Notice of privacy practices

Protected Health Information is individually identifiable health information. This information includes demographics (such as name, address, age, or phone number) and medical care information (such as diagnosis, health services we provide, or medications). Past, present, and future information is protected.

We reserve the right to change or revise this Notice. This Notice and any changes apply both to information we have already collected about you and information we may collect in the future. You can ask for a paper copy of this Notice at any time. We will also post a copy of this notice at our service location(s).

The following are examples of the permitted uses and disclosures of your protected health information. These are examples and not intended to be exhaustive.

• REQUIRED USES AND DISCLOSURES

  By law we must disclose your information to you unless a medical authority determines that access to that information may be harmful to you. We must also disclose information to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services for investigations or determinations of our compliance with laws about privacy.

• TREATMENT

  The law permits us to use and disclose your information in your treatment. Under most circumstances we will try to obtain your consent before doing this. However, if necessary, we are permitted to use your information to provide, coordinate or manage your health care and related services which may involve a third party. For example, we would disclose your information to your primary care provider, a specialist involved with your care, a laboratory, or others providing assistance with the health care diagnosis or treatment.

• PAYMENT

  We will use your information as needed to obtain payment for health care services. This might include determining eligibility, obtaining referrals or approval for your treatment.

• HEALTH CARE OPERATIONS

  We may use your information to support improvement in our daily activities related to health care operations, such as quality planning and improvement, completing licensing requirements, clinical supervision and other normal processes needed in your health care. This may include:

  • Disclosing your information, when needed, to schedule an appointment, remind you of appointments and call your name in the waiting areas.
  • Sharing your information with third party business associates who perform various activities for us and who promise to protect our information in the same manner as we protect it.
  • Using your information to provide alternative options for care. For example, we may ask if you wish to receive a newsletter that helps other families with your diagnosis.
  • Sending you information about products or services that might benefit you and your family.
• REQUIRED BY LAW

  We may use or disclose information if the law or regulation requires it. For example, Pegasus Therapy will comply with regulations that require reporting certain medical outcomes to government agencies.

• PUBLIC HEALTH

  We may disclose your protected health information to a public health authority that is permitted by law to collect or receive the information. This disclosure may be necessary to:

  • Prevent or control disease, injury, or disability.
  • Report deaths.
  • Report child abuse or neglect.
  • Report reactions to medications or problems with products used by clients under the guidance of another provider.
  • Notify a person who might have been exposed to a disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a disease or condition.
  • Notify the appropriate government authority if we believe a patient has been the victim of abuse, neglect, or violence.
• COMMUNICABLE DISEASES

  We may disclose your protected health information, if authorized by law, to a person who might have been exposed to a communicable disease or might otherwise be at risk of contracting or spreading the disease or condition.

• HEALTH OVERSIGHT

  We may find it necessary to disclose your health information to an oversight agency for activities such as audits, investigations, or inspections.

  • These health oversight agencies may include the government that oversees the health care system, voluntary inspections or credentialing organizations and other licensed groups.
• FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION

  We may find it necessary to disclose your health information to a person or company required by the Food and Drug Administration to:

  • Report adverse events stemming from products used by clients under the guidance of another provider.
  • Enable product recalls, make repairs or replacements for products used by clients under the guidance of another provider.
• LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

  We may find it necessary to disclose health information during any judicial or administrative proceedings in response to a court order, warrant, subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process.

• LAW ENFORCEMENT

  We may find it necessary to disclose health information for law enforcement purposes such as:

  • Response to legal proceedings.
  • Information requests for identification or location.
  • Circumstances pertaining to victims of a crime.
  • Deaths or medical emergencies suspected to have resulted from criminal conduct.
  • Identification or apprehension of an individual.
• CRIMINAL ACTIVITY

  We may find it necessary to disclose your health information if we believe that its use and disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public.

• SPECIAL SITUATIONS

  We may find it necessary to disclose your health information to coroners, funeral directors, or medical examiners for their performance of duties as authorized by law.

