Notice of Privacy Practices of the Practice of Hamilton Gaiani, MD
Effective date: October 10, 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.
This notice describes:
HOW HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED
YOUR RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION
HOW TO FILE A COMPLAINT CONCERNING A VIOLATION OF THE PRIVACY OR SECURITY OF YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION, OR OF YOUR RIGHTS CONCERNING YOUR INFORMATION
YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO A COPY OF THIS NOTICE (IN PAPER OR ELECTRONIC FORM) AND TO DISCUSS IT WITH HAMILTON GAIANI, MD, PRIVACY OFFICER, AT 475-244-7517 OR INFO@HAMILTONGAIANIMD.COM IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS.
Who this notice covers and how to reach us
This notice applies to the Practice of Hamilton Gaiani, MD (including its providers and staff), also presented as Gaiani Psychiatry. In this notice, “we” and “our practice” refer to that practice.
Contact Hamilton Gaiani, MD, Privacy Officer, by calling 475-244-7517, emailing info@hamiltongaianimd.com, or writing to 85 North Main St. #1038, Branford, CT 06405. This is our mailing address. For health details or records, ask us to arrange a secure communication method.
Your rights
See or obtain your records. You may ask in writing to inspect or obtain a paper or electronic copy of the medical and billing information used to make decisions about your care. We will provide copies within ten business days, consistent with our existing practice commitment. We provide the requested format if readily producible, or agree with you on an available readable format. A summary replaces the records only if you agree in advance. We may charge only a reasonable, cost-based copying fee permitted by law and will tell you the amount in advance; you do not have to pick up records in person. Access may be limited only on grounds allowed by law. If we deny any part of a request, we will explain the reason in writing, provide the accessible remainder, and explain how to complain and request an independent review when that right applies. Specially defined, separately maintained psychotherapy notes and information compiled for legal proceedings have different access rules; ordinary medication-management and treatment-progress records are not automatically psychotherapy notes.
Request a correction. If information is inaccurate or incomplete, you may ask in writing for an amendment and explain why. We will act within 60 days, or give written notice explaining a permitted extension of up to 30 more days. We may deny a request when the record is accurate and complete, is not part of the records subject to this right, is not available for inspection under the law, or was created by someone else who remains available to act on the request. A denial will explain the reason and your right to submit a statement of disagreement and have the relevant disagreement information accompany later disclosures as required by law.
Choose how we contact you. You may request a reasonable alternative way or place to receive communications, such as a particular telephone number or mailing address. We accommodate reasonable requests. You do not have to prove that ordinary contact would harm you.
Ask us to limit sharing. You may request restrictions on information used or disclosed for treatment, payment, health care operations, or to people involved in your care. We do not have to accept every request, but we will explain our decision and follow restrictions we agree to, subject to permitted emergency treatment and other legal requirements. If you pay in full out of pocket for a health care item or service and ask us not to disclose the related information to your health plan for payment or health care operations, we must honor that request unless the disclosure is required by law. Ask before we submit a claim or request payment from your plan.
Request a list of disclosures. You may request in writing an accounting of disclosures covered by HIPAA for the previous six years or a shorter period. The accounting excludes categories the law exempts, such as ordinary treatment, payment and operations disclosures and disclosures you authorized. We respond within 60 days, with one additional 30-day extension only when permitted and explained in writing. The first accounting in a 12-month period is free. We will explain any reasonable fee for another accounting in that period and give you a chance to withdraw or narrow your request. Additional Part 2 rights are described below.
Receive this notice and ask questions. You may obtain an electronic or paper copy at any time, including a paper copy after agreeing to electronic delivery. You may discuss it with the Privacy Officer using the contact details above.
Use an authorized representative. A person legally authorized to act for you may exercise applicable rights on your behalf. We verify that person's authority and follow the legal limits on it.
Receive breach notification and make a complaint. We will notify you of a breach of your unsecured protected health information when required by law. You may complain to the practice or to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services without retaliation; instructions appear below.
How we use and share information
The following describes ordinary HIPAA permissions. Every category is subject to any more protective law that applies to the information, including the Connecticut and Part 2 protections below. A HIPAA permission alone does not override a requirement for your consent under another law.
Treatment. We use information to evaluate and treat you and coordinate care. For example, we may discuss medication interactions with another clinician treating you when the applicable consent or legal exception permits that discussion.
Payment. We use the information needed to bill for services, collect payment, or assist with a claim. For example, an authorized insurance claim may include your diagnosis and the service provided. This does not change the practice's self-pay arrangements or promise insurance reimbursement, and it remains subject to restrictions you are entitled to request.
Health care operations. We use information to manage the practice, review care quality, train appropriate personnel, and meet administrative duties. Staff access is limited to their work responsibilities. Service providers acting on our behalf must have the applicable confidentiality obligations, including business associate agreements where required. We may contact you about appointments, treatment alternatives, or care-related services.
People involved in your care. Where the law permits, we may share relevant information with someone you identify as helping with your care or payment. We follow your permission or opportunity to object when required. If you cannot communicate, a disclosure based on professional judgment must still meet all applicable privacy protections.
Other legally permitted or required purposes. Subject to each law's conditions and limits, information may be used or disclosed for public health reporting; reporting abuse, neglect or certain threats; health oversight, audits and investigations; approved research; organ or tissue donation; a coroner, medical examiner or funeral director; workers' compensation; certain military, national-security or other special government functions; or a lawful judicial, administrative or law-enforcement request. We may provide information required for HHS to review compliance with privacy law. These categories do not give unrestricted access to your records. We check the legal authority, applicable consent or court requirements, and the information that may be disclosed before responding. The stricter rules below govern protected psychiatric and substance-use records.
