Effective and Last Updated on July 19, 2023
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES:
- HOW HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED
- YOUR RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION
- HOW TO FILE A COMPLAINT CONCERNING A VIOLATION OF THE PRIVACY OR SECURITY OF YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION, OR OF YOUR RIGHTS CONCERNING YOUR INFORMATION
YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO A COPY OF THIS NOTICE (IN PAPER OR ELECTRONIC FORM) AND TO DISCUSS IT WITH GROUPS RECOVER TOGETHER’S COMPLIANCE AND PRIVACY DEPARTMENT AT 1-888-980-5995 AND COMPLIANCE@JOINGROUPS.COM IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS.
PLEASE REVIEW THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY.
Our Duties
Recover Together, Inc. d/b/a Groups Recover Together, and its affiliates, subsidiaries, facilities, employees, managed entities, and contractors (collectively, “Groups” or “We” ) are committed to protecting your health information according to applicable law. In particular, we are required by applicable federal and state law, including by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and its implementing regulations (“HIPAA”) and 42 C.F.R. Part 2, the Confidentiality of Substance Use Disorder Patient Records (“Part 2”) to maintain the privacy of your health information. We are also required to give you this notice about our privacy practices, our legal duties, and your rights concerning your health information. We must follow the privacy practices that are described in this notice while it is in effect. If a breach of your unsecured protected health information should occur, we are required to notify you.
We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of this notice at any time, provided such changes are permitted by applicable law. We reserve the right to make the changes in our privacy practices and the new terms of our notice effective for all health information that we maintain, including health information we created or received before we made the changes. Before we make a significant change in our privacy practices, we will change this notice and make the new notice available on our website at: http://www.joingroups.com.
You may request a copy of our notice at any time. This notice may be provided to you electronically if you have agreed to receive notices in that manner. You may always receive a paper copy of this notice, upon request. For more information about our privacy practices, or for additional copies of this notice, please contact us using the information listed at the end of this notice.
Uses and Disclosures of Health Information
We will obtain your written authorization to use and disclose your health information unless we are permitted to use or disclose your health information without your consent under applicable law. The following categories describe the ways that we may use and disclose your health information without your written authorization under Part 2. If state law is more restrictive than Part 2 on how we use and disclose any of your health information, we will comply with that state law.
Within Our Organization. Groups workforce who have a need for your information in connection with their duties may use or share your information. In addition, we may share your information with the entity that has direct administrative control over our substance use disorder program.
Emergencies. In the event of a bona fide medical emergency in which your authorization cannot be obtained, we may disclose your identifying information to medical personnel.
Business Associates / Qualified Services Organizations. We may disclose your information to “business associates” and “qualified service organizations” that perform various services on our behalf. These third parties agree to protect the privacy of your health information.
Audits. We may disclose your health information to entities who are legally permitted to perform audits of our facilities. Those entities are required to maintain the privacy of your information.
Response to a Court Order. Records or testimony relaying the content of records shall not be used or disclosed in any civil, administrative, criminal, or legislative proceedings against you unless the disclosure was based on a specific written authorization or a court order. A court order must be accompanied by a subpoena or other legal requirement compelling disclosure before the record is used or disclosed.
Reporting Crimes on Our Premises or Against Our Workforce. We may disclose a member’s commission (or threatened commission) of a crime on our premises or against our personnel to a law enforcement agency or official. We are permitted to disclose information regarding the circumstances of such an incident, including the suspect’s name, address, last known whereabouts, and status as a patient in our program.
Reporting Child Abuse or Neglect. We may report incidents of suspected child abuse and neglect to the appropriate authorities in accordance with applicable state law.
Deceased Persons. We may disclose information relating to the cause of death of a patient under laws requiring the collection of death or other vital statistics or permitting inquiry into the cause of death.
Research. Under certain circumstances, we may disclose your health information to researchers who are conducting a specific research project. Your identifying information will never be published without your written authorization.
FDA Reporting. We may disclose patient identifying information to medical personnel of the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) who assert a reason to believe that the health of any individual may be threatened by an error in the manufacture, labeling, or sale of a product under FDA jurisdiction, and that the information will be used for the exclusive purpose of notifying patients or their physicians of potential dangers.
