Legal & Ethical Disclosures

YOUR RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS AGAINST SURPRISE MEDICAL BILLS

(OMB Control Number: 0938-1401) 

When you get emergency care or get treated by an out-of-network provider at an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center, you are protected from surprise billing or balance billing.

What is “balance billing” (sometimes called “surprise billing”)?

When you see a doctor or other health care provider, you may owe certain out-of-pocket costs, such as a copayment, coinsurance, and/or a deductible. You may have other costs or have to pay the entire bill if you see a provider or visit a health care facility that isn’t in your health plan’s network.

“Out-of-network” describes providers and facilities that haven’t signed a contract with your health plan. Out-of-network providers may be permitted to bill you for the difference between what your plan agreed to pay and the full amount charged for a service. This is called “balance billing.” This amount is likely more than in-network costs for the same service and might not count toward your annual out-of-pocket limit.

“Surprise billing” is an unexpected balance bill. This can happen when you can’t control who is involved in your care - like when you have an emergency or when you schedule a visit at an in-network facility but are unexpectedly treated by an out-of-network provider.

You are protected from balance billing for:

Emergency services

If you have an emergency medical condition and get emergency services from an out-of-network provider or facility, the most the provider or facility may bill you is your plan’s in-network cost-sharing amount (such as copayments and coinsurance). You can’t be balance billed for these emergency services. This includes services you may get after you’re in stable  condition, unless you give written consent and give up your protections not to be balanced billed for these post-stabilization services.

Certain services at an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center

When you get services from an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center, certain providers there may be out-of-network. In these cases, the most those providers may bill you is your plan’s in-network cost-sharing amount. This applies to emergency medicine, anesthesia, pathology, radiology, laboratory, neonatology, assistant surgeon, hospitalist, or intensivist services. These providers can’t balance bill you and may not ask you to give up your protections  not to be balance billed.

If you get other services at these in-network facilities, out-of-network providers can’t balance  bill you unless you give written consent and give up your protections.

You’re never required to give up your protection from balance billing. You also aren’t required to get care out-of-network. You can choose a provider or facility in your plan’s network.

When balance billing isn’t allowed, you also have the following protections:

·        You are only responsible for paying your share of the cost (like the copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles that you would pay if the provider or facility was in-network). Your health plan will pay out-of-network providers and facilities directly.

·        Your health plan generally must:

o   Cover emergency services without requiring you to get approval for services in advance (prior authorization).

o   Cover emergency services by out-of-network providers.

o   Base what you owe the provider or facility (cost-sharing) on what it would pay an in-network provider or facility and show that amount in your explanation of benefits.

o   Count any amount you pay for emergency services or out-of-network services toward your deductible and out-of-pocket limit.

If you believe you’ve been wrongly billed, you may contact: The Georgia Secretary of State at 470-250-5060

Visit https://www.cms.gov/files/document/model-disclosure-notice-patient-protections-against-surprise-billing-providers-facilities-health.pdf for more information about your rights under Federal law.

Website Terms of Use

Agreement between User and www.MeredithLPC.com

Welcome to www.MeredithLPC.com. The www.MeredithLPC.com website (the "Site") is comprised of various web pages operated by Progressive Counseling Services LLC ("PCS"). www.MeredithLPC.com is offered to you conditioned on your acceptance without modification of the terms, conditions, and notices contained herein (the "Terms"). Your use of www.MeredithLPC.com constitutes your agreement to all such Terms. Please read these terms carefully, and keep a copy of them for your reference.

www.MeredithLPC.com is a Mental Health Private Practice Website.

The purpose of this website is to share information about this business as well as to share relevant mental health information.

Privacy

Your use of www.MeredithLPC.com is subject to PCS's Privacy Policy. Please review our Privacy Policy, which also governs the Site and informs users of our data collection practices. The Privacy Policy can be found further down this page.

Electronic Communications

Visiting www.MeredithLPC.com or sending emails to PCS constitutes electronic communications. You consent to receive electronic communications and you agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures and other communications that we provide to you electronically, via email and on the Site, satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.

Children Under Thirteen

PCS does not knowingly collect, either online or offline, personal information from persons under the age of thirteen. If you are under 18, you may use www.MeredithLPC.com only with permission of a parent or guardian.

Links to Third Party Sites/Third Party Services

www.MeredithLPC.com may contain links to other websites ("Linked Sites"). The Linked Sites are not under the control of PCS and PCS is not responsible for the contents of any Linked Site, including without limitation any link contained in a Linked Site, or any changes or updates to a Linked Site. PCS is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by PCS of the site or any association with its operators.

