HIPPA Notice of Privacy Practices
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.
Omni Well and its Affiliated Covered Entities (collectively “Omni Well”) are committed to protecting the privacy of your identifiable health information. This information is known as “protected health information” or “PHI.” Examples of documents that may contain your PHI include laboratory test orders, test results, and invoices.
Our Responsibilities
Omni Well is required by law to maintain the privacy of your PHI. We are also required to provide you with this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices upon request. It describes our legal duties, privacy practices, and your patient rights as determined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). We are required to follow the terms of this Notice currently in effect. We are required to notify affected individuals in the event of a breach involving PHI that is unsecured. PHI is stored electronically and is subject to electronic disclosure. This Notice does not apply to certain services that we perform, such as some drugs of abuse testing services and insurance applicant services.
How We May Use or Disclose Your Health Information
We use your 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 PHI will fall into one of the categories listed below.
We need your authorization to use or disclose your PHI for any purpose not covered by one of the categories below. With limited exceptions, we will not use or disclose psychotherapy notes, use or disclose your PHI for marketing purposes or sell your PHI unless you have signed an authorization. You may revoke any authorization you sign at any time. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclose your PHI except to the extent we have already taken action based on your authorization.
We may use and disclose your PHI for the following purposes:
Treatment
Omni Well provides laboratory testing for physicians and other healthcare professionals, and we use your PHI in our testing process. We disclose your PHI to authorized healthcare professionals who order tests or need access to your test results for treatment purposes. We may use and disclose PHI to contact you to remind you of an appointment or to tell you about our health-related products and services that may be of interest to you. Examples of other treatment-related purposes include disclosure to a pathologist to help interpret your test results or the use of your PHI to contact you to obtain another specimen, if necessary.
However, for self-pay purchases made through Omni Well, except for the ordering provider, we do not share test results with other providers or healthcare professionals for treatment purposes.
Payment
Omni Well may use and disclose your PHI for purposes of billing and payment. For example, we may disclose your PHI to health plans or other payers to determine whether you are enrolled with the payer or eligible for health benefits or 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.
At this time, Omni Well is a debit-only service and we do not take insurance carriers. Request for HSA / FSA reimbursements may be made by your financial institution.
Healthcare Operations
Omni Well may use and disclose your PHI for activities necessary to support our healthcare operations, such as performing quality checks on our testing, internal audits, arranging for legal services, or developing reference ranges for our tests.
All testing is performed through reference laboratories in the United States.
Business Associates
We may provide your PHI to other companies or individuals that need it to provide services to us. These other entities, known as “business associates,” are required to maintain the privacy and security of PHI. For example, our business associates may use your PHI to conduct billing, collections, imaging, courier, or record storage services on our behalf.
Individuals Involved in Your Care
We may disclose relevant PHI to a family member, friend, caregiver, or other individual involved in your healthcare or payment for your healthcare if you tell us that this is acceptable to you or you do not object; or if in our professional judgment, we believe that you do not object.
As Required by Law
We may use and disclose your PHI as required by law.
Law Enforcement Activities and Legal Proceedings
We may use and 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, for example, 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 disclose your PHI as required to comply with a court or administrative order. We may disclose your PHI in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or another 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.
Research
We may use or disclose PHI for research purposes when permitted by law, such as when an Institutional Review Board or privacy board has reviewed the research proposal and plans to ensure the privacy of your PHI and determined that your authorization is not required. We may also use or disclose PHI about deceased patients to researchers if certain requirements are met.
We may use and disclose a limited data set containing some of your PHI for research purposes. However, we will only disclose a limited data set if we enter into a data use agreement with the recipient.
Other Uses and Disclosures
As permitted by HIPAA, we may disclose your PHI to:
- Social Services Agencies
- Public Health Authorities
- The Food and Drug Administration
- Health Oversight Agencies
- Military Command Authorities
- National Security and Intelligence Organizations
- Correctional Institutions
- Organ and Tissue Donation Organizations
- Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors
- Workers Compensation Agents
We may also disclose PHI to those assisting in disaster relief efforts so that family or friends can be notified about your condition, status, and location.
Incidental Uses and Disclosures
Sometimes, your PHI may be used or disclosed in the course of our primary uses and disclosures, such as for treatment, payment or healthcare operations. For example, we may call your name in the waiting room at one of our Patient Service Centers, or use it in a telephone conversation with a provider or staff member. We are permitted to make such incidental uses and disclosures as long as we take reasonable steps to minimize them, and have in place appropriate safeguards to protect them.
Note Regarding State Law
For all of the above purposes, when state law is more restrictive than federal law, we are required to follow the more restrictive state law.
Your Patient Rights
Receive Test Information
You have the right to access your PHI. You may:
- Obtain your test results or billing information by contacting us.
- Complete and submit a Patient Request to Access or to Disclose Protected Health Information (PHI) (Access Form) here to obtain your test results and other PHI (or request the form from our Customer Service team) please email your request at Info@OmniWell.org
- Submit a written request of your own to our Customer Service team to obtain your PHI (requests must be signed and include enough demographic and other information necessary for us to authenticate you and identify your records).
If your request for test information is denied, you may request that the denial be reviewed.
Amend Health Information
You may request amendments (changes) to your PHI by making a written request. However, we may deny the request in some cases (such as if we determine the PHI is accurate). If we deny your request to change your PHI, we will provide you with a written explanation of the reason for the denial and let you know about further actions you may take.
Accounting of Disclosures
You have the right to receive a list of certain disclosures of your PHI made by Omni Well in the past two years from the date of your written request. Under the law, this does not include disclosures made for treatment, payment, healthcare operations, or certain other purposes.
Due to data security, the certain disclosures of information determined by our testing center partners may vary. We may not have the ability to retain information for this long and information may not be relevant to your current situation.
Request Restrictions
You may request that we agree to restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of your PHI. We are not required to agree to your request, except for requests to limit disclosures to your health plan for purposes of payment or healthcare operations when you have paid us for the item or service covered by the request out-of-pocket and in full and when the uses or disclosures are not required by law.
Request Confidential Communications
You have the right to request that we send your health information by alternative means or to an alternative address, and we will accommodate reasonable requests.
Please submit these requests to Info@OmniWell.org
Copy of this Notice
You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this Notice upon request.
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.
Non-Discrimination Notice
We comply with applicable Federal civil rights laws and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. Omni Well does not exclude people or treat them differently because of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex.
Copyright and Health Disclaimer
This website is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical advice or professional services. The information provided should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, and those seeking personal medical advice should consult with a licensed physician. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health provider regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on Omni Well’s website. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room immediately. No physician-patient relationship is created by this website or its use. Neither Omni Well nor its employees, nor any contributor to this website, makes any representations, express or implied, with respect to the information provided herein or to its use.
All copyrights to the Omni Well website and its contents are the property of the Omni Well unless otherwise noted. Except when indicated, permission is hereby granted to reproduce, distribute, and display copies of content material for nonprofit educational purposes, provided that: (i) copies are distributed at or below costs; (ii) author and source are acknowledged; and (iii) a copyright notice is attached to the copies, such notice being in the form “Omni Well 202#” (or as otherwise indicated on the materials as posted here). No commercial uses are allowed without the prior express permission of the Omni Well.