Privacy Policy – Yosemite Pathology Medical Group

NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES EFFECTIVE DATE: 04/01/2016

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.

Yosemite Pathology Medical Group, Inc., which hereinafter includes its affiliates, contractors and subcontractors, understand the importance of privacy and are committed to maintaining the confidentiality of your medical information as required under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), as incorporated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (hereinafter collectively referred to as HIPAA) and applicable state laws. As an indirect health care provider, we make a record of the laboratory services we provide and may receive such records of laboratory services from others. We use these records to provide or enable other health care providers to provide quality medical care, to obtain payment for services provided to you as allowed by your health plan and to enable us to meet our professional and legal obligations to operate Yosemite Pathology Medical Group, Inc. properly. We are required by law to maintain the privacy of protected health information and to provide individuals with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to protected health information. This notice describes how we may use and disclose your medical information. It also describes your rights and our legal obligations with respect to your medical information.

A. HOW YOSEMITE PATHOLOGY MEDICAL GROUP, INC. MAY USE OR DISCLOSURE YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION

Yosemite Pathology Medical Group, Inc. collects health information about you and stores it in the form of a laboratory requisition and on a computer. This is your medical laboratory record. The medical laboratory record is the property of Yosemite Pathology Medical Group, Inc., but the information in the medical record belongs to you. The law permits us to use or disclose your health information for the following purposes:

1. TREATMENT

We use medical information related to your laboratory test results to assist your physician in providing your medical care. We disclose medical information to our employees and others who are involved in providing the laboratory services your physician requested. We may share your medical information with other laboratory services providers who will provide services which we do not provide.

2. PAYMENT

3.HEALTH CARE OPERATIONS AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATES

We may use and disclose medical information about you to operate Yosemite Pathology Medical Group, Inc. For example, we may use and disclose this information to review and improve the quality of laboratory services we provide, or the competence and qualifications of our professional staff. Or we may use and disclose this information to get your health plan to authorize services or referrals. We may also use and disclose this information as necessary for medical reviews, legal services and audits, including fraud and abuse detection and compliance programs and business planning and management. We may also share your medical information with our business associates that perform administrative services for us. We have a written contract with each of these business associates that contains terms requiring them to protect the confidentiality of your medical information. Although federal law does not protect health information which is disclosed to someone other than another health care provider, health plan or health care clearinghouse, under California law all recipients of health care information are prohibited from re-disclosing it except as specifically required or permitted by law. Upon your requesting your physician’s consent, we may also share your information with other health care providers to assist them in providing health care to you, health care clearinghouses or health plans that have a relationship with you, when they request this information, with their quality assessment and improvement activities, their efforts to improve health or reduce health care costs, their review of competence, qualifications and performance of health care professionals, their training programs, their accreditation, certification or licensing activities, or their health care fraud and abuse detection and compliance efforts.

4.REQUIRED BY LAW & WORKERS COMPENSATION

As required by law, we will use or disclose your protected health information to the extent that law requires the use or disclosure. We will maintain compliance with the law and will limit the disclosure to the minimum necessary. If required, you will be notified of any disclosure. We are permitted to disclose your protected health information as authorized to comply with workers’ compensation laws and other similar legally established programs.

5.PUBLIC HEALTH

We may, and are sometimes required by law to disclose your health information to public health authorities for purposes of preventing or controlling disease.

6.HEALTH OVERSIGHT ACTIVITIES

We may, and are sometimes required by law to disclose your health information to health oversight agencies during the course of audits, investigations, inspections, licensure and other proceedings, subject to the limitations imposed by federal and California law.

7.JUDICIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS

8.CORONERS

We may, and are often required by law, to disclose your health information to coroners in connection with their investigations of deaths.

9.ORGAN OR TISSUE DONATION

Upon your requesting physician’s consent, we may disclose your health information to organizations involved in procuring, banking or transplanting organs and tissues.

10.SPECIALIZED GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS

We may disclose your health information for military or national security purposes.

11.CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP

In the event that Yosemite Pathology Medical Group, Inc. is sold or merged with another organization, your health information/record will become the property of the new owner.

12.RESEARCH

Upon your requesting physician’s consent, we may disclose your health information to researchers conducting research to which your written authorization is not required as approved by an Institutional Review Board or privacy board, in compliance with governing law.

13.FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Under certain circumstances, and with proper documentation and/or authorization, we may disclose your health information to family members, other relatives, or close personal friends or others that you identify to the extent it is directly relevant to their involvement with your care or payment related to your care. In particular, in the event you become deceased, we may disclose your health information to family members and others who were involved in the care or payment for care of you prior to your death, unless we are aware that you have expressed a preference with respect to who we can disclose your health information after you die.

