Privacy Policy

Our Pledge Regarding Protected Mental Health Information

This notice describes how your personal mental health care information is protected at Discovery Institute, P.A.

We understand that your mental health information is personal and confidential, and we pledge that we will protect any information we acquire about you. We will create a record of the care and services you receive at this facility, as well as tracking financial transactions. Your records will be handled with care and will comply with certain legal requirements. This notice applies to all records of your care that are generated during your treatment here. All other documentation that may be acquired about you from other sources is prohibited from being shared and is not discussed in this notice.

We are required by law to:

• Make sure that mental health information that identifies you is kept private;
• Give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your protected health information, and
• Follow the terms of this notice.

How We May Use & Disclose Mental Health Information About You

For treatment: Treatment information and records remain confidential and are not shared outside of this facility without your express and written consent. We may be required to request information about you from other mental health care, or medical care providers. You will be asked to grant written permission in order for us to do so. We will not release information about your treatment here without your express and written consent, except when to do so is subject to federal, state or local law.

For payment: We may use and disclose information about you and your treatment so that the services provided to you by the resident therapists at Discovery Institute, P.A. may be billed. Payment may be collected from you, an insurance company, or a third party. We may need to give your health plan information about your treatment in order for your health plan to pay us or to reimburse you. We may also tell your health plan about treatment you are going to receive to obtain prior approval or to determine if your plan will cover the treatment.

To comply with legal reporting requirements: The following statements describe the legal exceptions to your right of confidentiality. We will make every effort to inform you of any time it is deemed necessary to exercise one of these options:

• If we have good reason to believe that you will harm another person, we are required to attempt to warm that person of your intentions. We must also contact an appropriate law enforcement authority and ask them to offer protection to your intended victim.

• If we have good reason to believe that you are abusing or neglecting a child, a vulnerable adult, or an elderly person, we must inform Child or Elder Protective Services.

• If we have good reason to believe that you are in imminent danger of harming yourself we may legally break confidentiality and call for assistance from a family member or person with the authority to act on your behalf.

• If asked to do so by a law enforcement official in response to a court order which has been signed by a judge and in certain cases involving emergencies, criminal activities, missing persons, and death.

• If you file a complaint or are a plaintiff in a lawsuit where you bring up the question of your mental health, you will have automatically waived your right to the confidentiality of these records in the context of the complaint or lawsuit.

Military:

• For members of the armed forces (active duty and reservists), we may release mental health information about you as required by military command authorities.

Changes to This Notice: We reserve the right to change this notice. We reserve the right to make the revised notice effective for mental health information we already have about you as well as any information we receive in the future.

You have the following rights regarding the mental health information we maintain about you:

• The right to review your records or receive at any time. You will be asked to complete a written authorization in order to facilitate your request. We do have the right to deny your request under certain circumstances.
• The right to make a written request to amend the information contained within your medical record if you feel the information is incorrect or incomplete. The request must provide a reason that supports your request. We do have the right to deny your request for any of the following:
• Failure to make the request in writing;
• Failure to include a reason to support the request;
• If the information was not created by us.

Complaints: If there is some aspect of your care at this facility with which you are not happy and you wish to register a complaint:

• Please feel free to address a complaint, in writing, to Connie Porter-Richard, PhD, LMHC, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Institute, P.A.
• If you believe any of the resident therapists at Discovery Institute, P.A. have behaved illegally or unethically, you can complain directly to the State of Florida, Department of Health, Division of Medical Quality Assurance: http://www.doh.state.fl.us/mqa/med-boards.html