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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.

At Lab Testing API Inc.(“LTA” or “We”), We are committed to protecting the privacy rights of our Users. You have a variety of rights under a federal law known as “HIPAA” [the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996] and the related “Privacy Rule” which has been published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Those rights are described in this Notice.


UNDERSTANDING YOUR HEALTH RECORD/INFORMATION

Each time you visit a hospital, physician, dentist, or another healthcare provider, a record of your visit is made. Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment, and a plan for future care or treatment. This information is often referred to as your health or medical record, serves as a basis for planning your care and treatment, and serves as a means of communication among the many health professionals who contribute to your care. Understanding what is in your record and how your health information is used helps you to ensure its accuracy, better understand who, what, when, where, and why others may access your health information, and helps you make more informed decisions when authorizing disclosure to others.

“Health Information” includes more than just information about medical procedures. It also relates to:

(a) past, present, or future physical or mental health conditions;
(b) provision of health care to an individual; and
(c) the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care. Health Information that identifies an individual or that can be used to identify an individual is protected by law and is known as “PHI.” 1


1 Protected Health Information (“PHI”) means individually identifiable health information: (1) except as provided in Paragraph two (2) of this definition that is: (i) transmitted by electronic media; (ii) maintained in electronic media; or (iii) transmitted or maintained in any other form or medium. (2) Protected health information excludes individually identifiable health information: (i) in education records covered by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, as amended, 20 U.S.C. 1232g; (ii) in records described in 20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(4)(B)(iv); (iii) in employment records held by a covered entity in its role as employer; and (iv) regarding a person who has been deceased for more than 50 years. “Individually Identifiable Health Information” (as used herein) is information that is a subset of health information, including demographic information collected from an individual; and (1) is created or received by a health care provider, health plan, employer, or health care clearinghouse; and (2) relates to the past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition of an individual; the provision of healthcare to an individual; or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of healthcare to an individual; and (i) that identifies the individual; or (ii) with respect to which there is a reasonable basis to believe the information can be used to identify the individual.


OUR RESPONSIBILITIES

We are required to maintain the privacy of your health information. In addition, we are required to provide you with a notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to the information we collect and maintain about you. We must abide by the terms of this notice. However, we do reserve the right to change our practices and to make the new provisions effective for all the protected health information we maintain. If our information practices change, a revised notice will be updated on our website that provides information about our patient/customer services or benefits, the new notice will be posted on that Web site.

We are also required to respond to written requests for PHI under certain circumstances and will do so, to the extent permitted by law. In that respect, upon written request from an individual for disclosure of PHI, we will respond within thirty (30) days [as to PHI requests which are maintained onsite] and no later than sixty (60) days [for information maintained offsite]. If a request cannot be fulfilled within the above stated time, we will provide written notice extending the above timeframes by thirty (30) or sixty (60) days respectively. Our response will either:

(1) deny the request;
(2) provide the information requested, if in readily producible form; or
(3) provide a summary of the requested information, in lieu of or in addition to the full information requested.

If we deny your request, we will include, in our written response:

(i) the basis for the denial;
(ii) a statement of your right to request a review of the denial, if applicable; and
(iii) a statement of how the individual may file a complaint concerning the denial.

All notices of denial are prepared or approved by the Privacy Officer. A copy of any records provided in accordance with your request will be made by mail, email, or in person pick up. You also have the right to physically inspect the information.


YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION RIGHTS

Unless otherwise required by law, your health record is the physical property of the healthcare practitioner or facility that compiled it. However, you have certain rights with respect to the information. You have the right to:

1. Receive a copy of this Notice of Privacy Practices from us upon enrollment or request.

2. Request restrictions on our uses and disclosures of your protected health information for treatment, payment, and health care operations. This includes your right to request that we not disclose your health information to a health plan for payment or health care operations if you have paid in full and out of pocket for the services provided. We reserve the right not to agree to a given requested restriction.

3. Request to receive communications of protected health information in confidence.

4. Inspect and obtain a copy of the protected health information contained in your medical and billing records and in any other Practice records used by us to make decisions about you. If we maintain or use electronic health records, you will also have the right to obtain a copy or forward a copy of your electronic health record to a third party. A reasonable copying/labor charge may apply.

5. Request an amendment to your protected health information. However, we may deny your request for an amendment, if we determine that the protected health information or record that is the subject of the request:

(a) was not created by us unless you provide a reasonable basis to believe that the originator of the protected health information is no longer available to act on the requested amendment;
(b) is not part of your medical or billing records;
(c) is not available for inspection as set forth above; or
(d) is accurate and complete.

In any event, any agreed upon amendment will be included as an addition to, and not a replacement of, already existing records.

6. Receive an accounting of disclosures of protected health information made by us to individuals or entities other than to you, except for disclosures:

(a) to carry out treatment, payment, and health care operations as provided above;
(b) to persons involved in your care or for other notification purposes as provided by law;
(c) to correctional institutions or law enforcement officials as provided by law;
(d) for national security or intelligence purposes;
(e) that occurred prior to the date of compliance with privacy standards (April 14, 2003);
(f) incidental to other permissible uses or disclosures;
(g) that is part of a limited data set (does not contain protected health information that directly identifies individuals);
(h) made to patient or their personal representatives;
(i) for which a written authorization form from the patient has been received.

