Clinical Notice of Privacy Practices

How this notice applies

This notice concerns protected health information used in providing healthcare. It is separate from our Website Privacy Policy and from permission to receive automated texts or emails. Acknowledging receipt of this notice does not authorize every use of health information and does not replace a treatment consent or a specific release of records.

Practice covered by this notice: Ohio Healthcare Partners. Effective date: October 7, 2026.

Our responsibilities

The practice must protect the privacy of your protected health information, give you a notice of its privacy practices, follow the notice in effect and notify you of a breach when required by law. We use appropriate safeguards and limit information disclosed when the minimum-necessary rule applies.

We will not retaliate against you for raising a privacy concern or filing a complaint.

Treatment, payment and healthcare operations

We may use or disclose your health information for treatment, payment and healthcare operations as permitted by law. For example, your treating clinician may discuss relevant findings with another provider involved in your care. We may send information needed to process a claim to a health plan or other responsible payer. We may use information to manage services, review quality and coordinate appointments.

Sharing information with an attorney is not automatically permitted simply because an injury is involved. A disclosure must have an applicable legal basis or an appropriate authorization.

Other legally permitted disclosures

When the applicable legal conditions are met, information may be used or disclosed for public health reporting, health oversight, workers’ compensation, required reporting, law enforcement, judicial or administrative proceedings, organ or tissue donation, a coroner or medical examiner, funeral arrangements, or authorized military and national-security functions. Information may also be disclosed as permitted to prevent or lessen a serious threat to health or safety. Research disclosures require the applicable authorization or other legal permission.

A request, subpoena or claim does not by itself remove all privacy protections. Additional restrictions described below still apply.

Your choices and written authorization

You may tell us your preferences about sharing relevant information with family, friends or others involved in your care or payment, and about disaster-relief communications. If you cannot express a choice, limited sharing may be permitted based on professional judgment and your best interests.

Uses outside this notice require your written authorization unless otherwise permitted or required by law. Authorization is required for most uses of psychotherapy notes and for marketing or the sale of protected health information where HIPAA requires it. You may revoke an authorization in writing; revocation does not undo actions already taken in reliance on it.

If the practice conducts fundraising, you may opt out of those communications.

Additional protections for certain records

If we hold substance-use-disorder records protected by 42 CFR Part 2, their use in investigations or proceedings against you requires your consent or the required court order and subpoena. Part 2 fundraising use requires advance notice and a choice.

Ohio law places additional limits on disclosures of identifying HIV testing or diagnosis information. We will obtain a specific written release or use an exception authorized by the applicable law; a general release is not sufficient where a specific release is required. If we receive mental-health records protected by additional Ohio confidentiality laws, those records will be disclosed only with the required consent or another disclosure permitted by the applicable law. We follow additional legal restrictions when they provide greater protection than HIPAA.

Your privacy rights

To exercise the following rights, contact the practice’s designated privacy contact listed below. Staff can explain how to submit the request securely. Please do not place medical records or detailed health information in public website chat.

Access: Request to inspect or obtain a paper or electronic copy of your health records. Access is subject to applicable exceptions; a reasonable cost-based copying fee may apply. Requests are generally answered within 30 days.

Corrections: Request an amendment to information you believe is incorrect or incomplete. If we deny a request, we explain the reason in writing, generally within 60 days.

Restrictions: Ask us to limit use or disclosure for treatment, payment or operations. We do not have to agree to every request. If you pay for an item or service in full yourself and request that it not be disclosed to your health plan for payment or operations, we must honor the restriction unless disclosure is required by law.

Confidential communication: Request reasonable alternative ways or locations for communications about your health information.

Accounting: Request a list of certain disclosures during the preceding six years. Treatment, payment, operations and some other disclosures are excluded. One accounting in a 12-month period is free; additional requests may involve a reasonable fee disclosed in advance.

Notice and representation: Request a paper copy of this notice even if you accepted an electronic copy. An authorized personal representative may exercise rights on your behalf after the practice verifies that authority.

Questions and complaints

Privacy contact: Dr. Elias Arnitsis, DC, Privacy Officer.
Practice contact route: Call the office number below or send a written request addressed to the Privacy Officer at our Fairlawn office.
Ohio Healthcare Partners
3562 Ridge Park Dr., Suite D-1, Fairlawn, OH 44333
330-664-1670

You may complain to the practice or to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. Information about filing an OCR complaint is available at HHS Office for Civil Rights complaint instructions. There is no retaliation for filing a complaint.

Changes and access to this notice

The practice may change its notice and make the revised terms apply to protected health information it already maintains, as permitted by law. The current notice will be available in the office, on the practice website and on request. A new notice will identify its effective date.

For patients with a direct treatment relationship, we provide this notice no later than the first service, except as permitted for emergencies, and make a good-faith effort to obtain written acknowledgement of receipt. If acknowledgement cannot be obtained, we document the effort and reason. Acknowledgement is receipt of the notice, not permission for promotional messages.