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SPL Privacy Policy

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.

 

Our goal at Specialized Pathology Laboratories LLC (SPL) is to take appropriate steps to attempt to safeguard any medical or other personal information that is provided to us. The Privacy Rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA") requires us to:

 

➢ Ensure that medical information that identifies you is kept private, except as you authorize or as laws require or permit.

➢ Give you a Notice of Privacy Practice that describes our legal duties and privacy practices with respect
     to your medical information.

➢ abide by the terms of our Notice of Privacy Practices currently in effect.

 

We use your personal health information (PHI) for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations purposes and for other purposes permitted or required by law. Not every use or disclosure is listed in this Notice, but all of our uses or disclosures of your health information will fall into one of the categories listed below.

We need your written authorization to use or disclose your health information for any purpose not covered by one of the categories below. Any authorization you provide may be revoked at any time. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclose your health information for the reasons stated in your authorization except to the extent we have already taken action based on your authorization. Furthermore, the information we receive or collect about you is stored in the form of laboratory requisition and on a computer. This is your medical laboratory record which is the property of SPL, but the information in the medical record belongs to you. The law permits us to use or disclose your health information for the following purpose:

 

1) Treatment. SPL provides laboratory testing for physicians and other healthcare professionals and we use your information in our testing process. We disclose your health information to authorized healthcare professionals who order tests or need access to your test results for treatment purposes. Examples of other treatment related purposes for which we may use or disclose your health information include disclosure to a pathologist to help interpret your test results or use your information to contact you to obtain another specimen, if necessary.

 

2)  Payment. SPL will use your PHI as part of our billing process and may send it to insurance companies or other appropriate parties, including to you, to obtain payment for our services. If you are insured under another person’s health insurance policy (for example, parent, spouse, domestic partner or a former spouse), we may also send invoices to the subscriber whose policy covers your health services.

 

3) Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose your medical information for Health Care Operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary to operate the Health System and to ensure that all patients receive quality care.

 

4) Required by law.  We may disclose your medical information when required to do so by federal, state or local law but limit disclosure to the relevant requirements of the law. In states where state law is more restrictive than federal law, we are required to follow the more restrictive state law.

 

5) Public Health.  When mandated by law we may disclose your health information to public health authorities
to prevent or control disease.

 

6) Health Oversight Activities.  We may, and are sometimes required by law to disclose your PHI to health oversight agencies during the course of audits, investigation, inspections, licensure and other such proceedings subject to the limitations imposed by the federal and state laws.

 

7) Judicial and Law Enforcement proceedings. We may use or disclose your PHI if necessary, to prevent or lessen a serious threat to your health and safety or that of another person. We may also provide PHI to law enforcement officials, in response to a warrant, investigative demand or similar legal process, or for officials to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person. We may also disclose PHI to appropriate agencies if we reasonably believe an individual to be a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. We may disclose your PHI as required to comply with a court or administrative order, or we may provide your PHI in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other legal process in the course of a judicial or administrative proceeding, but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order of protection for the requested information.

 

8) Coroner's and Medical Examiners.  We may release your medical information to a coroner, medical examiner or funeral director. This may be necessary to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death, or to enable such persons to carry out their duties.

 

9) Organ or tissue donation. Upon your requesting physician's consent, we may disclose your PHI to healthcare facilities or organizations involved in procuring, banking or transplanting organs and tissues.

 

10) Change of Ownership.  In the event SPL is sold or is merged with another organization, your PHI will become the property of the new owner and at anytime you have the right to request copies of your PHI or copies transferred to another physician or medical organization.

 

11) Research.  Upon your requesting physicians consent, we may disclose health information for research purposes when an Institutional Review Board or privacy board has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your PHI and determined that the researcher does not need to obtain your authorization prior to using your PHI for research purposes. We may also disclose information about decedents to researchers under certain circumstances.

When  SPL May Not Use or Disclose Your Health Information

SPL will not, except as described in this Notice of Privacy Practices, use or disclose PHI which identifies you without your written authorization. In the event you do authorize SPL to use or disclose your PHI for another purpose, you may and have the legal right to revoke your authorization at any time.

 

Your Patient Health Information (PHI) Rights

1) Right to request restrictions. You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on how we use or disclose your medical information for your Diagnosis, Payment or our Health Care Operations. You also have the right to request a limit on the medical information we disclose about you to someone else, like a family member or friend, who may be involved in your care or the payment for your care. We are not required to agree to your request. If we do agree, we will comply with your request unless the information is needed to provide you emergency treatment. If we do not agree, we will tell you the reason we cannot comply with your request. You must request restrictions in writing.

 

2) Right to Request Test Results or PHI. You have the right to receive a copy of your PHI that we have created.
However, some state laws restrict our ability to provide test results directly to you and require that you obtain test results directly from your treating provider. If your request for a copy of your test information is denied, you may request that the denial be reviewed.

 

3) Right to Request Confidential Communications. You have the right to request that you receive communications containing your protected health information from us by alternative means or at alternative locations. For example, you may ask that we send information such as laboratory services to specific location or vie specific routing method.

 

4) Right to amend Healthcare Information. You may request changes to your PHI that you believe may be incorrect or incomplete and we will accommodate them if we can. SPL however, is not required to make the requested changes. If we deny your written request to change your PHI we will provide you with a written explanation of the reason for the denial and additional information regarding further actions that you may take.

 

5) Accounting Disclosure. You have the right to receive a list of certain disclosures of your health information made
by SPL in the past six years from the date of your written request. Under the law, this does not include disclosures made
for purposes of treatment, payment, or healthcare operations. Fees may be incurred for duplicate requests within 12 month period or for additional lists.

 

Complaints If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you have the right to file a complaint with us.
You also have the right to file a complaint with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Office for Civil Rights.

 

To file a complaint with us, you may contact us at 714-577-0413 or write to us at the following address:

Specialized Pathology Laboratories, LLC
17451 Bastanchury Rd. Suite 204-30
Yorba Linda, Ca 92866

 

If you are not satisfied with the manner in which SPL handles a complaint, you may file a formal complaint to:

 

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

 

Note: We reserve the right to amend the terms of this Notice to reflect changes in our privacy practices, and to make the new terms and practices applicable to all PHI that we maintain about you, including PHI created or received prior to the effective date of the Notice revision. Our Notice is displayed on our website and a copy is available upon request.