How we handle your information

Who we are

Sycamore Neuropsychology is an independent diagnostic practice in Missouri providing pediatric autism diagnostic evaluations for young children. We are a covered health care provider under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and we are required by law to protect the privacy of your child’s health information and to give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices.

Questions about this policy or about your information can be sent to intake@sycamoreneuro.com or asked by phone at (314) 944-5788.

Information we collect

Through this website and our secure intake platform

• Secure intake and scheduling. Our secure intake links take you to Healthie, where you may provide contact details, information about your child, and information needed to respond to your request. That information is submitted directly to Healthie; this public website does not collect or transmit intake-form responses.
• Email you send us. Whatever you include in a message to one of our addresses.
• Technical information. Our hosting provider records standard server logs such as IP address, browser type, pages requested, and time of request, used for security and to keep the site running. We do not use advertising cookies or tracking pixels on this website.

In the course of care

If your child becomes a patient, we collect the health information needed to provide an evaluation: developmental and medical history, records you share with us, questionnaire responses, assessment results, our clinical observations, the report we write, and billing and insurance information.

How we use information

• To respond to your request and schedule your intake call
• To provide, coordinate, and document your child’s evaluation
• To verify benefits, obtain prior authorization, and bill you or your health plan
• To run our practice, including quality review, training, and legal compliance
• To contact you about appointments, results, and your account
• To keep this website and our systems secure

We do not sell personal or health information, and we do not use it for marketing to third parties.

When we share information

We share information only as described here or with your written authorization.

• With people you choose. Your pediatrician, your child’s school or early-intervention program, a therapy provider, or anyone else you name in a signed release. You can revoke a release at any time in writing, except to the extent we have already acted on it.
• With your health plan, to verify benefits, obtain authorization, and receive payment.
• With service providers that help us operate, such as secure video, scheduling, and records systems. Each is bound by a written agreement to protect your information and use it only for the services they provide to us.
• When the law requires or permits it, including mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse or neglect, responding to a valid court order, public health reporting, and health oversight activities.
• To prevent a serious threat to the health or safety of a person or the public.

Uses and disclosures not described in this policy, including most uses of psychotherapy notes, marketing, and any sale of information, require your written authorization.

Your rights over your child’s health information

As a parent or legal guardian, you generally have the right to:

• Get a copy of your child’s record, including the evaluation report, usually within 30 days of asking
• Ask us to correct information you believe is wrong or incomplete; if we decline, we will tell you why in writing and you may add a statement of disagreement to the record
• Ask us to limit what we use or share; we will consider every request and must agree if you pay for a service in full yourself and ask us not to share it with your health plan
• Ask us to contact you in a specific way or at a specific place
• Receive a list of certain disclosures we have made in the past six years
• Receive a paper copy of this notice at any time
• Choose someone to act for you, such as a legal guardian or someone with medical power of attorney

To exercise any of these rights, email intake@sycamoreneuro.com. We may need to verify your identity before acting.

Information about children

This website is intended for parents, guardians, and professionals. We do not knowingly collect information directly from children under 13 through the website. Information about a child is provided to us by a parent or guardian, or by a referring provider with the family’s authorization.

Email, text messages, and video

Ordinary email and text messages are convenient but not fully secure. We use them for scheduling and general communication, and we ask you to keep medical details for the intake call or the secure forms we send. Evaluations and feedback sessions take place on a secure, HIPAA-eligible video platform. If you prefer that we not use email or text, tell us and we will contact you another way.

How we protect information

We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information, including encrypted storage and transmission, access limited to staff who need it, and written agreements with every vendor who handles information on our behalf. No system is perfectly secure, and if a breach of unsecured health information affects you, we will notify you as the law requires.

How long we keep information

Request-form information for families who do not become patients is kept only as long as needed to respond and then deleted. Clinical records are retained for the period required by Missouri law and professional standards, which for a minor’s record generally extends several years past the child’s eighteenth birthday, and are then securely destroyed.

Links to other sites

Our resources pages link to state agencies and nonprofit organizations. Their privacy practices are their own, and we encourage you to review them.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our practice or the law changes. The current version is always posted here with its effective date, and material changes to our privacy practices will apply to all information we hold.

Questions or complaints

If you have a question about this policy, or believe your privacy rights have been violated, please contact us at intake@sycamoreneuro.com. We will not retaliate against you for raising a concern.

Mailing address: Sycamore Neuropsychology, 221 Bolivar Street, Jefferson City, MO 65101.

You may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, at hhs.gov/ocr/complaints, by mail at 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20201, or by phone at 1-800-368-1019 (TDD 800-537-7697).