Below, you will find Kate’s updated notice of privacy practices. This is being posted to comply with state and federal laws requiring therapists to make their most recent privacy practices available to their clients. When updates to the notice are made they are posted here. I take confidentiality very seriously, and if you contact me directly I would be happy to answer questions about about how private information is handled within my practice.
There are two documents on this website. The first (immediately below) is a notice of privacy practices that is applicable to my clients who have signed an informed consent to be a patient in my practice. The second can be found at the end of this page, below the “____” line, and is a more general privacy notice about privacy on this website.
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 THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY.
This notice is for you to keep, it does not need to be returned to Kate Gegg Counseling, PLLC.
Your health record contains personal information about you and your health. This is information about you that may identify you and that relates to your past, present or future physical or mental health or condition and related health care services. This information is referred to as Protected Health Information (“PHI”). This Notice of Privacy Practices describes how Kate Gegg Counseling, PLLC (“the practice” and/or “Kate”) may use and disclose your PHI in accordance with applicable law, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”), regulations promulgated under HIPAA including the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, and the NASW Code of Ethics, which is the ethical and legal code that the practice must follow to provide you with treatment. It also describes your rights regarding how you may gain access to and control your PHI.
The practice is required by law to maintain the privacy of PHI and to provide you with notice of its legal duties and privacy practices with respect to PHI. The practice is required to abide by the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices. The practice reserves the right to change the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices at any time. Any new Notice of Privacy Practices will be effective for all PHI that the practice maintains at that time. The practice will provide you with a copy of the revised Notice of Privacy Practices by posting a copy on its website, sending a copy to you in the mail upon request or providing one to you at your next appointment.
HOW THE PRACTICE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
For Treatment. Your PHI may be used and disclosed by those who are involved in your care for the purpose of providing, coordinating, or managing your health care treatment and related services. This includes consultation with other treatment team members. The practice may disclose PHI to any other individual only with your authorization.
For Payment. The practice may use and disclose PHI so that it can receive payment for treatment and services provided to you. Examples of payment-related activities are: making a determination of eligibility or coverage for insurance benefits, processing claims with your insurance company, reviewing services provided to you to determine medical necessity, undertaking utilization review activities, and processing credit card payments. If it becomes necessary to use collection processes due to lack of payment for services, the practice will only disclose the minimum amount of PHI necessary for purposes of collection.
For Health Care Operations. The practice may use or disclose, as needed, your PHI in order to support business activities including, but not limited to, quality assessment activities, licensing, and conducting or arranging for other business activities. For example, the practice may share your PHI with third parties that perform various business activities (e.g., billing or typing services) provided the practice has a written contract with the business that requires it to safeguard the privacy of your PHI. This informed consent document does not constitute consent for your PHI to be used for marketing or fundraising, and your information will never be used for those purposes without your written consent. The practice uses a HIPAA compliant platform for email. Please be aware, however, that the nature of written communications makes them less secure than communications conducted in person. In the unlikely event of the incapacitation of your provider rendering an inability to provide therapeutic services, the practice has assigned a professional executor to manage the maintenance and/or closure of the business, as needed. This executor will be a Licensed Psychotherapist who will access only the minimum information about you necessary to notify you of your provider’s incapacitation and to attend to maintaining and/or closing the business as is needed.
Required by Law. Under Illinois state law, records are the property of the individual client and will be released to you with your written request. The practice will keep either the original record, or a copy of the record on file for as long as deemed necessary by applicable state and federal laws. In addition, the practice must make disclosures to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services for the purpose of investigating or determining her compliance with the requirements of the Privacy Rule.
Without Authorization. The following is a list of the categories of uses and disclosures permitted by HIPAA without an authorization. Applicable law and ethical standards permit the practice to disclose information about you without your authorization only in a limited number of situations.
Child and Elder Abuse or Neglect. The practice may be required to disclose your PHI to a state or local agency that is authorized by law to receive reports of child abuse or neglect. Please note, your provider is a mandated reporter of abuse and neglect for individuals under the age of 18 and over the age of 65; which means your provider is required to report any instances of abuse or neglect that are disclosed during the course of treatment to the proper protection agencies.
Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. The practice may disclose your PHI pursuant to a subpoena (with your written consent), court order, administrative order or similar and lawful process including processes associated with claims you may choose to make for Workers Compensation or other legal proceedings.
Deceased Patients. The practice may disclose PHI regarding deceased patients as mandated by state law, or to a family member or friend that was involved in your care or payment for care prior to death, based on your prior consent. A release of information regarding deceased patients may be limited to an executor or administrator of a deceased person’s estate or the person identified as next-of-kin. PHI of persons that have been deceased for more than fifty (50) years is not protected under HIPAA.
Medical Emergencies. The practice may use or disclose your PHI in a medical emergency situation to medical personnel only in order to prevent serious harm.
Family Involvement in Care. The practice may disclose information to close family members or friends directly involved in your treatment based on your consent or as necessary to prevent serious harm.
