Notice of Privacy Practices

The information on this page describes how medical information about a client may be used and disclosed and how a client can access this information. Clients receive a printed notice of this information.

Confidentiality

Federal law and regulations protect the confidentiality of client records. Present and past employees of ADSGC may not reveal to anyone outside of our agency that a person is a client or disclose any information that could identify a person as a client unless that client

  • Authorizes the disclosure in writing
  • The disclosure is allowed by a court order
  • The disclosure is made to medical personnel in a medical emergency or to qualified personnel for research, audit, or program evaluation.

Who will follow this notice

All ADSGC entities, sites and locations will follow the terms of this notice and may share health information with each other for treatment or operations purposes described on this page.

Our pledge regarding treatment information

We are committed to protecting client treatment information. We create a record of the care and services in order to provide quality care and to comply with certain legal requirements.

We are required by law to

  • Make sure that information that identifies a particular client remains private
  • Give notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to client treatment information
  • Follow the terms of this notice

We may use and disclose information

For treatment

  • We may use client information to provide treatment or services.
  • We may disclose client information to our own personnel in connection with the provision of diagnosis, treatment, or referral for treatment.

For health care operations

We may use and disclose client information for our own operations. These are necessary to run our agency and to assure that our clients receive quality care.

Medical emergencies

Information may be disclosed to medical personnel who have a need for client information for the purpose of treating a condition which poses an immediate threat to health and which requires immediate medical intervention.

Audit and evaluation

  • Information may be disclosed for the purpose of audit or evaluation by any federal, state, of local government agency, which provides financial assistance to ADSGC or is authorized by law to regulate our activities.
  • Information may also be disclosed for audit and evaluation purposes to a third party payer which covers our patients, to a peer review organization performing utilization or quality control review, or is determined by our program director to be qualified to conduct the audit or evaluation activities.

Child abuse or neglect

We may report any information about suspected child abuse or neglect to appropriate state or local authorities.

Law enforcement

We may disclose information about you to law enforcement officers concerning a crime committed on ADSGC premises or against any person who works for ADSGC or a threat to commit such a crime.

Vital Statistics

Under laws requiring the collection of death or other vital statistics or permitting inquiry into the cause of death, we may disclose information relating to a client’s cause of death.

Subpoena and Court Order

If we receive a subpoena to disclose information about a client, we will not do so unless a court of competent jurisdictions enters an authorizing order. A court order may authorize disclosure only if the court finds that the disclosure is necessary.

      • To protect against an existing threat to life or of serious bodily injury.
      • To investigate or prosecute a serious crime.
      • In connection with litigation or an administrative proceeding in which a client offers testimony or other evidence relating to the information.