FAQ

Am I Really Pregnant?

Before planning for the future, or telling your partner, be sure you are pregnant! Home pregnancy tests are very accurate, but like any test, there is always a chance for error. You could receive a false positive if taken at the wrong time, or you skipped a step.

Get the clarity you are looking for with a no-cost pregnancy test at our center today. If you receive a positive pregnancy test, an ultrasound is your next step to pregnancy confirmation.

Do I Need An Ultrasound?

We strongly encourage you to receive an ultrasound, as it confirms important details of your pregnancy to determine which options you qualify for. An ultrasound tells you three important details, including:

1. If you have a viable pregnancy
2. The location of your pregnancy
3. How far along you are in your pregnancy

What Are the Risks of Abortion?

There are multiple risks involved with a medical abortion that you should know of beforehand to protect your health. These risks include:

• Incomplete abortion, which may need to be followed by surgical abortion
• An ongoing pregnancy if the procedure doesn’t work
• Heavy and prolonged bleeding
• Infection
• Fever
• Digestive system discomfort

Common risks involved with a surgical abortion include:

• Uterine perforation
• Infection
• Injury to the cervix

Are Your Services Free?

Yes – all of our services and support are at no cost to you! We care about supporting women and men facing unplanned pregnancy and we care about your future. You are not alone.

Can I Bring Someone With Me?

Absolutely. We encourage women to bring along either their partner or someone they feel comfortable with. It’s completely up to you!

Schedule a no-cost appointment with us today to put your questions to rest and move forward. There is peace in knowing what’s next. Know where your pregnancy stands today.

Are Services Private?

POLICY: NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

Pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Heart to Heart has developed a notice for patients, which provides a clear explanation of privacy rights and practices as it relates to private health information.

PROCEDURE:

1. Heart to Heart shall use Waycool technology to communicate with clients via text messaging. Prior to any messaging, they will provide consent in our office for communication to be done via text message. This consent along with an explanation of HIPPA limitations are located on the client intake form.

2. A notice of Privacy Practices (NPP) that describes how the Heart to Heart may use or disclose protected health information and an individual’s rights with respect to the privacy of that information, shall be prepared by the Privacy Officer for use at the Heart to Heart. The notice must include an effective date.

3. The Privacy Officer shall promptly revise and distribute this notice whenever there are material changes to any privacy practices.

4. The Heart to Heart shall post the NPP in a clear and prominent location at the facility and make a copy available to patients.

5. The Heart to Heart shall prominently post and make available the NPP on any website it maintains that provides information about its customer services or benefits.

6. The Heart to Heart shall provide the notice to each patient no later than the date of first service delivery and, except in an emergency treatment situation, make a good faith effort to obtain the individual’s written acknowledgement of receipt of the notice. If an acknowledgement cannot be obtained, the provider must document his or her efforts to obtain the acknowledgement and the reason why it was not obtained. The acknowledgement form shall be placed in the patient’s file. See Form: Notice of Privacy Practices Acknowledgement.

7. When first service delivery to an individual is provided over the internet, through email, or otherwise electronically, the provider must send an electronic notice automatically and contemporaneously in response to the individual’s first request for service. The provider must make a good faith effort to obtain a return receipt or other transmission from the individual in response to receiving the notice. The receipt shall be placed in the patient’s file.

8. The Heart to Heart shall make the NPP available at the provider’s office or facility for individuals to request to take with them.

9. The Heart to Heart may email the notice to an individual if the individual agrees to receive an electronic notice.

Notice of Privacy Practices Effective June 1, 2022

This notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to his information. Please review carefully.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Get a copy of your paper or electronic medical record

• Correct your paper or electronic medical record

• Request confidential communication

• Ask us to limit the information we share

• Get a list of those with whom we’ve shared your information

• Get a copy of this privacy notice

• Choose someone to act for you

• File a complaint if you believe your privacy rights have been violated

Your Choices

You have some choices in the way that we use and share information as we:

• Tell family and friends about your condition

• Provide disaster relief

• Provide mental health care

• Market our services

• Raise funds

Our Uses and Disclosures

We may use and share your information as we:

• Treat you

• Run our organization

• Help with public health and safety issues

• Do research

• Comply with the law

• Respond to organ and tissue donation requests

• Work with a medical examiner or funeral director

• Address workers’ compensation, law enforcement, and other government requests

• Respond to lawsuits and legal actions.

