HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices

This notice describes how medical information about your child may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully.

Our commitment

Steps of Care ABA Services LLC is required by law to keep your child's protected health information ("health information") private, to give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, and to follow the terms of the notice currently in effect. Health information includes things like your child's assessments, treatment plans, session notes, and billing records.

How we may use and disclose health information

The law allows us to use and share health information for treatment, payment, and health care operations without your separate written authorization. Here is what that means in the context of ABA therapy:

For treatment

Our clinical team of Board Certified Behavior Analysts and behavior technicians shares information with each other to plan, deliver, and supervise your child's therapy. We may also share information with other health care providers involved in your child's care, such as your child's pediatrician or speech therapist, to coordinate services.

For payment

We use health information to bill your insurance plan and to obtain the authorizations plans require for ABA services, for example, sending your plan an assessment so it will approve therapy hours.

For health care operations

We use health information to run our practice well, for example, reviewing the quality of care, supervising and training clinical staff, and scheduling sessions.

Appointment reminders

We may contact you to remind you of or confirm your child's upcoming sessions. Tell us if you prefer to be reached a particular way.

Family members and caregivers

With your permission, we may share relevant information with family members or caregivers who are involved in your child's care, for example, so a grandparent who attends sessions can support your child's goals at home.

When required by law or for safety

We may use or disclose health information without your authorization when the law requires or permits it, for example, to report suspected child abuse or neglect, to respond to a court order, for certain public health activities, or to prevent a serious threat to anyone's health or safety.

Uses that require your written authorization

We will never do any of the following without your written authorization:

• Use your child's health information for marketing
• Sell your child's health information
• Share health information for most purposes beyond treatment, payment, and health care operations

If you give us an authorization, you may revoke it in writing at any time. Revoking an authorization stops future uses and disclosures, but it cannot undo sharing that already happened while the authorization was in effect.

Your rights

You have the following rights regarding your child's health information:

• Inspect and copy records. You can ask to see or receive a copy of your child's records, including an electronic copy. We will respond within the time the law allows, and we may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for copies.
• Request an amendment. If you believe information in your child's record is incorrect or incomplete, you can ask us in writing to amend it. We may decline in certain cases, and we will tell you why in writing.
• An accounting of disclosures. You can ask for a list of the times we shared your child's health information for purposes other than treatment, payment, health care operations, and certain other disclosures.
• Request restrictions. You can ask us to limit how we use or share health information. We are not required to agree to every request, but we must agree not to share information with your health plan about a service you paid for in full out of pocket, unless the law requires the disclosure.
• Confidential communications. You can ask us to contact you in a specific way or at a specific location, for example, only on your cell phone. We will accommodate reasonable requests.
• A paper copy of this notice. You can ask for a paper copy at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically.
• Breach notification. We will notify you if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your child's health information.

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Privacy Officer at care@stepsofcare.com.

Our responsibilities

• We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your child's health information.
• We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised that information.
• We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it.
• We will not use or share your child's information other than as described here unless you tell us we can in writing. If you tell us we can, you may change your mind at any time; just let us know in writing.

Complaints

If you believe your family's privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with us by contacting our Privacy Officer at care@stepsofcare.com or by calling (914) 677-2888.

You may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights: 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, D.C. 20201; by phone at 1-800-368-1019; or online at hhs.gov/ocr/complaints.

We will never retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

Changes to this notice

We may change this notice, and the new notice will apply to all the health information we maintain. The current notice is always available on this page, at our office, and by mail on request.

Contact us

Questions about this notice or your family's privacy rights? Please reach out:

Privacy Officer, Steps of Care ABA Services LLC
135 38th St.
Union City, NJ 07087
care@stepsofcare.com
(914) 677-2888