Notice of Privacy Practices

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW YOUR MEDICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH INFORMATION MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

Colorado State University and the CSU Health Network are committed to protecting your health information. The CSU Health Network is required by law to maintain the privacy of your personal health information by the terms of the most current Notice of Privacy Practices (“Notice”), and to provide you with notice of its legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your protected health information (“PHI”). CSU Health Network reserves the right to update the terms of this Notice when necessary. CSU Health Network will  provide an updated Notice to you when needed, and request that you read and sign an acknowledgement of the updated Notice, no later than at the time of your next visit.

Except as described in this Notice, CSU Health Network will not use or disclose your health information without your written authorization.  You may ask CSU Health Network staff for a hard copy of this Notice at any time. An electronic copy of this Notice is also available on our website at http://health.colostate.edu

Confidentiality Practices and Uses

CSU Health Network may access, use, and share PHI under the following circumstances:

  1. Treatment. During the course of your care, PHI may be used and disclosed to health care providers as appropriate/necessary to ensure the quality and continuity of your care.  CSUHN is an integrated health care facility where medical and mental health providers work together to provide comprehensive and collaborative care.
  2. Payment. We may use and disclose your health information to obtain payment for the services provided to you by us or another provider. We may also disclose information to allow your insurance provider to obtain reimbursement for the provision of health care. This may include certain activities that your health insurance plan may undertake before it approves or pays for the health care services we recommend for you such as: making a determination of eligibility or coverage for insurance benefits, reviewing services provided to you for medical necessity, and undertaking utilization review activities.
  3. Operations. We may use or disclose, as needed, your PHI in order to support business activities of the CSU Health Network. These activities include, but are not limited to, quality assessment activities, employee review activities, training of medical/counseling students, licensing, and conducting or arranging for other business activities. We will share your PHI with third party business associates (BAs) that perform various activities (e.g., after hours care, billing, transcription) for our practice.. BAs are also required to adhere to all applicable privacy regulations.
  4. Information Provided Directly to You or Mailed to You. For example, your provider may give you a copy of your lab results or you may receive a bill sent to your address on file for any outstanding balances.

Disclosures Not Requiring Your Permission

  1. Health or Safety Emergency. We may disclose your health information to notify or assist in notifying a family member, your emergency contact, or another person responsible for your care about your location and/or general condition in the event of a health or safety emergency.
  2. Required by Law. As required by law, we may use and disclose your health information. We may disclose your PHI to a law enforcement official for purposes of identifying or locating a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person, and complying with a court order or subpoena, and other law enforcement purposes.
    1. Public Health. As required by law, we may disclose your health information to public health authorities for purposes related to preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability, reporting child abuse or neglect, reporting domestic violence, reporting to the FDA problems with products and reactions to medications, and reporting disease or infection exposure.
    2. Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose your health information to health agencies during the course of audits, investigations, inspections, licensure, and other proceedings.
    3. Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. We may disclose your health information in the course of any administrative or judicial proceeding.
    4. Deceased Person Information. We may disclose your health information to coroners, medical examiners, or funeral directors.
    5. Organ Donation. In the event organ donation may become applicable, we may disclose your information to organizations involved in procuring, banking, or transplanting organs and tissues.
    6. Public Safety. We may disclose your health information to appropriate persons in order to prevent, lessen, or coordinate a response to a serious and imminent threat to the health/safety of a particular person, the campus community, or the general public.
    7. Specialized Government Functions. We may disclose your health information for military; national security, intelligence, and/or protective services for the President; or prisoner and government benefits, as required by law.
    8. Worker’s Compensation. We may disclose your health information as necessary to comply with worker’s compensation laws.
    9. Legal Review. In some instances, your health information may be released pursuant to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) under consultation from the Health Network’s legal counsel to facilitate campus operations of the Health Network.
  3. Research. We may disclose your health information to researchers conducting approved research.

Disclosures Requiring Your Permission

  1. We may contact you to provide information about other treatments or health-related benefits and services that might be of interest to you.
  2. We may contact you to participate in fundraising activities associated with the CSU Health Network.
  3. The sale of PHI. Note that CSUHN does not typically engage in the sale of PHI.
  4. The release of Psychotherapy notes.

Your Rights to Privacy

CSU Health Network has procedures to assist you with your rights to your medical and mental health information.   Where authorizations are required, please note that you may provide authorizations and revoke your authorizations, in writing, at any time.

You have the right to:

  1. Request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of your health information, including marketing and research activities. CSU Health Network will review your requests on these matters and respond timely to you.
  2. Request to Inspect (at no charge) and receive a copy of your medical information. If copies are requested, you may be charged for copies made and any associated postage fees.
  3. Request to amend, Change or add information to your designated records; however, CSU Health Network may not change the “original” documents.
  4. Request an accounting of disclosures of your health information made by the CSU Health Network separate and apart from disclosures made for treatment, payment, healthcare operations, information provided to the patient, specialized government functions, and disclosures authorized by the patient, as stated on the first page of this document.
  5. Request to restrict disclosure of your PHI to your health plan if the fees required for services are paid in full at the time of service.

Complaints

You may make requests and file complaints in writing with CSUHN at any time.  If you would like more information, have a complaint, or feel that your privacy rights have been violated, contact:

QA Compliance & Risk Officer
Colorado State University
Health Network
8031 Campus Delivery
Fort Collins, CO 80523-8031
Email: csuhn_compliance@colostate.edu
Phone: 970-491-3107

If you are not satisfied with how CSU Health Network handles your concern, you may submit a formal complaint to:

Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Civil Rights
200 Independence Ave, S.W., Room 509F,
HHH Building, Washington, DC, 20201

Filing a concern or complaint will not change our treatment of you in any way.

Updated August 2025