NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES[1]
This Notice of Privacy Practices (“Privacy Notice”) applies to FlowHealth Holdings LLC (“FHH”) and its affiliated entities (“us”), to the extent of our acting in the capacity of a Health Care Provider.
THIS PRIVACY 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.
We are required by law to maintain the privacy of ProtectedHealth Information (“PHI”) and provide you notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to PHI. PHI is information that may identify you and that relates to your past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition, the provision of health care products and services to you, or payment for such services. We have provided you with examples on how we may use or disclose your PHI; however, not every permissible use or disclosure will be listed in this Privacy Notice.
We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safe guards to protect PHI against unauthorized access, use, and disclosure.
Treatment - We use your PHI to provide treatment to you. For example, we may use your PHI to provide, coordinate, or manage health care services for you for COVID and other diseases; allergies and respiratory conditions; for IV vitamin infusions; to meet your compound pharmaceuticals; in relation to CLIA waived and non-waived clinical laboratory testing; and for treatment-related services,, such as treatment alternatives, and other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.
We may use or disclose your PHI to provide appointment or refill reminders or otherwise communicate about a drug or biologic that is currently being prescribed for you, either where no financial remuneration is received by us or, if so, where only any financial remuneration received by us in exchange for making the communication is reasonably related to our cost of making the communication. Otherwise, we will only do so if and once you have provided us with a HIPAA Privacy Authorization to do so.
Payment - We use your PHI to receive payment for products and services.For example, we may contact your third-party payor to determine whether your payor will pay for tests or other services rendered. We may bill you or a third-party payor for the cost of health care services provided to you. The information on or accompanying the bill may include your PHI, such as which specific health care services have been rendered.
Health Care Operations - We use your PHI to carry out Health Care Operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary to run our operations and to help make sure that you and other patients receive quality care. For example, we may use PHI in your health record to monitor the quality of clinical laboratory performance and to train clinical personnel.
Business Associates - We may contract with third parties to perform certain services for us, such as billing services, copy services, or consulting services. These third-party service providers, referred to as business associates, may need to access your PHI to perform services for us. They are required by contract and law to protect your PHI and only use and disclose it as necessary to perform their services for us.
To Communicate with Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care - We may disclose PHI about you to a relative, a close friend, or any other person you identify, provided the information is relevant to that person’s involvement with your health care or payment for that care. For example, if a family member or a caregiver calls us with prior knowledge of a claim, we may confirm whether or not the claim has been received and paid. You have the right to stop or limit this kind of disclosure by calling us at our phone number listed below, during our hours of operation, also noted below.
Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") - We may disclose to persons under the jurisdiction of the FDA, PHI relative to adverse events with respect to drugs, foods, supplements, products and product defects, or post-marketing surveillance information to enable product recalls, repairs, or replacement.
Workers’ Compensation - To the extent necessary to comply with law, we may disclose yourPHI to workers’ compensation or other similar programs established by law.
Public Health - We may disclose your PHI to public health or legal authorities charged with preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability, including the FDA. In certain circumstances, we may also report work-related illnesses and injuries to employers for workplace safety purposes.
Law Enforcement - We may disclose your PHI for law enforcement purposes as required or permitted by law for example, in response to a subpoena or court order, in response to a request from law enforcement, and to report limited information in certain circumstances.
As Required by Law - We disclose your PHI when required to do so by federal, State or local law. We will follow applicable State laws if they are more protective of your health Information or provide you with additional rights regarding your health Information.
Health Oversight Activities - We may disclose your PHI to oversight agencies for activities authorized by law. These oversight activities may include such things as audits, investigations, inspections, and credentialing, as necessary for licensure and for the government to monitor the health care system, government programs and compliance with civil rights laws.
Judicial and Administrative Proceedings - If you are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose your PHI in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose your PHI in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process instituted by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts have been made, either by the requesting party or us, to first tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the PHI requested.
Research - We may use your PHI to conduct research and we may disclose your PHI to researchers as authorized by law. For example, we may use or disclose your PHI as part of a research study when the research has been approved by an institutional review board or privacy board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your information.
Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors - We may release your PHI to coroners or medical examiners so that they can carry out their duties. This maybe necessary, for example, to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We may also disclose PHI to funeral directors consistent with applicable law to enable them to carry out their duties.
Organ or Tissue Procurement Organizations - Consistent with applicable law, we may disclose your PHI to organ procurement organizations or other entities engaged in the procurement, banking, or transplantation of organs for the purpose of tissue donation and transplant.
