Notice of Privacy Practices
Your information. Your rights. Our responsibilities.
Heale Behavioral Health LLC & Heale Counseling LLC, and all related entities, programs, and staff.
This notice describes how health information about you may be used and disclosed, your rights regarding that information, and how to file a complaint. Please review it carefully.
This notice covers HIPAA and 42 CFR Part 2, which adds protection for substance use disorder (SUD) records. Where they overlap, the stricter protection applies. We do not sell or market your personal information, and you may access and download your records anytime through our secure client portal. You have the right to a paper or electronic copy of this notice.
Your Rights
Consent to Use or Share Your Information
HIPAA: We may use and share your information for treatment, payment, and health-care operations unless you tell us otherwise.
SUD (42 CFR Part 2): We must obtain your written consent before using or sharing SUD information for most purposes. You may give one consent covering all future treatment, payment, and operations; limit it (which may affect services or payment); or consent to share through a health information network your providers can access.
Get a Copy of Your Record
Ask to see or get an electronic or paper copy of your record, usually within 30 days. A reasonable, cost-based fee may apply.
Ask Us to Correct Your Record
Request a correction to information you believe is wrong or incomplete. We may say “no,” explaining why in writing within 60 days.
Request Confidential Communications
Ask us to contact you a certain way (home, office, or cell) or at a different address. We say “yes” to all reasonable requests.
Ask Us to Limit What We Use or Share
Request that we not share certain information for treatment, payment, or operations; we need not agree. If you pay out-of-pocket in full for a service, you may ask us not to share that information with your insurer, and we’ll agree unless a law requires it.
Get a List of Disclosures
Request an accounting of disclosures for the six years before your request (excluding treatment, payment, operations, and certain others). One free per year; a reasonable fee may apply to additional requests within 12 months.
Choose in Advance About Fundraising
You have the right to advance notice of, and a choice about, fundraising communications - whether or not SUD records are involved.
Choose Someone to Act for You
A personal representative (medical power of attorney or legal guardian) can exercise your rights. We verify that authority before acting.
Get a Copy of This Notice
Request a paper copy anytime, even if you agreed to receive it electronically. We’ll provide it promptly.
File a Complaint if Your Rights Are Violated
Contact our Privacy Officer, or the U.S. HHS Office for Civil Rights - 200 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20201; 1-877-696-6775; hhs.gov/hipaa/filing-a-complaint. We will never retaliate against you for filing a complaint.
Your Choices
You May Tell Us To
Share information with family, friends, or others involved in your care or payment; or share in a disaster-relief situation. If you cannot tell us your preference (for example, if you are unconscious), we may share when we believe it is in your best interest, or to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.
We Never Share Without Written Permission For
Marketing; sale of your information; or most sharing of psychotherapy notes.
Fundraising
We may contact you, but you can tell us to stop. For Part 2 SUD records, we give clear advance notice and a choice before any fundraising use.
Our Uses & Disclosures
SUD Records (42 CFR Part 2)
In every case below, we cannot use or share Part 2 substance use disorder records in any civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative proceeding against you without (1) your written consent or (2) a court order accompanied by a subpoena. This is stronger than general HIPAA protection.
A. With Your Consent
Treat you - share with other professionals treating you. Run our organization - manage and improve your care and contact you when needed. Bill for services - obtain payment from health plans.
Other consent-based uses (mainly Part 2): Share with anyone you name; prevent multiple enrollments in withdrawal-management or maintenance programs; report participation required by the criminal justice system; report SUD treatment medications to a state PDMP when required by law.
B. Without Your Consent
Allowed or required by law, subject to legal conditions: internal communications and contractors; public health & safety (preventing disease, product recalls, adverse-reaction reports, reporting suspected abuse/neglect/domestic violence, reducing a serious threat - for SUD records, only de-identified information); medical emergencies; research (no client-identifying SUD information); complying with the law; organ and tissue donation; medical examiner or funeral director; reporting suspected child abuse or neglect (minimum necessary); preventing or reducing crime in our program; workers’ compensation, law enforcement, and government requests; responding to lawsuits and legal actions (court order or subpoena); and management, financial audits, and program evaluations (recipients must return or destroy the information and not use it against you).
C. Special Rules for SUD Records - Legal Proceedings (42 CFR Part 2)
We will not use, share, or testify about your SUD information in any proceeding against you without your written consent or a court order; we respond to a court order only when accompanied by a subpoena; in proceedings against you, only after you have had notice and an opportunity to be heard; and for proceedings against our program, you may not receive advance notice but may later seek to overturn or change the order.
D. Redisclosure
With your consent for all future treatment, payment, and operations, we may share with other SUD programs, providers, and health-care businesses. HIPAA-covered recipients may re-share as HIPAA allows; however, your SUD information still cannot be used in proceedings against you without your consent or a Part 2 court order accompanied by a subpoena.
Our Responsibilities
We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information; obtain your written consent before most uses or disclosures of SUD records; notify you promptly if a breach may have compromised your information; follow this notice and give you a copy; and not use or share your information other than as described here unless you permit us in writing (a permission you may revoke in writing anytime).
Changes to This Notice
We may change its terms and apply them to all information we hold. The current notice governs and will be available on request, in our office, and on our website.
Mississippi State Law Protections
As a provider licensed and certified by the Mississippi Department of Mental Health (DMH), we comply with Mississippi privacy laws, which in several areas provide greater protection than HIPAA alone.
Mental Health Records - Miss. Code Ann. § 41-21-97
Confidential; not disclosed without your written consent except: for your direct treatment by another provider; by order of a Mississippi court of competent jurisdiction; as required by other Mississippi or federal law (e.g., mandatory abuse/neglect reporting); or to prevent a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.
SUD Records - Miss. Code Ann. § 41-29-135 & 42 CFR Part 2
Heightened confidentiality; never released without your written permission except as authorized or required by law; and not usable in any proceeding against you without your written consent or a court order accompanied by a subpoena.
Mandatory Reporting (Without Consent)
Suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a child (§ 43-21-353); suspected abuse or neglect of a vulnerable adult (§ 43-47-7); and a credible threat of imminent harm to an identifiable third party. We disclose only the minimum information required.
DMH Oversight
As a DMH-certified provider, we may be audited, inspected, and evaluated by DMH. Records reviewed during oversight are handled under strict confidentiality and may not be used against you.
For More Information
- HIPAA: hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/noticepp.html
- 42 CFR Part 2: samhsa.gov/about-us/who-we-are/laws-regulations/confidentiality-regulations-faqs
- Mississippi DMH: dmh.ms.gov