Certain services made available via www.MeredithLPC.com are delivered by third party sites and organizations. By using any product, service or functionality originating from the www.MeredithLPC.com domain, you hereby acknowledge and consent that PCS may share such information and data with any third party with whom PCS has a contractual relationship to provide the requested product, service or functionality on behalf of www.MeredithLPC.com users and customers.

No Unlawful or Prohibited Use/Intellectual Property

You are granted a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use www.MeredithLPC.com strictly in accordance with these terms of use. As a condition of your use of the Site, you warrant to PCS that you will not use the Site for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms. You may not use the Site in any manner which could damage, disable, overburden, or impair the Site or interfere with any other party's use and enjoyment of the Site. You may not obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available or provided for through the Site.

All content included as part of the Service, such as text, graphics, logos, images, as well as the compilation thereof, and any software used on the Site, is the property of PCS or its suppliers and protected by copyright and other laws that protect intellectual property and proprietary rights. You agree to observe and abide by all copyright and other proprietary notices, legends or other restrictions contained in any such content and will not make any changes thereto.

You will not modify, publish, transmit, reverse engineer, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works, or in any way exploit any of the content, in whole or in part, found on the Site. PCS content is not for resale. Your use of the Site does not entitle you to make any unauthorized use of any protected content, and in particular you will not delete or alter any proprietary rights or attribution notices in any content. You will use protected content solely for your personal use, and will make no other use of the content without the express written permission of PCS and the copyright owner. You agree that you do not acquire any ownership rights in any protected content. We do not grant you any licenses, express or implied, to the intellectual property of PCS or our licensors except as expressly authorized by these Terms.

Use of Communication Services

The Site may contain bulletin board services, chat areas, news groups, forums, communities, personal web pages, calendars, and/or other message or communication facilities designed to enable you to communicate with the public at large or with a group (collectively, "Communication Services"). You agree to use the Communication Services only to post, send and receive messages and material that are proper and related to the particular Communication Service.

By way of example, and not as a limitation, you agree that when using a Communication Service, you will not: defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights (such as rights of privacy and publicity) of others; publish, post, upload, distribute or disseminate any inappropriate, profane, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent or unlawful topic, name, material or information; upload files that contain software or other material protected by intellectual property laws (or by rights of privacy of publicity) unless you own or control the rights thereto or have received all necessary consents; upload files that contain viruses, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another's computer; advertise or offer to sell or buy any goods or services for any business purpose, unless such Communication Service specifically allows such messages; conduct or forward surveys, contests, pyramid schemes or chain letters; download any file posted by another user of a Communication Service that you know, or reasonably should know, cannot be legally distributed in such manner; falsify or delete any author attributions, legal or other proper notices or proprietary designations or labels of the origin or source of software or other material contained in a file that is uploaded; restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Communication Services; violate any code of conduct or other guidelines which may be applicable for any particular Communication Service; harvest or otherwise collect information about others, including e-mail addresses, without their consent; violate any applicable laws or regulations.

PCS has no obligation to monitor the Communication Services. However, PCS reserves the right to review materials posted to a Communication Service and to remove any materials in its sole discretion. PCS reserves the right to terminate your access to any or all of the Communication Services at any time without notice for any reason whatsoever.

PCS reserves the right at all times to disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, or to edit, refuse to post or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, in PCS's sole discretion.

Always use caution when giving out any personally identifying information about yourself or your children in any Communication Service. PCS does not control or endorse the content, messages or information found in any Communication Service and, therefore, PCS specifically disclaims any liability with regard to the Communication Services and any actions resulting from your participation in any Communication Service. Managers and hosts are not authorized PCS spokespersons, and their views do not necessarily reflect those of PCS.

Materials uploaded to a Communication Service may be subject to posted limitations on usage, reproduction and/or dissemination. You are responsible for adhering to such limitations if you upload the materials.

Materials Provided to www.MeredithLPC.com or Posted on Any PCS Web Page

PCS does not claim ownership of the materials you provide to www.MeredithLPC.com (including feedback and suggestions) or post, upload, input or submit to any PCS Site or our associated services (collectively "Submissions"). However, by posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting your Submission you are granting PCS, our affiliated companies and necessary sublicensees permission to use your Submission in connection with the operation of their Internet businesses including, without limitation, the rights to: copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat your Submission; and to publish your name in connection with your Submission.