7. Revoke your authorization to use or disclose health information except to the extent that we have already been taken action in reliance on your authorization, or if the authorization was obtained as a condition of obtaining insurance coverage and another applicable law provides the insurer that obtained the authorization with the right to contest a claim under the policy.

8. Receive notification if affected by a breach of unsecured PHI.


HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED

LTA may use and/or disclose your medical information, without obtaining consent (called “authorization”) from you, and/or without giving you an opportunity to object, for the following purposes:

Treatment: We may use and disclose protected health information in the provision, coordination, or management of your health care, including consultations between health care providers regarding your care and referrals for health care from one health care provider to another. Your information will be sent to PWN Health our physician network if treatment is required.
Health Oversight Activities: We may disclose protected health information to federal or state agencies that oversee our activities.
Payment: We may use and disclose protected health information to obtain reimbursement for the health care provided to you, including determinations of eligibility and coverage and other utilization review activities. This will come from the mHealth application you have used our service through.
Law Enforcement: We may disclose protected health information as required by law or in response to a valid judge ordered subpoena. For example, in cases of victims of abuse or domestic violence; to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person; related to judicial or administrative proceedings, or related to other law enforcement purposes.
Regular Healthcare Operations: We will not use and disclose protected health information to support functions of our practice related to treatment and payment, such as quality assurance activities, case management, receiving and responding to patient complaints, physician reviews, compliance programs, audits, business planning, development, management, and administrative activities.
Military and Veterans: If you are a member of the armed forces, we may release protected health information about you as required by military command authorities.
Appointment Reminders: We may use and disclose protected health information to contact you to provide appointment reminders.
Lawsuits and Disputes: We may disclose protected health information about you in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose medical information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful processes.
Treatment Alternatives: We may use and disclose protected health information to tell you about or recommend possible treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.
Abuse or Neglect: We may disclose protected health information to notify the appropriate government authority if we believe a patient has been the victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence. We will only make this disclosure if you agree or when required or authorized by law.
Health-Related Benefits and Services: We may use and disclose protected health information to tell you about health-related benefits, services, or medical education classes that may be of interest to you.
Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors: We may release protected health information to a coroner or medical examiner. This may be necessary to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We may also release protected health information about patients to funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties.
Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care: Unless you object, we may disclose your protected health information to your family or friends, or any other individual identified by you when they are involved in your care or the payment for your care. We will only disclose the protected health information directly relevant to their involvement in your care or payment. We may also disclose your protected health information to notify a person responsible for your care (or to identify such person) of your location, general condition, or death.
Public Health Risks: We may disclose your protected health information for public health activities and purposes to a public health authority that is permitted by law to collect or receive the information. The disclosure will be made for the purpose such as controlling disease, injury, or disability.
Business Associates: There may be some services provided in our organization through contracts with Business Associates. Examples include physician services in our physician's network and laboratory tests. When these services are contracted, we may disclose some or all of your health information to our Business Associates so that they can perform the job we have asked them to do. To protect your health information, however, we require the Business Associate to appropriately safeguard your information.
Serious Threats: As permitted by applicable law and standards of ethical conduct, we may use and disclose protected health information if we, in good faith, believe that the use or disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA): As required by law, we may disclose to the FDA health information relative to adverse events with respect to food, supplements, product, and product defects, or post-marketing surveillance information to enable product recalls, repairs, or replacement.

PROHIBITED USES OF YOUR INFORMATION

HIPAA and its ancillary regulations place a number of restrictions on the use of your PHI by LTA. These restrictions include but are not limited to your use of your PHI in connection to marketing and/or the sale of Personal Health Information. In that respect, be assured that your Personal Health Information will not be used or disclosed without your written authorization, except as described in this notice.

We will never sell your PHI without your prior written authorization. A “sale” of PHI takes place if we or any of our business associates receive direct or indirect remuneration in exchange for a transfer of PHI. Use of your PHI for public health purposes, as defined in the Privacy Rule; for research purposes (if remuneration constitutes a reasonable cost-based fee to cover the cost to prepare and transmit the PHI); for purposes of treatment and payment; for the sale, transfer, merger, or consolidation of all or part of LTA and for due diligence connected to such activity; to the patient at the patient’s request; or as required by law does not constitute a “sale” of PHI under HIPAA.

We will not use your PHI in connection to any marketing efforts without your prior authorization. Under HIPAA, “Marketing” is considered to be: (a) any communication about a product or service that encourages recipients of the communication to purchase or use the products or services; and/or (b) any arrangement between LTA and any other entity where We disclose PHI for remuneration, or for the other entity to make communications about its own services to encourage recipients to purchase that service or product.


FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REPORT A PROBLEM

If you have questions about this Notice or would like additional information, you may contact our Privacy Officer, Michelle, at the telephone or address below. If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, you have the right to file a complaint with the Privacy Officer at Lab Testing API Inc. or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The complaint must be in writing, describe the acts or omissions that you believe violate your privacy rights, and be filed within one hundred eighty (180) days of when you knew or should have known that the act or omission occurred. We will not retaliate against you if you make such complaints.

The contact information for both is included below.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Office of the Secretary
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Tel: (202) 619-0257
Toll-Free: 1-877-696-6775
https://www.hhs.gov/about/contact-us/index.html

Lab Testing API Inc.
Michelle Chilcott
Privacy Officer
2810 N Church St #30986
Wilmington, Delaware
19802-4447, US
1-888-512-0719
[email protected]


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