Because Parlo Speech provides speech therapy, some of the information you provide or we collect may be related to health or developmental information about your child. We understand that health information is particularly sensitive. Parlo Speech is committed to protecting the privacy and security of health information in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other applicable privacy laws.

• Protected Health Information: If you provide health-related details (for example, describing your child’s speech delay, developmental history, or any diagnoses), this is considered Protected Health Information (PHI) under HIPAA. We treat all such information with a high level of care and confidentiality. We will use this information only for purposes of evaluating your child’s needs, planning and providing therapy, and any related healthcare operations (such as coordinating care or handling billing if applicable). We will not use or disclose your health information for any other purposes unless you have authorized it or it is otherwise permitted or required by law. (For instance, HIPAA may permit certain disclosures in rare cases such as to prevent a serious threat to health or safety, or as required by law, but those situations are very limited and would be handled with proper safeguards.)

• Jotform and Data Collection: As noted, we use Jotform to collect personal and health information through our website forms. Jotform offers HIPAA-compliant online forms, which means it has put in place strict security measures to protect the data you submit jotform.com. When you enter information into our form, that information is encrypted during transmission and stored securely on Jotform’s servers which meet HIPAA requirements. In addition, we have a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) in place with Jotform (as required by HIPAA) to ensure that they are also obligated to safeguard your health information on our behalf. In practice, this means the data you provide is handled with the same level of protection as it would be in a medical office setting.

• How We Protect Health Information: We restrict access to your and your child’s health information to authorized individuals only. This typically means the speech-language pathologist and necessary administrative staff who need to know the information in order to respond to your inquiry or provide services will have access. All such individuals are trained on patient privacy and confidentiality. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to prevent unauthorized access to PHI. For example, if we download or print your information from Jotform for clinical use, we keep it in secure files or encrypted devices. Any electronic health records or session notes we maintain are stored in a secure manner (encrypted and password-protected). We will not discuss or reveal your child’s information with anyone outside of Parlo Speech without your explicit permission, except as allowed by law (such as in the case of mandatory reporting or if we are coordinating with another healthcare provider with your consent).

• No Commercial Use of Health Data: Rest assured, we do not use any health information you provide for advertising, nor do we sell or share your health-related information with pharmaceutical companies, marketing firms, or any other outside parties for commercial purposes. The information is used strictly to help us deliver quality speech therapy services to your child.

• HIPAA Notice: This Privacy Policy is focused on how we handle data on our website and in our practice generally. If you become a client, you may also receive a more detailed “Notice of Privacy Practices” as required by HIPAA, which will provide additional information about how medical information may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to that information. We abide by the promises in that Notice as well as this policy.

By entrusting us with your child’s personal and health information, you are allowing us to provide the best possible care. We take that trust seriously and work hard to maintain compliance with all privacy regulations and to keep your information safe.