Love & Leche Lactation

Notice of Privacy Practices

Your Information. Your Rights. Our Responsibilities.

Effective date: November 4, 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 explains your privacy rights and our legal duties concerning protected health information. It applies to health information about you and, when applicable, your baby that Love & Leche Lactation creates or receives while providing lactation services.

Covered entity: Love & Leche Lactation
Privacy Contact: Megan Weimer, IBCLC
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 610-835-4022
Location: Oxford, Pennsylvania

Love & Leche Lactation is a health care provider subject to the HIPAA Privacy Rule. This notice applies to protected health information (PHI) created or received by the practice in connection with the lactation services we provide. PHI may include information about you and, when applicable, your baby.

Our website, social media, and general inquiry forms are not intended for sending private medical information. Please use the secure patient intake or communication process for clinical information. If information you send through another channel becomes part of your clinical record or is otherwise PHI maintained by the practice, we will protect and handle it as required by applicable law.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

Get a copy of your paper or electronic health record.
Ask us to correct information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete.
Request that we contact you in a specific way or at a particular address or phone number.
Ask us to limit certain uses and disclosures of your information.
Request an accounting of certain disclosures of your information.
Receive a paper copy of this notice.
Choose a person who is legally authorized to act for you.
File a complaint if you believe your privacy rights have been violated.

Get a copy of your record

You may ask to see or receive an electronic or paper copy of your medical record and other health information we maintain about you. Contact our Privacy Contact using the information above. We will provide a copy or summary, usually within 30 days of your request. If we need additional time, we will notify you and explain the reason and expected timing as permitted by law. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee where permitted.

Ask us to correct your record

You may ask us to correct health information about you that you believe is incorrect or incomplete. Contact us and tell us what you would like corrected and why. We may deny your request in certain circumstances. If we do, we will explain the reason in writing, generally within 60 days, and tell you about your options.

Request confidential communications

You may ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, at a particular phone number or address) or to send communications to a different address. We will agree to all reasonable requests.

Ask us to limit what we use or share

You may ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment, or health care operations. We are not required to agree to every request. If we agree, we may still disclose the information for emergency treatment when permitted by law. If you pay for a service or health care item out of pocket in full, you may ask us not to share information about that service with your health insurer for payment or health care operations. We will agree unless a law requires us to share that information.

Get a list of certain disclosures

You may ask for a list (called an accounting) of certain disclosures of your health information during the six years before your request, including who received the information and why. The accounting does not include disclosures for treatment, payment, and health care operations or certain other disclosures excluded by law, such as disclosures you asked us to make. We will provide one accounting in a 12-month period for free. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for additional requests within that 12-month period.

Choose someone to act for you

If someone has authority to act as your personal representative, such as a person with your medical power of attorney or your legal guardian, that person may exercise your rights and make choices about your health information. We will verify that the person has this authority before taking action. A parent or legal guardian may generally act for a child, subject to applicable exceptions and law.

File a complaint

You may complain if you believe we have violated your privacy rights by contacting our Privacy Contact using the information at the top of this notice. You may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, at hhs.gov/hipaa/filing-a-complaint, or call 1-877-696-6775. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

Your Choices

For certain health information, you can tell us your choices about what we share. If you have a clear preference in the situations below, tell us what you want us to do and we will follow your instructions. You may ask us to:

Share information with your family, close friends, or others involved in your care or payment for your care.
Share information in a disaster-relief situation.
Include information in a hospital directory. Love & Leche Lactation does not operate a hospital directory.

If you are unable to tell us your preference, for example because you are unconscious, we may share information if we believe it is in your best interest. We may also share information when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety, as permitted by law.

We will not use or share your information for marketing purposes or sell your information unless you give us written permission. Most uses and disclosures of psychotherapy notes also require your written permission. Love & Leche Lactation does not provide psychotherapy services, maintain psychotherapy notes, or conduct fundraising campaigns. If we ever seek an authorization for a use or disclosure, you may revoke it in writing, except to the extent we have already acted in reliance on it.

