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.
West Coast Clinical Labs (WCCL) is legally required to protect the
privacy of your health information. That information is referred to
as PHI (Protected Health Information). PHI includes information that
can be used to identify a patient for many different reasons. Usually
WCCL will not disclose any more PHI that is necessary in order to accomplish
the purpose of the disclosure.
WCCL reserves the right to change the terms of this notice and our
privacy policies at any time. All changes will apply to all PHI that
we already have. The new notice will be posted and available before
it takes effect. A copy can also be obtained by contacting our laboratory
directly. THE
WAY WCCL USES AND DISCLOSES YOUR PHI
WCCL uses your disclosed health information for many different reasons.
For some of those disclosures we need your prior authorization but for
most we do not. Below you will find the different uses of the information
along with some examples.
- For treatment. WCCL will disclose or use your PHI
for treatment purposes. Those include physician, nurses and other
Health Care professionals who provide you with health care related
services.For example, providing your physician with your blood test
results.
- For payment. WCCL may disclose your PHI in order
to bill and collect payment for services rendered to you. For example
we may disclose your PHI to your insurance company in order to get
paid for lab work performed.
- For health care operations. WCCL may use or disclose
your PHI in order to support health care operations. For example when
we perform internal quality control or for developing normal ranges
for tests performed.
- Business Associates. WCCL may disclose your PHI
to our business associates in order to perform certain business functions
or if they provide certain services for WCCL. For example, we may
use an outside lab to perform certain tests, we may need to disclose
to them your PHI in order for them to be able to perform and bill
for the tests.
- As required by law. WCCL may use or disclose your
PHI if required to do so by Federal, State or International law.
- Law enforcement. WCCL may disclose your PHI for
law enforcement purposes. Those will usually be accompanied by a court
order or a subpoena.
- Public health. WCCL may disclose your PHI for public
health activities. For example when we report communicable disease
results to a public health office, as we are required to do by law.
- Judicial and administrative. WCCL may disclose
your PHI in order to comply with a court order of a subpoena. For
example in a Workmen s Compensation case the information may be required
in order to reach a settlement or verdict.
- Government functions. WCCL may disclose your PHI
to military personnel. And in certain situations your PHI may be disclosed
for national security purposes. For example, protecting against terrorism.
- State law. Whenever state law is more restrictive
than federal law, we are required to follow the more restrictive state
law. For example, under federal law lab may be allowed to release
results to the patients, but under state law they are not. We are
obligated to follow the state law and not release the results directly
to the patients. We can only release them to the physician.
YOUR RIGHTS CONCERNING YOUR PRIVACY
- Limits on uses and disclosures. You have the right
to request that we limit how we use and disclose of your PHI. WCCL
will consider your request although, legally we are not obligated
to accept it. WCCL will put any limits in writing and abide by them,
unless there is an emergency.
- Communication of your PHI. You have the right to
request that we send you your PHI to an alternate address or by alternate
means. We must agree to your request as long as it is reasonable to
do so.
- Access to and obtaining copies of your PHI. You
have the right to see and get copies of your PHI. However, in some
cases state or federal law may prohibit us for furnishing you with
certain information (like test results). Your request must be done
in writing, and we will comply within 30 days.
- Accounting of disclosures made. You have the right
to request and get a list of the disclosures we made of your PHI.
The list will not include the disclosures or uses that you have already
agreed to. Those include treatment, payment or health care operations.
Disclosures made for national security will also be excluded from
such list. We will respond to your request within 60 days from your
written request. The list will include disclosures made in the past
6 years but not prior to April 14, 2003.
- Correcting your PHI. You have the right to correct
any wrong information on your PHI. You may request in writing that
such mistake be corrected. You will be provided with a written explanation
should your request be denied.
- E-mail notification. You have the right to get
this notice by e-mail. You also have the right to request a paper
copy of this notice.
HOW TO COMPLAIN OR COMMENT ABOUT OUR PRIVACY POLICY
If you have any complaints or comments regarding our privacy policy,
or if you feel that we have violated our privacy policy you can contact
our Privacy Officer at the following address:
HIPAA Privacy Officer
West Coast Clinical Labs
7636 Burnet Ave
Van Nuys, CA 91405
Only the Privacy Officer is authorized to accept a request or exercise
your rights. No other person or staff member is authorized to do so.
CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY POLICY
WCCL reserves the right to make changes to this notice and to our privacy
policies from time to time. The changes will apply to any PHI that we
may already have on you. WCCL will comply with all policies described
in this notice. Any future changes will appear in this notice. Please
review notice from time to time to make sure that you are aware of any
changes made.
Effective date: June 1, 2003
Revised: July 12, 2003
