Privacy Policy & Notice of Privacy Practices

This policy applies to Prime Psychiatry & Wellness Clinic and members of our workforce. It applies to information collected through:

• Our website
• Appointment-request forms
• Contact and referral forms
• Patient communications
• SMS and MMS messaging
• Email communications
• Our patient portal
• Healthcare treatment and services
• Billing and insurance activities
• Related administrative and support services

Protected health information (“PHI”) is information that identifies you and relates to your past, present, or future physical or mental health, healthcare treatment, or payment for healthcare services. Prime Psychiatry is required by law to maintain the privacy and security of PHI, provide notice of its legal duties and privacy practices, follow the terms of the notice currently in effect, and notify affected individuals following certain breaches of unsecured PHI.

2.1 Information You Provide

When you request an appointment, submit a form, contact us, or receive healthcare services, we may collect:

• Full name
• Email address
• Telephone number
• Date of birth
• Mailing address
• Preferred office location
• Appointment and scheduling information
• Insurance and billing information
• Information concerning the services you are requesting
• Information you voluntarily provide through forms, messages, or other communications

Please avoid submitting unnecessary medical or sensitive information through general website contact forms.

2.2 Health and Patient Information

When you request or receive healthcare services, we may collect:

• Medical and mental-health history
• Diagnoses and treatment information
• Medication information
• Provider notes
• Appointment records
• Insurance and payment information
• Test results
• Treatment plans
• Other information used to provide, coordinate, or pay for your care

This information may qualify as PHI and will be handled according to HIPAA, applicable state laws, and this Notice of Privacy Practices.

2.3 SMS and Communication Information

If you provide your telephone number and opt in to text messages, we may collect and maintain:

• Your mobile telephone number
• SMS consent and opt-in records
• Consent dates, times, and sources
• Incoming and outgoing messages
• Message delivery status
• Message dates and timestamps
• Opt-out requests
• Customer-support communications

2.4 Automatically Collected Information

When you use our website or online services, we may automatically collect:

• IP address
• Browser type and version
• Device type and identifiers
• Operating system
• Pages visited
• Time spent on the website
• Referring website or source
• General location information
• Website analytics, diagnostic, and performance information

2.5 Cookies and Similar Technologies

We may use cookies, analytics tools, pixels, and similar technologies to operate our website, remember preferences, support security, measure performance, and improve the user experience. You may limit cookies through your browser settings. Some website features may not function properly if cookies are disabled.

We may use collected information to:

• Respond to appointment requests and inquiries
• Schedule, confirm, reschedule, or cancel appointments
• Provide healthcare services
• Coordinate patient care
• Communicate through the patient portal
• Process billing, insurance, and payment activities
• Provide account and administrative notifications
• Respond to patient or customer-support requests
• Send authorized non-marketing text messages
• Send marketing messages when separately authorized
• Provide information about services, treatment options, educational resources, events, and practice announcements
• Maintain and improve our website and services
• Protect the security of our systems
• Detect fraud, misuse, or unauthorized activity
• Maintain required healthcare and business records
• Comply with legal, regulatory, and professional obligations
• Protect our rights and the health and safety of others

We may use or disclose PHI without written authorization for purposes permitted or required by law.

4.1 Treatment — We may use and disclose PHI to provide, coordinate, or manage your healthcare and related services. For example, we may disclose relevant information to physicians, therapists, pharmacies, laboratories, or other healthcare professionals involved in your treatment.

4.2 Payment — We may use and disclose PHI to bill and collect payment for healthcare services. This may include confirming insurance eligibility, obtaining prior authorization, submitting claims, determining coverage, reviewing medical necessity, conducting utilization reviews, and responding to payer requests.

4.3 Healthcare Operations — We may use and disclose PHI to support healthcare operations, including quality assessment and improvement, provider and employee evaluations, staff education and training, licensing and accreditation, credentialing, compliance and auditing, electronic health-information system management, and other administrative and business activities.

