Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy describes our policies and procedures on the collection, use and
disclosure of Your information when You use the Service and tells You about Your
privacy rights and how the law protects You.
We use Your Personal data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service,
You agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy
Policy.
I. OUR PLEDGE REGARDING HEALTH INFORMATION:
We understand that health information about you and your health care is personal. We
are committed to protecting health information about you. We create a record of the
care and services you receive from me. We need this record to provide you with quality
care and to comply with certain legal requirements. This notice applies to all of the
records of your care generated by this mental health care practice. This notice will tell
you about the ways in which We may use and disclose health information about you.
We also describe your rights to the health information We keep about you, and describe
certain obligations We have regarding the use and disclosure of your health information.
We are required by law to:
• Make sure that protected health information (“PHI”) that identifies you is kept private. •
Give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to health
information. • Follow the terms of the notice that is currently in effect. • We can change
the terms of this Notice, and such changes will apply to all information we have about
you. The new Notice will be available upon request, in our office, and on our Website.
II. HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
The following categories describe different ways that we use and disclose health
information. For each category of uses or disclosures We will explain what We mean
and try to give some examples. Not every use or disclosure in a category will be listed.
However, all of the ways we are permitted to use and disclose information will fall within
one of the categories.
For Treatment Payment, or Health Care Operations: Federal privacy rules (regulations)
allow health care providers who have direct treatment relationship with the patient/client
to use or disclose the patient/client’s personal health information without the patient’s
written authorization, to carry out the health care provider’s own treatment, payment or
health care operations (e.g. billing or cloud service providers). We may also disclose
your protected health information for the treatment activities of any health care provider.
This too can be done without your written authorization. For example, if a clinician were
to consult with another licensed health care provider about your condition, We would be
permitted to use and disclose your person health information, which is otherwise
confidential, in order to assist the clinician in diagnosis and treatment of your mental
health condition.
Disclosures for treatment purposes are not limited to the minimum necessary standard.
Because therapists and other health care providers need access to the full record
and/or full and complete information in order to provide quality care. The word
“treatment” includes, among other things, the coordination and management of health
care providers with a third party, consultations between health care providers and
referrals of a patient for health care from one health care provider to another.
Lawsuits and Disputes: If you are involved in a lawsuit, We may disclose health
information in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose health
information about your child in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other
lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts have been
made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information
requested.
III. CERTAIN USES AND DISCLOSURES REQUIRE YOUR AUTHORIZATION:
1. Psychotherapy Notes. We do keep “psychotherapy notes” as that term is defined
in 45 CFR § 164.501, and any use or disclosure of such notes requires your
Authorization unless the use or disclosure is: a. For your therapist’s use in
treating you. b. For your therapist’s use in training or supervising mental health
practitioners to help them improve their skills in group, joint, family, or individual
counseling or therapy. c. For your therapist’s use in defending themselves in
legal proceedings instituted by you. d. For use by the Secretary of Health and
Human Services to investigate your therapist’s compliance with HIPAA. e.
Required by law and the use or disclosure is limited to the requirements of such
law. f. Required by law for certain health oversight activities pertaining to the
originator of the psychotherapy notes. g. Required by a coroner who is
performing duties authorized by law. h. Required to help avert a serious threat to
the health and safety of others.
2. Marketing Purposes. As a psychotherapist, We will not use or disclose your PHI
for marketing purposes.
3. Sale of PHI. As a psychotherapist, We will not sell your PHI in the regular course
of our business.
IV. CERTAIN USES AND DISCLOSURES DO NOT REQUIRE YOUR
AURTHORIZATION.
Subject to certain limitations in the law, We can use and disclose your PHI without your
Authorization for the following reasons:
1. When disclosure is required by state or federal law, and the use or disclosure
complies with and is limited to the relevant requirements of such law.
2. For public health activities, including reporting suspected child, elder, or
dependent adult abuse, or preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone’s
health or safety.
3. For health oversight activities, including audits and investigations.
4. For judicial and administrative proceedings, including responding to a court or
administrative order, although my preference is to obtain an Authorization from
you before doing so.
