By law CO is required to insure that your PHI is kept private. The PHI constitutes information created or noted by CO that can be used to identify you. It contains data about your past, present, or future health or condition, the provision of health care services to you, or the payment for such health care. CO is required to provide you with this Notice about our privacy procedures. This Notice must explain when, why, and how we would use and/or disclose your PHI. Use of PHI means when we share, apply, utilize, examine, or analyze information within our practice; PHI is disclosed when we release, transfer, give, or otherwise reveal it to a third party outside our practice. With some exceptions, we may not use or disclose more of your PHI than is necessary to accomplish the purpose for which the use or disclosure is made; however, we are always legally required to follow the privacy practices described in this Notice.

Please, note that emails, faxes, and texts are all part of your clinical records. Please notify ChoiceOne and/or counselor if you decide to avoid or limit, in any way, the use of email, texts, cell phone calls, phone messages, or faxes. If you communicate confidential or private information via unencrypted email, texts or fax or via phone messages, it will be assumed that you have evaluated the risks and made an informed decision. ChoiceOne and your counselor will view it as your agreement to take the risk that such communication may be intercepted, and your desire to communicate on such matters will be honored. Please do not use texts, email, voicemail, or faxes for emergencies.

CO will take all caution not to take a photo of your or your family without consent. Photos taken without consent will undergo editing to remove any identifying images. However, unidentifiable photos can be used without your consent. Please note that we reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice and our privacy policies at any time as permitted by law. Any changes will apply to PHI already on file with CO. Before we make any important changes to our policies, we will immediately change this Notice and post a new copy of it in our office and on our website. You may also request a copy of this Notice from CO, or you can view a copy of it in our office or on this website. CO NPP must contain a statement indicating that most uses and disclosures of psychotherapy notes, marketing disclosures and sale of PHI do require prior authorization by you, and you have the right to be notified in case of a breach of unsecured PHI.