• RESEARCH

  We may disclose your protected health information to researchers when allowed by law, for example, if their research has been approved by an Institutional Review Board that has reviewed the research proposal and established a plan to ensure the privacy of your protected health information.

  • No personally identifiable information, such as name, address, or telephone number or similar information will be included.
• PARENTAL ACCESS
  Some state laws concerning minors permit or require disclosure of protected health information to parents, guardians and persons acting in a similar capacity or legal status, such as a patient representative. We will:
  • act consistently with state laws where the treatment is provided and will make disclosures following such laws whenever the state law is more protective of privacy than the Federal law.
  • make every effort to protect children's rights to a private physician/patient relationship.

In some circumstances you have the opportunity to agree or object to the use or disclosure of all or part of your information.

• MARKETING AND FUND-RAISING ACTIVITIES

  We may use medical information about you to contact you to raise money. We only would release contact information such as you name, address and phone number and the dates you received treatment or services by Pegasus Therapy.

• INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED IN YOUR CARE

  We will always make every effort to get permission from you to disclose information about your care. We will make every effort to help you be the agent for information about you.

  • When you are not available, this may mean that you will need to identify the names of any alternative representative(s) that are authorized to receive patient information.
  • Except in cases where Pegasus Therapy has been presented with a court document restricting or redirecting guardian/parental rights, you are aware that any legal guardian or parent may see the medical record, visit the patient, take the child home, or make care decisions.
  • As an added protection, Pegasus Therapy LLC requests court/mediated documents which specify parental custody/visitation details in cases where divorce is a factor.
  • We may need to disclose information to an authorized public or private entity to assist in disaster relief efforts and coordinate uses and disclosures to family or other individuals.

We will protect the privacy rights of patients. We have rules in place so that patients and families, parents, guardians, and others can do things explained in these rights. Your Rights include:

• The right to a copy of this Notice of Privacy Practices in either electronic or paper form or both.
• The right to reasonable requests that health information not be used or disclosed for treatment, payment, or health care operations (except those required by law), although Pegasus Therapy reserves the right, and is not required by law, to honor those requests.
• The right to change your mind and take back an authorization for use or disclosure of protected health information when it is reasonable.
• The right to request confidential communications by various means (by phone, e-mail, fax, or standard mail) or at an alternative location. Clients are asked to identify a preferred means of contact.
• The right to be given a place and time to look at, read, inspect, or copy your health information except for:
  • Notes taken by the therapist during an individual, group, or family session.
  • Information compiled in reasonable anticipation of, or for use in, a civil, criminal, or administrative action or proceeding.
• The right to have Pegasus Therapy amend your protected health information for as long as we maintain it.
• The right to request a report of the times your health information has been shared with anyone other than you for uses related to treatment, payment or health care operations as described in this Notice. We will provide one accounting per year for free, but will charge a reasonable, cost-based fee if more than one request is received per year.
• The right to choose someone to act for you or your dependent.
• The right to limit the amount or type of information we share. You can ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment, or our operations. Pegasus Therapy will do its best to accommodate these requests. We may not comply if it would negatively affect your care or is non-compliant with any state or federal laws.

Other uses and disclosures of medical information not covered by this notice or the laws that apply to us will be made only with your permission.

• If you provide authorization to use and disclose information about you, you have the right to revoke the permission in writing at any time.
• If you revoke your permission, we will no longer disclose the information for the reasons covered in your written authorization.
• You understand that we are unable to take back any disclosures we have already made with your permission and that we are required to retain records of the care that we provide to you.

Any patient, parent or legal guardian or patient representative may file a verbal or written formal complaint. Call the owner of Pegasus Therapy at (301) 740-8332 for assistance. Pegasus Therapy is responsible for ensuring that the complaining party receives a written response within 45 days. Responses will include the steps we are taking to investigate the complaint and the results of the investigation, the date of completion and a contact person and phone number. All efforts will be made by Pegasus Therapy LLC to remediate any problems.

If you do not receive an appropriate response from Pegasus Therapy LLC, you may also file a complaint with the U.S. Office of Civil Rights, or the Department of Health and Human Services. In any case, no retaliation will be made against you for filing such a complaint.