Patient Rights, Privacy and Disclaimers

All Telemind patients have the same civil rights as do all citizens of the State of Nevada and the United States of America. Telemind does not discriminate in the provision of services on the basis of age, race, color, national origin, ethnicity, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, religion, disability or any other characteristic protected by law. We believe in The right to quality treatment, the right to refuse services, the right to confidentiality, the right to dignity, the right to privacy, the right to receive humane care and the right to access one’s own record. Exceptions to any of these described rights do exist and will be discussed on an individual basis at the request of the individual.

 

 

Take the responsibility for participating in your treatment as mutually agreed upon in the treatment plan.

Pay for services at the time they are rendered. When no payment or arrangements for payments have been made for balances over 30 days, you may be denied services until payment or payment arrangements are made. You will be responsible for all balances even after your services have ended.

You have the responsibility to attend sessions/treatment/services as scheduled or to cancel as soon as possible, but at least 24 hours in advance. Missing appointment without notification will result in a no-show charge on your credit card.

 

What our patients think of the services they received at Telemind is very important to us. Please feel free to tell staff members when you are satisfied or dissatisfied with our services. At appropriate times you will receive customer satisfaction surveys. We appreciate your answering the questions and offering any comments, criticisms, or suggestions that will help us to continue to improve our quality of customer care.

 

This notice originally became effective on April 14, 2003. This notice describes how information about you (our patient) may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully. Telemind is required by law to maintain the privacy of your information and to provide you with this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to this information.

 

Uses & Examples of Disclosures of Information for Treatment and Telemind Operations and Services.

 

We will use your information for treatment. For example Information obtained by your clinician, resource coordinator, or service provider will be recorded in your clinical record and used to help determine the course of treatment that you and your treatment team believe will work best for you. The clinician, resource coordinator, or service provider will record the actions they took and their observations. Other members of your treatment team will review your clinical record to assess how your treatment is progressing.

 

We will use your information in our day-to-day operations to assess your care and to seek to provide you with the best possible care. For example Members of the Telemind clinical staff, in order to perform quality improvement or risk management activities, may use information in your clinical record to evaluate the care and outcomes in your situation and others like it. This information will then be used in an effort to continually improve the quality and effectiveness of your care and the service we provide to all people we serve.

 

We may use your information to contact you to remind you of your appointments.

 

We may disclose your information to our business associate so that they can perform the job we’ve asked them to do. There are some services provided to our organization through contracts with external business associates. A nurse may also provide services to some individuals served by Telemind. The office manager will have access to some of your information. To protect your information, we require the business associate to appropriately safeguard your information. At your request, we will disclose to you who these associates are and share with you how these associates protect your information.

 

Other uses and disclosures of your confidential information will be made only with your written authorization unless otherwise permitted or required by law.

 

None of the video sessions are recorded.

 

You have the right to determine the amount and type of information to be released to anyone outside of Telemind. You also have the right to determine the amount and type of information to be sent to Telemind from outside persons or agencies.

 

There are several important instances when confidential information may be released to others without your permission:

 

If we have reason to believe that you are abusing or neglecting your children, or if you tell us your spouse or someone else is abusing your or any other children, we are obligated by law to report this to the appropriate agency. The law is designed to protect children from harm and the obligation to report suspected abuse or neglect is clear in this regard.

 

If you are receiving mental health services, and we have reason to believe that you are abusing, neglecting, or exploiting an aged person or disabled adult, or if you tell us that someone is abusing, neglecting, or exploiting an aged person or disabled adult, we are obligated to report this to the appropriate agency.

 

If you indicate you intend to harm either yourself or someone else, and we believe your intent to be serious, we are obligated under the law to take action to protect you and/or other people from harm.

 

If you are experiencing a life-threatening or potentially disabling medical emergency, we are required to release to medical personnel the minimum amount of information necessary to quickly aid the situation (for example: diagnosis, medication). The information will be given only on a need to know basis.

 

In some instances, a court of law can obtain information about you without your permission. Although Telemind does not automatically release information about you to the court when it receives a court order, a judge may set aside your rights to privileged communication. If you have been referred by the court (court-ordered), you should discuss with us exactly what information you wish included or not included in a report to the court. You should also be aware that failure to release information to a court or a referral agency may have adverse consequences for you.

 

Telemind takes the privacy and security of your information seriously. Any information you provide to us via SMS will be used solely for administrative purposes and for the operations of our company. We will not share your information with anyone else or use it for any other purpose without your explicit consent.

Collection of Information: When you provide us with your phone number and any other personal information via SMS, it will be used only for purposes directly related to your treatment and our administrative operations.

Usage of Information: We will use your information to send appointment reminders, updates regarding your treatment, and other administrative communications. Your information will not be used for marketing purposes without your explicit consent.

Disclosure of Information: We will not disclose your information to any third party unless it is necessary for the operation of our services.  This includes protecting your information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure.  SMS (text message) opt-in phone numbers  or phone numbers for the purpose of SMS will not be shared.

Security Measures: We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure the security and confidentiality of the information you provide via SMS. This includes encryption and secure storage of data.

Opt-Out: You have the right to opt-out of receiving SMS communications at any time by following the instructions provided in our messages or by contacting us directly.

Consent: By providing your phone number and personal information, you consent to our use of your information as described in this policy.

Updates to Policy: We may update this SMS security and privacy policy from time to time. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting the new policy on our website and, where appropriate, communicating directly with you via SMS.

Disclaimer: TeleMind Clinic ensures that SMS opt-in or phone numbers collected for the purpose of SMS communications are not shared with any third parties.