4.4 Business Associates — We may disclose PHI to business associates that provide services on our behalf, including electronic health-record providers, billing companies, transcription services, data-storage providers, communications platforms, and technology vendors. Business associates are required to appropriately safeguard PHI.

4.5 Family Members, Caregivers, and Personal Representatives — We may disclose information relevant to your care or payment to a family member, personal representative, close friend, or caregiver involved in your care when you authorize the disclosure or when permitted by law. If you cannot agree or object because of incapacity or an emergency, we may use professional judgment to determine whether a limited disclosure is in your best interest.

4.6 Public Health and Safety — We may disclose PHI for legally authorized public-health and safety activities, including preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability; reporting certain communicable diseases; reporting abuse, neglect, or domestic violence; reporting adverse events or product defects; and preventing or reducing a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.

4.7 Health Oversight — We may disclose PHI to health-oversight agencies for legally authorized audits, investigations, inspections, licensing actions, and regulatory activities.

4.8 Legal Proceedings and Law Enforcement — We may disclose PHI in response to court or administrative orders, subpoenas or discovery requests, other lawful legal processes, legally authorized law-enforcement requests, and investigations involving suspected criminal activity. Any such disclosure will be made according to applicable legal requirements.

4.9 Coroners, Funeral Directors, and Organ Donation — We may disclose PHI to coroners, medical examiners, funeral directors, and organizations involved in organ, eye, or tissue donation when permitted by law.

4.10 Research — We may disclose PHI for research when the research has received appropriate approval and privacy protections have been established, or when otherwise permitted by law.

4.11 Military, Veterans, and National Security Activities — We may disclose PHI for legally authorized military, veterans’ benefits, national-security, intelligence, or protective-service activities.

4.12 Workers’ Compensation — We may disclose PHI as necessary to comply with workers’ compensation laws and similar legally established programs.

4.13 Correctional Institutions — If you are an inmate or in law-enforcement custody, we may disclose PHI to a correctional institution or authorized official when permitted by law.

4.14 Emergencies — We may use or disclose PHI during an emergency-treatment situation. When required, we will attempt to obtain acknowledgment of this notice as soon as reasonably practical following emergency treatment.

4.15 Required by Law — We may use or disclose PHI when required or permitted by applicable law, including disclosures required by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate HIPAA compliance.

Uses or disclosures of PHI for purposes not described in this notice generally require written authorization. Examples may include disclosures to a life-insurance company, disclosures to an attorney not otherwise permitted by law, certain uses of PHI for marketing, certain transfers of PHI involving remuneration, and other purposes requiring authorization under applicable law. You may revoke an authorization in writing, except to the extent that we have already acted in reliance on it or applicable law otherwise limits revocation.

Prime Psychiatry & Wellness Clinic is a Texas-based psychiatric practice. By voluntarily providing your mobile telephone number and selecting an applicable consent checkbox, you consent to receive the selected categories of SMS or MMS messages from Prime Psychiatry & Wellness Clinic.

Providing a telephone number and consenting to SMS communications are separate actions. Consent to receive SMS messages is optional and is not required to submit a form, request an appointment, receive healthcare services, or make a purchase. SMS consent checkboxes are not selected automatically. You must affirmatively select each category of messages you want to receive.

6.1 Non-Marketing Messages — If you opt in to non-marketing messages, you may receive appointment confirmations and reminders, scheduling and rescheduling updates, patient portal notifications, billing or account notifications, care-coordination communications, responses to patient or customer-support requests, and other administrative or service-related messages.

6.2 Marketing and Promotional Messages — If you separately opt in to marketing and promotional messages, you may receive information about available services, treatment-option information, educational resources, practice events, special announcements, and other marketing or promotional communications. Consent to receive marketing text messages is not a condition of purchasing or receiving healthcare services.

6.3 Message Frequency and Charges — Message frequency varies depending on your appointments, requested services, account activity, and communication preferences. Message and data rates may apply to messages sent to you from us and to messages you send to us. If you have questions about your text or data plan, contact your wireless provider.

