Notice of Privacy Practices
Legal Notice Summary
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
Who we are
Overcomer's Counseling & Associates, PLLC ("OCA") provides telehealth counseling services to clients located in Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Washington, Maine, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina.
This notice describes the privacy practices of the practice and its workforce, including the owner, Malton Cook Jr., who holds the following active registrations and multi-state clinical licenses:
Our commitment to your privacy
We are required by federal and state law to maintain strict privacy parameters:
- Maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information (PHI).
- Provide you with this notice outlining our current legal duties and privacy practices.
- Abide faithfully by the explicit operational terms of the notice currently in effect.
- Notify you immediately if an unforeseen digital data breach occurs that may have compromised the safety of your data.
How we may use and disclose your health information
1. For treatment
We use your health information to provide, coordinate, and manage your clinical care. For example, we may consult with another health care provider involved in your care, such as your primary physician or psychiatrist, when you have authorized that coordination or when otherwise permitted by law.
2. For payment
We may use and disclose your health information to bill and collect payment for services. For example, if you use insurance, we may share information with your health plan to verify coverage, or respond to a plan audit. If you pay privately, no information is sent to any insurance company.
3. For health care operations
We may use your health information to run the practice, including quality reviews, training, clinical supervision, licensing, and general business management. Any staff, supervisees, or business associates who assist with these activities are bound by strict confidentiality obligations and written business associate agreements.
Written authorization requirements
We must obtain your explicit written authorization before:
- Using or disclosing formal psychotherapy notes.
- Using your information for commercial or practice marketing purposes.
- Any commercial trade or sale of your information.
You may revoke an explicit authorization at any time in writing, except to the extent we have already safely acted upon it.
Other disclosures permitted or required by law
We may disclose health data profiles without your direct authorization in the following regulated emergency scenarios:
Required by law
When disclosure is strictly required by federal, state, or local statutory laws.
Abuse and neglect
To report suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a child, elderly person, or vulnerable adult, as mandated by the laws of your physical location state.
Serious threat to health or safety
When you or another individual is at serious risk of harm, to protect safety parameters according to your specific local state limits.
Judicial and administrative proceedings
In response to a lawful court order, or in limited circumstances, other lawful process subject to protection frameworks.
Health oversight & workers comp
To licensing boards authorized to oversee the medical system, or as authorized by workers' compensation laws when care relates to a current active claim.
Specialized functions
To coroners, medical examiners, or for certain military, national security, and correctional purposes as permitted by law.
State laws in the states we serve sometimes protect your mental health information more strongly than federal law. Where an applicable state law is more protective, we will follow that state law automatically.
Your rights regarding your health information
You maintain explicit civil rights under federal HIPAA frameworks regarding what we do with your health record:
Right to access
You may inspect and receive a digital or paper copy of your clinical health record, with limited exceptions allowed by law (including certain restrictions that apply to psychotherapy notes). We may charge a reasonable, cost-based processing fee for structural copies.
Right to amend
If you believe information in your ongoing health record is incorrect or incomplete, you may request an official amendment in writing. We may deny the request in certain structured circumstances, and you hold the right to respond with a statement of disagreement.
Right to an accounting of disclosures
You may request a list of certain operational disclosures we have made of your information for purposes other than treatment, payment, health care operations, and disclosures you previously authorized.
Right to request restrictions
You may request operational limits on how we use or disclose your info. We are not required to agree to every request, but if you pay for a service in full out-of-pocket, you may require that we do not disclose info about that service to your health plan, and we must honor that restriction unless the disclosure is required by law.
Right to confidential communications
You may ask us to contact you in a specific way or at a specific location, for example only by a certain phone number or email, and we will accommodate reasonable requests.
Representative & copy rights
You have the right to a paper copy of this notice at any time, the right to a breach notification if data security parameters fall, and the right to choose a medical power of attorney or legal guardian to act on your behalf after we confirm their authority.
Changes & Complaints
We may change this notice and our privacy practices at any time. Changes will apply to info we already hold as well as future metrics. The current notice will always be posted on our website and available upon request.
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file an official complaint with the practice directly, or with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, at: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints. You will never be retaliated against for filing a complaint.