RUSSELL BRUCE HUBBARD MD INC.
Notice of Privacy Practices
Effective Date: July 28, 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 applies to Russell Bruce Hubbard MD Inc. and members of its workforce who create, receive, maintain, or transmit protected health information while providing or supporting care, including psychiatric evaluation, medication management, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), Spravato® treatment, telehealth, and related administrative services.
Your Rights | Your Choices | Our Uses and Disclosures |
• Access or copy your records • Ask us to correct your records • Request confidential communications • Ask us to limit certain uses or disclosures • Receive an accounting of certain disclosures • Receive a copy of this Notice • Choose a personal representative • File a complaint without retaliation | • Tell us whether to share information with family, friends, or others involved in your care • Tell us your preferences for disaster-relief disclosures • Authorize marketing, sale of information, or most uses of psychotherapy notes | • Treat you and coordinate care • Run our practice • Bill and obtain payment • Meet legal, public-health, safety, oversight, and other permitted obligations |
We will not use or disclose your information other than as described in this Notice unless you authorize us in writing. You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time, except to the extent that we have already acted in reliance on it.
You may ask to inspect or receive an electronic or paper copy of your medical record and other health information we maintain about you. We will generally provide a copy or summary within 30 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee as permitted by law and will tell you if a request cannot be fulfilled in whole or in part.
You may ask us to correct health information that you believe is inaccurate or incomplete. We may deny the request in certain circumstances, but we will explain the denial in writing, generally within 60 days.
You may ask us to contact you in a specific way, such as at a particular telephone number, by mail at a different address, or through another reasonable method. We will accommodate reasonable requests.
You may ask us not to use or disclose certain information for treatment, payment, or health care operations. We generally are not required to agree, and we may decline if the restriction could affect your care. If we agree, we may still disclose the information when needed for emergency treatment or when required by law.
If you pay for a health care service or item completely out of pocket, you may ask us not to disclose information about that service or item to your health plan for payment or health care operations. We will agree unless the disclosure is required by law.
You may request a list of certain disclosures of your health information made during the six years before your request, including who received the information and why. The accounting will not include disclosures for treatment, payment, or health care operations and certain other disclosures excluded by law. One accounting in a 12-month period is free; a reasonable, cost-based fee may apply to additional requests.
You may request a paper or electronic copy of this Notice at any time, including if you previously agreed to receive it electronically. We will provide it promptly.
A person legally authorized to act as your personal representative, such as an agent under a valid health care power of attorney or a legal guardian, may exercise your rights. We will verify that person’s authority before acting on a request.
You may complain to our Privacy Officer if you believe your privacy rights have been violated. You may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, by writing to 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20201, calling 1-877-696-6775, or visiting the HHS Office for Civil Rights complaint website. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.
For certain health information, you may tell us your preferences about what we disclose. Tell us what you want us to do, and we will follow your instructions when the law gives you that choice.
If you are unable to tell us your preference, such as when you are unconscious or unavailable, we may use professional judgment to disclose information that is in your best interest. We may also disclose information when necessary to prevent or reduce a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.
Bruce Hubbard MD Inc. does not sell medical information. We do not use PHI for fundraising. If these practices change, we will provide any notice and choice required by law.
We may use your health information and disclose it to physicians, psychologists, physician assistants, nurses, treatment technicians, pharmacies, laboratories, hospitals, referring providers, and other professionals involved in your care.
Example: We may share relevant information with another treating clinician, a pharmacy, or a laboratory to coordinate psychiatric medication management, TMS, Spravato treatment, or follow-up care.
We may use and disclose your information to verify benefits, obtain prior authorization, submit claims, coordinate benefits, collect payment, respond to payment inquiries, and conduct permitted billing activities.
Example: We may provide diagnosis, treatment, and authorization information to your health plan so it can determine coverage and pay for services.
We may use and disclose your information to run our practice, improve quality, train and supervise staff, evaluate performance, conduct compliance and security activities, manage patient communications, perform audits, and support business functions.
Example: We may review treatment records to evaluate service quality or improve patient scheduling and follow-up processes.
We may disclose information to vendors and contractors that perform services for us, such as electronic health record, billing, scheduling, communications, information technology, document storage, and legal or accounting services. When required, these business associates must sign agreements requiring them to safeguard PHI and use it only as permitted.
We may contact you by telephone, voicemail, text message, email, patient portal, or mail for appointment reminders, scheduling, prescription or treatment information, insurance matters, care coordination, and other health-related services. You may request a reasonable alternative communication method or location.
