Notice of Privacy Practices

Uses and Disclosures of Your Health Information for Treatment, Payment, and Operations

Treatment: We may use and disclose your health information to perform laboratory testing services and to coordinate and manage diagnostic services. For example, we may disclose your health information to the physician or healthcare provider, who is not employed by MTL, who requested the laboratory test to assist them in your treatment.

Payment: We may use and disclose your health information to bill and collect payment from you and/or your health plan for services you received. For example, we may give information about your test to your health plan so that your health plan will pay us or reimburse you for the treatment.

Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose your health information for our operations. These uses and disclosures are necessary; for example, to evaluate the quality of our laboratory testing, accuracy of results, accreditation functions, and for MTL’s operational and management purposes. We may also disclose protected health information (PHI) to other healthcare providers or health plans that are involved in your care for their healthcare operations. For example, MTL may provide PHI to assist in managing disease, or to coordinate healthcare or health benefits.

Uses and Disclosures That We May Make Unless You Object

Directory: Molecular Testing Labs does not create or maintain a directory.

Individuals Involved in Your Care or for Notification: We may disclose your PHI to a family member, close personal friend, or other person you identify as needed in the involvement of your care or payment for your care. Except in limited situations, such as an emergency, we will ask you or determine if you object. We also may disclose your health information, directly or through a disaster relief entity, to find and tell those close to you of your location or condition.

Uses and Disclosures We May Make Without Your Authorization

As Required by Law: We will disclose your health information when required to do so by federal, state, or local law.

Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Information: If we receive records protected by 42 CFR Part 2, we will only disclose such information as permitted by those regulations, which now largely align with HIPAA for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations, provided a single consent is obtained or as otherwise permitted by law.

Business Associates: We may disclose your health information to “business associates” with whom we contract to perform services on our behalf.

Public Health Activities: We may disclose your health information for public health activities, including: to a public health authority authorized by law to collect information to prevent or control disease, injury, or disability; to report actual or suspected child abuse or neglect; for certain federal Food and Drug Administration activities; to a person who may have been exposed to a communicable disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a disease or condition, as authorized by law; and to an employer about an employee, in certain situations.

Victims of Abuse, Neglect, or Domestic Violence: As allowed or required by law, we may disclose health information about an individual we reasonably believe to be the victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence to a government authority authorized to receive such reports.

Health Oversight: We may disclose your health information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law, such as audits, investigations, inspections, and licensure.

Lawsuits and Disputes: We may disclose your health information in response to a court or administrative order, subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process, as allowed or required by law.

Law Enforcement Activities: We may disclose your health information if asked to do so by a law enforcement official: as required by laws that mandate certain types of reporting; in response to court orders, subpoenas, warrants, summonses, grand jury subpoenas, certain administrative requests, or similar processes; to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person (but we will give only limited information); about the victim of a crime in certain circumstances; about a death we believe may be the result of criminal conduct; about criminal conduct on our premises; and, in emergencies, to report a crime, the location of the crime or victims, or the identity, description, or location of the person who committed the crime.

Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors: We may disclose your health information to a medical examiner or coroner as necessary or required to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We also may disclose your health information to funeral directors so they can perform their duties.

Organ and Tissue Donations: We may disclose health information to authorized organizations as required or needed for organ, eye, or tissue donation and transplants.

Research: Under certain circumstances, we may use and disclose your health information for research purposes. Most of the time, the provider conducting the research or MTL will ask for your authorization.

To Avert a Serious or Imminent Threat to Health or Safety: We may use and disclose your health information when we reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent a serious or imminent threat to the health and safety of you, the public, or another person. The disclosure would be only to someone who is likely to help prevent the threat, such as law enforcement.

Workers’ Compensation: We may disclose your health information for workers’ compensation or similar programs.

National Security, Intelligence Activities, Protective Services, and Military Personnel: We may disclose your health information to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, special investigations, and other national security activities authorized by law or to protect the president or other authorized persons. If you are a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, we may disclose health information about you as required by your military command authorities.

