Notice of Privacy Practices

Our commitment

Isla Psychiatry is 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.

How we may use and disclose your health information

For treatment

We use your information to provide psychiatric care. For example, we may share relevant information with your therapist, primary care clinician, or pharmacy so that your care is coordinated and your medications are safe.

For payment

We may use your information to bill you and to prepare a superbill you can submit to your insurer for out-of-network reimbursement.

For health care operations

We may use your information for quality review, training, licensing and credentialing, and the general administration of the practice.

Psychotherapy notes

Psychotherapy notes, where they are kept, receive extra protection. With limited exceptions set out in the HIPAA rules, we will not disclose them without your written authorization.

Uses that require your written authorization

We will ask for your written authorization before we use or disclose your health information for marketing, before we sell your health information, and before most other uses not described in this notice. You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time. Revoking it does not undo disclosures we already made while it was in effect.

Uses and disclosures permitted or required without your authorization

The law permits or requires us to use or disclose your information without your authorization in certain situations, including:

• When required by federal, state, or local law
• To public health authorities, for activities such as preventing disease or reporting adverse events
• To report suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a child, older adult, or incapacitated person
• To health oversight agencies for audits, investigations, and licensure activity
• In response to a court order, subpoena, or other lawful process
• For specified law enforcement purposes
• To coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors
• For organ and tissue donation
• For research, where an institutional review board has approved the use and applied privacy protections
• To prevent a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety or to the health or safety of others
• For workers compensation claims
• For specialized government functions, including military and national security activities

Virginia law

Virginia law provides additional protection for mental health and substance use records. Where state law is more protective than HIPAA, we follow state law.

Your rights

• Access. You may inspect and receive a copy of your record, including an electronic copy where we maintain it electronically. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.
• Amendment. You may ask us to correct information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete. We may deny the request, and if we do we will explain why in writing and you may submit a statement of disagreement.
• Accounting of disclosures. You may request a list of certain disclosures we made in the six years before your request.
• Restrictions. You may ask us to limit how we use or disclose your information. We are not required to agree, with one exception: if you pay in full out of pocket for a service, you may direct us not to share information about it with a health plan, and we must honor that.
• Confidential communications. You may ask us to contact you in a specific way or at a specific address, and we will accommodate reasonable requests.
• Paper copy. You may request a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically.
• Breach notification. You will be notified if a breach compromises the privacy or security of your information.
• Choose someone to act for you. A personal representative or a person with medical power of attorney may exercise these rights on your behalf.

Our responsibilities

We are required to maintain the privacy and security of your health information, to notify you promptly if a breach occurs, to follow the terms of the notice currently in effect, and not to use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us in writing that we may. If you give us written permission, you may change your mind at any time.

Changes to this notice

We may change this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we hold. The current notice will always be posted on this page with its effective date, and a copy is available on request.

Complaints

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with us by contacting our Privacy Officer, Therese Morin, PMHNP-BC, at help@islapsych.com or 2 Constitution Dr, Suite 101, Virginia Beach, VA 23462.

You may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, D.C. 20201, by calling 1-877-696-6775, or online at hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints.

We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.