Kerzner Associates, P.C. will use all reasonable means to protect the security and confidentiality of e-mail information sent and received. The transmission of client information by e-mail has a number of risks that patients and their clinicians should consider before using e-mail to communicate. These include, but are not limited to the following:

 

• E-mail can be circulated, forwarded and stored in numerous paper and electronic files.

• E-mail can be immediately broadcast worldwide and be received by unintended recipients.

• Senders can easily type the wrong e-mail address or phone number.

• E-mail is easier to falsify than handwritten or signed documents.

• Backup copies of e-mails may exist even after the sender or the recipient has deleted their copy.

• Employers/online services have a right to archive and inspect e-mails transmitted through their systems.

• E-mail can be intercepted, altered, forwarded, or used without authorization or detection.

• E-mail can be used to introduce viruses into computer systems.

• E-mail can be used as evidence in court.

 

The following guidelines should be followed when conducting e-mail communication with your clinician at Kerzner Associates, P.C. :

 

• E-mail should not be used for emergencies or other time-sensitive matters.

• We advise that you not include clinical information in an e-mail.

• Your clinician will try to read and respond promptly to e-mail from you; however, we cannot guarantee that any particular e-mail will be read and responded to within any particular period of time.  E-mails will not be responded to during a clinician’s time off.

• If you have sent your clinician an e-mail and you have not received a response within a reasonable time period, please understand that it is your responsibility to follow up, to determine whether the intended recipient received the e-mail and when the recipient will respond.

• All e-mail messages to or from you, about your treatment, including scheduling issues, will be made part of your clinical record.

• We will not forward e-mails to independent third parties without your written permission, except as authorized or required by law.

• Please inform your clinician of any types of information that you do not want communicated via e-mail.

• Please understand that it is your responsibility to protect access to your e-mail account.