Effective date: September 24, 2026
This page covers how we protect your health information (our Notice of Privacy Practices), how our website handles information, our website terms, and your right to a Good Faith Estimate.
If you are in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or call 911. Do not use this website or email to reach us in an emergency.
Notice of Privacy Practices
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.
Mountain Recovery & Mental Wellness (“we,” “us”) provides outpatient psychiatric care and treatment for substance use disorders. We are required by law to protect the privacy of your health information, to give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, and to follow the terms of the notice currently in effect. Because we treat substance use disorders, some of your records also have extra federal protection under 42 CFR Part 2, described below.
Your rights
When it comes to your health information, you have certain rights. This section explains your rights and some of our responsibilities to help you.
Get a copy of your health and claims records
You can ask to see or get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record and other health information we have about you. Ask us how to do this. We will provide a copy or a summary, usually within 30 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.
Ask us to correct your record
You can ask us to correct health information about you that you think is incorrect or incomplete. We may say “no,” but we will tell you why in writing within 60 days.
Request confidential communications
You can ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, a home or office phone) or to send mail to a different address. We will say “yes” to all reasonable requests.
Ask us to limit what we use or share
You can ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment, or our operations. We are not required to agree, and we may say “no” if it would affect your care. If you pay for a service or item out of pocket in full, you can ask us not to share that information with your health insurer for payment or operations. We will say “yes” unless a law requires us to share it.
Get a list of those with whom we have shared information
You can ask for a list (accounting) of the times we have shared your health information for six years prior to the date you ask, who we shared it with, and why. We will include all disclosures except those about treatment, payment, and health care operations and certain other disclosures (such as any you asked us to make). We will provide one accounting a year for free but may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee if you ask for another one within 12 months. For records protected by Part 2, you may also ask for a list of disclosures made with your consent.
Get a copy of this privacy notice
You can ask for a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you have agreed to receive it electronically. We will provide you with a paper copy promptly.
Choose someone to act for you
If you have given someone medical power of attorney or if someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights and make choices about your health information. We will make sure the person has this authority and can act for you before we take any action.
File a complaint if you feel your rights are violated
You can complain if you feel we have violated your rights by contacting us using the information at the end of this notice. You can also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by sending a letter to 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, calling 1-877-696-6775, or visiting http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/complaints. 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 for how we share your information in the situations described below, talk to us. Tell us what you want us to do, and we will follow your instructions.
In these cases, you have both the right and choice to tell us to:
Share information with your family, close friends, or others involved in your care
Share information in a disaster relief situation
If you are not able to tell us your preference, for example if you are unconscious, we may go ahead and share your information if we believe it is in your best interest. We may also share your information when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.
In these cases we never share your information unless you give us written permission:
Marketing purposes
Sale of your information
Most sharing of psychotherapy notes
If we contact you for fundraising efforts, you can tell us not to contact you again.
Our uses and disclosures
We typically use or share your health information in the following ways.
Treat you
We can use your health information and share it with other professionals who are treating you. Example: your provider shares information with a pharmacy to fill a prescription, or with another doctor about your overall health condition.
Run our organization
We can use and share your health information to run our practice, improve your care, and contact you when necessary. Example: we use health information about you to manage your treatment and services.
Bill for your services
We can use and share your health information to bill and get payment from health plans or other entities. Example: we give information about you to your health insurance plan so it will pay for your services.
How else can we use or share your health information?
We are allowed or required to share your information in other ways, usually in ways that contribute to the public good, such as public health and research. We have to meet many conditions in the law before we can share your information for these purposes. For more information see HHS: Your Rights Under HIPAA.
Help with public health and safety issues: preventing disease, helping with product recalls, reporting adverse reactions to medications, reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence, and preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety.
Do research: we can use or share your information for health research, as the law allows.
Comply with the law: we will share information about you if state or federal laws require it, including with the Department of Health and Human Services if it wants to see that we are complying with federal privacy law.
Respond to organ and tissue donation requests and work with a medical examiner or funeral director.
Address workers’ compensation, law enforcement, and other government requests: for workers’ compensation claims, for law enforcement purposes or with a law enforcement official, with health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law, and for special government functions such as military, national security, and presidential protective services.
Respond to lawsuits and legal actions: in response to a court or administrative order, or in response to a subpoena, subject to the extra protections for substance use disorder records described below.
Prescription monitoring: North Carolina law requires us to report certain controlled substance prescriptions to the NC Controlled Substances Reporting System.
Extra protection for substance use disorder records (42 CFR Part 2)
Records of your substance use disorder diagnosis, treatment, or referral that we create or receive are protected by federal law and regulations (42 U.S.C. § 290dd-2 and 42 CFR Part 2) in addition to HIPAA. In general, we may not say to a person outside our practice that you attend our program, or disclose any information identifying you as having or having had a substance use disorder, unless:
You consent in writing;
The disclosure is allowed by a court order that meets the requirements of Part 2;
The disclosure is made to medical personnel in a medical emergency;
The disclosure is made to qualified personnel for research, audit, or program evaluation; or
The disclosure is otherwise permitted by Part 2, such as reporting suspected child abuse or neglect as required by state law, or reporting a crime on our premises or against our staff.
