Foundation Health MD PLLC
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
Effective Date: July 20, 2026
Download or print this Notice of Privacy Practices
Your Rights | Your Choices | Uses and Disclosures | Practice-Specific Privacy Information | Our Responsibilities | Contact Information
Your Information. Your Rights. Our Responsibilities.
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.
Who this notice covers. This notice applies to Foundation Health MD PLLC and Joshua Schulist, MD. It does not apply to Skyterra Wellness LLC or to outside laboratories, pharmacies, imaging centers, specialists, hospitals, or other independent organizations.
Your Rights
● Get a paper or electronic copy of your medical record.
● Ask us to correct your medical record.
● Request confidential communications.
● Ask us to limit certain uses or disclosures.
● Get a list of certain disclosures.
● Get a copy of this notice.
● Choose someone authorized to act for you.
● File a complaint without retaliation.
Your Choices
● Tell us whether we may share information with family, friends, caregivers, or others involved in your care or payment.
● Tell us your preferences for disaster relief disclosures.
● Give or withhold written permission for marketing, sale of information, and most sharing of psychotherapy notes.
Our Uses and Disclosures
● Treat you and coordinate your care.
● Run our practice and improve services.
● Collect payment for services.
● Address public health and safety needs.
● Comply with legal and government requirements.
● Respond to certain legal actions and other legally permitted requests.
Substance use disorder records. To the extent we have substance use disorder patient records subject to 42 CFR Part 2, we will not share that information for investigations or legal proceedings against you without your written consent or a court order and a subpoena.
Your Rights
When it comes to your health information, you have certain rights. This section explains your rights and some of our responsibilities.
Get an electronic or paper copy of your medical record
● You can ask to see or receive an electronic or paper copy of your medical record and other health information we maintain about you.
● We will provide a copy or summary, usually within 30 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.
● You may submit a request through the Practice Better patient portal, by email, or by mail to the privacy contact listed in this notice.
Ask us to correct your medical record
● You can ask us to correct health information about you that you believe is incorrect or incomplete.
● We may deny the request in some circumstances, but we will explain the reason in writing within 60 days.
Request confidential communications
● You can ask us to contact you in a specific way, such as by telephone, portal message, email, or mail, or to send communications to a different address.
● We will agree to 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 practice operations. We are not required to agree, and we may deny a request if it could affect your care or our ability to operate lawfully.
● If we agree to a restriction, we may still disclose the information when needed for emergency treatment or as otherwise required by law.
● If you pay for a service or health care item out of pocket in full, you can ask us not to share that information with your health insurer for payment or health care operations. We will agree unless a law requires the disclosure.
Get a list of certain disclosures
● You can ask for an accounting 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, health care operations, or certain other disclosures, including disclosures you asked us to make.
● We will provide one accounting in any 12-month period at no charge. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for additional requests during the same period.
Get a copy of this privacy notice
You can ask for a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically. We will provide a paper copy promptly. The current notice is also available on our website.
Choose someone to act for you
● If someone has legal authority to act as your personal representative, such as under a health care power of attorney or guardianship, that person may exercise your privacy rights and make choices about your health information.
● We will verify the person's authority before taking action.
File a complaint if you believe your rights were violated
● You may complain directly to Foundation Health MD PLLC by contacting Joshua Schulist, MD at the address, telephone number, or email listed on the first page.
● 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, D.C. 20201, calling 1-877-696-6775, or visiting hhs.gov/hipaa/filing-a-complaint.
● 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. Tell us your preference, and we will follow your instructions when required by law.
Family, friends, caregivers, and others involved in your care
● You may tell us whether we may share information with a family member, close friend, caregiver, or another person involved in your care or payment for your care.
● If you are unable to tell us your preference, such as when you are unconscious, we may share information if we believe it is in your best interest and the law permits it.
● We may also share information when necessary to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety
Disaster relief
You may tell us whether we may share limited information with an organization assisting in a disaster relief effort.
Uses that generally require written authorization
● Marketing purposes, except for limited activities allowed by law.
● Sale of your protected health information.
● Most uses and disclosures of separately maintained psychotherapy notes.
Foundation Health MD PLLC does not sell protected health information, use protected health information for fundraising, or use protected health information for marketing without written authorization. We do not currently maintain separately recorded psychotherapy notes.
Our Uses and Disclosures
How do we typically use or share your health information?
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 health professionals who are treating you or helping coordinate your care.
