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Med Health Services · 200 James Place, 2nd Floor · Monroeville, PA 15146
Med Health Services is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal and
health information. At Med Health Services, we are committed to protecting the
confidentiality of individuals' diagnostic test results and other patient protected
health information (PHI) that we collect or create as part of our diagnostic testing
activities.
We urge you to read this Notice of Privacy Practices carefully so that you will
understand both our commitment to the privacy of your PHI, and how you can participate
in that commitment.
Med Health Services and its employees are committed to obtaining, maintaining, using
and disclosing patient protected health information (PHI) in a manner that protects
patient privacy. We will only use or disclose the minimum amount of your PHI we consider
necessary to perform a job or complete an activity. This Notice applies to all PHI that
we maintain. Your doctor may have different notices regarding his/her use and disclosure
of your PHI created in his/her office.
Med Health Services is required by law to provide you with this Notice of Privacy
Practices with respect to PHI, to maintain the privacy of PHI, to state the uses and
disclosures of PHI that Med Health Services may make, and to list the rights of
individuals and our legal duties with respect to their PHI. Your PHI at Med Health
Services includes personal and medical information (such as your name, address, date
of birth, test ordered, etc.) that we obtain from you, your physician, health plan, or
other sources. Your PHI also includes the diagnostic testing results that we create.
An example of PHI is as follows: Jane Doe, Date of Birth: 2/15/68, resides at 123 Mosside
Street, Monroeville, PA, along with the attached testing results.
Med Health Services is required to abide by the terms of the Notice of Privacy Practices
currently in effect. We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice of Privacy
Practices and to make the provisions of the new Notice of Privacy Practices effective for
all PHI that we maintain. The current Notice will be displayed on our website and a copy
is available upon request.
How we may use and disclose your Protected Health Information
Your PHI will be used or disclosed for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations
purposes and for other purposes permitted or required by law. Not every use or disclosure
is listed; however, all of the ways we use or disclose your PHI will fall into one of the
categories listed below.
If we wanted to use or disclose your PHI for other purposes, we would have to obtain
your written authorization. For example, patient authorization is often required by state
law for each release of HIV test results, except if the results are being released to
public health officials as required by law. You have the right to revoke your
authorization at any time, except if we have already made a disclosure based on that
authorization. We do not need your authorization or permission to use or disclose your
PHI for the following purposes:
· For Treatment
As a health care provider that provides diagnostic testing for ordering physicians, Med
Health Services uses your PHI as part of our testing process and discloses your PHI to
physicians and other authorized health care professionals who need access to your
diagnostic results to treat you. In addition to your treating physician, we may provide
a specialist physician with information about your results to further validate the
results before release to your physician. Occasionally, we may contact you to arrange
for retesting.
· For Payment
We will use your PHI in our billing departments and disclose your PHI to insurance
companies, hospitals, physicians, and health plans for payment purposes, or to third
parties to assist us in creating bills, claim forms, or getting paid for our services.
For example, we may send your name, date of service, test performed, diagnosis code,
and other information to a health plan so that the plan will pay us for the services
we provided. In some cases, we may have to contact you to obtain billing information
or for other billing purposes. When required, we may use an outside collection agency
to obtain payment.
· For Healthcare Operations
We may use or disclose your PHI in the course of activities necessary to support our
health care operations, such as performing quality checks on our testing, for teaching
purposes, or for developing normal reference ranges for tests that we perform.
· Disclosures to Business Associates
Med Health Services may disclose your PHI to other companies or individuals who need your
PHI in order to provide specific services to us. These other entities, known as "business
associates," must comply with the terms of a contract designed to ensure that they will
maintain the privacy and security of the PHI we provide to them or which they create on
our behalf. Our business associates must only use your PHI for designated treatment,
payment, or health care operations purposes that they perform on our behalf. For example,
we may disclose your PHI to temporary employees or to accreditation bodies such as the
American College of Radiology and/or College of American Pathologists (CAP) or other
private accrediting organizations that inspect and certify the quality of our diagnostic
testing laboratories.
· As Permitted or Required by Law
We may use or disclose your PHI for various public policy purposes that are authorized
or required by federal or state law. For example, we are required to disclose your PHI
to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") upon request.
We must provide you with copies of your PHI at your request, except where restricted or
prohibited by state law. We will provide the information regarding your specific state to
you upon request.
· Public Health
We may disclose your PHI when reporting communicable disease results to public health
departments as required by law, for example, gonorrhea. We may disclose your PHI for FDA
reporting purposes.
· Public Safety
When the appropriate conditions apply, we may use or disclose PHI to prevent or lessen
a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public.
· To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety
We may use or disclose your PHI when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health
and safety or that of another person or the general public. Any use or disclosure for
this purpose would only be made to someone able to help prevent the threat. For example,
we may disclose your PHI in an investigation regarding a physician's license.
· Health Oversight
We may disclose your PHI in connection with governmental oversight, licensure, auditing,
and other purposes. For example, governmental agencies periodically review our records
to ensure that Med Health Services is complying with the rules of various regulatory
and licensing agencies. Other agencies may audit our billing and laboratory records to
verify that the health care was provided as claimed or that we were paid correctly.
· Judicial and Administrative Proceedings
We may disclose your PHI as required to comply with court orders, discovery requests or
other legal process in the course of a judicial or administrative proceeding.
· Law Enforcement
We may also disclose PHI for law enforcement purposes. For example, we may be required
to release PHI as required by law or in compliance with a court order, judicial subpoena,
court-ordered warrant, grand jury subpoena, administrative request, investigative demand
or similar legal process, but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the
request or to obtain an order of protection for the requested information. We may release
PHI for other law enforcement purposes, such as to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive,
material witness, or missing person.
· Specialized Government Functions
We may disclose your PHI for military and veterans activities, national security or
intelligence purposes, or to correctional institutions, or to law enforcement officials
having custody of an inmate.
· Workers Compensation
We may disclose your PHI as necessary to comply with requirements of workers'
compensation or similar programs that provide benefits for work-related injuries
or illness without regard to fault. For example, workers compensation programs may
require that we provide the results of diagnostic testing as part of the case file.
· We may contact you for specific reason
Although we do not do so today, we may want to contact you in the future regarding
health-related products or services that may be of interest to you.
Your rights concerning privacy and confidentiality:
· Access
You or your authorized or designated personal representative have the right to inspect
and copy your PHI.
· Amendments
You have the right to request amendments to your PHI (but we are not required to make
the requested amendments).
· Restrictions
You have the right to ask us if we will agree to restrictions on certain uses and
disclosures of your PHI, but we are not required to agree to your request.
· Confidential Communications
You have the right to request that we send your PHI to an alternate address, but we
are not required to agree to your request.
· Notice of Privacy Practices
You have the right to request a paper copy of this Notice.
· Complaints
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you have the right to register
a complaint with Med Health Services or the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. Med Health Services will not retaliate against any individual for
filing a complaint. You may also file a complaint by calling us directly.
· How to exercise your rights
Write to us with your specific written request and be sure to include sufficient
information for us to identify all of your records. Med Health Services will consider
your request and provide you a response within a reasonable timeframe.
How to contact us
If you have questions or concerns regarding the privacy or confidentiality of your
PHI, or you wish to register a complaint, please write us at the address located at
the beginning of this notice or contact us
here.
Med Health Services reserves the right to amend this Notice of Privacy Practices, at
any time, to reflect changes in our privacy practices, and these changes will apply
retroactively. Any such changes will be applicable to and effective for all Protected
Health Information (PHI) that we maintain including PHI we created or received prior
to the effective date of the Notice revision.
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