6.4 Opting Out — You may cancel the SMS service at any time by replying STOP. After you send “STOP,” we will send you a confirmation message stating that you have been unsubscribed. After that confirmation, you will no longer receive messages from the applicable SMS program. If you wish to receive messages again, you must opt in again through the same process used for your original enrollment. Opting out of text messages does not prevent us from contacting you through other authorized methods for treatment, payment, healthcare operations, safety, legal compliance, or other purposes permitted by law.

6.5 Help and Support — Reply HELP for messaging assistance or contact Prime Psychiatry at (469) 251-7695.

6.6 Carrier Disclaimer — Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. Information sharing to subcontractors in support services, such as customer service, is permitted. All other use case categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

8.1 Service Providers — We may disclose information to vendors and service providers that help us operate our services, including electronic health-record and patient-portal providers, appointment-scheduling services, SMS and email communication providers, customer relationship management platforms, website hosting and technical-support providers, payment and billing providers, analytics and security providers, and professional advisers and compliance vendors. These providers may access information only as necessary to perform services on our behalf and must protect the information appropriately.

8.2 Legal Compliance and Safety — We may disclose information when required or permitted by applicable law, legal process, regulatory requirement, or government request, or when reasonably necessary to protect the health, safety, rights, or property of our patients, workforce, organization, or the public.

8.3 Business Transactions — Information may be transferred as part of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, financing, sale of assets, or similar business transaction, subject to applicable healthcare and privacy requirements.

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to:

• Obtain a paper copy of this notice
• Inspect or obtain a copy of your health record
• Request an amendment to your health record
• Request restrictions on certain uses or disclosures
• Request confidential communications through alternative methods or at alternative locations
• Obtain an accounting of certain disclosures
• Be notified following certain breaches of unsecured PHI
• File a privacy complaint without retaliation

We are not required to agree to every requested restriction. However, we generally must agree to restrict disclosure to a health plan when the disclosure concerns an item or service you paid for completely out of pocket and the disclosure is not otherwise required by law. Requests to exercise these rights should be submitted to our Privacy Office using the contact information below.

Depending on applicable law and the information involved, you may:

• Request access to certain personal information
• Request correction of inaccurate information
• Request deletion of certain non-medical information, subject to applicable retention requirements
• Update your contact information
• Change communication preferences
• Opt out of marketing email using the unsubscribe link
• Opt out of SMS by replying STOP

We may need to verify your identity before processing a privacy request.

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to:

• Provide healthcare and related services
• Maintain patient and business records
• Comply with healthcare, billing, tax, and legal requirements
• Resolve disputes
• Enforce agreements
• Protect our patients, workforce, and organization

Retention periods vary depending on the type of information and applicable legal requirements.

We maintain reasonable administrative, physical, and technical safeguards designed to protect information against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. No electronic system or transmission method is completely secure. Standard SMS and email communications may not be encrypted. Do not send unnecessary sensitive medical information through text messages, general website forms, or ordinary email.

Our website may contain links to external patient portals, payment platforms, social-media websites, or other third-party services. We are not responsible for the privacy or security practices of third parties. Information submitted directly to another service is governed by that service’s privacy policy.

Our website is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13 without legally valid authorization. Prime Psychiatry provides clinical services to adolescents (ages 11 and up) and adults.

We may revise this Privacy Policy and Notice of Privacy Practices as permitted by law. Revised Notice of Privacy Practices terms may apply to PHI already maintained by Prime Psychiatry, including information created or received before the revised notice became effective. Updated policies will be posted on our website with a revised effective date. Current paper copies may be requested from our Privacy Office or at one of our practice locations.

All locations use the following contact information:

For questions concerning this policy, your privacy rights, or a possible privacy violation, contact:

You may also file a complaint with:

Prime Psychiatry & Wellness Clinic will not retaliate against you for submitting a privacy complaint.