Within the last few years there have been major changes in how health care facilities protect your confidentiality, for example, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rules. This federal law requires health care providers to define and improve the methods used to safeguard private medical information. Indeed, if you have visited your private physician or used a local hospital or clinic, you may already have received specific information as to how the HIPAA privacy rules are to be applied.
The HIPAA rules and regulations do not apply to Shasta College Health & Wellness Services. Rather, other federal and state laws apply, particularly the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) that covers all educational records of the College / students.
Please be assured, however, that your privacy is our foremost concern. Unless specifically required by law or court order, private medical information is not released without the consent of the patient to whom the records pertain. Moreover, further efforts are being made to restrict access to your private medical information, whether in paper or electronic form, only to those who need such information to provide the most effective medical and psychological care to you. Counseling interns in our office may discuss cases with their supervisor, our LCSW psychological counselor, as part of their own learning process. In such instances, our LCSW psychological counselor is bound by the same rules of confidentiality that apply to the counseling intern.
Should you have further questions, please contact us at (530) 242-7580.