No compensation will be paid with respect to the use of your Submission, as provided herein. PCS is under no obligation to post or use any Submission you may provide and may remove any Submission at any time in PCS's sole discretion.

By posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting your Submission you warrant and represent that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to your Submission as described in this section including, without limitation, all the rights necessary for you to provide, post, upload, input or submit the Submissions.

International Users

The Service is controlled, operated and administered by PCS from our offices within the USA. If you access the Service from a location outside the USA, you are responsible for compliance with all local laws. You agree that you will not use the PCS Content accessed through www.MeredithLPC.com in any country or in any manner prohibited by any applicable laws, restrictions or regulations.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless PCS, its officers, directors, employees, agents and third parties, for any losses, costs, liabilities and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) relating to or arising out of your use of or inability to use the Site or services, any user postings made by you, your violation of any terms of this Agreement or your violation of any rights of a third party, or your violation of any applicable laws, rules or regulations. PCS reserves the right, at its own cost, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which event you will fully cooperate with PCS in asserting any available defenses.

Arbitration

In the event the parties are not able to resolve any dispute between them arising out of or concerning these Terms and Conditions, or any provisions hereof, whether in contract, tort, or otherwise at law or in equity for damages or any other relief, then such dispute shall be resolved only by final and binding arbitration pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act, conducted by a single neutral arbitrator and administered by the American Arbitration Association, or a similar arbitration service selected by the parties, in a location mutually agreed upon by the parties. The arbitrator's award shall be final, and judgment may be entered upon it in any court having jurisdiction. In the event that any legal or equitable action, proceeding or arbitration arises out of or concerns these Terms and Conditions, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover its costs and reasonable attorney's fees. The parties agree to arbitrate all disputes and claims in regards to these Terms and Conditions or any disputes arising as a result of these Terms and Conditions, whether directly or indirectly, including Tort claims that are a result of these Terms and Conditions. The parties agree that the Federal Arbitration Act governs the interpretation and enforcement of this provision. The entire dispute, including the scope and enforceability of this arbitration provision shall be determined by the Arbitrator. This arbitration provision shall survive the termination of these Terms and Conditions.

Class Action Waiver

Any arbitration under these Terms and Conditions will take place on an individual basis; class arbitrations and class/representative/collective actions are not permitted. THE PARTIES AGREE THAT A PARTY MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN EACH'S INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PUTATIVE CLASS, COLLECTIVE AND/ OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING, SUCH AS IN THE FORM OF A PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ACTION AGAINST THE OTHER. Further, unless both you and PCS agree otherwise, the arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims, and may not otherwise preside over any form of a representative or class proceeding.

Liability Disclaimer

THE INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, AND SERVICES INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. CHANGES ARE PERIODICALLY ADDED TO THE INFORMATION HEREIN. PROGRESSIVE COUNSELING SERVICES LLC AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS MAY MAKE IMPROVEMENTS AND/OR CHANGES IN THE SITE AT ANY TIME.

PROGRESSIVE COUNSELING SERVICES LLC AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY, RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, TIMELINESS, AND ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND RELATED GRAPHICS CONTAINED ON THE SITE FOR ANY PURPOSE. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ALL SUCH INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND RELATED GRAPHICS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND. PROGRESSIVE COUNSELING SERVICES LLC AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH REGARD TO THIS INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND RELATED GRAPHICS, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL PROGRESSIVE COUNSELING SERVICES LLC AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE SITE, WITH THE DELAY OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE OR RELATED SERVICES, THE PROVISION OF OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE SERVICES, OR FOR ANY INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND RELATED GRAPHICS OBTAINED THROUGH THE SITE, OR OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THE SITE, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF PROGRESSIVE COUNSELING SERVICES LLC OR ANY OF ITS SUPPLIERS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME STATES/JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH ANY PORTION OF THE SITE, OR WITH ANY OF THESE TERMS OF USE, YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IS TO DISCONTINUE USING THE SITE.

Termination/Access Restriction

PCS reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate your access to the Site and the related services or any portion thereof at any time, without notice. To the maximum extent permitted by law, this agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Georgia and you hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of courts in Georgia in all disputes arising out of or relating to the use of the Site. Use of the Site is unauthorized in any jurisdiction that does not give effect to all provisions of these Terms, including, without limitation, this section.

