Notice of Privacy Practices
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
At Over the Horizon Counseling and Consulting PLLC (referred to herein as “Over the Horizon”, “we”, or “our”), we take the privacy of your health information seriously. This Notice of Privacy Practices (Notice) describes the health information we collect and explains how we use and disclose protected health information (PHI) of current and former Over the Horizon clients. For example, we may get information related to medical or mental health treatment, test results, insurance information, and demographic data. We may also collect information about your race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
By law, we must maintain the privacy of your PHI. We must also provide you with a description of our legal duties and privacy practices. We must abide by the terms of this Notice and notify you if your PHI is subject to a breach. In some cases, once PHI is disclosed as permitted by this Notice, HIPAA may no longer provide protection of that information from further disclosure.
The effective date of this Notice is January 21, 2026.
Why do we use or share your PHI?
We use and share your PHI to carry out treatment, payment, and health care operations. We also use and share your PHI for other reasons as allowed and required by law.
Treatment
Your PHI may be used and disclosed by those who are involved in your care for the purpose of providing, coordinating, or managing your mental health treatment and related services. This treatment includes referrals as well as coordination and collaboration between your therapist, doctors, other healthcare providers, and/or other individuals who may be involved in your treatment. Information about clients may also be disclosed in consultations with other professionals in order to provide the best possible care.
Payment
We may use or share PHI to receive or provide payment for the treatment, other services, and/or supplies provided to you. Examples of payment related activities may include making a determination of eligibility or coverage for insurance benefits, processing claims with your insurance company, reviewing services provided to you to determine medical necessity, or undertaking utilization review activities. If it becomes necessary to use collection processes, attorneys, or the courts due to lack of payment for services, we will disclose the minimum amount of PHI necessary for purposes of collection. Your name, your condition(s), your treatment, and supplies given may be included.
Health Care Operations
We may use or share PHI about you in order to support our business activities. Health care operations involve many daily business needs. It includes but is not limited to, the following:
• Improving quality;
• Employee review activities;
• Licensing, accreditation, certification, and credentialing;
• Training students and other practitioners as part of their educational activities;
• Letting you know about health programs that can help you;
• Conducting or arranging for medical review;
• Legal services, including fraud and abuse detection and prosecution programs;
• Actions to help us obey laws;
• Addressing client needs, including resolving complaints and grievances;
• Ensuring claims are paid correctly;
• Reminders of recommended services, treatments, and/or scheduled appointments; and
• Conducting or arranging other business activities including business planning, audits, computer systems maintenance, legal services, and customer services (for example we may share your PHI with third parties that the business requires, such as billing or typing services), provided we have a written contract with the business that requires it to safeguard the privacy of your PHI.
When can we use or share your PHI without getting written authorization (approval) from you?
In addition to treatment, payment, and health care operations, the law allows or requires Over the Horizon to use and share your PHI for several other purposes including the following:
As Required By law
We will use or share information about you as required by law. For example, Over the Horizon is required to report certain things, such as:
• Reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of children, elderly adults, or adults with disabilities
• Reporting domestic violence or certain physical injuries
• Making disclosures to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services for the purpose of investigating or determining our compliance with the requirements of the Privacy Rule
• Reporting information about work-related injuries to the state workers’ compensation authorities
• Responding to a court order, subpoena, warrant, or lawsuit requests
Other Purposes
Your PHI may also be disclosed without your authorization as follows:
Public Health Activities
Your PHI may be used or shared for public health activities. This may include helping public health agencies to prevent or control disease.
Health Care Oversight
Your PHI may be used or shared with government agencies. They may need your PHI for activities such as monitoring, investigating, inspecting, disciplining, or licensing those who work in the health-care system, or for governmental benefit programs.
Research
Your PHI may be used or shared for research in certain cases, such as when approved by a privacy or institutional review board.
Legal or Administrative Proceedings
We may disclose PHI in the course of a legal proceeding, such as to comply with a court order.
Health, Safety, and Government Functions
Your PHI may be shared with the government for special functions or to prevent a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public such as:
• To help law enforcement find a missing person or a suspect in a crime
• To stop a serious threat to a person’s health or safety
• To protect the president
Other Disclosures
Your PHI may be shared in certain situations related to death such as with funeral directors or coroners to help them do their jobs.
Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Information
Although we are not a substance use disorder treatment program under federal law (a “SUD Program”), we may receive information from a SUD Program about you. We may not disclose SUD information for use in a civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative proceeding against you unless we have (i) your written consent, or (ii) a court order accompanied by a subpoena or other legal requirement compelling disclosure issued after we and you were given notice and an opportunity to be heard.
Additional Restrictions on Use and Disclosure
Some federal and state laws may require special privacy protections that restrict the use and disclosure of certain types of health information. Such laws may protect the following types of information: alcohol and substance use disorders, biometric information, child or adult abuse or neglect including sexual assault, communicable diseases, genetic information, HIV/AIDS, mental health, minors' information, prescriptions, reproductive health, and sexually transmitted diseases. We will follow the more stringent law, where it applies to us.