Health Oversight. If required, the practice may disclose PHI to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law, such as audits, investigations, and inspections. Oversight agencies seeking this information include government agencies and organizations that provide financial assistance to the program (such as third-party payors based on your prior consent) and peer review organizations performing utilization and quality control.
Law Enforcement. The practice may disclose PHI to a law enforcement official as required by law, in compliance with a subpoena (with your written consent), court order, administrative order or similar document, for the purpose of identifying a suspect, material witness or missing person, in connection with the victim of a crime, in connection with a deceased person, in connection with the reporting of a crime in an emergency, or in connection with a crime on the premises of the practice.
Specialized Government Functions. The practice may review requests from U.S. military command authorities if you have served as a member of the armed forces, authorized officials for national security and intelligence reasons and to the Department of State for medical suitability determinations, and disclose your PHI based on your written consent, mandatory disclosure laws and the need to prevent serious harm.
Public Health. If required, the practice may use or disclose your PHI for mandatory public health activities to a public health authority authorized by law to collect or receive such information for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability, or if directed by a public health authority, to a government agency that is collaborating with that public health authority.
Public Safety. The practice may disclose your PHI if necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person (including you) or the public. If information is disclosed to prevent or lessen a serious threat it will be disclosed to a person or persons reasonably able to prevent or lessen the threat, including the target of the threat. This includes making reports, when legally mandated, to DHS through the Firearm Owners’ Identification Mental Health Reporting System.
With Authorization. Uses and disclosures not specifically permitted by applicable law will be made only with your written authorization, which may be revoked at any time, except to the extent that a representative of the practice has already made a use or disclosure based upon your authorization. The following uses and disclosures will be made only with your written authorization: (i) most uses and disclosures of psychotherapy notes which are separated from the rest of your medical record; (ii) most uses and disclosures of PHI for marketing purposes, including subsidized treatment communications; (iii) disclosures that constitute a sale of PHI; and (iv) other uses and disclosures not described in this Notice of Privacy Practices.
YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING YOUR PHI
You have the following rights regarding PHI the practice maintains about you. To exercise any of these rights, please submit your request in writing to: Kate Gegg Counseling, PLLC: 20 North Clark Street, Suite 3300 Chicago IL 60602. Kate Gegg AM, LCSW is the privacy officer for the practice practice and will process these requests.
Right of Access to Inspect and Copy. Under Illinois state law, records are the property of the individual client and will be released to you with your written request. You have the right, which may be restricted only in exceptional circumstances, to inspect and copy PHI that is maintained in a “designated record set”. A designated record set contains mental health/medical and billing records and any other records that are used to make decisions about your care. Your right to inspect and copy PHI will be restricted only in those situations where there is compelling evidence that access would cause serious harm to you or if the information is contained in separately maintained psychotherapy notes. The practice may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for copies. If your records are maintained electronically, you may also request an electronic copy of your PHI. You may also request that a copy of your PHI be provided to another person.
Right to Amend. If you feel that the PHI the practice has about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask for an amendment to the information although the practice is not required to agree to the amendment. If the practice denies your request for amendment, you have the right to file a statement of disagreement with the practice. The practice may prepare a rebuttal to your statement and will provide you with a copy.
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures. You have the right to request an accounting of certain disclosures that the practice makes of your PHI. The practice may charge you a reasonable fee if you request more than one accounting in any 12-month period.
Right to Request Restrictions. You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the use or disclosure of your PHI for treatment, payment, or health care operations. The practice is not required to agree to your request unless the request is to restrict disclosure of PHI to a health plan for the purposes of carrying out payment or health care operations, and the PHI pertains to a health care item or service that you paid for out of pocket. In that case, the practice is required to honor your request for a restriction.
Right to Request Confidential Communication. You have the right to request that the practice and its representatives communicate with you about health matters in a certain way or at a certain location. The practice will accommodate reasonable requests. The practice may require information regarding how payment will be handled or specification of an alternative address or other method of contact as a condition for accommodating your request. The practice will not, unless therapeutically appropriate, ask you for an explanation of why you are making the request.
Breach Notification. If there is a breach of unsecured PHI concerning you, the practice may be required to notify you of this breach, including what happened and what you can do to protect yourself.
Right to a Copy of this Notice. You have the right to a copy of this notice.
COMPLAINTS
If you believe that the practice has violated your privacy rights, you have the right to file a complaint in writing with the Secretary of Health and Human Services at 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201 or by calling (202) 619-0257. You may also file a formal written complaint with Kate Gegg Counseling, PLLC at 20 North Clark, Suite 3300 Chicago IL 60602. Kate Gegg Counseling, PLLC will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint and filing a complaint will not change the health care she provides in any way.
The effective date of this Notice is January 2024.
Adapted from a draft provided for members of the National Association of Social Workers, and revised by Kate Gegg on January 4th, 2023. © Popovits & Robinson, P.C. 2013
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Privacy Policy for this Website:
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