What you can expect from us as a patient, what you can insist on, and how to complain if we get it wrong, including the complaints you can make without going through us. It ends with what we ask of you in return.
Effective
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Effective date
1Who this is for
This applies to you if you receive clinical care from Sleep Balance Academy PC, and to a parent, guardian or personal representative acting for someone who does. It covers a video visit, a message with your care team, a home sleep test we arrange, and anything a clinician orders for you.
It sits alongside the other documents we publish. Where this one describes a right in plain words and another document sets out the detail, the detailed one governs the mechanics and this one still tells you what you are entitled to expect.
2Care that treats you fairly
You are entitled to considerate, respectful care from every person here, and to care that does not depend on who you are.
We do not treat you differently because of your race, color, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, religion, veteran status, the language you speak, or how you are paying. That applies to whether we see you, how quickly, and how you are spoken to.
We do not treat you worse because you asked a difficult question, refused something, asked for a second opinion, or made a complaint. If you ever feel that happened, section 11 tells you what to do about it.
3Knowing who is looking after you
Before a visit starts you are told the name of the clinician you are seeing and their professional credentials. Clinical care is delivered by clinicians licensed in the state you are in at the time of your visit.
You can ask us which license your clinician holds, which state issued it, and the license number, and we will tell you so that you can check it with the board yourself. You can also ask who else is involved in your care and what their role is, including anyone reviewing or co-signing what your clinician recommends.
4An explanation you can understand
You have the right to an explanation of your condition and your care in words you actually understand, at a pace that suits you, and for as long as it takes. If an explanation was too fast or too technical, say so and ask for it again.
Before you agree to anything, you should know:
what we think is going on, and how confident we are about it
what we are proposing, and what it involves for you day to day
what could go wrong, and how likely that is
what the alternatives are, including doing nothing for now
what happens next, who does it, and when you will hear from us
You can ask for it in writing, and you can ask for a copy of anything we go through with you on screen.
5Asking questions, saying no, and stopping
You can ask anything, including how much experience your clinician has with your problem and why they are recommending one thing over another. A question is never an inconvenience.
You can decline any test, any treatment and any device, and you can stop something you already started. Declining does not end your care with us.
If you decline something, we will tell you plainly what we think the consequences are, and we will write down what you decided and what we told you. Then we will carry on looking after you. If there is a reasonable alternative, we will offer it.
Where you gave a consent, you can withdraw it. Consents you have given are listed in your patient portal and you can revoke one there at any time. Withdrawing a consent does not undo something that already happened while it was in force.
6A second opinion, a different clinician, or leaving us
You can get a second opinion at any time, and you do not need our agreement or our referral to do it. Tell us where to send your information and we will send it.
You can ask for a different clinician, and we will try to arrange one. We will tell you honestly if we cannot, and why. You can also stop being our patient whenever you like, without giving a reason, without a fee, and without it affecting anything you have already paid for.
7Privacy during a visit, and who else is there
A visit is between you and your clinician. If anybody else is going to be present, including someone in training or a member of staff helping with the technology, you are told who they are and why they are there before the visit begins, and you can ask them to leave.
We do not record a visit without telling you first and asking you. If a visit is recorded, you are told what the recording is for, who can see it, and how long we keep it, and you can ask for a copy.
How your health information is used and shared more generally is set out in the Notice of Privacy Practices, which is the document that governs it.
8Your record
The record of your care belongs to your care, not to us. You have the right to see it, to get a copy in a form you can actually use, and to ask us to correct something in it that is wrong or incomplete.
Ask us. Write to support@sleepbalanceacademy.com and tell us what you want: everything, a date range, or one specific document such as a sleep study result.
We tell you what we are sending, when, and in what format, and we tell you if any part of it is being withheld and why.
If you asked for a correction and we agree, we make it. An amendment adds to the record; it never overwrites or erases what was there.
If we do not agree, you get that in writing with the reason, and you can write a statement of your own that is kept with the record and travels with it.
We do not make access conditional on paying a bill, on signing anything, or on telling us why you want it.
The formal versions of these rights, including the deadlines that apply to us, what we may charge, and your rights to an accounting of disclosures, to confidential communications and to request restrictions, are set out in the Notice of Privacy Practices. That document is the authority; this section is the plain summary.
