Your privacy rights at Reservoir Recovery Center
This notice explains how we use and share information about you and your treatment, and how you can get access to this information.
The law requires us to keep your health information private. We must follow special privacy rules for drug and alcohol treatment records. Please also respect the privacy of other people you meet here.
Your Medical Record and The Law
What we collect: We collect health information about you and keep it in an electronic health record. This is your medical record.
Who owns the record: The medical record itself belongs to Reservoir Recovery Center, but the information inside it belongs to you.
HIPAA: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a federal law that requires us to keep your medical records private. It generally requires us to share only the minimum amount of information necessary for the specific purpose.
42 CFR Part 2: Because we are a drug and alcohol treatment program, your information is protected by a separate, stricter federal rule called 42 CFR Part 2. This rule protects all information that identifies you as a patient in a drug or alcohol program, including your identity, diagnosis, and treatment.
Sharing Your Information:
When We Need Your Permission:
In most cases, we must get your written consent before we can share any information about your treatment.
If you give us permission to share information, the written form must clearly say:
What information we can share.
Who we can share it with.
Why we are sharing it.
How long the permission lasts.
You can take back (revoke) your consent at any time, either by telling us verbally or in writing.
We may ask for your written permission to share your treatment information for common reasons, such as:
Sharing information with your other doctors or healthcare providers.
Getting paid by your insurance company or other payers.
Contacting your family for treatment reasons or in a medical emergency.
We will not share your information for these reasons without your consent.
When We Don't Need Your Permission:
Under the strict rules of 42 CFR Part 2, we are allowed to share your information without your written consent only in a few very limited situations:
For Treatment - We can use and share your information internally with our staff and with other organizations that share administrative control with us.
With Partners - We can share information with certain outside groups (called Qualified Service Organizations) that help us run our program, as long as they agree to keep your information confidential.
For Review/Research - We can share information with outside auditors, regulatory agencies, evaluators, and for certain research purposes.
Emergencies - We can share information when it is necessary in a life-threatening medical emergency.
Crime - We can disclose information to report a crime that happened on the property or against Reservoir Recovery Center staff.
Required by Law - We can disclose information when the state law requires us to report child abuse or neglect, when reporting the cause of death, or when a judge gives us a valid court order that meets specific legal requirements.
Contacting You - We can contact you to share information about our treatment services or to send you reminders about future appointments.
Your Rights Regarding Your Health Information
Both HIPAA and the 42 CFR Part 2 rules give you the following rights concerning your medical record and treatment information:
Right to a Copy of This Notice: You have the right to get a paper copy of this privacy notice.
Right to See and Copy Your Record: You have the right to ask for and get a copy of your treatment record. You can also ask to receive your health information in a specific way or at a different location (for example, at a P.O. box instead of your home address). All of these requests must be in writing. We may charge a reasonable fee for copying your information.
Right to Ask for Changes: You have the right to ask us to change or add to health information that you believe is wrong or incomplete. If we decide not to make the change, we will explain why and tell you how you can disagree with our decision.
Right to Ask for Restrictions: You have the right to ask us to limit how we use or share your health information. However, we are not required to agree to your request.
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You may ask for a written list (an "accounting") of certain times we have shared your health information. This list can go back up to six years. You must make this request in writing on a form we provide. This list will not include disclosures made:
With your written consent (for reasons like treatment, payment, or running our operations).
To you or your legal representative, or to anyone else involved in your care.
We will provide your first accounting request in any 12-month period for free. For any other requests after that, we will charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.
Changes to this Notice
Reservoir Recovery Center can change this Notice of Privacy Practices at any time. Any changes will apply to all of your information we already have and any information we get in the future. We are required by law to follow the notice we currently have in place. If we make changes, we will give a copy of the new notice to all current and future patients.
How to File a Complaint
If you have concerns about this Notice of Privacy Practices or how Reservoir Recovery Center handles your health information, you can contact us directly.
If you are not happy with how we handle your complaint, you may also contact one of the following government offices:
Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights
Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs Bureau of Quality Assurance for Prevention and Treatment Maryland Department of Human Services
You can also contact one of the regional U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Offices for Civil Rights.