Criswell Education Collaborative
EFFECTIVE DATE: December 2025
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL AND EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU (OR YOUR CHILD) MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
At Criswell Education Collaborative (“CEC,” “we,” “us”), we understand that information about you and your health/education is personal. We are committed to protecting this information. We create a record of the care and services you receive to provide quality care and to comply with certain legal requirements.
This Notice applies to all records of your care generated by CEC, whether made by our personnel, our therapy animal handlers, or your case manager.
We may use and disclose your Protected Health Information (PHI) for the following purposes:
For Treatment/Services: We may use your information to provide you with advocacy, educational planning, or clinical services. For example, we may disclose information to your child’s school district, speech therapist, or pediatrician to coordinate an Individualized Education Program (IEP).
For Payment: We may use and disclose your information to bill and collect payment from you, an insurance company, or a third party (such as a grant funder, in anonymized formats where applicable).
For Health Care Operations: We may use your information to run our practice and improve the quality of care. For example, we may use your information to evaluate the performance of our staff or to conduct Quality Improvement (QI) assessments to ensure our Animal-Assisted Interventions are effective.
We may use or disclose your health information without your permission in the following specific circumstances:
Required by Law: When required by federal, state, or local law.
Public Health Risks: To prevent or control disease, injury, or disability.
Mandated Reporting (Abuse/Neglect): All CEC staff are mandated reporters. If we have reasonable suspicion of child abuse, elder abuse, or neglect, we are required by law to report this to the appropriate government authorities.
Health Oversight Activities: For audits, investigations, inspections, and licensure necessary for the government to monitor the health care system.
Lawsuits and Disputes: If you are involved in a lawsuit, we may disclose information in response to a court or administrative order.
Serious Threat to Health or Safety: To prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person.
Any use or disclosure not described in this Notice will be made only with your written authorization. Specifically, we require your permission to:
Share psychotherapy notes (if maintained separate from the medical record).
Use your information for marketing purposes.
Share specific details of your case on our blog or social media (even if you are a success story).
You may revoke this authorization at any time, in writing.
You have the following rights regarding the information we maintain about you:
Right to Inspect and Copy: You have the right to inspect and obtain a copy of your clinical or educational records. We may charge a reasonable fee for the costs of copying, mailing, or other supplies associated with your request.
Right to Amend: If you feel that the information we have is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend the information. We may deny your request if you ask us to amend information that was not created by us (e.g., school district records we are holding).
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to request a list of the disclosures we made of your information for purposes other than treatment, payment, or operations.
Right to Request Restrictions: You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the information we use or disclose. We are not required to agree to your request unless you are paying out-of-pocket in full and the disclosure is to a health plan.
Right to Confidential Communications: You have the right to request that we communicate with you about matters in a certain way (e.g., “only contact me via email” or “do not leave voicemails at my work number”).
Because we provide educational advocacy, some records we hold may be considered “Education Records” subject to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) rather than, or in addition to, HIPAA. In cases where FERPA applies, you have specific rights to inspect and review your student’s education records maintained by the Collaborative.
We reserve the right to change this Notice. We reserve the right to make the revised Notice effective for information we already have about you as well as any information we receive in the future. The current Notice will be posted on our website and available at our office.
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with us or with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
To file a complaint with us: Contact the CEC Privacy Officer at the details below.
No Retaliation: You will not be penalized or retaliated against for filing a complaint.
For questions about this Notice or to exercise your rights, please contact:
Criswell Education Collaborative Attn: Privacy Officer 202-677-3771, hello@criswelleducation.org
