Patient Privacy Policy

Effective date: November 10, 2026

Your records are specially protected

Federal law protects the confidentiality of substance use disorder patient records. As an opioid treatment program, HAART is covered by two federal privacy laws: the confidentiality rules for substance use disorder records at 42 CFR Part 2 (“Part 2”) and the HIPAA Privacy Rule. We also follow California privacy laws, including the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act. When these laws differ, we follow the one that gives you more protection.

In general, HAART may not tell anyone outside the program that you are a patient, or share information that identifies you as having a substance use disorder, unless you give written consent or the law allows the disclosure as described below.

Uses and disclosures with your written consent

Treatment, payment, and health care operations. You may sign a single written consent that allows HAART to use and disclose your records for all future treatment, payment, and health care operations. For example:

• Treatment: sharing information with your primary care provider or a hospital so they can coordinate your care.
• Payment: sending information to Medi-Cal, Medicare, or your health plan to bill for your services.
• Health care operations: reviewing records to evaluate and improve the quality of our services.

If you sign this consent and your records are shared with another health care provider, health plan, or their business associates that are covered by HIPAA, they may share your records again as HIPAA allows. Even then, your records cannot be used against you in legal proceedings, as explained below.

Other disclosures that need your consent. Most other disclosures require your specific written consent, for example, sharing information with a family member, your employer, an attorney, or a court or probation officer who is monitoring your treatment.

Any use or disclosure not described in this notice will be made only with your written consent. HAART will not sell your information, and will not use it for marketing, without your written consent.

You may revoke your consent at any time, in writing, except to the extent we have already acted on it. To revoke a consent, contact our Privacy Officer.

Uses and disclosures allowed without your consent

Federal law allows HAART to use or disclose your records without your consent only in limited situations:

• Within HAART: among HAART staff who need the information to provide your care or run our program.
• Medical emergencies: to medical personnel to the extent needed to treat a bona fide medical emergency when your consent cannot be obtained.
• Service providers: to qualified service organizations and business associates that perform services for HAART (such as billing or laboratory services) under written agreements that require them to protect your information.
• Child abuse and neglect: to report suspected child abuse or neglect to the appropriate state or local authorities, as required by California law.
• Crimes on our premises or against our staff: to law enforcement about a crime, or threat of a crime, committed on HAART premises or against HAART personnel.
• Audits and program oversight: to government agencies and other qualified organizations that audit or evaluate HAART, such as SAMHSA, the California Department of Health Care Services, Joint Commission, and Medi-Cal.
• Research: for research approved and conducted under the protections required by federal law.
• Public health: to public health authorities, using information that has been de-identified.
• Court orders: when a court issues an order that meets the requirements of Part 2.
• Vital records: to report a patient’s cause of death as required by law.

Protection in legal proceedings

Your substance use disorder records, and testimony describing their contents, cannot be used or disclosed in any civil, administrative, criminal, or legislative proceeding against you unless you give specific written consent or a court issues an order that meets the requirements of Part 2.

Your records may be used or disclosed under a court order only after you, or the holder of the record, have been given notice and an opportunity to be heard, where required by Part 2. A court order authorizing a use or disclosure must also be accompanied by a subpoena or other legal mandate before HAART may disclose the records.

Fundraising

HAART does not use or disclose your records to contact you about donations.

Your rights

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Privacy Officer using the information at the end of this notice.

• Get a copy of your records. You may ask to see or get a paper or electronic copy of your health records. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee. California law sets timelines for responding to these requests.
• Ask us to correct your records. If you believe information in your record is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend it. We may say no, and if we do, we will explain why in writing.
• Request confidential communications. You may ask us to contact you in a specific way or at a specific place, such as a different phone number or address. We will agree to reasonable requests.
• Ask us to limit what we use or share. You may ask us to restrict how we use or disclose your records for treatment, payment, or health care operations. We are not required to agree, except as described next.
• Limit what we share with your health plan. If you pay for a service in full yourself, you may ask us not to share information about that service with your health plan, and we will agree unless the law requires us to share it.
• Get a list of disclosures. You may ask for an accounting of disclosures we have made, including disclosures made with your consent through an electronic health record during the past three years, and a list of disclosures made by an intermediary (such as a health information exchange) during the past three years.
• Get a copy of this notice. You may ask for a paper or electronic copy of this notice at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically.
• Choose someone to act for you. If you have given someone medical power of attorney, or someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights.

Our responsibilities

• We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your records and to give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices.
• We will notify you promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your unsecured records.
• We must follow the terms of the notice currently in effect.

Changes to this notice

We reserve the right to change this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The new notice will be posted at our clinics and on our website, and copies will be available at the front desk and on request.

Complaints

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with HAART and with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

• With HAART: contact our Privacy Officer at (510) 661-3948, compliance@haart.org, or in writing at 10850 MacArthur Blvd., Suite 200, Oakland, CA 94605.
• With the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights: call 1-800-368-1019 (TDD 1-800-537-7697), file online at the OCR Complaint Portal (opens in a new tab), or write to 200 Independence Avenue, SW, Room 509F, HHH Building, Washington, D.C. 20201.

Contact us

For more information about this notice or our privacy practices, contact our Privacy Officer at Humanistic Alternatives to Addiction Research and Treatment, Inc., 10850 MacArthur Blvd., Suite 200, Oakland, CA 94605; call (510) 661-3948; or email compliance@haart.org.

Language assistance

Free language assistance and aids for people with disabilities are available. See our Nondiscrimination Notice or call HAART Oakland at (510) 661-3948 or HAART Hayward at (510) 727-9755.