Single consent for treatment, payment, and health care operations. You may give one written consent for us to use and share your Part 2 records for treatment, payment, and health care operations. Once you do, those records may be further shared by the recipients as HIPAA allows, but they may still never be used against you as described below. You may revoke your consent in writing at any time, except for actions already taken in reliance on it.
Records cannot be used against you in legal proceedings. Your Part 2 records, or testimony about their content, may not be used or disclosed in any civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative investigation or proceeding against you unless you give specific written consent or a court issues an order that meets the requirements of Part 2 (with notice to you and an opportunity to be heard).
Your Part 2 rights. In addition to the rights listed above, you have the right to ask us to restrict disclosures of your Part 2 records for treatment, payment, or operations; to receive an accounting of disclosures made with your consent; to be notified if there is a breach of your unsecured records; and to choose not to receive fundraising communications. Federal law does not protect any information about a crime committed by a patient either at our practice or against any person who works for us, or about any threat to commit such a crime.
Violation of Part 2 is a crime. You may report suspected violations to us using the contact information below, to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (contact information above), or to the United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
Mental health records and North Carolina law
North Carolina law (N.C.G.S. Chapter 122C) gives mental health and substance use records additional confidentiality protection. Where North Carolina law or Part 2 is stricter than HIPAA, we follow the stricter rule. Psychotherapy notes, if kept, are held separately and are shared only with your written authorization, except where the law allows otherwise.
Our responsibilities
We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.
We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.
We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it.
We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us we can in writing. If you tell us we can, you may change your mind at any time. Let us know in writing if you change your mind.
For more information see HHS: Notice of Privacy Practices.
Changes to the terms of this notice
We can change the terms of this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The new notice will be available upon request, in our office, and on our website.
Website privacy
When you fill out a form on this website, we collect what you enter (such as your name, email, phone number, date of birth, and a short note) and use it only to contact you and start your care. Please share only what we need to reach you. Do not send detailed medical history, medication lists, or insurance ID numbers through a website form or by email.
We use Google Analytics and WordPress.com (Jetpack) statistics, which use cookies, to see how visitors use the site so we can improve it. We do not use this for advertising, and we do not sell or rent your information. You can block cookies in your browser or use the Google Analytics opt-out add-on. Once you become a patient, your information is protected as described in the Notice of Privacy Practices above.
Website terms
The information on this website is general education, not medical advice. Using this site or sending us a form does not make you a patient; that begins after intake and your first visit. Do not start, stop, or change a medication based on what you read here.
We care for adults 18 and older, in person at our Asheville office or by telehealth for patients located in North Carolina at the time of the visit. Prescribing decisions are made by your provider after an evaluation and are never guaranteed. Reviews shown on this site are posted publicly on Google; we do not pay for them, and one person’s experience does not guarantee the same result for you. Services, insurance plans, and hours can change, so please call to confirm. These terms are governed by North Carolina law.
Good Faith Estimate
You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your health care will cost
Under the law, health care providers need to give patients who don’t have certain types of health care coverage or who are not using certain types of health care coverage an estimate of their bill for health care items and services before those items or services are provided.
You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any health care items or services upon request or when scheduling such items or services. This includes related costs like medical tests, prescription drugs, equipment, and hospital fees.
If you schedule a health care item or service at least 3 business days in advance, make sure your health care provider or facility gives you a Good Faith Estimate in writing within 1 business day after scheduling. If you schedule a health care item or service at least 10 business days in advance, make sure your health care provider or facility gives you a Good Faith Estimate in writing within 3 business days after scheduling. You can also ask any health care provider or facility for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule an item or service. If you do, make sure the health care provider or facility gives you a Good Faith Estimate in writing within 3 business days after you ask.
If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more for any provider or facility than your Good Faith Estimate from that provider or facility, you can dispute the bill.
Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate.
For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit http://www.cms.gov/nosurprises/consumers, email FederalPPDRQuestions@cms.hhs.gov, or call 1-800-985-3059.
Ask us for your estimate
If you are uninsured or plan to pay for your care yourself, call us at (828) 283-0367 and we will give you a written Good Faith Estimate before your visit. See Insurance & Payment for more about how billing works.
Accessibility and language help
We want everyone to be able to use this website and get care from us. If any part of the site is hard to use, or you need a sign language interpreter, an interpreter for another language, or materials in another format, call us at (828) 283-0367 (TTY: 711) and we will help at no cost to you.
Español: Si habla español, tiene a su disposición servicios gratuitos de asistencia lingüística. Llame al (828) 283-0367 (TTY: 711).
Contact us
For privacy questions, to use any of the rights above, or to file a complaint, contact our Privacy Officer (Office Administrator):
Mountain Recovery & Mental Wellness, 932 Hendersonville Rd, Suite 106, Asheville, NC 28803
Phone: (828) 283-0367
Email: admin@mtnrecoverywellness.com
We may update this page from time to time. The effective date at the top shows the latest version.
Mountain Recovery& Mental Wellness
