NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

This notice of Privacy Practices describes how we may use and disclose your protected health information for purposes that are permitted or required by law.  It also describes your rights to access and control your protected health information.  “Protected Health Information” is information about you, including demographic information that may identify you and that relates to your past, present or future physical and related health care services.

All healthcare providers are required to abide by the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices.  We may change our notice at any time.  The new notice will be effective for all protected health information that we maintain at that time.  Upon your request, we will provide you with any revised Notice of Privacy Practices.  You may obtain a copy by calling our office and requesting that a revised copy be sent to you in the mail or asking for one at the time of your health screening.

 

Understanding Your Health Record/Information

Each time you participate in a health screening with LifeCheck Lab, a record is made of your participation.  This record may contain information about your physical stature, your vital statistics, lab results and information you provide about your lifestyle.  This information serves as a:

• Basis for preparing your individual LifeCheck Wellness Profile
• A means of communication between LifeCheck Lab and your personal physician
• A source of data for medical research, facility planning and marketing
• A tool with which we can assess and continually work to improve the product we deliver and the outcomes we achieve.

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 make more informed decisions when authorizing disclosure to others.

 

Our Responsibilities

LifeCheck Lab is required to:

• Maintain the privacy of your health information
• Provide you with a notice as to our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to information we collect and maintain about you
• Abide by the terms of this notice
• Notify you if we are unable to agree to a requested restriction
• Accommodate reasonable requests you may have to communicate health information by alternative means or at alternative locations.

We will not use or disclose your health information without your authorization, except as described in this notice.

How We Will Use or Disclose Your Health Information

1. Reporting:  We will use your health information to produce several reports for you and if applicable, your physician and employer or sponsoring organization.  At your request, a physician summary of the laboratory results will be forwarded to your physician.  If your participation was the result of a group event at your work or other organization, your employer or sponsoring organization will receive a group report that will categorize your data with others in your group.  No personal or individual information will be provided in group reports.
2. Payment:  In certain situations your participation will be recorded for billing purposes to your employer or sponsoring organization.
3. Research:  We may provide information to researchers when an institutional review board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your health information has approved their research.
4. Required by Law:  We may use or disclose your protected health information to the extent that law requires the use or disclosure.  The use or disclosure will be made in compliance with the law and will be limited to the relevant requirements of the law.
5. Reports:  Federal law makes provisions for your health information to be released to an appropriate health oversight agency, public health authority or attorney, provided that a work force member or business associate believes in good faith that we have engaged in unlawful conduct or have otherwise violated professional or clinical standards and are potentially endangering one or more patients, workers or the public.

 

Your Health Information Rights

Although your health record is the physical property of LifeCheck Lab, the information in your health records belongs to you.  You have the following rights:

• You have the right to inspect and obtain copies of your protected health information
• You have the right to request a restriction of your protected health information
• You have the right to receive confidential communications from us by alternative means or at an alternative location.
• You have the right to receive an accounting of certain disclosures we have made, if any, of your protected health information (not to exceed 7 years)
• You may revoke an authorization to use or disclose health information.

If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with LifeCheck Laboratory.  These complaints need to be filed in writing to the company CEO.  You may also file a complaint with the Secretary of the Federal Department of Health and Human Services.  There will be no retaliation for filing a complaint.