Privacy Statement
Privacy and HIPAA Compliance Notice
The appropriate collection, use and disclosure of clients’ personal and health information is fundamental to day-to-day operations and to client care. Protecting the privacy and the confidentiality of client personal information is important to me and my team at The Harvest Method. I strive to provide my clients with excellent nutrition and behavioral health care and service.
Every member of The Harvest Method must abide by our commitment to privacy in the handling of personal information.
This policy was last modified on the 10th of May, 2020.
Applicability of This Privacy Policy
Our Privacy Policy attests to our commitment to privacy and demonstrates the ways we ensure that client privacy is protected. Our Privacy Policy applies to the personal and health information of all our clients that is in our possession and control.
What is Personal and Health Information?
Personal and health information means identifying information about an individual relating to their physical or mental health (including medical history), the providing of health care to the individual, payments or eligibility for health care.
The 10 Principles of Privacy
Our Privacy Policy reflects our compliance with fair information practices, applicable laws and standards of practice.
Accountability
We take our commitment to securing patient privacy very seriously. Rachel and The Harvest Method team are responsible for the personal information under his/her control.
We are informed about the importance of privacy and receive information periodically to update them about our Privacy Policy and related issues.
Identifying Purposes: Why We Collect Information
We ask you for information to establish a relationship and serve your needs. We obtain most of our information about you directly from you, or from other health practitioners whom you have seen and authorized to disclose to us. We will limit the information we collect to what we need for those purposes, and we will use it only for those purposes. We will obtain your consent if we wish to use your information for any other purpose.
Consent
You have the right to determine how your personal and health information is used and disclosed. For most health care purposes, your consent is implied as a result of your consent to treatment, however, in all circumstances express consent must be written.
Limiting Collection
We collect information by fair and lawful means and collect only that information which may be necessary for purposes related to the provision of your care.
Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention
The information we request from you is used for the purposes defined. We will seek your consent before using the information for purposes beyond this scope. Under no circumstances do we sell patient lists or other personal information to third parties. We will retain your information only for the time it is required for the purposes we describe and once your personal information is no longer required, it will be destroyed. However, due to our on-going exposure to potential claims, some information is kept for a longer period.
Accuracy
We endeavor to ensure that all decisions involving your personal information are based upon accurate and timely information. While we will do our best to base our decisions on accurate information, we rely on you to disclose all material information and to inform us of any relevant changes.
Safeguards: Protecting Your Information
We protect your information with appropriate safeguards and security measures. The Harvest Method maintains personal information on HIPAA compliant Applications utilized only in secure WIFI locations.
Access to personal information will be authorized only for the employees associated with The Harvest Method. We provide information to health care providers acting on your behalf, on the understanding that they are also bound by law and ethics to safeguard your privacy. We will give them only the information necessary to perform the services for which they are engaged, and will require that they not store, use or disclose the information for purposes other than to carry out those services.
All information is kept password-secured and constructed in such a way that only authorized individuals can access secure systems and databases. If you send us an email message that includes personal information, such as your name included in the “address”, we will use that information to respond to your inquiry.
Please remember that email is not necessarily secure against interception.
If your communication is very sensitive, you should not send it electronically unless the e-mail is encrypted or your browser indicates that the access is secure.
Openness: Keeping You Informed
The Harvest Method has prepared this plain-language Privacy Policy to keep you informed. If you have any additional questions or concerns about privacy, we invite you to contact us by phone and we will address your concerns to the best of our ability.
Access and Correction
We will give you access to the information we retain about you. If you find errors of fact in your personal and health information, please notify us as soon as possible and we will make the appropriate corrections.
We are not required to correct information relating to clinical observations or opinions made in good faith.
You have a right to append a short statement of disagreement to your record if we refuse to make a requested change.
Challenging Compliance
We encourage you to contact us with any questions or concerns you might have about your privacy or our Privacy Policy. We will investigate and respond to your concerns about any aspect of our handling of your information. In most cases, an issue is resolved simply by telling us about it and discussing it. You can reach us at Phone: (917) 375-4438, Fax: (315) 988-1016 or Email: hello@theharvestmethod.com