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.

This notice applies to protected health information created, received, or maintained by Clarity Point Psychiatry in providing your care, including psychiatric evaluations, medication management, telehealth visits, billing records, and clinical communications. It explains your rights, our duties, and the circumstances in which information may be used or shared.

Our commitment and legal duties
We are required to protect the privacy of your protected health information, provide this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, follow the notice currently in effect, and notify you of a breach of unsecured protected health information when required by law. We use administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect information. No system can remove every security risk, but that does not reduce our legal duties.

We use or disclose information only as described in this notice or as otherwise authorized or required by law. When another applicable law gives your information greater protection than HIPAA, we follow that protection. This notice is not a blanket authorization to disclose your records or a waiver of your rights.

Privacy contact and requests
Contact the Privacy Officer at Clarity Point Psychiatry to ask questions, exercise a right, or file a privacy complaint. You may request assistance with submitting a written request, an accessible copy, or an appropriate communication method.

Clarity Point Psychiatry
Attention Privacy Officer
1 Armory St Suite L02
Athens, Ohio 45701
Phone: (971) 298-3037
Fax: (971) 232-4205
Email: info@claritypoint-psychiatry.com
Website: https://claritypoint-psychiatry.com
 
For sensitive clinical information or supporting medical documents, ask for the practice-designated secure channel. General email may not be encrypted. We will verify identity and legal authority before releasing records or acting on requests.

Scope of this notice
This is the practice’s patient Notice of Privacy Practices. It does not replace telehealth or treatment consent, a specific release-of-information authorization, or a website privacy policy addressing visitor information, cookies, or analytics.
 
Your rights concerning health information

Inspect or obtain your records
You may ask to inspect or receive an electronic or paper copy of information in your designated record set, including medical and billing records. We provide the requested format when readily producible, or agree on an alternative. We normally act within 30 days; if a permitted extension is necessary, we notify you in writing within that period and may take one additional 30-day period. We follow shorter deadlines when applicable law requires them. Any copying fee must be reasonable, cost-based, and permitted by law; we do not charge a search or retrieval fee for your HIPAA access request.
Limited exceptions apply, including separately maintained psychotherapy notes and certain information prepared for legal proceedings. Ordinary medication management or progress notes are not automatically psychotherapy notes. If access is denied, we explain the reason, complaint options, and any available independent review in writing. An unpaid treatment balance does not remove your right of access.

Request an amendment
If you believe a record is inaccurate or incomplete, you may submit a written amendment request explaining why. We act within 60 days, with one additional 30-day extension allowed after written notice when necessary. We may deny a request on legally permitted grounds and will explain the reason and how you can submit a statement of disagreement. An amendment generally adds to or corrects a record; it does not erase the original entry.

Request confidential communications
You may ask us to contact you at a particular phone number, address, or through a particular method. We accommodate reasonable requests. You do not have to explain why you want a different communication arrangement. Tell us how and where to contact you safely.

Request limits on use or disclosure
You may ask us to restrict information used or shared for treatment, payment, operations, or with people involved in your care. We generally do not have to agree unless law requires it. If we agree, we follow the restriction, subject to legally permitted exceptions such as emergency treatment.
If you pay out of pocket in full for a specific item or service, you may request that we not disclose information about that item or service to your health plan for payment or health care operations. We must honor that restriction unless disclosure is required by law. It does not automatically restrict treatment disclosures or records held by other providers.

Receive an accounting of disclosures
You may request an accounting of disclosures required to be listed under HIPAA for the preceding six years, or a shorter period. The accounting generally excludes treatment, payment, operations, disclosures to you, disclosures made under your authorization, and other legally excluded categories. We respond within 60 days, with one additional 30-day extension if legally permitted and explained in writing. The first accounting in a 12-month period is free. For an additional request, we disclose any reasonable cost-based fee in advance and allow you to withdraw or modify the request.

Get a copy and use a personal representative
You may request a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you previously accepted an electronic copy. A legally authorized representative may exercise rights on your behalf after we verify their authority. For minors and situations involving abuse, neglect, or endangerment, applicable law may limit a representative’s access or authority.
 
Routine uses and disclosures
HIPAA generally permits the following activities without a separate written authorization. More protective laws, an agreed restriction, or the substance use record rules described below may limit what we can share.

Treatment
We may use information to evaluate your needs, develop a treatment plan, prescribe medication, arrange testing, and coordinate care. For example, we may consult with your primary care provider or share relevant information with a pharmacy. We may contact you about appointments, treatment alternatives, or health-related services.

Payment
We may use or share information to collect payment, manage billing, or submit a claim to a health plan when appropriate. For example, a billing service may need your service date and diagnosis. This permission does not mean the practice participates in your insurance plan, and the paid-in-full restriction described above may apply.