9Knowing what something costs before you agree to it
You should never find out the price after the decision. Before you agree to a visit, a test or a product, we tell you what it costs. If we genuinely cannot give you an exact figure, we tell you the range and what would move it.
If you are paying without insurance, you can ask for a written estimate before you receive care and we will give you one. We also tell you at the point you enter your payment details whether you are being charged then or later.
If a bill does not look right, ask us. We will explain each line, and we will correct it if it is wrong. Cancellations, missed appointments and how clinical services are billed are covered by the Clinical Cancellation, No-Show and Billing Policy.
10Having someone with you, and language help
You can have a family member, a friend, a caregiver or an advocate with you for a visit. Tell us beforehand so that we can add them and so your clinician knows to expect them. You can also ask them to step out at any point.
If you need an interpreter, tell us before your visit and we will arrange language help at no cost to you. You are never required to bring your own interpreter, and we will not ask a child to interpret for you.
If a disability makes any part of this hard to use, tell us and we will find another way. The Accessibility Statement explains what to expect when you report a barrier.
11If something goes wrong
11.1 Telling us
Write to support@sleepbalanceacademy.com and tell us what happened. A person reads it. We acknowledge it, look into it, and tell you what we found and what we are doing about it.
Complaining does not change how you are treated, what you are charged, or how quickly you are seen. If you would rather not raise it with the clinician involved, you do not have to; say so and we will keep it away from them while it is looked at.
11.2 Telling someone who is not us
You do not have to complain to us first, and you do not need our permission. These routes are yours and they are independent of us.
A state licensing board. The medical or dental licensing board of the state where you received care hears complaints about a clinician's conduct or competence. Ask us and we will tell you which board that is and how to reach it, and we will do that even when the complaint is about us.
The Office for Civil Rights. The Office for Civil Rights at the US Department of Health and Human Services takes complaints about your health information privacy and about discrimination in health care. You can complain to them directly, and there is a time limit, so do not wait for us to finish looking into something.
Other agencies. Your state attorney general and other agencies also take consumer complaints. Nothing we publish and nothing you have agreed to prevents you from contacting any of them.
We will not retaliate against you for using any of these routes, and we will not ask you to withdraw a complaint as a condition of anything.
12What we ask of you
None of the following is a condition of receiving care. They are the things that make your care work, and we are asking, not requiring.
Accurate information. Tell us what is actually going on: your symptoms, your history, every medicine and supplement you take, other clinicians you are seeing, and anything that changes. We can only advise you on what we know about.
A safe and private place for a visit. Somewhere you can talk freely, where the connection is good enough and you are not driving or doing something that needs your attention. If that is hard to find, tell us and we will work around it.
Being on time, or telling us. Be there at the time you booked, or tell us as early as you can if you cannot. Telling us lets us give the slot to someone else. The notice we ask for and what happens if a visit is missed are in the Clinical Cancellation, No-Show and Billing Policy.
Treating staff decently. Treat the people here decently. We do not accept threats, harassment or abuse toward our staff or clinicians, and a visit can be ended if that happens. In a rare and serious case we may end the care relationship, and if we do we tell you in writing, keep looking after you for a reasonable period while you find someone else, and send your records where you ask. We do not do this in the middle of urgent care.
Telling us when the plan is not working. Follow the plan you agreed to, or tell us that you are not going to. We would much rather know that something is not working for you than assume it is.
13Changes to this document
We update this document when what we do changes, when the law changes, or when we find wording that is unclear. Every version is kept, and each one records the date it took effect.
How you find out depends on how much changed. A correction that does not change your rights is simply published. A change that does affect your rights is announced before it takes effect. A change that materially alters what you agreed to is not applied to you by silence: we ask you to accept it, and continuing to browse the site is not treated as acceptance.
If you want a copy of an earlier version, or want to know what changed and when, write to support@sleepbalanceacademy.com and we will send it to you.
If you want to raise something about your care, put that in the first line of your message so it reaches the right person quickly. If you are describing an injury or a problem with a product, say so, because that is handled as a safety report as well as a message.
