Privacy Policy

This notice describes how medical information about you may be used or disclosed, and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully. To request your results from DRUGSCAN, please download and complete this document.

DRUGSCAN is committed to protecting the privacy of all patient information, including protected health information (PHI) provided to DRUGSCAN or created by DRUGSCAN because of testing processes, and protecting the confidentiality of patient results. This Notice describes how DRUGSCAN will protect the privacy and confidentiality of your PHI. PHI is individually identifiable health information that relates to your physical or mental health condition, the provision of healthcare to you, or the payment for such healthcare that DRUGSCAN may create or maintain about you. This Notice does not apply to certain forensic testing services and Department of Transportation drugs of abuse testing services provided by DRUGSCAN.

Should you have any questions about this Notice or DRUGSCAN’s Privacy Practices, please contact DRUGSCAN in one of the following ways:

Call DRUGSCAN at 800-501-8979 and ask for the HIPAA Privacy Officer;

Send an email to Privacy.Officer@DRUGSCAN.com, or;

Write to: HIPAA Privacy Officer

DRUGSCAN, Inc.

200 Precision Road

Horsham, PA 19044

DRUGSCAN’s Responsibilities and Permitted Uses and Disclosures of PHI

DRUGSCAN Responsibilities as Required By Law

Maintain the privacy and security of your PHI

Upon request, provide you with a copy of this Notice, which describes DRUGSCAN’s legal duties and privacy practices under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Notify you promptly, in accordance with applicable privacy laws, if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your PHI

Follow the terms of this Notice

DRUGSCAN collects and uses your PHI, for the following purposes

1. Treatment

DRUGSCAN provides laboratory testing for physicians and other healthcare professionals, and your PHI may be used in the testing process

DRUGSCAN may also disclose PHI related to your actual test results and other related information to healthcare professionals who ordered the testing, or who may need access to the testing in order to treat you

2. Payment

DRUGSCAN may use your PHI in order to bill for and obtain payment for our services. For example, we may disclose your PHI to insurance companies, health plans, hospitals, physicians and other healthcare professionals in order to obtain payment for the medical services we provide to you.

We may also disclose your health information to other third parties who are involved in creating invoices or health insurance claims for DRUGSCAN services, and third parties involved in collecting payment for DRUGSCAN services.

DRUGSCAN may also include PHI on invoices sent to you, and/or to the person under which your health insurance coverage is provided

3. Business Management Activities

DRUGSCAN may use or disclose PHI as necessary to support our business management and operation activities, including, but not limited to, performing quality checks on our testing procedures, training and educating staff, conducting internal audits, and/or developing reference ranges for our tests

4. When Required by HIPAA

DRUGSCAN must disclose your information to you or someone that has the legal right to act on your behalf (such as your personal representative) in order to administer your rights described in this Notice and to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services if the Secretary wants to see that we are complying with federal privacy law

5. Disclosure to Business Associates

DRUGSCAN may provide your PHI to our vendors, known as “business associates,” who require PHI in order to provide specific services for or on behalf of DRUGSCAN related to our treatment, payment or business management activities

Our business associates are contractually and legally required to protect the privacy of your health information and must limit disclosure of your PHI to only those activities required to provide their services to or on behalf of DRUGSCAN or otherwise permitted by law

6. Certain Individuals Involved in Your Healthcare

DRUGSCAN may disclose PHI to family members or others that you identify who are involved with your care or payment for your care, provided you agree or fail to object to them receiving your information or in emergency situations or when you are incapacitated.

Special rules apply to the disclosure of deceased individuals’ PHI

7. Research

Under certain circumstances, we may use or disclose your PHI for research purposes

We will use or disclose your PHI only when permitted by law, such as under the approval of an Institutional Review Board or entity with similar authority under law

DRUGSCAN may also use or disclose your “de-identified” PHI, which excludes your name and other identifying information specified by law

8. To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety

DRUGSCAN may use or disclose your PHI if necessary, to avert a serious threat to your health and safety or that of another person or the general public

9. As Required by Law

Where required by state, federal or other law, DRUGSCAN may release or disclose your PHI to specific organizations and entities

10. For Certain Public Benefit and Interest Purposes

DRUGSCAN may disclose your PHI to specific organizations or entities for certain national priority and public benefit purposes as permitted by law, including the following:

• Health Oversight Activities, including government audits and investigations.
• Public Health Activities, such as reporting or preventing disease outbreaks
• Reporting Abuse, Neglect and Domestic Violence, including reporting information to certain governmental authorities related to victims of neglect, abuse, and domestic violence
• To Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors, including to identify a deceased individual
• For Organ and Tissue Donation Purposes, including to facilitate donations and transplants
• Workers’ Compensation Purposes, including to comply with workers’ compensation laws
• Law Enforcement Activities, such as reporting to law enforcement officials to locate a suspect or report a crime
• Judicial and Administrative Proceedings, including in response to a court or administrative order and subpoena in certain circumstances
• Specialized Government Organizations or Activities, including military commands and veterans administrations, national security or Intelligence agencies or purposes, and correctional institutions

Other Uses and Disclosures of Your PHI

For purposes not described above, we will use or disclose your PHI only if we receive your written authorization.This includes, except as otherwise permitted by federal law, not using or disclosing your psychotherapy notes, selling your PHI, or using or disclosing your PHI for marketing purposes, unless we have obtained your authorization.

