Confidentiality Policy
Respecting the privacy of our clients, donors, members, staff, volunteers and of Solutions for Change itself is a basic value of Solutions for Change. Personal and financial information is confidential and should not be disclosed or discussed with anyone without permission or authorization from the Client. Care shall also be taken to ensure that unauthorized individuals do not overhear any discussion of confidential information and that documents containing confidential information are not left in the open or inadvertently shared.
It is the legal and ethical responsibility of all faculty and staff, volunteers, and contractors to use personal and confidential employee, family, and business information in accordance with the law and organization policy, and to preserve and protect the privacy rights of the subject of the information as they perform their duties. Medical information including Protected Health Information (PHI), as defined in the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), is maintained to serve the patient, health care providers, and health care research and must conform to regulatory requirements.
Given the nature of the organization’s work, employees, volunteers and board members of Solutions for Change may be exposed to information which is confidential and/or privileged and proprietary in nature. Confidential information includes information that identifies or describes an individual and the disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. As such, it would be a violation of our agency policy to confirm that an individual is a client of our agency or to disclose that they have received services in the past. Examples of confidential employee and client information include home address and telephone number; medical information; birth date; citizenship; social security number; spouse/partner/relative's names; income tax withholding data; proprietary/trade secret information; information on health, mental health, addiction or criminal backgrounds; and participation in social benefits.
Laws controlling the privacy of, access to, and maintenance of confidential information include, but are not limited to, HIPAA, the California Information Practices Act (IPA), the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (COMIA), and the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (LPS), and the Family Educational Right to Privacy Act (FERPA), as well as State Information Practices Act, federal ESG Regulations, and State
Regulations (25 CCR 8417). These and other laws apply whether the information is held in electronic or any other form, and whether the information is used or disclosed orally or in writing.
It is the policy of Solutions for Change that such information must be kept confidential both during and after employment or volunteer service. Staff and volunteers, including board members, are expected to return materials containing privileged or confidential information at the time of separation from employment or expiration of service.
Unauthorized disclosure of confidential or privileged information is a serious violation of this policy and will subject the person(s) who made the unauthorized disclosure to appropriate discipline, including removal/dismissal.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF CONFIDENTIALITY OF CLIENT INFORMATION
I agree to treat as confidential all information about clients or former clients and their families that I learn during the performance of my duties as volunteer and I understand that it would be a violation of policy to disclose such information. If I am unsure about the disclosure of information, I will seek counsel from my Supervisor.
