Telepsych – video and phone counseling

“Making a Safe Space For Clients: therapy is founded on the safety of the environment, and we have long accepted that both privacy of the physical space and the promise of confidentiality in the professional relationship are foundational to that safety – both felt and actual. Safe, confidential space online requires technical security. Encryption is the cyber-equivalent of sound-resistant walls, closed doors and noise machines in the hallway.” Roy Huggins, personcenteredtech.com

For all private insurance and EAP clients:

• Tele-health options were developed and implemented through the initial covid-19 public health emergency, and remain as options for referrals without easy access to the Gallup office.

• VIDEO-CONFERENCING: If you have a good internet connection and would like to meet by video, just let me know and we can meet on my HIPAA complaint video platform https://doxy.me . Once you notify me that you want to meet by video, I will text you a hyperlink to my “waiting room” and once we are both online I will be able to invite you in to the “therapy room” where we can video-conference.
• TEXTING: To maintain HIPAA compliance when texting, I am requesting private and EAP clients download and install the Signal App. Signal uses end-to-end encryption, preventing outside access to communication. The text program installed with your phone can be logged by your phone provider or others; texts between persons using Signal are private and confidential. The Signal app can be downloaded at Google Play, and at the Apple App Store.
  • Should you decline to use this application, you will need to understand that our texts cannot be assured to be 100% private and confidential.
• “I am regularly impressed with the thought and care put into both the security and the usability of this app. It’s my first choice for an encrypted conversation.” Bruce Schneier, internationally renowned security technologist.
• E-Mail: Current email accounts are vulnerable to being read by other people – your business account can be read by your employer, most consumer programs like gmail and yahoo have been hacked repeatedly, and every typical email message “lives” somewhere on a physical device – on your phone, on your computer, on your employer’s server – and you may not even be aware of how and where these messages are stored and accessible to anyone with access to the physical device.
• THERE ARE PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL OPTIONS. Synergy uses Protonmail which provides end-to-end encryption and additional security features to assure the privacy and confidentiality of email communications. I request that you sign-up for a free Protonmail account at Protonmail.com/signup.
  • Should you decline to use this email service, you need to understand that your emails to me cannot be assured to be 100% private and confidential.
• You may choose to exempt yourself from use of secure email:
  • “We clarify that covered entities are permitted to send individuals unencrypted emails if they have advised the individual of the risk, and the individual still prefers the unencrypted email.” US Department of Health and Human Services, 2013
  • You will need to provide me with clear informed consent to exempt yourself, and I will be responsible to help convince you that the change is worth the effort, to assure your privacy and confidentiality!

• Don’t Like Technology? (I understand) And, I encourage you to look into these options as they will become standard programs and procedures, as health care providers gain knowledge of and compliance with HIPAA and secure use of technology in health services.

Electronic Medical Records (EMR): Beginning in January 2020, I have transitioned private insurance and medicaid (but not EAP or Federal) clients to an electronic medical records EMR platform. This allows you to electronically receive, sign, and return application and intake forms, and also allows me to forward worksheets and handouts to you by email.

Approved Technology for client – therapist Communications

Relevant Laws and Regulations

Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (“Privacy Rule”) establishes, for the first time, a set of national standards for the protection of certain health information.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued the Privacy Rule to implement the requirement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”).

Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, signed into law on February 17, 2009

42 Code of Federal Regulations Part 2, also known as 42 CFR Part 2 applies to all clients of Synergy Behavioral Health Center and provides privacy protections for all records relating to the identity, diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment of any client of the agency.