You have the right to revoke your authorization in writing, and may do so at any time. If you revoke your authorization, DRUGSCAN will discontinue using or disclosing your PHI according to your instructions, except where DRUGSCAN has already shared or used your PHI prior to your revocation. You may revoke your authorization by contacting DRUGSCAN Privacy Officer.

Note Regarding Other Federal and State Law Restrictions

Other federal and state laws may also restrict our use and disclosure of your PHI, such as federal laws governing alcohol and drug abuse information and state laws governing certain sensitive categories of health information, including alcohol and drug abuse

If a use or disclosure of your PHI is materially limited or prohibited by other laws that apply to us, DRUGSCAN will follow the more restrictive law

Your Rights

Access

• You generally have the right to request and obtain copies of certain of your PHI that we maintain, including PHI contained in medical and billing records maintained by DRUGSCAN Effective October 6, 2014, you will also have the right to request and obtain copies of completed test reports DRUGSCAN maintains about you.
• To request your results from DRUGSCAN, please download and complete this document.
• These rights extend to PHI that we maintain electronically, which you can request that we send a copy of your information in an electronic format.
• You also have the right to request that DRUGSCAN send a copy of your information to a third party you identify
• All requests for access must be in writing and to the address listed below. We may charge a reasonable fee for copies of your information. We may deny your requests in certain limited circumstances

Accounting

• You have the right to request a list of certain disclosures of your PHI made by DRUGSCAN in the past six years
• This right does not include a listing of disclosures made by us for the purposes of treatment, payment, our business management activities, and certain other disclosures (such as any you asked us to make)
• All requests for an accounting must be in writing and to the address listed below
• Amendments
• You have the right to request changes or corrections to certain of your PHI that we maintain about you, such as your PHI contained in medical and billing records
• All requests must be in writing to the address listed below and include an explanation for why you are requesting the change or correction
• Where DRUGSCAN denies a requested change to PHI, DRUGSCAN will provide a written explanation of the reasons, and information regarding what additional recourse you may have

Restrictions

• You have the right to request, in writing, restrictions on disclosure or use of your PHI for treatment, payment and business management purposes, and may do so at any time
• You also have the right to request that we restrict disclosure of your PHI to family members and others involved in your healthcare or payment for your healthcare
• DRUGSCAN is not required to agree to any request, except if you request that we not send your PHI to health plans for payment or business management purposes and such disclosures are not otherwise required by law and the PHI concerns a healthcare item or service for which you or a person on your behalf has paid us in full
• Where DRUGSCAN is permitted and denies a requested restriction to your PHI, DRUGSCAN will provide a written explanation of the reasons, and information regarding what additional recourse you may have
• If DRUGSCAN agrees to comply with your restriction request, DRUGSCAN will restrict use or disclosure of your health information according to your instructions, except in emergency treatment situations

Confidential Communications

• You have the right to request, in writing, that DRUGSCAN communicate your PHI by a method other than usual DRUGSCAN process, and/or to an alternative delivery location. DRUGSCAN will accommodate reasonable requests

Copy of this Notice

You have the right to receive a hard (paper) copy of this notice, by calling DRUGSCAN at 800-501-8979, or by sending written request to the address below.m A copy of our Notice is also available on our website www.DRUGSCAN.com.

How to Contact DRUGSCAN to Exercise Your Rights or Obtain Copy of this Notice or

You can exercise your rights described above by sending written correspondence to the address below.

HIPAA Privacy Officer

DRUGSCAN, Inc.

200 Precision Road

Horsham, PA 19044

Complaints

You have the right to register a complaint with DRUGSCAN or the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will not take action against you for filing a complaint. To register a complaint with DRUGSCAN, please send the written complaint to DRUGSCAN at the address below.

HIPAA Privacy Officer

DRUGSCAN, Inc.

200 Precision Road

Horsham, PA 19044

Changes to This Notice

DRUGSCAN reserves the right to amend and update the terms of this Notice to reflect changes in our privacy practices and the law. If we make a material change to our privacy practices, the revised DRUGSCAN Notice will be displayed on the DRUGSCAN website www.DRUGSCAN.com, and a copy will also be available upon request. We reserve the right to make any revised Notice effective for PHI we already have and for PHI that we receive in the future.

Effective Date of Notice: 2/19/2014