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The views and opinions expressed on unofficial and personal pages at TAMU-CC are strictly those of the page authors. The content of these pages have not been reviewed or approved by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. No web page link resource is deemed as a substitute for consultation with a qualified professional. The views and opinions expressed on web pages, in books and other references are strictly those of the authors of the original sources. Inclusion in the UCC website as a resource does not imply approval of or agreement with the any specfici statements contained in these resources. Consultation with a qualified professional is always recommended. No information about counseling is released outside of the University Counseling Center (UCC) to anyone without a student's written authorization. The UCC makes no record of visits on academic transcripts or placement files. However, there are limits to confidentiality and they include the following: When there is the risk of imminent harm to themselves or another person, therapists have a legal and ethical duty to do whatever is necessary to protect life. When any individual has reason to believe that a child or mentally disabled person or an elderly person is in danger of or is being physically, emotionally, or sexually abused, that individual is obligated by law to report such abuse to the proper authorities. Therapists are required by law to report incidences of sexual misconduct on the part of other therapists. Additionally, a student's counselor/therapist may consult with a supervisor and/or with other professional staff member of the UCC for the purpose of providing the best possible service. The University Counseling Center (UCC) is committed to protecting your privacy. None of your information will be distributed to anybody outside of the UCC, with the exception of circumstances listed in the Client Confidentiality section above. Communicating over the Internet
Important! Please do not use the Internet (email or the Web) to send confidential information or to contact us regarding an emergency requiring immediate action. We cannot ensure that email will be read or answered as quickly as a phone call. In case of an emergency, use the telephone and call either the University Counseling Center at (361) 825-2703 or the University Police at (361) 825-4444. For off-campus emergencies, call 911. Likewise, do not use e-mail to attempt to schedule or cancel appointments. Instead, call (361) 825-2703. We strongly discourage using email to send messages of a personal or confidential nature. Email is not secure, and can be read in transit by people other than the recipient. Sending email is like sending a letter in an unsealed envelope; another person could read your message, change it, or even impersonate you. Email is copied, archived, and retransmitted continuously as part of normal processing. Because of this, please use email only to request information about our services, or other non-confidential matters. There are several ways you can communicate with us without having to send information over the Internet: · in person · by phone · by fax · by mail Privacy Policy
HIPAA COMPLIANCE
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES IN COMPLIANCE WITH: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Effective Date: May 1, 2003 THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW YOUR MEDICAL INFORMATION MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GAIN ACCESS TO THE INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY. YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS, OUR RESPONSIBILITIES The University Counseling Center is required by law to protect the privacy of your health information and provide you with this Notice of Privacy Practices. This notice describes how we may use and share your health information and explains your privacy rights. The center will use or disclose your information only as described in this notice. We do, however, reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of this notice and to make new provisions effective for all health information that we maintain. Revised notices will be posted in the waiting area, and we will make a copy of the revised notice available to you upon request. If at any time, you have questions or concerns about the information in this notice or about our agency’s privacy policies, procedures, or practices; you may contact the HIPAA Coordinator, Dr. Yolanda Harper-Ray, University Counseling Center Director (361-825-2703). USE AND DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION The law permits the University Counseling Center to use or disclose your health information without your written consent or authorization for the following purposes: Treatment: We may use health information about you to provide treatment and services. We may disclose your health information to counselors, supervisors, or administrators at the Center who are involved in your treatment. Because some of our counselors are graduate students in training, they are required to share information pertaining to your treatment with their clinical supervisor. In addition, counselors may share relevant details about your treatment during case staffing with other counselors and psychologists. Center Operations: We may use your health information for the purposes of center operations. For example, your records will be reviewed by the center staff in order to make sure that the University Counseling Center is the best place for you to receive treatment. In addition, your records may be reviewed by our counseling staff for quality assurance purposes to assess the care, outcomes, and quality of services you receive. Since some of our counselors are in training, supervisors will regularly review and co-sign session notes and reports prepared by trainees. Your records may also be reviewed during the course of completing evaluations of these counselors. Contacting You: We may contact you to regarding an appointment, to respond to your contact, to notify you of your discharge, provide information about services that may be of interest to you, or assess satisfaction with ongoing treatment. Other Circumstances: In addition, we may use or disclose your health information for the following purposes without your consent or authorization: • As