You agree that no joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship exists between you and PCS as a result of this agreement or use of the Site. PCS's performance of this agreement is subject to existing laws and legal process, and nothing contained in this agreement is in derogation of PCS's right to comply with governmental, court and law enforcement requests or requirements relating to your use of the Site or information provided to or gathered by PCS with respect to such use. If any part of this agreement is determined to be invalid or unenforceable pursuant to applicable law including, but not limited to, the warranty disclaimers and liability limitations set forth above, then the invalid or unenforceable provision will be deemed superseded by a valid, enforceable provision that most closely matches the intent of the original provision and the remainder of the agreement shall continue in effect.

Unless otherwise specified herein, this agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the user and PCS with respect to the Site and it supersedes all prior or contemporaneous communications and proposals, whether electronic, oral or written, between the user and PCS with respect to the Site. A printed version of this agreement and of any notice given in electronic form shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to this agreement to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form. It is the express wish to the parties that this agreement and all related documents be written in English.

Changes to Terms

PCS reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to change the Terms under which www.MeredithLPC.com is offered. The most current version of the Terms will supersede all previous versions. PCS encourages you to periodically review the Terms to stay informed of our updates.

Effective as of December 30, 2021

Online Privacy Policy

Protecting your private information is our priority. This Statement of Privacy applies to www.MeredithLPC.com, and Progressive Counseling Services LLC and governs data collection and usage. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, unless otherwise noted, all references to Progressive Counseling Services LLC include www.MeredithLPC.com. The Progressive Counseling Services LLC website is a mental health site. By using the Progressive Counseling Services LLC website, you consent to the data practices described in this statement.

Collection of your Personal Information

Please keep in mind that if you directly disclose personally identifiable information or personally sensitive data through Progressive Counseling Services LLC's public message boards, this information may be collected and used by others.

We do not collect any personal information about you unless you voluntarily provide it to us.

Sharing Information with Third Parties

Progressive Counseling Services LLC does not sell, rent or lease its customer lists to third parties.

Progressive Counseling Services LLC may disclose your personal information, without notice, if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on Progressive Counseling Services LLC or the site; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of Progressive Counseling Services LLC; and/or (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of Progressive Counseling Services LLC, or the public.

Automatically Collected Information

Information about your computer hardware and software may be automatically collected by Progressive Counseling Services LLC. This information can include: your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times and referring website addresses. This information is used for the operation of the service, to maintain quality of the service, and to provide general statistics regarding use of the Progressive Counseling Services LLC website.

Links

This website contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other sites. Sharing a link is not an endorsement for that website, product, or organization, nor is it an agreement of views or opinions expressed on that site. We encourage users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of any other site that collects personally identifiable information.

Security of your Personal Information

Progressive Counseling Services LLC secures your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. Progressive Counseling Services LLC uses the following methods for this purpose:

 -          SSL Protocol

When personal information (such as a credit card number) is transmitted to other websites, it is protected through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol.

We strive to take appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access to or alteration of your personal information. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, you acknowledge that: (a) there are security and privacy limitations inherent to the Internet which are beyond our control; and (b) security, integrity, and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and us through this Site cannot be guaranteed.

Right to Deletion

Subject to certain exceptions set out below, on receipt of a verifiable request from you, we will:

•     Delete your personal information from our records; and

•     Direct any service providers to delete your personal information from their records.

Please note that we may not be able to comply with requests to delete your personal information if it is necessary to:

•     Complete the transaction for which the personal information was collected, fulfill the terms of a written warranty or product recall conducted in accordance with federal law, provide a good or service requested by you, or reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, or otherwise perform a contract between you and us;

•     Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity; or prosecute those responsible for that activity;

•     Debug to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality;

•     Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise his or her right of free speech, or exercise another right provided for by law;

•     Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act;

•     Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when our deletion of the information is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of such research, provided we have obtained your informed consent;

•     Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with your expectations based on your relationship with us;

•     Comply with an existing legal obligation; or

•     Otherwise use your personal information, internally, in a lawful manner that is compatible with the context in which you provided the information.

Children Under Thirteen

Progressive Counseling Services LLC does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of thirteen. If you are under the age of thirteen, you must ask your parent or guardian for permission to use this website.

Changes to this Statement

Progressive Counseling Services LLC reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you about significant changes in the way we treat personal information by sending a notice to the primary email address specified in your account, by placing a prominent notice on our website, and/or by updating any privacy information. Your continued use of the website and/or Services available after such modifications will constitute your: (a) acknowledgment of the modified Privacy Policy; and (b) agreement to abide and be bound by that Policy.

Effective as of December 30, 2021