5. For law enforcement purposes, including reporting crimes occurring on my
premises.
6. To coroners or medical examiners, when such individuals are performing duties
authorized by law.
7. For research purposes, including studying and comparing the mental health of
patients who received one form of therapy versus those who received another
form of therapy for the same condition.
8. Specialized government functions, including, ensuring the proper execution of
military missions; protecting the President of the United States; conducting
intelligence or counter-intelligence operations; or, helping to ensure the safety of
those working within or housed in correctional institutions.
9. For workers' compensation purposes. Although my preference is to obtain an
Authorization from you, We may provide your PHI in order to comply with
workers' compensation laws.
10. Appointment reminders and health related benefits or services. We may use and
disclose your PHI to contact you to remind you that you have an appointment
with me. We may also use and disclose your PHI to tell you about treatment
alternatives, or other health care services or benefits that We offer.
V. CERTAIN USES AND DISCLOSURES REQUIRE YOU TO HAVE THE
OPPORTUNITY TO OBJECT.
1. Disclosures to family, friends, or others. We may provide your PHI to a family
member, friend, or other person that you indicate is involved in your care or the
payment for your health care, unless you object in whole or in part. The
opportunity to consent may be obtained retroactively in emergency situations.
VI. YOU HAVE THE FOLLOWING RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO YOUR PHI:
1. The Right to Request Limits on Uses and Disclosures of Your PHI. You have the
right to ask your therapist not to use or disclose certain PHI for treatment,
payment, or health care operations purposes. We are not required to agree to
your request, and your therapist may decline it if they believe it would affect your
health care.
2. The Right to Request Restrictions for Out-of-Pocket Expenses Paid for In Full.
You have the right to request restrictions on disclosures of your PHI to health
plans for payment or health care operations purposes if the PHI pertains solely to
a health care item or a health care service that you have paid for out-of-pocket in
full.
3. The Right to Choose How We Send PHI to You. You have the right to ask your
therapist to contact you in a specific way (for example, home or office phone) or
to send mail to a different address, and We will agree to all reasonable requests.
4. The Right to See and Get Copies of Your PHI. Other than “psychotherapy notes,”
you have the right to get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record and
other information that your therapist has about you. They will provide you with a
copy of your record, or a summary of it, if you agree to receive a summary, within
30 days of receiving your written request, and your therapist may charge a
reasonable, cost–based fee for doing so.
5. The Right to Get a List of the Disclosures Your Therapist Has Made. You have
the right to request a list of instances in which your therapist has disclosed your
PHI for purposes other than treatment, payment, or health care operations, or for
which you provided your therapist with an Authorization. They will respond to
your request for an accounting of disclosures within 60 days of receiving your
request. The list your therapist will give you will include disclosures made in the
last six years unless you request a shorter time. Your therapist will provide the list
to you at no charge, but if you make more than one request in the same year,
you will be charged reasonable cost–based fee for each additional request.
6. The Right to Correct or Update Your PHI. If you believe that there is a mistake in
your PHI, or that a piece of important information is missing from your PHI, you
have the right to request that We correct the existing information or add the
missing information. We may decline your request, but We will tell you why in
writing within 60 days of receiving your request.
Interpretation and Definitions
Interpretation
The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the
following conditions. The following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless
of whether they appear in singular or in plural.
Definitions
For the purposes of this Privacy Policy:
Account means a unique account created for You to access our Service or parts
of our Service.
Company (referred to as either "the Company", “I”, "We", "Us" or "Our" in this
Agreement) refers to Fiat Counseling and Consulting PLLC.
Cookies are small files that are placed on Your computer, mobile device or any
other device by a website, containing the details of Your browsing history on that
website among its many uses.
Country refers to: Texas, United States
Device means any device that can access the Service such as a computer, a
cellphone or a digital tablet.
Personal Data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable
individual.
Service refers to the Website.
