they are called our Business Associates.  Examples include our Answering Service and our Accounting Service.  These business associates need to receive some PHI to do their jobs properly.  To protect your privacy, we have a contractual agreement with them to safeguard your information.

2. Uses and disclosures requiring your Authorization

If we want to use your information for any purpose besides the TPO or those we described above, we need your permission on an Authorization Form.  We don't expect to need this very often.
If you do authorize us to use or disclose your PHI, you can revoke (cancel) that permission, in writing, at any time.  After that time we will not use or disclose your information for the purposes that we agreed to.  Of course, we cannot take back any information we had already disclosed with your permission or that we had used in our office.

3. Uses and disclosures of PHI from mental health records Not requiring Consent or Authorization
The laws lets us use and disclose some of your PHI without your consent or authorization in some cases.

When required by law
There are some federal, state, or local laws which require us to disclose PHI.
· We have to report suspected child abuse, both current and past.
· If you are involved in a lawsuit or legal proceeding and we receive a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process, we may have to release some of your PHI. We will only do so after trying to tell you about the request, consulting your lawyer, or trying to get a court order to protect the information they requested.
· We have to release (disclose) some information to the government agencies which check on us to see that we are obeying the privacy laws.
For specific government functions
We may disclose PHI of military personnel and veterans to government benefit programs
relating to eligibility and enrollment, to Workers' Compensation programs, to correctional
facilities if you are an inmate, and for national security reasons.
To Prevent a Serious Threat to Health or Safety 

If we come to believe that there is a serious threat to your health or safety or that of another person, because you reveal, in the context of our treatment with you, some serious thoughts of self-harming, suicide or other-harming, we can disclose some of your PHI. We will only do this to persons who can prevent the danger and to the extent necessary.

4. Uses and disclosures requiring you to have an opportunity to object
Generally speaking, your confidentiality is maintained within the relationship with your therapist.  We cannot share information about you with your family or any other interested persons without your awareness and approval.  We will honor and respect the confidentiality of    our conversations with you as long as it is not against the law.  In the case of treatment with a minor child, information may be shared with the custodial parent(s) as is considered in the best interest of the child.

If there is an emergency and we cannot ask your approval, we can share information if we believe that it is what you would have wanted and if we believe it will help you if we do share it. If we do share information in an emergency, we will tell you as soon as we can.  If you don't approve we will stop, as long as it is not against the law.

      5.  An accounting of disclosures

When we disclose your PHI we keep records of whom we sent it to, when we sent it, and what we sent. You can get an accounting (a list) of many of these disclosures.

E.  If you have questions or problems
If you need more information or have questions about the privacy practices described above, please speak to the Privacy Officer.  If you have a problem with how your PHI has been handled or if you believe your privacy rights have been violated, contact the Privacy Officer.  You have the right to file a complaint with us and with the Secretary of the Federal Department of Health and Human Services.  We promise that we will not in any way limit your care here or take any actions against you if you complain.
If you have any questions regarding this notice or our health information privacy policies, please contact our Privacy Officer, Judith Morawa who is our Clinical Director.   She can be reached by phone at 410-433-8861, ext. 501 or by e-mail at counoff@pcsm.org.