Privacy Policy & HIPAA Privacy Practices
Patient Confidentiality
While convenience and cost are very important to us, your confidentiality is of our utmost concern. Medical information is extremely personal, and we use extreme measures to protect it. We treat this information like we would want our personal information to be treated. MedLabUSA will not use or release personal health information except as otherwise permitted and/or required by HIPAA. Patients may revoke authorization to release medical records. Personal health information can only be used for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations. We will limit disclosure of personal health information as much as is allowable by law. All other uses will occur only via patient authorization.
Our owner and all employees are trained in HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act) compliance issues. Continuing medical education and updates regarding HIPAA are completed by all employees at the recommended intervals. Employees who are not compliant with HIPAA statutes or MedLab’s internal privacy polices will be reprimanded or terminated, depending upon the particular infraction. All patient results are only available to our physician owner on a secure electronic basis. This eliminates availability of results to other employees.
Any complaint from patients, employees, or others will be addressed by our physician owner directly in a quick and efficient manner. We encourage patients to voice concerns or ask questions regarding MedLab’s compliance with any privacy law.
HIPAA Privacy Notice
The following information describes how your medical information may be disclosed and used, and how you can access this data.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 is a federally based program that requires that all medical records used or disclosed by MedLab (or any other health care provider) electronically, on paper, or orally, be kept confidential. This statute gives you significant new rights to understand and regulate how your personal health information is used. HIPAA issues penalties to those that misuse personal health information (PHI). A complete, detailed report of the above act is available upon request. We have summarized the main points in the following statement.
We may use and disclose your medical records for treatment, payment, and health care operations. We may distribute health information after references to personal, identifiable information have been removed. Any other disclosure will occur only via your written permission. You may revoke this permission in writing, and we are required to honor your request.
Included in HIPAA are the following rights in regard to your personal health information:
- The right to ask for restrictions on the ways your health information is used in regard to treatment, payment, and health care operations.
- The right to request that you receive communications regarding your PHI by alternative means or at alternative locations.
- The right to inspect and copy medical records used to make decisions about you.
- The right to request that we correct your current information, if necessary, or add missing information.
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