Effective Date: October 1, 2026
Legal Practice: CTA Behavioral Health & Family Counseling, Inc.
DBA: CTA Behavioral Health
Privacy Officer: Candice Fuimaono, LMFT
Practice Address: 6296 Magnolia Ave #1156, Riverside, CA 92506
Telephone: (951) 897-6123
Privacy Email / Secure Contact: info@ctabehavioralhealth.com
Client Portal: Sessions Health Client Portal

Your Information. Your Rights. Our Responsibilities.

This Notice describes how health information about you may be used and disclosed, how you may obtain access to that information, and the responsibilities CTA Behavioral Health has for protecting it.

Please review this Notice carefully.

1. Your Rights

You have rights concerning your health information. These may include the right to inspect or obtain a copy of your health record; request correction or amendment; request confidential communications; ask CTA to limit certain uses/disclosures; request an accounting of certain disclosures; obtain a paper/electronic copy of this Notice; designate an authorized personal representative; request certain restrictions when you pay entirely out of pocket; file a privacy complaint; and exercise these rights without retaliation.

2. Obtain a Copy of Your Health Record

You may ask to inspect or obtain an electronic or paper copy of health information CTA maintains about you that is subject to your right of access.

CTA will verify identity and authority before providing records.

CTA will follow the shorter applicable deadline when California law gives greater access rights. CTA’s internal policy generally provides for inspection within the applicable California timeframe and copies within the applicable California timeframe, ordinarily no later than 15 days for qualifying requests.

CTA may charge only a lawful and reasonable cost-based fee when permitted and will not withhold records merely because money is owed.

3. Request Correction or Amendment

You may ask CTA to correct health information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete.

CTA may deny a request in circumstances permitted by law but will explain a denial and applicable rights.

CTA preserves the original record and uses an amendment/correction/addendum process rather than silently deleting or rewriting a signed clinical entry.

4. Request Confidential Communications

You may ask CTA to communicate at a particular phone number, email address, mailing address, through the secure portal, without detailed voicemail, or through another reasonable method.

CTA will honor reasonable requests as required by law.

5. Ask CTA to Limit What We Use or Share

You may ask CTA not to use or disclose certain information for treatment, payment, or health-care operations. CTA is not always required to agree.

If CTA agrees to a restriction, it will follow it except when disclosure is permitted despite the restriction, such as for emergency treatment.

Fully Self-Paid Services

If you pay for a health-care service completely out of pocket, you may request that CTA not disclose information about that service to your health plan for payment or health-care operations. CTA will honor a qualifying request unless disclosure is required by law.

6. Request an Accounting of Certain Disclosures

You may ask for a list of certain disclosures. The accounting generally covers the six years preceding the request, subject to HIPAA exclusions.

Ordinary disclosures for treatment, payment, and health-care operations generally are not included in the standard accounting.

CTA will ordinarily provide one qualifying accounting within a 12-month period without charge; a reasonable cost-based fee may apply to additional requests when permitted.

7. Obtain a Copy of This Notice

You may request a paper copy at any time, even if you previously agreed to receive it electronically.

CTA will also maintain the current Notice through its client portal and therapy website.

8. Choose Someone to Act for You

If another person has valid legal authority to act for you, that person may exercise applicable privacy rights on your behalf.

CTA will verify authority before allowing access or action. Family relationship alone does not automatically establish authority to obtain the psychotherapy record.

9. File a Privacy Complaint

If you believe CTA violated your privacy rights, you may complain directly to CTA.

CTA Privacy Officer: Candice Fuimaono, LMFT
Phone: (951) 897-6123
Email: info@ctabehavioralhealth.com

You may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights.

CTA will not retaliate against you for filing a privacy complaint or exercising a privacy right.

10. Family, Friends, and Others Involved in Your Care

You may tell CTA whether information may be shared with a spouse/partner, family member, close friend, caregiver, emergency contact, person involved in care, or person helping pay for care.

When you are present and able to make decisions, CTA will ordinarily follow your stated preference within legal limits.

If you cannot communicate your preference, CTA may make a disclosure permitted by law when the clinician determines it is in your best interest or necessary to address a serious safety concern.

Listing someone as an emergency contact does not automatically give that person access to the entire clinical record.

11. Marketing

CTA Behavioral Health does not use psychotherapy information for third-party marketing without legally required authorization.

CTA will not share clinical information with the education LLC for course marketing merely because both companies have common ownership.

Clinical information will not be used to build advertising audiences, retarget clients with education products, market exam-preparation programs, sell courses, create social-media advertising profiles, or promote unrelated services.

12. Sale of Health Information

CTA does not sell protected health information.

13. Fundraising

CTA Behavioral Health does not currently use client health information for fundraising.

