Oregon and Federal laws require that issues discussed in therapy, consultation, or for the purpose of diagnosis or coaching with a psychologist or their associates, remain confidential. Generally, any issue you or your family members discuss will not be disclosed to anyone without your permission, however, there are some exceptions. You can waive the doctor-student privilege for specific purposes if and only if you sign a release of information [Authorization form for HIPAA, ROI. We will note all consultations in your homework coaching record [called “PHI”] in a Notice of Psychologist’s Policies and Practices to Protect the Privacy of Your Health Information].
Release of confidential information may ethically or legally be required if child abuse [sexual, physical, emotional], harm to another person, or intent for self-harm is disclosed by a student or patient. Also, if you are involved in a custody proceeding, some courts may have the right to subpoena material from the coaching records. Please ask about any questions you have about the limits of confidentiality for the HWCP.
BN,LLC employs administrative staff, and with HWCGP interventions there is a need to share protected health information [PHI] with individuals, agencies, or businesses for administrative reasons, such as billing or compliance. Our administrative staff are bound by the same rules of confidentiality, and receive training about privacy protection. Each staff member has agreed not to release information outside of our practice without permission of a professional staff member and only with ther proper release of information. HIPAA requires we have formal associate contracts with administrative staff, and have signed and promised to maintain confidentiality except when specifically allowed or required by law to release PHI.
HIPAA allows PHI also to be released for the following reasons: 1] A court proceeding; 2] if a government agency requests information for health oversight activities; 3] if complaints or lawsuits are made against BN,LLC staff to share relevant information; 4] disclosures required by insurers or for collection or overdue fees as described elsewhere; 5] if a child abuse, elder abuse, or domestic violence investigation occurs, laws require that BN,LLC staff provide relevant student records to the appropriate government agency. Once such a report is filed, BN,LLC may be required to provide additional information; 6] Consistent with HIPAA 45 C.F.R. §164.512(d), OBOP [Oregon Board of Psychology] is authorized to review, use, or disclose individually identifiable health information as for health oversight for activities authorized by law, including civil and administrative investigations for oversight of individuals/entities subject to government regulation.
Professionals Records: You should be aware that, pursuant to HIPAA, BN,LLC keeps PHI about the student in two separate professional records. One set constitutes your student’s HWCGP Record, and is information about why you sought HWCGP, a problem description, diagnoses, HWCGP goals, progress, medical and social history, history of treatments, records received from others, billing, and sent reports. These are kept at the offices of BN, LLC. You may examine and receive a copy of your student’s record if requested in writing, except in unusual circumstances that involve danger to your student. Since they are professional records, they might be misinterpreted and might be upsetting to an untrained reader. For this reason, BN, LLC recommends you review only in the presence of either one of our psychologists, or have them forwarded to a qualified mental health professional to discuss the contents and avoid any misinterpretation. If your request for access to your clinical record is refused, you can ask for a review. BN, LLC also keeps brief HWC session notes for HWCGP use. These notes are to assist your student with quality services and for supervision of HWC's. After each HWC session, HWC's makes notes in secure data base, and contents of these sessions vary. They can include summaries, work time completed, work new skils, avoidance patterns, or student goals. Notes do not generally include sensitive information required to be included in formal clinical records. HWC notes are separate from any clinical record that may exist about your student. No one receives a copy of your student’s HWC session notes without a parent's signed authorization except for staff of BN, LLC for supervision or training purposes. HWC session notes can be viewed unless BN, LLC judges doing so would be harmful to your child or teen.
Any PHI, if disclosed, may become part of the system, or another agency's files and likely are stored within their computer systems. Though all agencies and entities claim information is kept confidential, BN, LLC has no control over agency's or entities of the information once it has been disclosed. In some cases, a school, insurer, or other stakeholder might share your information with national information data banks. HIPAA provides you with several expanded rights to your Clinical Record and disclosures of PHI, and includes
- Requesting we amend your record,
- Request restrictions on information from record is disclosed,
- Request an accounting of disclosures of PHI you have not consented to or authorized,
- Determine where PHI disclosures were sent
- Having complaints you make about policies/procedures recorded in the records,
- The right to a paper copy of this agreement, notice form, & privacy policies/procedures.
We will discuss any issues with you if requested, and we will provide you a copy of this agreement. This summary of confidentiality rights and expectations may be helpful, but it is important that you ask questions or voice your concerns, as the laws governing confidentiality are complex, and we are not purporting to be legal experts or attorneys.