When do we need your written authorization (approval) to use or share your PHI?
We need your written approval to use or share your PHI for a purpose other than those listed in this Notice. You are permitted, however, to revoke a written authorization you’ve given to us. Your revocation will not apply to actions already taken by us because of the approval you already gave to us.
We need your authorization before we disclose your PHI for the following:
Psychotherapy Notes
We will not use or disclose psychotherapy notes about you without your authorization except to support mental health and other treatment to you or if necessary to defend Over the Horizon in a legal proceeding brought by you.
Marketing
We will obtain your written authorization to use your PHI for marketing activities. For example, we will not accept any payments from other organizations or individuals in exchange for making communications to you about treatments, therapies, health care providers, products, or services unless you have given us your authorization, or it is permitted by law.
Sale of Protected Health Information
We will not sell your PHI without your written authorization.
Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Records
In some cases, information about substance use disorder treatment cannot be used or shared without your permission. Over the Horizon must ask for your written permission to allow us to use or disclose some SUD records for certain treatment purposes, payment purposes, or for operating our business. This information may not be used or disclosed in legal proceedings against you unless you’ve given permission or a court order requires it.
What are your health information rights?
You have the following rights regarding the health information that we maintain about you. To exercise any of these rights, please submit your request, in writing, to Over the Horizon Counseling at Privacy@OverTheHorizonCounseling.com.
You have the right to:
Access Your Information
You have the right, which may be restricted only in exceptional circumstances, to review and get a copy of your PHI held by us that may be used to make decisions about your care. Some of the exceptions include psychotherapy notes, information gathered for court proceedings, and any information for which there is compelling evidence that access would cause serious harm to yourself or others. You will need to make your request in writing and we may charge a reasonable cost-based fee for copies.
Request that we Amend Your Information
If you find incorrect or missing information in your health records, you may submit a written request for Over the Horizon to fix it. You can ask Over the Horizon to update your medical records or to add information that is missing. We will look at your request and make changes if needed. If your request for amendment is denied, you may file a letter disagreeing with us to be included in your medical record.
Receive an Accounting of Disclosures
You may ask that we give you a list of certain parties that we shared your PHI with during the six years prior to the date of your request. The list will tell you who received your information and when. The list will not include PHI shared as follows:
• for treatment, payment, or health care operations;
• to persons about their own PHI;
• sharing done with your authorization or at your request;
• incident to a use or disclosure otherwise permitted or required under applicable law;
• PHI released in the interest of national security or for intelligence purposes; or
• as part of a limited data set in accordance with applicable law.
We will give you one list per 12-month period at no charge. We may require a reasonable fee if you request a list more than once in a 12-month period.
Request Restrictions on How We Use or Disclose Information About You
You may submit a written request for us not to share your PHI to carry out treatment, payment, or health care operations. You may also ask us not to share your PHI with family, friends or other persons you name who are involved in your health care.
We do not have to agree to all requests. If we do agree to your request, we may still be able to use your PHI to provide emergency treatment or to allow a physician or other health care worker to provide medical care to you. If you pay Over the Horizon yourself for the mental health treatment we provide, you may ask us not to tell your health insurance plan about it. Over the Horizon must agree if you have already paid in full.
Request Confidential Communications
You may ask that Over the Horizon communicate with you about healthcare matters in a certain way or at a certain place to help keep your PHI private. For example, you can ask Over the Horizon not to call your home phone or to only send information by mail. You can also ask Over the Horizon to use a different address when communicating with you. We will do this whenever reasonably possible.
A Copy of this Notice
You can request a copy of this Notice at any time. You can request a paper copy or find it on Over the Horizon’s website at www.OverTheHorizonCounseling.com.
This Notice is Subject to Change
We reserve the right to change the information, practices, and terms of this Notice at any time. This means we might change how we use or share your PHI. Additionally, we could change how you can access your information. If Over the Horizon makes any changes, we will create a new version of this Notice and publish it. The new terms and practices will then apply to all PHI we keep.
How to Share Your Concerns or Complaints
We want to hear from you if you have questions about your privacy or how Over the Horizon Counseling and Consulting PLLC uses PHI. We will not retaliate against you for making a complaint and we will not treat you differently for speaking up. We take your privacy concerns seriously.
For questions, concerns, or complaints, please contact the Over the Horizon Chief Privacy Officer by calling 682-788-9082 or emailing Privacy@OverTheHorizonCounseling.com.
You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by sending a letter to:
Centralized Case Management Operations
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Room 509F HHH Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20201
You can file a complaint with the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council in writing to:
Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council
Attn: Enforcement Division
1801 Congress Ave., Ste. 7.300
Austin, Texas 78701
Enforcement@bhec.texas.gov
We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.