required or permitted by law (e.g., cooperation with law enforcement, court officials, or government agencies) • For health oversight activities (e.g., investigations, inspections, accreditation, licensure, etc.) • To avoid serious threat to health or safety • As authorized by worker’s compensation laws or similar programs that provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness • Research approved by the Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi’s Human Subjects Protection Review Committee. USE AND DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION THAT REQUIRES YOUR AUTHORIZATION Except as provided in this Notice of Privacy Practices, the University Counseling Center will not use or disclose your health information without your written authorization. If you sign an authorization form, you may withdraw your authorization at any time, as long as your withdrawal is in writing. YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION You have several rights with regard to your health information. Specifically, you have the right to: • Obtain a paper copy of this notice. You may request a written copy of this notice at any time. • Receive confidential communications. You have the right to request in writing that the center only communicate to you in a certain format (e.g., in writing) and/or location (e.g., your work address). We will accommodate all reasonable requests. • Inspect and copy protected health information. This right is subject to certain legal restrictions. For example, this right does not apply to psychotherapy notes or information compiled for judicial proceedings. You may be charged a fee for copying or postage. • Request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures. You have the right to ask for restrictions on how your health information is used or to whom your information is disclosed. We are not required to agree to your requested restriction, but we will consider your request and the possibility of accommodating it. • Request to amendment. You have a right to request in writing that portions of your records be corrected when you feel information is incorrect or incomplete. We may deny your request if the information was not created by this agency or if we believe the information is accurate. • Receive an accounting of disclosures. You have a right to receive an accounting of disclosures of your health information made by the Center, except for disclosures such as treatment, payment, Center operations, and certain other disclosures as provided for by law. • Complain. If you believe your health information privacy rights have been violated, you may contact the OCR Regional Manager, Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Atlanta Federal Center, Suite 3B70, 61 Forsyth Street, S.W., Atlanta, GA 30303-8909, (404) 562-7886. Information is also available on the DHHS web site at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/. If you file a complaint, we will not take any action against you or change our treatment of you. ADDITIONAL PROTECTIONS OF YOUR PRIVACY: : In addition to being HIPAA compliant, the University Counseling Center complies with all federal and state legislation pertinent to health and mental health service provision regarding the practice of counseling, psychology, psychiatry and related services. If you have questions regarding your rights, please contact the University Counseling Center. CONTACT FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Yolanda Y. Harper-Ray, Ph.D., Director HIPAA Coordinator The University Counseling Center, Driftwood 102 Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi Corpus Christi, TX 78412 (361) 825-2703 This site generally stores no information about its visitors, with the exceptions of basic logging for site statistics (and then only machine addresses, not personal email addresses). There may be pages where we give visitors the option of providing us with names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses, personal information, and various other kinds of details. This more personal information is not gathered without visitors knowing and providing active permission and participation. · This site does not monitor private communications or make any use of such communications. · This site does not display or make available visitors' personal information, such as contact information, even if it is already publicly available, to any person except the user himself or herself, except at the request of the user. · This site does not retrieve personal information from the visitor's computer that was not originally sent to us or by us. This site does uses "cookies" only when it is necessary to save general (non-private) information about the site. How does this web site gather
information?
The University Counseling Center (UCC) does not collect any personal information from a visitor to its site without explicitly requesting that the visitor provide it. If a visitor is just browsing, we do not gather any personal information about the visitor whatsoever. There are two ways in which a visitor may explicitly provide and consent to UCC's collection of personal information. Email is not secure (see the section above regarding Communicating over the Internet). Web Forms
Some places on this site may allow a visitor to submit an application or other information through the use of web-based forms. As far as possible, these forms are secure (see the section below regarding Security). Different forms may request different personal information. For certain applications, we may require name, address, telephone number, email address, and student ID number. Other applications may require different or supplemental information from the applicant. "Opt Out" Policy
In the future, the UCC may maintain email discussion groups or mailing lists, or notify people who have voluntarily supplied their email addresses of new services, upcoming events, or other updates. If you receive such a message, and you would like to opt out of being notified in this way by the University Counseling Center, please email us at UCC@mail.tamucc.edu or contact the University Counseling Center at (361) 825-2703, and let us know Security
When is it safe to send information over the Internet? The University Counseling Center (UCC) has made every effort to ensure that personal information entered in a web form on this site is secure. |