The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal law designed to protect your privacy whenever your health care providers (like the doula or lactation counselor) have to discuss your case, or send information about you to different offices. We have to keep a file to record our consult – but we promise that the private, protected health information (PHI) in it will be kept confidential.

We can freely share all the details of your protected health information for purposes of “treatment, payment and health care operations.” That means we can talk to you about your situation, and discuss it with your other health care providers. If you are referred to other specialists, we can send the information on to them. We can also share information with your health insurance company if they need it. The law also requires us to share your information under other, very precise situations: for example, if a subpoena has been served on us, to turn over medical records ... or a federal agency is investigating a complaint that we have not been protecting your privacy.

Any other time we share your personal health information, it has to be with your specific authorization: you have to okay it, in writing, first. For example, you may want me to send information about your visit or consultation to the Human Resources Dept. where you work, so they can pay you back under their workplace lactation support program. When you do give us permission to turn over information about you, we can give out only the minimum amount of information needed to get the job done. Under HIPAA, we can call or write you to remind you to come back for an appointment, or to tell you how you can get a product or service that might interest you and your family.

You have four rights under HIPAA:

(1)    Access:

You can ask the lactation counselor or birth doula to see any PHI she has about you.

(2)    Amendment

You can ask the lactation counselor or birth doula to change her files to amend inaccurate PHI.

(3)    Disclosure Accounting

You can ask to whom the lactation counselor or birth doula has given your PHI.

(4)    Restriction Request

You can put limits on the lactation counselor or birth doula’s use and sharing of your PHI.

Our duty under HIPAA is to give you this notice so you understand we have promised to keep your PHI confidential. A current privacy notice will remain posted on our website.

If you think your privacy hasn’t been protected by the lactation counselor or doula , please contact Melissa Kistler, CLC, at (304) 839-3318 or melissa@miraclemomentsdoula.com and they will discuss your concerns and do their best to rectify the situation. If they don’t address your complaint adequately, you can contact the Office of Civil Rights of the Federal Health and Human Services (HHS) Department to ask that a formal investigation be made. You can get all the details from them by calling (toll free) at 800-368-1019 or see their website at hhs.gov/ocr/privacyhowtofile.htm.