Written permission and additional protections
Authorizations. Uses or disclosures not described in this notice require your written authorization or consent unless the law permits or requires them without it. Where required by HIPAA, we obtain specific written authorization for marketing, a sale of protected health information, and most uses or disclosures of separately maintained psychotherapy notes. You may revoke an authorization in writing to the Privacy Officer, except to the extent we have already acted in reliance on it or another legal exception applies. Revocation does not undo an earlier lawful disclosure.
Connecticut protections. Connecticut law gives additional protection to certain psychiatric communications and records. Identifying psychiatric information generally requires written consent unless a specific statutory exception applies. A routine subpoena or the ordinary HIPAA permissions listed above do not by themselves remove those protections. Other sensitive information may also be subject to additional legal restrictions. We apply the more protective requirements to the records involved.
Substance-use records protected by 42 CFR Part 2. If we have records protected by Part 2, we follow its additional restrictions. This does not mean that every mental health record is a Part 2 record. Protected records, and testimony describing their contents, may not be used or disclosed in civil, criminal, administrative or legislative proceedings against you without your specific written consent or a qualifying court order. Where required, you or the record holder must first have notice and an opportunity to be heard. An authorizing court order must also be accompanied by a subpoena or similar legal mandate compelling the disclosure. Ordinary treatment, payment or operations consent is not consent to use records in proceedings against you.
Fundraising choices. If the practice undertakes fundraising using health information, you may opt out of further fundraising communications. Before any fundraising communication using Part 2 information, you will receive a clear opportunity to choose not to receive it. This notice does not announce a fundraising program.
Additional notice for any services we provide as a Part 2 program
This section applies to records of any substance-use-disorder services for which this practice is a Part 2 program. It does not classify all psychiatric care as such a program. The practice identity and Privacy Officer at the beginning of this notice also apply to this section.
Your consent. Most uses and disclosures of these records require written consent. You may give one consent for future treatment, payment and health care operations, or consent to more limited purposes. For example, you may allow us to share treatment and medication information with another treating clinician or submit it to a payer. A consent can also authorize disclosures to a named recipient, to prevent multiple program enrollments, concerning court-referred treatment, or to a prescription drug monitoring program as permitted by Part 2. Uses and disclosures not described in this notice require your written consent. You may revoke consent in writing, except for actions already taken in reliance on it and any special limits allowed for criminal-justice referral consent under 42 CFR 2.35; those limits must be explained in the applicable consent.
Limited disclosures without consent. Part 2 allows specific exceptions, with safeguards. These include necessary communications among personnel within the program or its direct administrative control and qualified service organizations under the required agreement; disclosure to medical personnel responding to a bona fide medical emergency or certain FDA product-safety situations; public-health disclosures with identifiers removed to the required standard; scientific research meeting Part 2's conditions; authorized audits and evaluations subject to restrictions on use and redisclosure; legally permitted cause-of-death information; the limited report of suspected child abuse or neglect; and limited reports of crimes or threats against program personnel or on program premises. These exceptions do not authorize unrestricted release of the underlying treatment record. A court-authorized disclosure must satisfy Part 2's separate procedures, including the legal mandate and notice rules described above where applicable. If a court authorizes a disclosure to investigate the program itself, advance patient notice may not be required; affected patients may have a right to seek to revoke or amend that order. Connecticut's more protective requirements still apply.
Later sharing by a recipient. If you consent to treatment, payment and operations disclosures and the recipient is a HIPAA covered entity or business associate, that recipient may use or disclose the information again as HIPAA permits, subject to applicable additional limits. The special prohibition on using Part 2 records in proceedings against you continues to apply.
Restrictions and disclosure information. You may request limits on treatment, payment and operations disclosures after giving consent. We consider those requests, and must honor the applicable restriction on health-plan payment or operations disclosures for services paid in full out of pocket. If you consent to disclosure through an intermediary covered by 42 CFR 2.24, you may ask that intermediary for the list of entities to which it disclosed your records during the previous three years. We can help identify the intermediary. Part 2 also provides a right to an accounting under 42 CFR 2.25, including three years of electronic-record treatment, payment and operations disclosures. HHS has stated that the compliance date for that additional accounting right will be set with the corresponding HIPAA revision; we will implement it by the applicable date. This does not delay your existing HIPAA accounting rights.
You also have the rights to a paper or electronic notice, discussion with the Privacy Officer, advance fundraising choices, breach notification, and complaints without retaliation described in this notice.
Our duties, changes and complaints
We must protect the privacy of your protected health information, provide this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, and follow the notice currently in effect. Where Part 2 applies, we must obtain consent for most uses and disclosures and notify affected patients of breaches of unsecured records as required by law.
We may revise this notice and apply lawful revisions to information already held as well as future information. The revised notice will state its actual effective date, appear on our website, and be available on request. We will provide the revised notice through the patient portal or regular mail, consistent with our existing notice-delivery commitment and applicable law. Electronic receipt does not remove your right to a paper copy. A notice is not itself an authorization for a disclosure that requires your permission.
To ask about your rights or file a complaint with the practice, contact Hamilton Gaiani, MD, Privacy Officer, at 475-244-7517, info@hamiltongaianimd.com, or 85 North Main St. #1038, Branford, CT 06405. Tell us what happened and how to contact you; we can arrange a secure method for the details. You may also file a complaint with HHS Office for Civil Rights through its complaint instructions, by calling 1-877-696-6775, or by writing to 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201. The HHS route covers applicable HIPAA and Part 2 complaints. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.
Acknowledgment of receipt
A signature on a notice acknowledgment confirms receipt of this notice. It does not waive your privacy rights or authorize a use or disclosure that requires separate permission.
