Privacy and Security Statement
ANN ARBOR CENTER FOR THE FAMILY
Privacy and Security Statement
Effective April 24, 2003 / Revised December 10, 2004 / October 7, 2008 / June 21, 2010/ June 1, 2013/ August 30, 2013 / June19, 2014
Ann Arbor Center for the Family is an organization that provides support services to the independent private practices of its affiliated mental health practitioners. The Center provides office space and administrative (including billing) support; however, responsibility for the treatment services provided, and the privacy practices pertaining thereto, rests solely with the individual practitioner. For the purposes of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (commonly known as HIPAA), the Center is bound by written Business Associate agreements with each of its affiliated practitioners in order to ensure that it will appropriately safeguard the Protected Health Information (PHI) that it receives on behalf of the affiliated providers for those providers’ patients. For the purpose of protecting PHI transmitted via this website by prospective patients who do not yet have a relationship with any Center provider, the Center acts on behalf of its affiliated mental health practitioners in ensuring compliance with, and maintaining and updating, the procedures and information provided below.
WHAT IS PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION (PHI)?
Protected Health information (PHI) means individually identifiable health information maintained or transmitted in any form or medium, including, without limitation, all information (including demographic, medical, and financial information), data, documentation, and materials that relate to: (I) past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition on an individual; (ii) the provision of health care to an individual; or (iii) the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to an individual. PHI does not include health information that has been de-identified in accordance with the standards for de-identification provided for in the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
HOW WILL ANN ARBOR CENTER FOR THE FAMILY HANDLE MY ELECTRONICALLY TRANSMITTED INFORMATION?
In order to maintain and improve our web site, we track your visit by collecting and storing your IP address, ISP, the date and time that you visit, and the URL’s that you access from our web pages. We utilize this information for technical security and internal review only, and do not share that information with anyone else.
When you visit our web site, we might store some information on your computer. This information will be in the form of a “cookie” or similar file. Cookies are small pieces of information stored on your hard drive — not on our site. Cookies do not spy on you or otherwise invade your privacy, and they cannot invade your hard drive and steal information. Rather, they help you navigate our web site as easily as possible.
We use secure socket layer (SSL) encryption to protect the privacy of the Protected Health Information that you send us via the “Contact Us” page.
If you choose to use our “Contact Us” page to identify yourself and to provide us with Protected Health Information, we will use the information that you transmit only to respond to your query — never for marketing back to you, nor for any other interactive purpose. Only Ann Arbor Center for the Family office staff and mental health professionals will have access to your information. We will never sell or distribute your information to any other party. Our individual mental health professionals’ intake procedures include safeguards to ensure that services are provided only with the informed consent of the patient or (if the patient is under 14 years of age) her or his legal guardian.
When you use our “Contact Us” page to request that we contact you, we will reply via telephone or e-mail only with your permission. Outgoing e-mails from the Center are not encrypted, and their privacy cannot be ensured.
Please note that, by its very nature, a website cannot be absolutely protected against intentional or malicious intrusion attempts. We do not control the devices or computers or the Internet over which you may choose to send confidential personal information, and cannot prevent such interceptions or compromises to your information while in transit to the Ann Arbor Center for the Family. We make no guarantee as to the security, integrity or confidentiality of any information transmitted to or from this website, or stored within this website.
CONTACT
Call Ann Arbor Center for the Family (734-995-5181) and ask to speak to a Managing Affiliate if
- You have a complaint
- You have a question about this notice
For more information about HIPAA, contact:
Celeste Davis, Regional Manager
Office for Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
233 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 240
Chicago, IL 60601