Inmates: We may disclose health information about an individual who is an inmate or is in custody to a correctional institution or law enforcement official.

Affiliated Covered Entities: We may share health information with providers who are “affiliated covered entities” of MTL. These are entities with which MTL has common ownership or control.

Incidental Disclosures: Certain incidental disclosures of your health information may occur as a by-product of permitted uses and disclosures.

De-Identified Information and Limited Data Sets: We may use and disclose your health information that has been “de-identified” by removing certain identifiers (such as name and address), making it unlikely that you could be identified. We also may disclose limited health information, contained in a “limited data set,” as allowed by law.

Personal Representatives: Minors and incapacitated adults may have “personal representatives.” These personal representatives may be able to act on the individual’s behalf and exercise the individual’s privacy rights.

Uses and Disclosures We May Make with Your Authorization

Your Authorization: Other uses and disclosures of your health information not covered by this Notice or permitted by law will be made only with your written authorization. These types of uses and disclosures may include psychotherapy notes or uses or disclosures for the purposes of marketing or for the sale of your health information. You may revoke your authorization, in writing, at any time (unless you are told otherwise at the time you sign the authorization). If you revoke your authorization, then we will no longer use or disclose your health information for the reasons covered by your authorization, except to the extent that we already have relied on your authorization. We are unable to take back any disclosures we already have made based on your authorization, and we are required to retain our records of the care that we provided to you.

Specially Protected Health Information: Unless otherwise required or permitted by law, we may need your authorization to disclose your health information regarding treatment for AIDS/HIV/ARC, mental health, drug addiction, alcoholism, and other substance abuse treatment, developmental disabilities, and/or genetic information or records.

Your Health Information Rights

You have the rights described below:

Right to Inspect and Copy: You have the right to inspect and obtain copies of your laboratory test reports and the health information we maintain about you. We may deny your request in certain limited circumstances. To inspect or obtain a copy of your health information, you must submit your request in writing to the Compliance Officer at MTL.

Right to Amend: If you feel that the health information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, then you have the right to request an amendment for as long as we keep this information. MTL cannot amend records we did not create or author. We may deny your request in certain situations. To request an amendment, you must submit your request on a designated form to the Compliance Officer. You will be notified in writing within 60 days of your request if we do not agree to your request.

Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to request an accounting of certain disclosures of your health information made by us. To request this list or accounting, you must submit your request on a designated form to the Compliance Officer.

Right to Request Restrictions: You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the health information we use about you for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations. You also have the right to request a limit on the health information we disclose about you to someone who is involved in your care or the payment for your care. To request a restriction, you must submit your request on a designated form to the Compliance Officer.

Right to Request Confidential Communications: You have the right to request that we communicate with you about health matters in a certain way or at a certain location. To request confidential communications regarding billing, you must submit our designated form to the Finance Department or the Compliance Officer. We will agree to the request if it is reasonable for us to do so.

Right to Opt Out of Fundraising: If we engage in fundraising, you have the right to opt out of receiving such communications.

Right to a Copy of this Notice: You have the right to receive a written copy of this Notice (even if you agreed to receive this Notice electronically). Copies of this Notice are available from the Compliance Officer. You may also print a copy of this Notice from our website at www.moleculartestinglabs.com.

Changes to This Notice

We reserve the right to change this Notice. The revised Notice will be effective for information we already have about you, as well as any information we receive in the future. Unless required by law, the revised Notice will be effective on the new effective date of the Notice. The current Notice will be available in lab locations or on our website and will be posted in our facilities. The Notice will state an effective date.

Complaints

If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, you may submit a complaint to the Compliance Officer by calling the Molecular Testing Labs hotline at 855-400-6002, or at www.lighthouse-services.com/moleculartestinglabs. You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by sending a letter to 200 Independence Ave. S.W., Washington, DC 20201, calling 877-696-6775, or visiting www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.