Texas Consumer Rights Information - Stuart J. Nathan, Ph.D. and Associates

TEXAS CONSUMER RIGHTS

Consumer Rights and Regulatory Information

Information for patients and consumers receiving behavioral health services in Texas

The psychologists and other behavioral health professionals who provide services through this practice in Texas are individually licensed and regulated by the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council. This page explains how to request health care records, contact the applicable licensing authority, and file professional-conduct, privacy, or other consumer complaints.

Requesting Your Health Care Records

You or your legally authorized representative may submit a written request to inspect or obtain a copy of your health care records. A request for your own records is an access request. If you ask us to send records to another person or organization, we may also require a valid authorization for that disclosure.

How to submit a request

Email: Records@striverehabilitation.com

Mail: Records Custodian / Compliance Department, Strive Rehabilitation Partners, 2450 Fondren Road, Suite 312, Houston, Texas 77063

Use the subject line “Medical Records Request.” Please do not send a Social Security number, financial-account information, or detailed clinical information by ordinary email. We may contact you through a secure method to verify your identity, obtain your signature, or request documentation showing your authority to act for the patient.

Information to include

Patient identification: Full legal name, date of birth, current address, telephone number, and email address.

Authority to request: State whether you are the patient or are acting for the patient. A representative should identify the relationship and provide documentation of legal authority when requested.

Records requested: Identify the clinician, service dates or date range, facility or service location, and the particular records or information requested.

Delivery preference: State whether you want electronic or paper records and where the records should be delivered.

Authentication: Sign and date the request. An electronic signature may be accepted when legally sufficient.

What happens after we receive the request

No later than 15 days after a Texas psychologist receives a written request to examine or copy all or part of a patient’s mental health records, the psychologist will make the available information accessible for examination and provide a copy if requested; inform the requester in writing that the information does not exist or cannot be found; or provide a written explanation when information may lawfully be withheld.

We may charge a reasonable fee for review, copying, delivery, or preparation of an authorized summary, as permitted by law. Access will not be withheld because of an unpaid balance for prior psychological services. We will notify you of any anticipated fee before completing the request.

Important limits on the records-access right

Test materials themselves, including test booklets, forms, manuals, instruments, protocols, software, test questions, and testing stimuli, are not part of the patient record and will not be copied or distributed except when permitted or required by law. Any test data subject to the records-access right will be provided in a form selected by the practice that protects copyrighted, proprietary, and test-security-sensitive materials.

Access to separately maintained psychotherapy notes is not required. Other information may be withheld when permitted by law, including when the psychologist determines that access is reasonably likely to endanger the life or physical safety of the patient or another person. Any such denial will be provided in a signed and dated written statement identifying the portion withheld, the reason for denial, and the duration of the denial.

Records created for forensic or court-ordered services may be controlled by the retaining party or the court, and access may be governed by the applicable engagement terms, law, or court order. In those matters, an evaluee’s own request may not be sufficient to authorize release.

Questions or assistance: Contact Records@striverehabilitation.com

Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council

The Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council is the licensing and disciplinary authority for Texas psychologists, psychological associates, licensed specialists in school psychology, professional counselors, marriage and family therapists, and social workers.

Mailing address: Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council, 1801 Congress Avenue, Suite 7.300, Austin, Texas 78701

Main telephone: (512) 305-7700

Complaints information: 1-800-821-3205

Online: Contact the Council

License verification: Verify a license through BHEC

NOTICE TO CLIENTS

The Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council investigates and prosecutes professional misconduct committed by marriage and family therapists, professional counselors, psychologists, psychological associates, social workers, and licensed specialists in school psychology.

Although not every complaint against or dispute with a licensee involves professional misconduct, the Executive Council will provide you with information about how to file a complaint.

Please call 1-800-821-3205 for more information.

Filing a Complaint

Professional conduct or licensing complaints

Complaints concerning a Texas behavioral health professional’s conduct, competence, licensing, psychological services, billing practices regulated by BHEC, or compliance with BHEC rules should be filed with the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council.

Step 1 – Review the process: BHEC complaint and enforcement information

Step 2 – Complete the required form: Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council Complaint Form

Step 3 – Submit by email: Enforcement@bhec.texas.gov

Or submit by mail: Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council, Attn: Enforcement Division, 1801 Congress Avenue, Suite 7.300, Austin, Texas 78701.

The complaint should identify the professional, explain the alleged violation with relevant dates and locations, identify witnesses when applicable, and include copies of supporting documents. Keep original documents for your records.

Texas privacy or other consumer complaints

For a complaint that personal or protected health information was unlawfully collected, shared, disclosed, or otherwise mishandled, or for another consumer-protection concern, review the Texas Attorney General’s complaint instructions and select the complaint form that best fits the issue. For a health-information privacy concern, select the Privacy complaint form.

Instructions and online filing: File a Consumer Complaint with the Texas Attorney General

Prepare the practice or clinician’s name and address, a clear description of the issue and relevant dates, the steps already taken to resolve it, and copies of supporting documents. The Attorney General advises that consumer complaints are public; do not include Social Security numbers, government identification numbers, financial-account information, or unnecessary medical details.

Federal health-information privacy complaints

A person who believes that HIPAA privacy, security, or breach-notification rights were violated may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights.

Federal complaint information: How to File a Health Information Privacy or Security Complaint

Optional complaint directly to the practice

You may also send a concern or complaint directly to the practice’s Compliance Department. Contacting the practice first is optional and is not required before contacting BHEC, the Texas Attorney General, HHS, or another government agency. The practice will not retaliate against anyone for making a good-faith complaint or exercising a legal right.

Compliance Department: Compliance@striverehabilitation.com

Notice Regarding Electronic Disclosure of Protected Health Information

The practice creates, receives, maintains, and transmits protected health information electronically. Your protected health information is therefore subject to electronic disclosure. The practice may electronically disclose protected health information for treatment, payment, health care operations, or when otherwise authorized or required by state or federal law. A separate authorization will be obtained when applicable law requires one.

Questions about electronic disclosure: Contact Compliance@striverehabilitation.com