If that practice changes, CTA will comply with applicable notice, authorization, and opt-out requirements before using health information for that purpose.

14. Psychotherapy Notes

HIPAA gives separately maintained psychotherapy notes additional protection.

CTA’s initial policy is not to routinely maintain a separate set of HIPAA-defined psychotherapy notes.

If separately maintained psychotherapy notes are created, most uses/disclosures will require written authorization unless a specific legal exception applies.

Ordinary progress notes, assessments, treatment plans, diagnosis, medication information, risk documentation, and billing records are not automatically HIPAA-defined psychotherapy notes.

How CTA May Use and Share Health Information

15. Treatment

CTA may use health information to provide and coordinate treatment, including assessment, treatment planning, psychotherapy, risk evaluation, coordination with another treating professional, referrals, associate supervision, continuity after hospitalization, and determining whether another level of care is appropriate.

Routine coordination may be permitted without a separate authorization under HIPAA, but CTA generally prefers a written release for ongoing routine coordination when reasonably practicable and when another law does not require a different process.

16. Payment

CTA may use/disclose health information as permitted to verify eligibility, obtain authorization, submit claims, respond to payer questions, establish medical necessity, correct claims, appeal denials, receive payment, post remittances, and coordinate benefits.

CTA will not interpret payment authority as unlimited permission to send an insurer every clinical record it requests without review.

17. Health-Care Operations

CTA may use/disclose health information for lawful operations including clinical quality review, supervision, staff training, credentialing, compliance, billing review, audits, complaint investigation, risk management, privacy/security activities, business planning related to health-care operations, and other permitted operational functions.

Access is role-based and limited to authorized personnel.

Other Uses and Disclosures

18. Public Health and Safety

CTA may use/disclose health information when permitted or required for public-health or safety purposes, including suspected child abuse/neglect, elder/dependent-adult abuse, preventing/reducing a serious threat, certain public-health reporting, and other legally authorized purposes.

19. Mandated Reporting

CTA clinicians are mandated reporters in circumstances defined by California law. Information may be disclosed without authorization when a legally required reporting duty applies.

CTA will disclose information appropriate to the report and related safety response rather than unnecessarily disclosing unrelated psychotherapy information.

20. Serious Threats and Emergencies

Information may be disclosed when permitted or required to prevent/lessen a serious threat; obtain emergency psychiatric/medical intervention; contact emergency services; facilitate a welfare check; protect an identifiable person when applicable law requires/permits action; or respond to another qualifying emergency.

CTA will disclose only information reasonably appropriate to the circumstances.

21. Health Oversight

CTA may disclose information to health-oversight agencies for legally authorized licensing investigations, audits, inspections, regulatory compliance, professional discipline, or other oversight.

22. Law Enforcement and Government Requests

CTA may disclose information to law enforcement/government authority when required by law, required by a valid warrant/court order, permitted for qualifying emergency/safety purposes, required by mandated-reporting law, necessary for another recognized purpose, or otherwise permitted.

A telephone request alone does not automatically result in unrestricted disclosure; CTA verifies the legal basis when circumstances permit.

23. Lawsuits and Legal Proceedings

Health information may sometimes be disclosed in response to court orders, administrative orders, subpoenas, depositions, discovery requests, or other legal proceedings.

Psychotherapy records may also be protected by California psychotherapist-patient privilege and other confidentiality laws.

CTA reviews legal requests rather than treating every subpoena as automatic authorization for immediate disclosure.

24. Workers’ Compensation

CTA may disclose health information as authorized or required for workers’ compensation or similar programs.

25. Medical Examiners, Coroners, and Funeral Directors

When permitted by law, CTA may disclose relevant information to a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director for authorized duties involving a deceased person.

26. Research

CTA does not currently operate a clinical research program using client records.

Clinical information will not automatically become research data because CTA also operates an education company.

If CTA later participates in research, applicable HIPAA, California, ethical-review, authorization/waiver, and privacy requirements must be satisfied before protected information is used.

Mental Health and California Privacy Protections

27. California Mental-Health Information

California law may provide additional confidentiality and privilege protection beyond HIPAA. Where California law is more protective, CTA will apply the applicable more protective requirement.

Examples may include psychotherapist-patient privilege, additional medical-information authorization requirements, multi-client privacy interests in relational records, California-specific access timelines, and specific written-authorization rules.

CTA will not rely on HIPAA alone when California law provides additional protection.

Substance-Use-Disorder Records

28. 42 C.F.R. Part 2

CTA is not automatically a federally assisted Part 2 program merely because a client discusses alcohol or substance use in psychotherapy.

However, CTA may receive or maintain records protected by 42 C.F.R. Part 2. When Part 2 applies, CTA will provide the additional protections required by federal law.

29. Legal Proceedings Involving Part 2 Records