When we provide telehealth services, we may use and disclose health information in the same ways permitted for in-person care. We use reasonable safeguards appropriate to the communication method and service provided.
We may use or disclose health information in other circumstances permitted or required by law. These disclosures are subject to applicable conditions and limitations.
We may disclose information for public health activities, including disease prevention, product recalls, reporting adverse reactions, reporting suspected abuse or neglect, and preventing or reducing a serious threat to health or safety.
We may disclose information to health oversight agencies for audits, inspections, investigations, licensing, disciplinary proceedings, and other activities authorized by law.
We may disclose information in response to a court or administrative order and, when legally permitted, in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process.
We may disclose information for law-enforcement purposes and for special government functions such as military, national security, intelligence, and protective services, when permitted or required by law.
We may disclose information as authorized by workers’ compensation and similar laws.
We may use or disclose information for research when an institutional review board or privacy board has approved the activity, when you authorize it, or when another legal permission applies.
We may disclose information to a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director as permitted by law.
We may disclose information to organ procurement organizations or others involved in organ, eye, or tissue donation and transplantation.
We will disclose information when federal or state law requires it, including to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services when it investigates or determines our compliance with federal privacy law.
Behavioral health information may be protected by HIPAA and by California laws that impose additional limits on access, use, or disclosure. We will apply the law that provides greater privacy protection when it applies. We generally will not disclose mental health treatment information without authorization unless the disclosure is permitted or required by law, including for treatment, payment, health care operations, mandatory reporting, emergencies, safety, oversight, or judicial and administrative proceedings that satisfy applicable legal requirements.
Psychotherapy notes are notes recorded by a mental health professional documenting or analyzing the contents of a private counseling session and maintained separately from the rest of the medical record. Most uses or disclosures of psychotherapy notes require your written authorization, subject to limited exceptions permitted by law. Routine psychiatric progress notes, medication-management notes, TMS records, Spravato records, test results, and information maintained in the general medical record are not necessarily psychotherapy notes under HIPAA.
Bruce Hubbard MD Inc. is not a federally assisted substance use disorder treatment program subject to 42 CFR Part 2. However, to the extent we receive or maintain substance use disorder patient records that remain protected by 42 CFR Part 2, we will not use or disclose those records in any civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative investigation or proceeding against you without your written consent or a court order accompanied by a subpoena, as required by law.
Electronic communications may present privacy risks, including interception, misdelivery, access by others who use your device or account, and retention by telecommunications or technology providers. We use reasonable safeguards, but no electronic method can be guaranteed completely secure. You may request confidential communications or ask us to use a reasonable alternative method.
Text messages and emails are not appropriate for emergencies. If you are experiencing an emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. Electronic messages are not continuously monitored and should not be used for urgent clinical needs.
Parents, guardians, and other personal representatives generally may exercise privacy rights for a minor or another individual when authorized by law. California and federal law may allow a minor to consent to certain services or may restrict a representative’s access in particular circumstances. We will follow the law applicable to the specific service and situation.
We may change the terms of this Notice, and the revised terms may apply to all health information we maintain, including information created or received before the change. The current Notice will be available upon request, posted prominently at our office, and posted on our website.
Privacy Officer | Stephen B. Parker, Ph.D. |
Organization | Russell Bruce Hubbard MD Inc. |
Address | 1565 Hotel Circle South, Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92108 |
Telephone | (619) 295-8005 |
stephen@brucehubbardmd.com |
Questions about this Notice, requests to exercise your privacy rights, and privacy complaints may be directed to the Privacy Officer using the contact information above.
This Notice applies to Russell Bruce Hubbard MD Inc.; its employed and contracted health care professionals when providing services through the practice; and its employees, trainees, volunteers, contractors, and other workforce members who are authorized to access PHI in connection with practice operations. This Notice does not create an organized health care arrangement with independent entities unless separately documented.
Patient acknowledgment: HIPAA requires the practice to make a good-faith effort to obtain acknowledgment that you received this Notice. Signing an acknowledgment confirms receipt only; it does not waive any privacy right. |
Document basis: Prepared from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services February 2026 Model Notice of Privacy Practices for HIPAA Covered Health Care Providers and applicable California medical privacy principles. This document should be reviewed by qualified health care counsel before formal adoption.
Emergency Notice
This website is not intended for medical emergencies. If you are experiencing a medical or mental health emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. If you are having thoughts of harming yourself or others, call or text 988 or seek emergency assistance immediately.