OTHER USES AND DISCLOSURES:
Use or disclosure of your health information for any purpose other than those listed above requires your written authorization. Some examples include:
- Presence in Treatment. We will not disclose your presence in treatment to individuals who may contact Groups unless you have provided your written authorization permitting the release.
- Treatment. With your consent, we can share information to other healthcare providers to help provide the treatment you may need.
- To a central registry or other treatment program. We may disclose your information to a central registry or other treatment program for the purpose of preventing multiple enrollments.
- PDMP. We may report medication prescribed to you if required under state law to a state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.
- Payment or Healthcare Operations. We may disclose your information to your insurance company for payment purposes. We may disclose your information for care coordination and/or case management services.
- Psychotherapy Notes. We usually do not maintain psychotherapy notes about you. If we do, we will not use and disclose your psychotherapy notes without your written authorization except as otherwise permitted by law.
- Marketing. We will not use or disclose your health information for marketing purposes without your written authorization except as otherwise permitted by law.
- Sale of Your Health Information. We will not sell your health information without your written authorization.
If you change your mind after authorizing a use or disclosure of your health information, you may withdraw your permission by revoking the authorization. However, your decision to revoke the authorization will not affect or undo any use or disclosure of your health information that occurred before you notified us of your decision, or any actions that we have taken based upon your authorization. To revoke an authorization, please contact us using the contact information in this notice.
Patient Rights
Access to Inspect and Copy: You have the right to inspect or obtain electronic or paper copies of your health information, with limited exceptions. You may request access to your health information in person, by mail or email, or by phone. You may request access to your health information in a certain electronic form and format, if readily producible, or, if not readily producible, in a mutually agreeable electronic form and format. Further, you may request in writing that we transmit such a copy to any person or entity you designate. Your written, signed request must clearly identify such designated person or entity and where you would like us to send the copy. We may deny your request to inspect and copy in limited circumstances. If you are denied access to your health information, you may request that the denial be reviewed by a licensed health care professional chosen by Groups. The person conducting the review will not be the person who denied your request.
Restrictions: You have the right to request that we place additional restrictions on our use or disclosure of your health information. We are not required to agree to most additional restrictions, but if we do, we will abide by our agreement (except in an emergency). We are required to agree to your requested restriction if that restriction is regarding disclosure of health information to your insurance company and: (1) the disclosure is for the purpose of payment or healthcare operations; and (2) the health information pertains solely to a service or item for which you or another person (other than your insurance company) paid for in full. However, note that Part 2 requires that we obtain your written authorization for most disclosures, as outlined above.
Correction or Amendment: You have the right to request that we correct or amend your health information. Your request must be in writing and it must explain why the information should be amended. We may deny your request under certain circumstances, but we’ll tell you why in writing within sixty (60) days. If your request is denied, you may file a written statement of disagreement with us that will become part of your medical record.
Confidential Communications: You have the right to receive confidential communications from us. You can ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, to home, office or cell phone) or to send mail to a different address. We will grant reasonable requests.
Accounting of Disclosures: You have a right to receive an accounting of disclosures of your protected health information for six years prior to the date you ask, who we shared it with and why. Please note that certain disclosures need not be included in the accounting we provide to you, including most disclosures we make pursuant to your authorization.
Obtain a Copy: You have the right to obtain a paper or electronic copy of the notice upon request. You can make such a request by contacting Groups at the contact information contained in this notice. A copy of this Notice can be obtained at any time from our website at http://www.joingroups.com/.
Discuss This Notice: You have the right to discuss this notice with our Compliance and Privacy Department, which you may contact via the contact information contained in this notice.
Questions, Complaints, and Contact Information
If you are concerned that we may have violated your privacy rights, you disagree with a decision we made about access to your health information or a request you made to amend or restrict the use of your health information you may contact the Groups Compliance and Privacy Department at 1-888-980-5995 or at compliance@joingroups.com. Any individual filing a complaint will not be retaliated against.
You may also submit a written 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 www.hhs.gov/ocr/ privacy/hipaa/complaints/. A violation of the federal law and regulations discussed in this Notice is a crime and suspected violations may be reported to the appropriate authorities, including the United States Attorney for the judicial district in which the violation occurs. The United States Attorney’s office for the District of Massachusetts is located at: 1 Courthouse Way, Suite 9200, Boston, MA 02210 and can be contacted at 617-748-3100.