Notice of Privacy Practices & Electronic Communication Policy

Sergio Badel MD PA

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.

Sergio Badel M.D. PA (the “Practice”) is committed to protecting your privacy. The Practice is required by federal law to maintain the privacy of Protected Health Information (“PHI”), which is information that identifies or could be used to identify you. The Practice is required to provide you with this Notice of Privacy Practices (this “Notice”), which explains the Practice's legal duties and privacy practices and your rights regarding PHI that we collect and maintain.

Your Rights

Your rights regarding PHI are explained below. To exercise these rights, please submit a written request to the Practice at the address noted below.

To inspect and copy PHI

• You can ask for an electronic or paper copy of PHI. The Practice may charge you a reasonable fee.
• The Practice may deny your request if it believes the disclosure will endanger your life or another person's life. You may have the right to have this decision reviewed.

To amend PHI

• You can ask to correct PHI you believe is incorrect or incomplete. The Practice may require you to submit your request in writing and provide a reason for it.
• The Practice may deny your request. The Practice will send a written explanation for the denial and allow you to submit a written statement of disagreement.

To request confidential communications

• You can ask the Practice to contact you in a specific way. The Practice will say “yes” to all reasonable requests.

To limit what is used or shared

• You can ask the Practice not to use or share PHI for treatment, payment, or business operations. The Practice is not required to agree if it would affect your care.
• If you pay for a service or health care item out-of-pocket in full, you can ask the Practice not to share PHI with your health insurer.
• You can ask for the Practice not to share your PHI with family members or friends by stating the specific restriction requested and to whom you want the restriction to apply.

To obtain a list of those with whom your PHI has been shared

• You can ask for a list, called an accounting, of the times your health information has been shared. You can receive one accounting every 12 months at no charge, but you may be charged a reasonable fee if you ask for one more frequently.

To receive a copy of this Notice

• You can ask for a paper copy of this Notice, even if you agreed to receive the Notice electronically.

To choose someone to act for you

• If you have given someone medical power of attorney or if someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights.

To file a complaint if you feel your rights are violated

• You can file a complaint by contacting the Practice using the following information: Sergio Badel, MD, PA, 5571 N University Drive, Suite 101, Coral Springs, FL 33067. Phone: 954.720.6511
• You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by sending a letter to 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, calling 1-877-696-6775, or visiting https://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/.
• The Practice will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

Our Uses and Disclosures

1. Routine Uses and Disclosures of PHI

The Practice is permitted under federal law to use and disclose PHI, without your written authorization, for certain routine uses and disclosures, such as those made for treatment, payment, and the operation of our business. The Practice typically uses or shares your health information in the following ways:

• To treat you. The Practice can use and share PHI with other professionals who are treating you. Example: Your primary care doctor asks about your mental health treatment.
• To run the health care operations. The Practice can use and share PHI to run the business, improve your care, and contact you. Example: The Practice uses PHI to send you appointment reminders if you choose.
• To bill for your services. The Practice can use and share PHI to bill and get payment from health plans or other entities. Example: The practice provides your health insurance plan with PHI so that it can pay for your services.

2. Uses and Disclosures of PHI That May Be Made Without Your Authorization or Opportunity to Object

The Practice may use or disclose PHI without your authorization or an opportunity for you to object, including:

To help with public health and safety issues:

• Public health: To prevent the spread of disease, assist in product recalls, and report adverse reactions to medication.
• Required by the Secretary of Health and Human Services: We may be required to disclose your PHI to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to investigate or determine our compliance with the requirements of the final rule on Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information.
• Health oversight: For audits, investigations, and inspections by government agencies that oversee the health care system, government benefit programs, other government regulatory programs, and civil rights laws.
• Serious threat to health or safety: To prevent a serious and imminent threat.
• Abuse or Neglect: To report abuse, neglect, or domestic violence.

To comply with law, law enforcement, or other government requests:

• Required by law: If required by federal, state, or local law.
• Judicial and administrative proceedings: To respond to a court order, subpoena, or discovery request.
• Law enforcement: For law enforcement to locate and identify you or disclose information about a victim of a crime.
• Specialized Government Functions: For military or national security concerns, including intelligence, protective services for heads of state, or your security clearance.
• National security and intelligence activities: For intelligence, counterintelligence, protection of the President, other authorized persons or foreign heads of state, for purpose of determining your own security clearance and other national security activities authorized by law.
• Workers' Compensation: To comply with workers' compensation laws or support claims.

To comply with other requests:

• Coroners and Funeral Directors: To perform their legally authorized duties.
• Organ Donation: For organ donation or transplantation.
• Research: For research that has been approved by an institutional review board.
• Inmates: The Practice created or received your PHI in the course of providing care.
• Business Associates: To organizations that perform functions, activities or services on our behalf.

