Effective Date: October 21, 2026
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.
Beyond the Brain Therapies Inc. (“BTBT,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) protects the privacy of your protected health information (“PHI”). This Notice explains our duties and your rights concerning health information maintained for health care services provided through BTBT. A provider practicing independently may give you a separate notice applicable to that provider’s records. Ask the office which notice applies to your care.
This Notice concerns health records and does not mean every wellness or other service described on this Website is health care covered by HIPAA. For information about public Website data and analytics choices, see our separate Privacy Policy.
Our Responsibilities
For PHI subject to HIPAA, we must maintain its privacy, provide this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, follow the Notice currently in effect, and notify affected individuals following a breach of unsecured PHI as required by law. We maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards and limit access according to job responsibilities and care needs. No electronic system can guarantee absolute security.
We obtain written consent or authorization when required. When Minnesota law or another applicable law gives your information stronger protection than HIPAA, we follow that stronger protection.
How We May Use and Disclose Health Information
The following categories describe uses and disclosures that may occur, subject to applicable consent requirements and legal limits. HIPAA permission alone does not eliminate Minnesota’s consent requirements. Under the Minnesota Health Records Act, release of health records generally requires signed and dated consent from you or your legally authorized representative, specific authority in Minnesota law, or another permitted statutory basis.
Treatment
We may use health information to assess your needs, provide care, coordinate treatment, or consult with another treating professional. For example, with required consent, your therapist may coordinate care with your physician. We obtain consent before releasing records when Minnesota law requires it.
Payment
We may use health information for billing, eligibility checks, claims, and collecting payment for services. For example, if you use insurance and required consent is in place, information necessary to process a claim may be sent to your insurer. See your right below to restrict certain health-plan disclosures for services paid in full out of pocket.
Health Care Operations
We may use information for practice administration, quality review, staff training, licensing, compliance, and managing care. For example, an authorized billing assistant may review billing information to resolve a claim. Where applicable, contracted service providers handle information under required privacy agreements. We use or disclose only the minimum necessary information when that legal standard applies; different rules apply to treatment disclosures and certain other permitted uses.
Other Legally Permitted or Required Disclosures
We may disclose information for the following purposes only when the applicable legal conditions, consent requirements, and special record protections are satisfied:
- Public health and safety: legally authorized disease reporting, product-safety reporting, reporting suspected abuse or neglect, and responding to a serious threat to health or safety.
- Oversight and legal compliance: authorized audits, inspections, licensing investigations, and disclosures to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to assess privacy compliance.
- Legal proceedings and law enforcement: a legally sufficient court or administrative order, subpoena, or other lawful process, subject to applicable notice, privilege, consent, and confidentiality requirements. A request or subpoena does not automatically authorize release of every record.
- Workers’ compensation and special government functions: disclosures authorized by law for workers’ compensation, military, national-security, protective-service, or correctional purposes.
- After death or for donation: legally authorized disclosures to a coroner, medical examiner, funeral director, or organ-procurement organization.
- Research: disclosures only with required consent or another legally valid basis and applicable safeguards. This category does not mean BTBT currently conducts research.
These permissions do not override stronger Minnesota restrictions, psychotherapy-note protections, or applicable substance-use-record protections.
Your Choices About Sharing
You may tell us whether and how to share information with family, friends, or others involved in your care or payment for care. We follow your choices and obtain written consent when required. In limited circumstances, such as incapacity or disaster relief, disclosure may be permitted based on professional judgment or specific legal authority; stricter applicable law still controls.
If we contact you for fundraising using health information, you may opt out of further fundraising communications without affecting your treatment or payment. Before using any records protected by 42 CFR Part 2 for fundraising, we will provide a clear opportunity to elect not to receive those communications.
Uses Requiring Written Authorization
We obtain your written authorization for uses or disclosures not otherwise described in this Notice or permitted or required by law. This includes most uses of psychotherapy notes and marketing uses that require authorization. Release to an employer ordinarily requires your authorization unless a specific legal exception applies.
We do not sell your PHI. HIPAA generally requires a specific written authorization for a sale of PHI; that permission does not change our stated practice of not selling it.
You may revoke an authorization in writing by contacting the office. Revocation applies going forward and does not undo actions already taken in reliance on the authorization or other exceptions recognized by law.
Additional Protection for Sensitive Records
Psychotherapy Notes
When a clinician maintains psychotherapy notes as defined by HIPAA, those notes are kept separately from the general treatment record and generally require separate written authorization for use or disclosure, with limited legal exceptions. Not all counseling progress notes are psychotherapy notes. HIPAA’s general access right does not extend to separately maintained psychotherapy notes; other applicable access rights remain available.
Substance Use Disorder Records
If we receive or maintain substance use disorder patient records protected by 42 CFR Part 2, those records receive additional protection. They, and testimony describing their contents, may not be used or disclosed in civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative investigations or proceedings against you without your written consent meeting Part 2 requirements or a qualifying court order issued after the required notice and opportunity to be heard. A court order authorizing disclosure must also be accompanied by a subpoena or another legal requirement compelling disclosure.