Service Provider means any natural or legal person who processes the data on
behalf of the Company. It refers to third-party companies or individuals employed
by the Company to facilitate the Service, to provide the Service on behalf of the
Company, to perform services related to the Service or to assist the Company in
analyzing how the Service is used.
Usage Data refers to data collected automatically, either generated by the use of
the Service or from the Service infrastructure itself (for example, the duration of a
page visit).
Website refers to Fiat Counseling Services and Consulting LLC, accessible from
www.fiatcounselingservices.com
You means the individual accessing or using the Service, or the company, or
other legal entity on behalf of which such individual is accessing or using the
Service, as applicable.
Types of Data Collected
Personal Data
While using Our Service, We may ask You to provide Us with certain personally
identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify You. Personally
identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:
Address, State, Province, ZIP/Postal code, City
Usage Data
Usage Data
Usage Data is collected automatically when using the Service.
Usage Data may include information such as Your Device's Internet Protocol address
(e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that You visit,
the time and date of Your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers
and other diagnostic data.
When You access the Service by or through a mobile device, We may collect certain
information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device You
use, Your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of Your mobile device, Your mobile
operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser You use, unique device identifiers
and other diagnostic data.
We may also collect information that Your browser sends whenever You visit our
Service or when You access the Service by or through a mobile device.
Tracking Technologies and Cookies
We use Cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on Our Service
and store certain information. Tracking technologies used are beacons, tags, and scripts
to collect and track information and to improve and analyze Our Service. The
technologies We use may include:
Cookies or Browser Cookies. A cookie is a small file placed on Your Device.
You can instruct Your browser to refuse all Cookies or to indicate when a Cookie
is being sent. However, if You do not accept Cookies, You may not be able to use
some parts of our Service. Unless you have adjusted Your browser setting so
that it will refuse Cookies, our Service may use Cookies.
Flash Cookies. Certain features of our Service may use local stored objects (or
Flash Cookies) to collect and store information about Your preferences or Your
activity on our Service. Flash Cookies are not managed by the same browser
settings as those used for Browser Cookies.
Web Beacons. Certain sections of our Service and our emails may contain small
electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags,
and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Company, for example, to count users who
have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website
statistics (for example, recording the popularity of a certain section and verifying
system and server integrity).
Cookies can be "Persistent" or "Session" Cookies. Persistent Cookies remain on Your
personal computer or mobile device when You go offline, while Session Cookies are
deleted as soon as You close Your web browser.
We use both Session and Persistent Cookies for the purposes set out below:
Necessary / Essential Cookies
Type: Session Cookies
Administered by: Us
Purpose: These Cookies are essential to provide You with services available
through the Website and to enable You to use some of its features. They help to
authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts. Without these
Cookies, the services that You have asked for cannot be provided, and We only
use these Cookies to provide You with those services.
Cookies Policy / Notice Acceptance Cookies
Type: Persistent Cookies
Administered by: Us
Purpose: These Cookies identify if users have accepted the use of cookies on
the Website.
Functionality Cookies
Type: Persistent Cookies
Administered by: Us
Purpose: These Cookies allow us to remember choices You make when You use
the Website, such as remembering your login details or language preference.
The purpose of these Cookies is to provide You with a more personal experience
and to avoid You having to re-enter your preferences every time You use the
Website.
For more information about the cookies We use and your choices regarding cookies,
please visit our Cookies Policy or the Cookies section of our Privacy Policy.
Use of Your Personal Data
The Company may use Personal Data for the following purposes:
To provide and maintain our Service, including to monitor the usage of our
Service.
To manage Your Account: to manage Your registration as a user of the Service.
The Personal Data You provide can give You access to different functionalities of
the Service that are available to You as a registered user.
For the performance of a contract: the development, compliance and
undertaking of the purchase contract for the products, items or services You have
purchased or of any other contract with Us through the Service.
To contact You: To contact You by email, telephone calls, SMS, or other
equivalent forms of electronic communication, such as a mobile application's
push notifications regarding updates or informative communications related to
the functionalities, products or contracted services, including the security
updates, when necessary or reasonable for their implementation.