Health care operations and service providers
We may use information for activities such as care quality review, staff training, licensing, audits, practice administration, and legally permitted business transactions. Vendors handling protected information on our behalf must meet applicable legal and contractual safeguards, including business associate agreements when required. For payment and operations, we limit information to the minimum necessary when that standard applies. Treatment disclosures are not generally subject to HIPAA’s minimum necessary rule, but other confidentiality limits may apply.

Other permitted or required disclosures
We may disclose information for the following purposes only when applicable legal conditions are met. These are permissions under law, not promises that we routinely engage in every activity.

Public health and safety
Examples include reporting certain diseases, medication reactions or product problems; reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence as authorized or required by law; and disclosures permitted to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat. We may provide necessary information to emergency responders when legally permitted.

Oversight and legal requirements
We may disclose information for lawful health oversight, licensing, audits, investigations, and compliance review, including to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We comply with mandatory disclosures only to the extent required by the applicable law.

Courts law enforcement and government functions
We may disclose information under a valid court or administrative order, or other lawful process after required safeguards are satisfied. A subpoena alone does not automatically authorize release of all psychiatric records. Limited disclosures may also be permitted for law enforcement, workers’ compensation, military matters, national security, protective services, or correctional settings, subject to applicable conditions and heightened protections.

Research donation and death related functions
Research disclosures require authorization or another legally valid basis, such as an approved waiver and required safeguards. Where applicable, information may be shared with organ procurement organizations, coroners, medical examiners, or funeral directors for lawful duties.
 
Your choices and written authorization:
1) Family friends and others involved in care
When you agree, do not object after an opportunity to do so, or circumstances otherwise permit under law, we may share information relevant to another person’s involvement in your care or payment. If you cannot express a preference, a limited disclosure may be made using professional judgment when legally permitted and in your best interests. Disaster relief disclosures may also be permitted. Listing an emergency contact does not give that person unrestricted access to your records.

2) Psychotherapy notes
If we maintain psychotherapy notes as specifically defined by HIPAA, most uses and disclosures require your written authorization. Only narrow legal exceptions apply, such as use by the clinician who created the notes for treatment or certain legally permitted oversight or safety disclosures. Psychiatric diagnoses, medication information, treatment plans, and ordinary clinical notes are not automatically psychotherapy notes.

3) Marketing, Sale, and other uses
Uses and disclosures requiring authorization, including most marketing and a sale of protected health information, will occur only with the required written authorization. Limited statutory exceptions may apply. Other uses not described in this notice require authorization unless permitted or required by law. You may revoke an authorization in writing through the Privacy Officer; revocation applies prospectively and does not undo actions already taken in reliance on it.

4) Fundraising
If we contact you for legally permitted fundraising, you may opt out of further fundraising communications. Your choice does not affect treatment or payment. Before using Part 2 substance use records for fundraising, we provide a clear advance opportunity to choose not to receive those communications.

Additional protections for sensitive records
Mental health, substance use, HIV-related, genetic, minor-consented, and other sensitive information may have additional protections under applicable state or federal law. Those laws may require specific written consent, restrict who may receive records, or limit court and law enforcement disclosures that HIPAA would otherwise permit. We obtain required permission and follow applicable exceptions; HIPAA permission alone does not override those protections.

If we hold substance use disorder patient records protected by 42 CFR Part 2, special rules apply. Those records may not be used or disclosed in civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative proceedings or investigations against you without your specific written consent or a qualifying court order and subpoena or similar legal mandate. A consent for treatment, payment, and operations does not by itself authorize use in proceedings against you.
When Part 2 consent permits disclosure for treatment, payment, and operations to a HIPAA covered entity or business associate, that recipient may redisclose records as HIPAA permits, subject to the continuing prohibition on proceedings against you and other applicable restrictions. Other lawful recipients may not be subject to HIPAA, and information may lose HIPAA protection; Part 2 or other protections may still apply. Not every reference to substance use is a Part 2 record. If the practice itself qualifies as a Part 2 program, a separate or combined Part 2 patient notice must also address the applicable program requirements.
 
Questions, complaints, and notice changes

File a complaint without retaliation
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, contact the Privacy Officer using the information on page 1. Explain your concern and how you would like us to contact you. You may also complain directly to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights; you do not have to complain to us first. We will not retaliate against you, require you to waive complaint rights, or penalize you for exercising your privacy rights.
 
HHS Office for Civil Rights
200 Independence Avenue SW
Washington, DC 20201
Phone: 1-877-696-6775
Online complaint information: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/filing-a-complaint/index.html

Changes to this notice
We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and this notice as permitted by law. A revised notice may apply to information we already hold and information received later. We will identify the effective date and make the current notice available upon request and on our website. A notice change does not eliminate authorization or consent required by law.

EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS NOTICE
This notice went into effect in September 2026. Acknowledgment of Receipt of Privacy Notice Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), you have certain rights regarding the use and disclosure of your protected health information.