3. Uses and Disclosures of PHI That May Be Made With Your Authorization or Opportunity to Object

Unless you object, the Practice may disclose PHI:

• To your family, friends, or others if PHI directly relates to that person's involvement in your care.
• If it is in your best interest because you are unable to state your preference.

4. Uses and Disclosures of PHI Based Upon Your Written Authorization

The Practice must obtain your written authorization to use and/or disclose PHI for the following purposes: marketing, sale of PHI, and psychotherapy notes.

You may revoke your authorization at any time by contacting the Practice in writing, using the information above. The Practice will not use or share PHI other than as described in the Notice unless you give your permission in writing.

Our Responsibilities

• The Practice is required by law to maintain the privacy and security of PHI.
• The Practice is required to abide by the terms of this Notice currently in effect. Where more stringent state or federal law governs PHI, the Practice will abide by the more stringent law.
• The Practice reserves the right to amend the Notice. All changes apply to PHI collected and maintained by the Practice. Should the Practice make changes, you may obtain a revised Notice by requesting a copy from the Practice, using the information above, or by viewing a copy on the website (https://www.therapyportal.com/p/sergiobadel/).
• The Practice will inform you if PHI is compromised in a breach.

IMPORTANT: No personal information, mobile number, or messaging consent information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes.

Electronic Communication Policy

To maintain clarity regarding our use of electronic modes of communication during your treatment, I have prepared the following policy. This is because the use of various types of electronic communications is everyday in our society, and many individuals believe this is the preferred method of communication with others, whether their relationships are social or professional. Many of these common modes of communication, however, put your privacy at risk and can be inconsistent with the law and with the standards of my profession. Consequently, this policy has been prepared to assure the security and confidentiality of your treatment and to assure that it is consistent with ethics and the law.

If you have any questions about this policy, please feel free to discuss this with me.

Email Communications

With your permission, I may use email communication and text messaging for the following reasons: setting and changing appointments, billing matters, and other related issues. However, please be aware that email is not a secure way to transmit personal identifiable information and/or clinical notes, labs, reports, etc. Therefore, in order to protect your privacy, I may employ a special password known only to you and me that will allow us to open a file when engaging in email communication. Moreover, if you need to discuss a clinical matter with me, I highly recommend and encourage you to call me so we can discuss it on the phone or wait so we can discuss it during your therapy session. The telephone or face-to-face context simply is much more secure as a mode of communication and most conducive for enhancing therapeutic treatment and goals.

Text Messaging

With your permission, we can use text messaging to schedule/change appointments and to provide some additional information on an as-needed basis, but again be aware that text messaging is a very unsecure mode of communication.

Sergio Badel, MD, PA, 5571 N University Drive, Suite 101, Coral Springs, FL 33067. Phone: 954.720.6511

Social Media

I do not communicate with or contact any of my clients through social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google, etc. In addition, if I discover that I have accidentally established an online relationship with you, I will cancel that relationship. These casual social contacts can create significant security risks for you.

Websites

I have a website, www.drbadel.com, that you are free to access. I use it professionally to inform others about me and my practice. You are welcome to access and review the information I have on my website, and if you have questions about it, we should discuss this during your therapy sessions.

I also utilize a HIPAA-compliant therapy portal (Therapy Notes) that we can use to share clinical information through your patient portal.

PATIENT PORTAL: https://www.therapyportal.com/p/sergiobadel/

Web Searches

Without your permission, I will not use web searches to gather information about you. I believe that this violates your privacy rights; however, I understand that you might choose to gather information about me in this way. In this day and age, there is an incredible amount of information available about individuals on the internet, much of which may actually be known to that person and some of which may be inaccurate or unknown. If you encounter any information about me through web searches or in any other fashion, for that matter, please discuss this with me during our time together so that we can deal with it and its potential impact on your treatment.

Recently, it has become fashionable for clients to review their health care providers on various websites. Unfortunately, mental health professionals cannot respond to such comments and related errors because of confidentiality restrictions. If you encounter such reviews of me or any professional with whom you are working, please share them with me so we can discuss them and their potential impact on your therapy. You should also be aware that if you are using these sites to communicate indirectly with me about your feelings about your therapy work, there is a good possibility that I may never see it.

Please do not rate my work with you on any of these websites while we are in treatment together. It has the potential to significantly damage our ability to work together.

Sergio Badel, MD, PA, 5571 N University Drive, Suite 101, Coral Springs, FL 33067. Phone: 954.720.6511