Love & Leche Lactation does not operate a hospital directory or conduct fundraising campaigns as part of its lactation practice.

How We May Use and Disclose Your Health Information

For treatment

We can use your health information and share it with other professionals who are treating you or your baby. For example, we may document a lactation consultation, develop a feeding care plan, and, when permitted by law, share relevant information with your baby’s pediatrician or another treating provider involved in care.

To run our practice (health care operations)

We can use and share health information to run our practice, improve care, and contact you when necessary. For example, we use health information to manage appointments, maintain clinical records, coordinate follow-up, and review the quality of our services.

For payment

We can use and share health information to bill and receive payment from health plans or other entities. For example, we may provide information about your consultation and services to your health plan so it can process and pay a claim. We share only information permitted and reasonably necessary for payment activities.

With billing and other service providers

We may use outside service providers to support our practice, including billing, claims submission, scheduling, secure recordkeeping, communications, and information technology. Breezy Babies and an independent billing service may submit electronic insurance claims on behalf of Love & Leche Lactation using the practice’s provider information, including its National Provider Identifier (NPI). When a service provider is a business associate under HIPAA and handles PHI on our behalf, we require a written business associate agreement and appropriate privacy and security protections as required by law. These providers may use or disclose PHI only as permitted by their agreements and applicable law.

Other permitted or required disclosures

We may also use or disclose health information when permitted or required by law, including:

For public health activities, such as reporting certain diseases, safety concerns, or adverse events.
To report suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence when legally required or authorized.
To prevent or lessen a serious threat to health or safety.
For health oversight activities, audits, inspections, investigations, or licensing activities authorized by law.
For law enforcement purposes when legal requirements are met.
For workers’ compensation or similar programs when authorized by law.
In response to a court or administrative order, subpoena, or other lawful process when applicable legal requirements are met.
To comply with federal, state, or local law, including disclosures to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services when required for oversight of HIPAA compliance.
To respond to organ and tissue donation requests, when legally permitted.
To a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director when an individual dies, as permitted by law.
For certain government functions, research, or other public-interest purposes when the legal conditions for disclosure are satisfied.

We do not routinely perform research, provide hospital-directory services, or participate in organ or tissue donation activities. If a disclosure in one of these or another special category becomes relevant, we will make it only when permitted by applicable law.

Substance use disorder records

To the extent we receive or maintain substance use disorder patient records protected by 42 CFR Part 2, special federal confidentiality protections apply. We will not use or share those records, or testimony that describes their contents, in any civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative investigation or proceeding against you unless you provide the written consent required by Part 2 or a court issues an order that meets Part 2 requirements and the required subpoena is provided. These protections apply in addition to other applicable privacy protections.

Our Responsibilities

We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of protected health information.
We will notify you if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information, as required by law.
We must follow the privacy practices described in this notice and provide you with a copy.
We are required to abide by the terms of the notice currently in effect.
We will not use or disclose your information other than as described in this notice unless you authorize us in writing or the law otherwise permits or requires it.
If you authorize a use or disclosure, you may revoke that authorization in writing, subject to actions already taken in reliance on it.

Special Protections Under State and Federal Law

Some health information may receive additional protection under federal or Pennsylvania law. When a more protective law applies, we will follow the applicable legal requirements. The specific rules can depend on the type of information and circumstances of the disclosure.

Changes to This Notice

We may change the terms of this notice, and the changes will apply to all health information we maintain as permitted by law. The revised notice will be available upon request and on our website. The effective date will appear at the top of the notice.

Questions or Requests

Contact our Privacy Contact, Megan Weimer, IBCLC, at [email protected] or 610-835-4022. You may use these contact details to ask for a copy of this notice, request access to your record, or raise a privacy concern.

For more information about HIPAA privacy rights, you may visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website at hhs.gov/hipaa.