Example: We may send relevant information to a laboratory, pharmacy, specialist, or another clinician involved in your care.
Run our practice
We can use and share your health information to operate Foundation Health MD PLLC, manage your care, improve quality, schedule appointments, provide telehealth, communicate through the patient portal, maintain records, and contact you when necessary.
We use Practice Better for the electronic health record, patient portal, intake, scheduling, telehealth, communications, and payment processing. Vendors that receive protected health information on our behalf must protect it as required by applicable law and written agreements.
Collect payment for services
Foundation Health MD PLLC is a cash-pay practice and does not submit insurance claims on behalf of patients. We may use and share the minimum information reasonably necessary to process payments, issue invoices or receipts, answer payment questions, and collect amounts owed.
Example: We may provide limited information to a payment processor to complete a patient-authorized payment.
How else can we use or share your health information?
We are allowed or required to use or share information in other ways, usually for public health, safety, oversight, or legal purposes. We must meet legal conditions before making these disclosures.
If we maintain substance use disorder patient records subject to 42 CFR Part 2, we cannot use or share information from those records in civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative investigations or proceedings against you without your consent or a court order and a subpoena.
Help with public health and safety issues
We can share health information about you for certain situations, including:
● Preventing or controlling disease.
● Helping with product recalls.
● Reporting adverse reactions to medications or medical products.
● Reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence when permitted or required by law.
● Preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone's health or safety.
Research
Foundation Health MD PLLC does not currently conduct formal research using patient information. If this changes, we will use or disclose information for research only as permitted by law and will obtain authorization or other required approval when applicable.
Comply with the law
We will share information about you when state or federal law requires it, including with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services if it requests information to evaluate our compliance with federal privacy law.
North Carolina law may impose additional confidentiality requirements on certain communicable disease information and other specially protected records. When a state or federal law is more protective of your information, we will follow the more protective law.
Respond to organ and tissue donation requests
We can share health information with organ procurement organizations when applicable.
Work with a medical examiner or funeral director
We can share health information with a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director when an individual dies and the disclosure is permitted by law.
Address workers' compensation, law enforcement, oversight, and government requests
We can use or share health information about you:
● For workers' compensation claims.
● For law enforcement purposes or with a law enforcement official when permitted or required by law.
● With health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law.
● For special government functions such as military, national security, and presidential protective services.
Respond to lawsuits and legal actions
We can share health information in response to a court or administrative order, or in response to a subpoena or other lawful process, when the requirements of applicable law are met.
Practice-Specific Privacy Information
Foundation Health MD PLLC and Skyterra Wellness LLC
Foundation Health MD PLLC is an independent medical practice. Skyterra Wellness LLC does not own or control Foundation Health MD PLLC's medical records and does not determine your medical care.
Skyterra Wellness LLC ordinarily receives no protected health information from Foundation Health MD PLLC. If you ask Skyterra personnel to help you access scheduling information, you choose what information to share directly with Skyterra. Foundation Health MD PLLC will disclose protected health information to Skyterra Wellness LLC only when you authorize the disclosure or when disclosure is otherwise permitted or required by law.
Outside organizations
Outside laboratories, pharmacies, imaging centers, specialists, hospitals, payment processors, and other independent organizations may have their own privacy practices and notices. This notice does not control how those independent organizations use or disclose information they receive.
Electronic communications and the patient portal
We use electronic systems, including Practice Better, to maintain records and communicate with patients. We apply reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards. No electronic system is completely risk-free. Patients should use the secure patient portal for sensitive clinical communications whenever reasonably available.
Our Responsibilities
● We are required by applicable law and our privacy practices to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.
● We will notify you promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information, as required by law.
● We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and provide you with a copy.
● We will not use or share your information other than as described in this notice unless you give us written permission or the law permits or requires the use or disclosure.
● If you give written permission, you may revoke it at any time by notifying us in writing. Revocation will not affect actions already taken in reliance on your authorization.
For more information about federal privacy rights, visit hhs.gov/hipaa.
Changes to the Terms of This Notice
We may change the terms of this notice. Changes may apply to all information we maintain about you, including information created or received before the change. The current notice will be available upon request, at our practice location, and on our website.
Questions, Privacy Requests or Complaints
Joshua Schulist, MD
Privacy Officer
Foundation Health MD PLLC
137 Skyterra Way
Pisgah Forest, NC 28768
Telephone: (828) 338-9302
Email: info@myfoundationhealthmd.com
Website: myfoundationhealthmd.com