By providing your phone number and agreeing to receive texts, you
consent to receive text messages from Fiat Counseling Services and
Consulting regarding Customer Care. Consent is not a condition of purchase.
Message frequency varies based on communication needs and scheduling
concerns. Message & data rates may apply. You can reply STOP to unsubscribe
at any time or HELP for assistance. No mobile opt-in information will be shared
with third parties. Our privacy policy and terms and conditions are available by
request or via the links provided.
To provide You with news, special offers and general information about other
goods, services and events which We offer that are similar to those that you have
already purchased or enquired about unless You have opted not to receive such
information.
To manage Your requests: To attend and manage Your requests to Us.
For business transfers: We may use Your information to evaluate or conduct a
merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or
transfer of some or all of Our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of
bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which Personal Data held by Us
about our Service users is among the assets transferred.
For other purposes: We may use Your information for other purposes, such as
data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our
promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Service, products,
services, marketing and your experience.
We may share Your personal information in the following situations:
With Service Providers: We may share Your personal information with Service
Providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Service, to contact You.
For business transfers: We may share or transfer Your personal information in
connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of Company assets,
financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of Our business to another company.
With Affiliates: We may share Your information with Our affiliates, in which case
We will require those affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy. Affiliates include Our
parent company and any other subsidiaries, joint venture partners or other
companies that We control or that are under common control with Us.
With business partners: We may share Your information with Our business
partners to offer You certain products, services or promotions.
With other users: when You share personal information or otherwise interact in
the public areas with other users, such information may be viewed by all users
and may be publicly distributed outside.
With Your consent: We may disclose Your personal information for any other
purpose with Your consent.
Retention of Your Personal Data
The Company will retain Your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the
purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use Your Personal Data to the
extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if We are required to
retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal
agreements and policies.
The Company will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is
generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to
strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of Our Service, or We are legally
obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.
Transfer of Your Personal Data
Your information, including Personal Data, is processed at the Company's operating
offices and in any other places where the parties involved in the processing are located.
It means that this information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers
located outside of Your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where
the data protection laws may differ than those from Your jurisdiction.
Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by Your submission of such information
represents Your agreement to that transfer.
The Company will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that Your data is
treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of Your
Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate
controls in place including the security of Your data and other personal information.
Disclosure of Your Personal Data
Business Transactions
If the Company is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, Your Personal Data
may be transferred. We will provide notice before Your Personal Data is transferred and
becomes subject to a different Privacy Policy.
Law enforcement
Under certain circumstances, the Company may be required to disclose Your Personal
Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities
(e.g. a court or a government agency).
Other legal requirements
The Company may disclose Your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action
is necessary to:
Comply with a legal obligation
Protect and defend the rights or property of the Company
Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
Protect the personal safety of Users of the Service or the public
Protect against legal liability
Security of Your Personal Data
The security of Your Personal Data is important to Us, but remember that no method of
transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While I
strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Your Personal Data, I cannot
guarantee its absolute security.
Children's Privacy
Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 18. I do not knowingly collect
personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18. If You are a parent
or guardian and You are aware that Your child has provided Us with Personal Data,
please contact Us. If I become aware that I have collected Personal Data from anyone
under the age of 18 without verification of parental consent, I take steps to remove that
information from Our servers.
If I need to rely on consent as a legal basis for processing Your information and Your
country requires consent from a parent, I may require Your parent's consent before I
collect and use that information.
Links to Other Websites
Our Service may contain links to other websites that are not operated by Us. If You click
on a third party link, You will be directed to that third party's site. I strongly advise You to
review the Privacy Policy of every site You visit.
I have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or
practices of any third party sites or services.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
I may update Our Privacy Policy from time to time. I will notify You of any changes by
posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.
I will let You know via email and/or a prominent notice on Our Service, prior to the
change becoming effective and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this Privacy
Policy.
You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to
this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, you can contact us by visiting our
website: www.fiatcounselingservices.com