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.
Effective Date: October 10, 2026
Last Revised: October 10, 2026
About This Notice
Arbor Fertility ("Arbor," "we," "us," or "our") is required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA") and its implementing regulations to maintain the privacy of your protected health information ("PHI"), to provide you with this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices regarding your PHI, and to abide by the terms of the Notice currently in effect.
This Notice applies to all of the records of your care generated by Arbor, whether at our Chesterfield headquarters or any of our satellite locations, and whether created during in-person or virtual visits.
Use and Disclosure of Your Health Information
We may use and disclose your PHI for the following purposes without your specific authorization:
For Treatment
We may use and disclose your PHI to provide, coordinate, and manage your reproductive healthcare and related services. This includes:
- Personalized fertility care planning, including in vitro fertilization (IVF), intrauterine insemination (IUI), egg freezing, embryo transfer, and ovulation induction
- Coordination with specialists such as obstetricians, urologists, geneticists, mental health providers, and primary care physicians
- Referrals to other healthcare providers when your care requires services we do not offer
- Sharing treatment updates, lab results, and imaging with other members of your care team
- Emergency situations where your PHI is needed to provide immediate medical care
- Comprehensive support services, including counseling and support groups, when you have authorized your participation
For Payment
We may use and disclose your PHI for payment activities, including:
- Submitting insurance claims and obtaining pre-authorizations
- Verifying coverage and benefits
- Billing and account management
- Coordinating benefits between multiple insurers
- Resolving billing disputes
- Responding to patient inquiries about charges, payment plans, and financial assistance
For Healthcare Operations
We may use and disclose your PHI for our internal healthcare operations, including:
- Quality assessment and improvement activities
- Employee performance review, training, and education (including the supervision of medical students, fellows, and new staff)
- Licensing, accreditation, and credentialing activities
- Business management and general administrative activities
- Patient satisfaction surveys
- Compliance, risk management, and audit activities
As Required by Law
We may disclose your PHI when required by federal, state, or local law, including:
- In response to a valid subpoena, court order, or other legal process
- To health oversight agencies for audits, investigations, inspections, and licensure
- For public health activities, including reporting of communicable diseases, vital events (births and deaths), and disease surveillance
- To law enforcement officials when legally compelled, including for the identification or location of a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person; to report a death we believe may have resulted from criminal conduct; or to report criminal conduct that occurred on our premises
- To prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety, or to the health or safety of another person or the public
- To report suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence to the appropriate authorities
Reproductive Health Information — Important Notice
We recognize that reproductive healthcare is uniquely sensitive. Arbor will not voluntarily disclose information about your reproductive healthcare to law enforcement, prosecutors, or any third party for the purpose of investigating or prosecuting any person for seeking, receiving, or providing lawful reproductive healthcare. Where legally permissible, we will require a court order, judicial subpoena, or other legally enforceable process before disclosing reproductive health information, and we will notify you of such requests when we are legally permitted to do so.
This commitment is consistent with our patient-protective values but does not override our legal obligations under any applicable law. We will challenge legal process where we believe it lacks proper authority.
To Business Associates
We may disclose your PHI to third parties (called "business associates") who perform services on our behalf, such as billing companies, electronic health record vendors, laboratories, and IT support providers. All business associates are required by written contract to safeguard your PHI in accordance with HIPAA.
Other Permitted Uses and Disclosures
We may also use and disclose your PHI:
- To your family members, friends, or others involved in your care, when you are present and do not object, or when you are unable to be present and we determine in our professional judgment that disclosure is in your best interest
- For workers' compensation programs, when authorized by law
- To organ procurement organizations for the purpose of organ, eye, or tissue donation, when applicable
- To coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties
- For research purposes, when the research has been approved by an Institutional Review Board and appropriate privacy protections are in place
Genetic Information
We are subject to the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 ("GINA"). We will not use or disclose your genetic information for underwriting purposes. This is particularly important in the context of fertility care, where preimplantation genetic testing (PGT-A, PGT-M, PGT-SR) and other genetic analyses are common.
Genetic information includes:
- Information about your genetic tests
- Information about the genetic tests of your family members
- Your family medical history
- Any request for or receipt of genetic services by you or your family members
- Genetic information of an embryo or fetus carried by you
We treat all genetic information generated during your fertility care as PHI subject to the protections of this Notice and applicable federal and state law.
Embryo and Gamete Information
If you store embryos, eggs, sperm, or other reproductive tissue at Arbor or with a contracted storage facility, we maintain records of that storage as PHI. The use and disclosure of information about your stored reproductive material is governed by:
- This Notice
- Your separate written consent forms regarding the disposition of stored reproductive material
- Applicable state law regarding parentage, custody, and post-mortem use of reproductive material
Decisions about the disposition of stored reproductive material are not made unilaterally by Arbor. We will follow the most recent written instructions you have provided.
