Notice of Privacy Practices

Draft for legal and compliance review. HIPAA prescribes specific required content and wording for this notice at 45 CFR 164.520. The structure below reflects those requirements, but the final document must be prepared or approved by the practice's attorney or compliance advisor, and the effective date and Privacy Officer details confirmed, before it is published or distributed to patients.

Section 01

Our commitment to your privacy

Ometz Health is required by law to maintain the privacy of your protected health information, to give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, and to follow the terms of the notice currently in effect.

Protected health information is information that identifies you and relates to your physical or mental health, the care we provide, or payment for that care.

Section 02

Treatment, payment and health care operations

We may use and disclose your information for the following routine purposes without a separate authorization:

Treatment — so your clinicians can coordinate your care. Because we are an integrated practice, your therapist and our Family Nurse Practitioner may share information in order to treat you as one plan rather than two.
Payment — to verify benefits, obtain authorization, and bill for services.
Health care operations — for quality review, staff training, supervision and business management.

Section 03

Uses that require your written authorization

Most uses and disclosures beyond treatment, payment and operations require your written authorization. This includes marketing, any sale of information, and most disclosures of psychotherapy notes. You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time, except where we have already acted in reliance on it.

Section 04

Uses permitted or required without authorization

In limited circumstances, the law permits or requires disclosure without your authorization — for example to prevent a serious and imminent threat to health or safety, in cases of suspected abuse or neglect, in response to a court order, for public health activities, or for workers' compensation claims.

To be confirmed before launch: Virginia-specific requirements, including duty-to-warn obligations, mandated reporting thresholds, and any state provisions that are more protective than HIPAA.

Section 05

Psychotherapy notes

Psychotherapy notes are kept separate from the rest of your record and receive greater protection. With limited exceptions, we will not disclose them without your specific written authorization.

Section 06

Your rights regarding your information

To inspect and obtain a copy of your health record
To request a correction to information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete
To request confidential communications by a particular method or at a particular address
To request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures
To receive an accounting of certain disclosures we have made
To receive a paper copy of this notice, even if you agreed to receive it electronically
To be notified if a breach occurs that may have compromised your information

To be confirmed before launch: the practice's process and response times for each right, and the form patients should use to make a request.

Section 07

Our responsibilities

We are required to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information, to notify you promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised it, and to follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice.

We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us in writing that we may.

Section 08

How to file a complaint

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with our Privacy Officer, or with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

Section 09

Changes to this notice

We may change this notice and make the new terms effective for all information we maintain. If we make a material change, we will post the revised notice in our office and on this website, and it will show a new effective date.

Section 10

Privacy Officer

To exercise any right described in this notice, or to ask a question about it, please contact our Privacy Officer.

To be confirmed before launch: the name and direct contact details of the practice's designated Privacy Officer.

PracticeOmetz HealthAddress897 W Lee Highway, New Market, VA 22844Phone(540) 726-6777Emailinfo@ometzhealth.com