14. PATIENT REQUEST

for Test Results. We understand that patients may make a request directly to Yosemite Pathology Medical Group, Inc.’s laboratory for a copy of their test results. Upon prior authorization, we will provide a copy of any test results directly to a patient, the patient’s personal representative, or a person designated by the patient, as appropriate.

15.MARKETING

Except as otherwise allowed under HIPAA, we will not use or disclose for marketing purposes your health information without your prior authorization in the event we receive financial remuneration from a third party whose product or service is the subject of the marketing of your health information.

16.SALE OF PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION

Except as otherwise provided under HIPAA, we may with your prior authorization, exchange your health information for direct or indirect remuneration from or on behalf of the party to whom your health information would be provided. Any such authorization we provide to you for your signature will contain the statement “Such disclosure of your health information will result in our receiving remuneration for such exchange of your health information.”

17.OTHER USES AND DISCLOSURE OF YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION

Other uses and disclosures of your health information that are not described in this Notice of Privacy Practices will be made only with your authorization.

B. WHEN YOSEMITE PATHOLOGY MEDICAL GROUP, INC. MAY NOT USE OR DISCLOSE YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION

Except as described in this Notice of Privacy Practices, Yosemite Pathology Medical Group, Inc. will not use or disclose health information which identifies you without your written authorization. If you do authorize Yosemite Pathology Medical Group, Inc. to use or disclose your health information for another purpose, you may revoke your authorization in writing at any time.

C.YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION RIGHTS

1.RIGHT TO REQUEST SPECIAL PRIVACY PROTECTIONS

You have the right to request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of your health information, by a written request specifying what information you want to limit and what limitations on our use or disclosure of that information you wish to have imposed. Except as provided in item 6 below, we reserve the right to accept or reject your request, and will notify you of our decision.

2.RIGHT TO REQUEST CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS

4. RIGHT TO AN ACCOUNTING OF DISCLOSURES

You have a right to receive an accounting of disclosures of your health information made by Yosemite Pathology Medical Group, Inc., except that Yosemite Pathology Medical Group, Inc. does not have to account for the disclosures provided to you or pursuant to your written authorization, or as described in paragraphs 1 (Treatment), 2 (Payment), 3 (Health Care Operations and Business Associates), and 10 (Specialized Government Functions) of Section A of this Notice of Privacy Practices or disclosures for purposes of research or public health which exclude direct patient identifiers, or which are incident to a use or disclosure otherwise permitted or authorized by law, or the disclosures to a health oversight agency or law enforcement official to the extent Yosemite Pathology Medical Group, Inc. has received notice from that agency or official that providing this accounting would be reasonably likely to impede their activities.

5.RIGHT TO INSPECT AND COPY YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION

You have the right to request access to inspect and to obtain a copy of your health information as long as that information is maintained in a designated record set. However, your right to request such access to your health information is subject to certain restrictions set forth in HIPAA and our right to deny any such request in accordance with HIPAA.

6.RIGHT TO RESTRICT DISCLOSURE TO A HEALTH PLAN

7. RIGHT TO REQUEST A PAPER COPY OF THIS NOTICE

You have a right to a paper copy of this Notice of Privacy Practices, even if you have previously requested its receipt by e-mail.

8. ELECTRONIC COPY OF YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION

You may request an electronic copy of your health information that we maintain in an electronic health record other electronic designated record set.

9.RIGHT TO REQUEST DISCLOSURE TO A THIRD PARTY

You have the right to request us to transmit your health information directly to another individual when your request is in writing, is signed by you, clearly identifies the person to whom your health information will be disclosed and where to send your health information.

10. RIGHT TO REQUEST DISCLOSURE TO A THIRD PARTY

Right to Be Notified of a Breach. In the event there is a breach of any of your unsecured health information, we are required to notify you of such breach.

D. CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

We reserve the right to amend this Notice of Privacy Practices at any time in the future. Until such amendment is made, we are required by law to comply with this Notice. After an amendment is made, the revised Notice of Privacy Practices will apply to all protected health information that we maintain, regardless of when it was created or received. We will keep a copy of the current notice on file. We will make a copy of the revised notice available to individuals who request it.

E. COMPLAINTS

Complaints about this Notice of Privacy Practices or how Yosemite Pathology Medical Group, Inc. handles your health information should be directed to the Yosemite Pathology Medical Group, Inc.’s Compliance Officer at 2625 Coffee Road, Suite S, Modesto, CA 95355, (209) 577-1200. If you are not satisfied with the manner in which this office handles a complaint, you may submit a formal complaint to:

Office of Civil Rights
U. S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Room 509F HHH Building
Washington, DC 20201

You will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint.