FSS has licensed clinicians at each service location and accepts most insurances.
FAMILY SERVICE
Notice of Privacy Practices
Introduction: In order to provide you with the highest quality mental health services, it is necessary to gather, and at times share, certain information about you that is private in nature. Family Service Spokane (FSS) is committed to protecting your privacy, and to safeguarding any such protected health information. This Notice of Privacy Practices describes how information about you may be used and disclosed, and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully. If you have any questions about this Notice, please contact our Privacy Officer at 838-4128.
Uses of Information: FSS will not disclose your health information without your authorization, except as outlined in this Notice. In summary, FSS will use or disclose your health information without your authorization for treatment purposes (including communication with other treatment team members as necessary to provide for your care); to ensure appropriate payment for services; and to monitor the quality of agency operations.
Under certain limited circumstances, FSS is permitted to disclose health information about you without your authorization. Examples of this include: if there is an emergency situation; to prevent a serious threat to you or others; for purposes of meeting mandated reporting requirements (such as reporting of suspected abuse); or for public health oversight as required by law.
Other instances in which the agency may disclose health information without your authorization include: when there is a court order to disclose information; when federal law enforcement requirements mandate disclosure; to medical examiners or funeral directors as required by law or as necessary for them to carry out their duties; for national security purposes as required by law; or to comply with Washington State Workers’ Compensation Law. Additional disclosure rules apply specifically to individuals who are members of the military or who are inmates of a correctional facility.
Your Rights Regarding Health Information: As a Consumer at FSS, you have the right to:
Know how the agency uses your health information, whom the agency can give it to, and your rights with regard to this information (as outlined in this Privacy Notice).
Request an opportunity to inspect or copy health information created by the agency and maintained as a part of your record.
Request that your records be amended if you believe that the record is inaccurate or incomplete.
Ask the agency to provide you with a list of any disclosures that have been made of your health information to someone other than those involved in your treatment, billing for your treatment or the agency’s internal operations, or when you have authorized release of information.
Request that the agency restrict uses and disclosures related to your health information.
Request confidential communication of your health information (for example, you can ask for a conversation to be held in private, or for the agency to send a copy of your bill to a different address).
Revoke your authorization to use or disclose health information, except to the extent that action has already been taken.
Obtain a more detailed description of FSS’s Notice of Privacy Practices at any time.
Complaints: If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the agency or with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services Privacy Officer at (360) 902-8278. To file a complaint with FSS, contact the agency’s Executive Director at 7 South Howard, Suite 321,
Changes to this Notice: FSS reserves the right to change the terms of the agency’s Notice of Privacy Practices. A copy of the current Notice will be posted at each of the agency’s office sites, and copies of a more detailed explanation of the Notice will be made available upon request.