Where a valid Part 2 consent permits treatment, payment, or health care operations, a HIPAA-covered recipient or business associate may redisclose information as permitted by HIPAA, subject to Part 2’s continuing limits on proceedings against you. Information disclosed under HIPAA may otherwise be redisclosed by a recipient and may no longer be protected by HIPAA; other applicable laws may still protect it. This paragraph does not represent that BTBT is itself a federally assisted Part 2 treatment program.
Your Rights and How to Exercise Them
Contact the BTBT office using the information below to make a request, obtain instructions, or ask for help. Some requests must be submitted in writing. We verify identity and representative authority before releasing records or acting on requests.
Inspect or Obtain Records
You may request to inspect or obtain a paper or electronic copy of health information in the records to which you have a legal right of access. Under HIPAA, we generally act within 30 days; a shorter applicable state deadline controls. If a permitted extension is needed, we explain it in writing. Any copying fee must comply with applicable law. Certain records may be excluded or access denied on limited legal grounds; we will explain a denial and any available review rights.
Request an Amendment
You may ask in writing to amend information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete, explaining the correction requested. Under HIPAA, we generally act within 60 days, with a permitted written extension when applicable. If we deny the request, we explain why and how to submit a statement of disagreement.
Request Confidential Communications
You may ask us to contact you in a particular way or at a different location, such as using only a designated telephone number or mailing address. We accommodate reasonable requests. Tell the office how we may safely communicate with you.
Request Restrictions
You may request limits on uses or disclosures for treatment, payment, operations, or sharing with people involved in your care. We are not required to accept every restriction, but we will follow those we accept and those required by law.
If you or someone acting for you pays for a particular service in full out of pocket, you may ask us not to disclose information about that service to your health plan for payment or health care operations. We must honor that request unless disclosure is required by law. Tell us before the information is sent to the plan so we can arrange the restriction.
Request an Accounting of Disclosures
You may request an accounting of disclosures covered by HIPAA’s accounting rule for up to the preceding six years. Routine treatment, payment, and operations disclosures and certain other categories are generally excluded. One accounting in a 12-month period is free; we notify you of any lawful fee for additional requests and allow you to change or withdraw the request. Additional record-disclosure information may be available under Minnesota law.
Receive a Paper Copy
You may obtain a paper copy of this Notice at any time, even if you agreed to electronic delivery.
Have an Authorized Representative Act for You
A legally authorized representative may exercise applicable rights on your behalf after we verify their authority. Parental access to a minor’s information and access by other representatives are subject to legal exceptions and the scope of their authority.
Make a Complaint Without Retaliation
You may complain to BTBT or to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights if you believe your health-information privacy rights were violated. We will not retaliate against you or deny services because you file a complaint. Contact details and the federal complaint link appear below.
SimplePractice and Electronic Communications
BTBT uses SimplePractice for online appointment requests, intake forms, client documentation, secure messaging, and the client portal. Those tools support clinical communication and record management separately from the public WordPress Website. Use the secure portal as directed by your provider for sensitive information.
Ordinary email and voicemail have privacy risks. Avoid including highly sensitive information in ordinary email, and tell us your communication preferences. Do not use Website forms, email, or the portal for emergencies or rely on them for an immediate response.
Public Website Privacy
The public Website is informational and is not our clinical health-record system. Its current contact and appointment forms are provided through SimplePractice rather than stored as counseling submissions in WordPress.
Optional Google Analytics operates only after an analytics opt-in under the current setup. It measures generic visits and selected contact or booking intent; these events do not establish that treatment, a call, an inquiry, or an appointment occurred. See our Website Privacy Policy for the data collected, limitations, third-party services, and ways to decline or withdraw analytics consent. Website analytics permission is not authorization to disclose your clinical records.
Changes to This Notice
We reserve the right to revise this Notice and make revised practices apply to PHI we already maintain and information received in the future, as permitted by law. We post the revised Notice and its effective date on this Website and make copies available through the office. We follow the Notice currently in effect.
Questions, Requests, or Complaints
BTBT Office, Privacy Inquiries
Beyond the Brain Therapies Inc.
407 West Broadway Avenue
Forest Lake, MN 55025
Phone: (651) 408-3174
Website: https://beyondthebraintherapies.com/
Call the office to ask a privacy question, request a record or paper Notice, or arrange to submit a written privacy complaint. You may also mail a written request or complaint to the address above, marked “Privacy Inquiries.” Please avoid putting sensitive health details into ordinary Website or email communications.
To complain directly to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, follow the instructions at Filing a Health Information Privacy Complaint. You do not have to complain to BTBT first.
Acknowledgment of Receipt
We may ask you to acknowledge receiving this Notice. An acknowledgment confirms receipt; it is not an authorization to release records, a waiver of your privacy rights, or agreement with every provision.