Notification - We may use or disclose your PHI to notify or assist in notifying a family member, personal representative, or another person responsible for your care, regarding your location and general condition.
Disaster Relief - We may use and disclose your PHI to organizations for purposes of Disaster Relief Efforts.
Correctional Institution - If you are or become an inmate of a correctional institution, we may disclose to the Institution, or its agents,PHI necessary for your health and the health and safety of other persons.
To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety - We may use and disclose your PHI when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person.
Military and Veterans - If you are a member of the armed forces, we may release PHI about you as required by military command authorities. We may also release PHI about foreign military personnel to the appropriate foreign military authority.
National Security, Intelligence Activities, and ProtectiveServices for the President and Others - We may release PHI about you to federal officials for intelligence, counter intelligence, protection of the President, and other national security activities authorized by law.
Victims of Abuse or Neglect - We may disclose PHI about you to a government authority if we reasonably believe you are a victim of abuse or neglect. We only disclose this type of information to the extent required by law, if you agree to the disclosure, or if the disclosure is allowed by law and we believe it is necessary to prevent serious harm to you or someone else.
HIPAA Authorization Uses or Disclosures - To the extent required by the HIPAA Privacy Rule, we will first ask for and obtain from you a HIPAA Privacy Authorization before using or disclosing your PHI. For example, where a HIPAA Privacy Authorization is required, we would not use or disclose your PHI for marketing purposes or to sell your PHI, unless you first provide a HIPAA Privacy Authorization to allow us to do so. Other instances for which we may use or disclose your PHI based on a HIPAA Privacy Authorization include, but are not limited to, your employer, the media, financial aid or assistance programs, copay programs, or benefits investigations to determine expected medical or other health coverage through your health insurance plan or other programs. If you have given us a HIPAA Privacy Authorization, you may revoke it at any time, if we have not already acted on it. We reserve the right to de-identify your PHI so that it no longer constitutes PHI, for which a HIPAA Privacy Authorization is no longer necessary. In such instances, we may use or disclose the de-identified information with respect to other parties.
You have the right to make certain requests regarding your PHI, including the right to:
Federal regulations concerning the privacy and security of personal health information give you the right to make certain requests regarding health information about you.
You may make any of the requests described above in writing to our Privacy Officer at the contact information provided below. You may request a paper copy of this Privacy Notice by calling us at our phone number below. Our hours of operation are provided below.
You also have the right to file a complaint if you think your privacy rights may have been violated. To do so, please send your inquiry to the address provided below. You also may write to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services(“HHS”) at the contact information noted below. You will not be penalized in any way for filing a complaint.
This Privacy Notice is being provided to you to the extent of a direct treatment relationship with you and is also posted on our website. We follow the terms of the Privacy Notice currently in effect. We may change the terms of this Privacy Notice at any time. If we do, the new terms and policies will be effective for all of the information that we already have about you, as well as any information that we may receive or hold in the future.
If you have questions regarding this Privacy Notice, please contact us at the contact information provided below, during our hours of operation noted below.
Our contact information is: Flow Health, 8627 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232, Attention:Privacy; T: 323.905.0125 (TTY/TDD users should call 711); privacy@flowhealth.com. Our hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PCT. We have an answering service 24 hours a day, 7days a week.
HHS may be contacted, as follows: Office for Civil Rights, U.S.Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue, SW, Room509F, HHH Building, Washington, D.C. 20201;(800) 368-1019; TDD toll-free: (800) 537-7697; OCRPrivacy@hhs.gov.
[1] As used in this Privacy Notice, the terms, “FlowHealth”, “we”, “us”, “our”, or “ours”,,whether in lower or upper case, means and refers to, individually and collectively, Flow Health Holdings LLC (“FHH”) and its affiliated entities, Flow Health Inc.(“FHI”); Flow Health Laboratories GA LLC (“FHL-GA”); Flow Health Laboratories IL LLC (“FHL-IL”); Flow Health Laboratories LA LLC (“FHL-LA”); Flow HealthLaboratories NJ LLC (“FHL-NJ”); Signal Diagnostics LLC (“Signal”); Flow HealthOutsourcing Inc. (Manila) (“FHO”); Flow Health Marketplace LLC (“FHM”); FHM’s affiliated subsidiary affiliated entity. The terms, “Individual”, “you”, “your” or “yours”,whether in lower or upper case, means and refers to the Individual whose ProtectedHealth Information is at issue. Absent limited exceptions, we are required to treat any personal representative who is duly authorized under applicable State law to make health care decisions for you, as if such person were you, on your behalf.
