Commitment to Privacy

The appropriate collection, use and disclosure of patients’ personal health information is fundamental to our day-to-day operations and to patient care.

We strive to provide our patients with excellent behavioral health care and service. Every member of Continicare must abide by our commitment to privacy in the handling of personal information. This policy was last modified on the 1st day of February, 2023.

Applicability of This Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policy attests to our commitment to privacy and demonstrates the ways we ensure that patient/ client privacy is protected. Our Privacy Policy applies to all our patients’/clients’ personal health information in our possession and control.

What is Personal Health Information?

Personal health information is information about an individual relating to their physical or mental health (including medical history), the providing of behavioral health care to the individual, payments or eligibility for health care, and health insurance identification.

 The following principles outline Continicare’s commitment to our patients/clients. 

The 10 Principles of Privacy

Our Privacy Policy reflects our compliance with fair information practices, applicable laws and standards of practice.

We ask you for information to establish a relationship and serve your behavioral health 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. You are entitled to know how we use your information and this is described in this Privacy Statement. 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.

You have the right to determine how your personal health information is used and disclosed. For most behavioral health care purposes, your consent is implied as a result of your utilization of our services. In all circumstances your express consent will be required in the use of our products of services. Your consent will be documented as part of your patient behavioral health records and if appropriate, we will notify health care providers and their supporting staff.

You may withdraw your consent to disclose personal health information (PHI). To do so you must sign and date a Consent to Withdrawal Form. It is understood that the consent directive applies only to the PHI that you have already provided, and not to PHI that you might provide in the future: 

Health information privacy laws permit certain collections, uses, and disclosures of the PHI. Healthcare providers may override the consent directive in certain circumstances, such as emergencies. Failure to provide consent may result in delays in receiving health care, reduced quality of care due to the healthcare provider’s lacking complete information about you, and the healthcare provider’s refusal to offer non-emergency care. 

Your written Consent to Withdrawal Form will be documented as part of your behavioral health record and if appropriate, we will notify your healthcare providers and their supporting staff.

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 behavioral health care.

The information we request from you is used for the purposes defined. We will seek your consent before using the information for purposes beyond the scope of this Privacy Statement.

Under no circumstances do we sell patient lists or other personal information to third parties. There are some types of disclosure of your personal health information that may occur as part of Continicare fulfilling its routine obligations and/or practice management. This includes consultants and suppliers to Continicare, on the understanding that they abide by our Privacy Policy, and only to the extent necessary to allow them to provide business services or support to Continicare.

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.

Patients may be required to sign and date a Consent to Disclose PHI Form and to pay a fee prior to release of information 

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.

We protect your information with appropriate safeguards and security measures. Continicare’s goal is for our patients to hold and control their information on their devices and to facilitate the transmission of personal data with their health care providers. Continicare does not intend to store the data centrally.  However, there may be situations that require us to maintain personal information in electronic format. If this requirement becomes necessary, it will be done only by obtaining your consent. 

Access to personal information will be authorized only for the care professionals and employees associated with Continicare and other agents who require access in the performance of their duties, and to those otherwise authorized by law.

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. Other organizations and agents must agree to abide by our Privacy Policy and may be asked to sign contracts to that effect. 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.

Our computer systems require multi factor authentication and are constructed in such a way that only authorized individuals can access our secure systems and databases.

If you send us an e-mail 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 e-mail is not secure against interception. If your communication is very sensitive, only send it electronically if the e-mail is encrypted.

Continicare has prepared this plain-language Privacy Policy to keep you informed. You may view a copy by visiting our website at www.continicare.com 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.

With limited exceptions, we will give you access to the information that we retain about you within a reasonable time, upon presentation of a written request and satisfactory identification.

We may charge you a fee for this service and if so, we will give you notice in advance of processing your request.

If you find errors of fact in your personal 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 the requested change.

If we deny your request for access to your personal information, we will advise you in writing of the reason for the refusal and you may then challenge our decision.

Please 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:

Continicare Corp

don@continicare.com

289-400-9991