Marketing and Sale of PHI
We will not sell your PHI to any third party. Federal law (HIPAA, as amended by the HITECH Act) prohibits the sale of PHI without your specific written authorization, and Arbor does not engage in such sales.
We will not use your PHI for marketing purposes — meaning communications encouraging you to purchase a product or service where Arbor receives financial remuneration from a third party in exchange for making the communication — without your specific written authorization, except as permitted by law.
We may, however, communicate with you about:
- Treatment options and the benefits of services we provide
- Health-related products or services available only from Arbor
- Case management or care coordination
- Our newsletters or educational content (which you may opt out of at any time)
Psychotherapy Notes
If you receive mental health counseling at Arbor or through a referral, the notes that the mental health provider keeps separate from your medical record (commonly called "psychotherapy notes") receive heightened protection under HIPAA. We will not use or disclose psychotherapy notes without your specific written authorization, except in narrow circumstances permitted by law (such as court order or threats of harm).
Notification of Breach
We are required by law to notify you if we discover that the privacy or security of your unsecured PHI has been breached. We will provide notification in writing within 60 days of discovery of the breach, in accordance with the HITECH Breach Notification Rule (45 CFR Part 164, Subpart D).
Your Rights Regarding Your Health Information
You have the following rights regarding the PHI we maintain about you:
Right to Inspect and Copy
You have the right to inspect and obtain a copy of your medical and billing records, with limited exceptions. To request a copy, please submit a written request to the Privacy Officer (contact information below). We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for copies, as permitted by law. We will provide records in electronic format if requested and feasible.
Right to Amend
If you believe that information in your medical record is incorrect or incomplete, you have the right to request that we amend the record. Your request must be in writing and must explain the reason for the requested amendment. We may deny a request in certain circumstances, but we will provide you with a written explanation if we do so, and you have the right to submit a written statement disagreeing with the denial.
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures
You have the right to request an accounting of certain disclosures we have made of your PHI, other than disclosures for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations, and certain other limited categories. Your first accounting in any 12-month period is free; we may charge a reasonable fee for additional requests during the same period.
Right to Request Restrictions
You have the right to request restrictions on how we use or disclose your PHI for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations, or to family members or others involved in your care. We are required to honor your request to restrict disclosure of PHI to a health plan if the disclosure is for purposes of payment or healthcare operations, and the PHI pertains solely to a healthcare item or service for which you have paid out-of-pocket in full. For other restrictions, we are not required to agree, but if we do, we will honor the restriction except in emergencies.
Right to Request Confidential Communications
You have the right to request that we communicate with you about medical matters in a specific way or at a specific location (for example, by mail at a particular address, by phone at a particular number, or by email). We will accommodate reasonable requests.
Right to a Paper Copy of This Notice
You have the right to a paper copy of this Notice at any time, even if you have agreed to receive it electronically. You may request a copy by contacting the Privacy Officer.
Right to Be Notified of a Breach
As stated above, you have the right to be notified following a breach of unsecured PHI affecting your information.
Right to File a Complaint
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with:
- Arbor Fertility's Privacy Officer (contact information below)
- The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (
https://www.hhs.gov/ocr/complaints/)
You will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint. We take privacy concerns seriously and will investigate all complaints in good faith.
Other Uses and Disclosures Require Your Authorization
Uses and disclosures of your PHI not described in this Notice will be made only with your written authorization. You may revoke your authorization at any time, in writing, except to the extent we have already acted in reliance on it.
Changes to This Notice
We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice and to make the new terms effective for all PHI we maintain, including PHI created or received before the effective date of the change. When we make a material change, we will:
- Post the revised Notice at each of our office locations
- Post the revised Notice on our website at
https://www.arbor-fertility.com/hipaa-notice-of-privacy-practices - Provide a copy to patients on request
The effective date of the most recent revision is shown at the top of this Notice.
Contact Information
If you have any questions about this Notice, wish to exercise any of your rights, or wish to file a complaint, please contact our Privacy Officer:
- Privacy Officer: Tanesha Dorsey
- Mailing address: Arbor Fertility, 15320 Conway Road, Chesterfield, MO 63017
- Phone: (314) 806-BABY (2229)
- Fax: (636) 441-7775
- Email: care [at] arborfertility.one
Acknowledgment of Receipt
When you become a patient at Arbor Fertility, you will be asked to sign an acknowledgment that you have received a copy of this Notice. If you decline to sign the acknowledgment, we will document our good-faith effort to provide you with this Notice and the reason the acknowledgment was not obtained, and we will continue to provide you with care.
Your refusal to sign an acknowledgment does not affect your right to receive treatment.
This Notice was last revised on the "Last Revised" date shown at the top of this page. If you have questions about whether you are reading the most current version, please contact our Privacy Officer.
Questions? We're here to help.
If you have any questions about our policies or your rights, our team is happy to assist. Call or send us a message.