Your Rights

When it comes to your health information, you have certain rights. This section explains your rights and some of our responsibilities to help you. Get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record.

• You can ask to see or get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record and other health information that we have about you. Ask us how to do this.

• We will provide a copy or a summary of your health information, usually within 30 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.

Ask us to correct your medical record

• You can ask us to correct health information about you that you think is incorrect or incomplete. Ask us how to do this.

• We will say “no” to your request, but we’ll tell you why in writing within 60 days.

Request confidential communications

• You can ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, home or office phone) or to send mail to a different address

• We will say “yes” to all reasonable requests.

Ask us to limit what we use or share

• You can ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment, or our operations. We are not required to agree to your request, and we may say “no” if it would affect your care.

• If you pay for a service or health care item out-of-pocket in full, you can ask us not to share that information for the purpose of payment or our operations with your health provider. We will say “yes” unless a law requires us to share that information.

Get a list of those with whom we’ve shared information

• You can ask for a list (accounting) of the times we’ve shared your health information for six years prior to the date you ask, who we shared it with, and why.

• We will include all the disclosures except for those about treatment, payment, and health care operations, and certain other disclosures (such as any you asked us to make). We’ll provide one accounting a year for free but will charge a reasonable, cost-based fee if you ask for another within 12 months.

Get a copy of this privacy notice

You can ask for a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you have agreed to receive the notice electronically. We will provide you with a paper copy promptly.

Choose someone to act for you

• If you have given someone medical power of attorney or if someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights and make choices about your health information.

• We will make sure the person has this authority and can act for you before we take any action.

File a complaint if you feel your rights are violated

• You can complain if you feel we have violated your rights by contacting us.

• You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by sending a letter to 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, calling 1-877-696-6775, or visiting www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/

• We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

Your Choices

For certain health information, you can tell us your choices about what we share. If you have a clear preference for how we share your information in the situations described below, talk to us. Tell us what you want us to do, and we will follow your instructions.

In these cases, you have both the right and choice to tell us to:

• Share information with your family, close friends, or others involved in your care

• Share information in a disaster relief situation

• Include your information in a hospital directory

If you are not able to tell us your preference, for example if you are unconscious, we may share your information if we believe it is in your best interest. We may also share your information when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.

In these cases, we never share your information unless you give us permission:

• Marketing purposes

• Sale of your information

• Most sharing of psychotherapy notes.

In the case of fundraising:

• We may contact you for fundraising efforts, but you can tell us not to contact you again.

Our Uses and Disclosures

How do we typically use or share your health information?

We use or share your health information in the following ways:

Treat you

We use your health information and share it with other professionals who are treating you. Example: A doctor treating you for an injury asks another doctor about your overall health condition.

Run our organization

We use and share your health information to run our practice, improve your care, and contact you when necessary. Example: We use health information about you to manage your treatment and services.

Help with public health and safety issues

We can share health information about you for certain situations such as:

• Preventing disease

• Helping with product recalls

• Reporting adverse reactions to medications

• Reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence

• Preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety

Comply with the law

We will share information about you if state or federal laws require it, including with the Department of Health and Human Services if it wants to see that we’re complying with federal privacy law.

Respond to organ and tissue donation requests

We can share health information about you with organ procurement organizations.

Work with a medical examiner or funeral director

We can share health information with a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director when an individual dies.

Address workers’ compensation, law enforcement, and other government requests

We can use or share health information about you:

• For worker’s compensation claims

• For law enforcement purposes or with a law enforcement official

• With health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law

• For special government functions such as military, national security, and presidential protective services

Respond to lawsuits and legal actions

We can share health information about you in response to a court or administrative order, or in response to a subpoena.

Our Responsibilities:

• We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.

• We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.

• We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it.

• We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us we can in writing. If you tell us we can, you may change your mind at any time. Let us know in writing if you change your mind.

For more information: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/noticepp.html

Changes to the Terms of this Notice

We can change the terms of this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The new notice will be available upon request, in our office, and on our website.