy of the information, we may charge a fee for the cost of copying, mailing, or other supplies associated with your request.

We may deny your request to inspect and copy in certain very limited circumstances. If you are denied access to health information, you may request that the denial be reviewed. Another licensed health care professional chosen by the Agency will review your request and the denial. The person conducting the review will not be the person who denied your request or who was involved in the denial of your request. We will comply with the outcome of the review.

Right to Amend

If you feel that health information we have about your child and family is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend the information. You have the right to request an amendment for as long as the information is kept by or for the Agency.

To request an amendment, your request must be made in writing and submitted to the Privacy Officer. In addition, you must provide a reason that supports your request.

We may deny your request for an amendment if it is not in writing or does not include a reason to support the request. In addition, we may deny your request if you ask us to amend information that:

Right to an Accounting of Disclosures

It is very rare that we would disclose health information about your child and family except for purposes of treatment, payment, or operations of the Agency. However, if we do make other disclosures, you have a right to request an accounting of these disclosures.

To request this list or accounting of disclosures you must submit your request in writing to the Privacy Officer. Your request must state a time period which may not be longer than 6 years and may not include dates before April 14, 2003. Your request should indicate in what form you want the list (for example, on paper or electronically). The first list you request within a 12-month period will be free. For additional lists, we may charge you for the cost of providing the list. We will notify you of the cost involved and you may choose to withdraw or modify your request at that time before any costs are incurred.

Right to Request Restrictions

You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the health information we use or disclose about your child and family for treatment, payment, or Agency operations. You also have the right to request a limit on the health information we disclose about your child and family to someone who is involved in your care or the payment for your care.

Please note, we are not required to agree to your request. For example, if you requested us to withhold information about your child’s treatment from another parent who has a legal right to access this information, we would be unable to do so. We may also not agree to your request if health information is needed to provide your child emergency treatment.

To request restrictions, you must make your request in writing to your child’s therapist/caseworker. In your request you must tell us:

  1. what information you want to limit;
  2. whether you want to limit our use, disclosure, or both; and
  3. to whom you want the limits to apply.

Right to Request Confidential Communications

You have the right to request that we communicate with you about health matters in a certain way or at a certain location. For example, you may ask that we only contact you at home or by mail. You may make this request by informing your child’s therapist/caseworker.

Right to a Paper Copy of This Notice

You have the right to a paper copy of this privacy notice. You may ask us to give you a copy of this Privacy Notice at any time by requesting a copy from any member of our Agency personnel.

Who will follow this notice?

This notice describes our Agency’s practices and that of:

  1. any professional authorized to review or enter information into your child’s file;
  2. all departments and units of the Agency;
  3. any member of a volunteer group we allow to help your child and family while your child is receiving services; and/or
  4. all Agency employees from any of our branch offices including the Child Guidance Center, PACE, and Orchard Place programs.

All these entities, sites, locations, and individuals will be required to follow the terms of this notice. In addition, these entities, sites, locations, and individuals may share health information with each other for treatment, payment, or operations purposes described in this notice.

Other uses and disclosures of health information

For Treatment

We may use health information about your child and family to provide your child with health treatment or services. Different departments of the Agency also may share health information about your child and family in order to coordinate services. We may also discuss information about your child within the treatment team. For example, the psychiatrist may need to discuss medication or other health issues with your child’s therapist/caseworker.

For Payment

In some cases we may disclose health information so that services your child and family receive may be billed to and payment collected from a third party. For example, if your child is in residential care, a therapist/caseworker will be talking with the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care to authorize payment from the Department of Human Services. In addition, the information on any bill may contain information that identifies you or your child, the child’s diagnosis, and any treatment or supplies used in the course of treatment.

For Health Care Operations

We may use and disclose health information about your child and family for Agency operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary to run the Agency and make sure that all of our clients receive quality care. For example, we may use health information to review our treatment and services and to evaluate the performance of our staff in caring for your child. We may send you a Client Satisfaction Survey. In addition, we may use information gathered from many client records to describe our work and treatment outcomes for program evaluation, marketing, and fundraising. We will remove information that identifies your child and family from this information to ensure confidentiality.

Fundraising Activites

We may disclose contact information about your child and family (name, address, phone number, dates of service) to the Development Office of the Agency who may contact you as part of a fundraising campaign. If you do not want to participate, feel free to decline by informing your child’s therapist/caseworker.

Research

Under certain circumstances, we may use and disclose health information about your child and family for research purposes. For example, a research project may involve comparing the progress of all clients who receive one medication to those who received another for the same condition. All research projects, however, are subject to a special approval process. We will ask for your specific permission if the researcher will have access to your name, address, or other information that reveals who you and/or your child are or others who will be involved in your child’s care at the Agency.

Health Oversight Activities

We may disclose health information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law. For example, these oversight activities include audits, investigations, inspections, and licensure. These activities are necessary for the government to monitor the health care system, government programs, and compliance with civil rights laws.

Law Enforcement

We may release health information to a law enforcement official:

As Required by Law

We will disclose health information about you when required to do so by Federal, State, or local law. For example, disclosure may occur when required by court order or a mandatory report of suspected child abuse or neglect.

Complaints

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with us or with the Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

To file a complaint with us, see below for our list of complaint officers for each Orchard Place division:

All complaints must be submitted in writing. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

Changes to this notice

We reserve the right to change this notice. We reserve the right to make the revised or changed notice effective for health information we already have about your child and family as well as any information we receive in the future. We will post a copy of the current notice at the Agency. The notice will contain on the first page, in the top right hand corner, the effective date. In addition, each time your child is admitted for treatment we will offer you a copy of the current notice in effect.