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. I. Who We Are This Notice describes the health privacy practices of Biomed Personal Metabolic & Nutritional Testing, Inc. including members of its workforce, the physician members of the medical staff, and allied health professionals who work at Biomed Personal Metabolic & Nutritional Testing, Inc. This Notice applies to products and services furnished to you by Biomed. II. Our Privacy Obligations Respecting the privacy and security of your health information is important to us. We know, however, that not everyone who takes their privacy seriously is necessarily well-versed in "legal or regulatory-ese." There are plenty of legal terms in Biomed's own privacy policy, which you will find in other sections of this website. We urge you to read them carefully, and make note of your rights under this policy. We've tried to provide easy-to-understand explanations of the most frequently used legal terms -- terms we are required to use to ensure clarity and consistency. We want to make sure that your personal information is protected, and that you understand the policies that protect you. You'll find the same legal terms used in many companies' health privacy policies. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) imposes certain restrictions in what and how health information (HIPAA refers to it as "Protected Health Information" or "PHI") may be used and to whom released. Whenever possible, Biomed strives to abide by HIPAA and will amend its privacy policies if they are found not to be in compliance with regulations imposed by HIPAA. One of the obligations of HIPAA is a notice, similar in basic content to this notice. III. Permissible Uses and Disclosures Without Your Written Authorization In certain situations, which we will describe in Section IV below, we must obtain your written authorization in order to use and/or disclose your PHI. However, we do not need any type of authorization from you for the following uses and disclosures: Uses and Disclosures For Treatment, Payment and Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose PHI, but not your "Highly Confidential Information" (defined in Section IV.C below), in order to provide metabolic and nutritional laboratory studies, and obtain data regarding the effect of nutritional supplements, vitamins, herbs and medications, prescribed and over the counter products on your metabolic state and your body, and to conduct our "health care operations" as detailed below: General Operations: We may use and disclose your PHI to provide other services to you -- for example, to provide state of the art metabolic and nutritional laboratory testing. In addition, we may contact you to provide repeat testing reminders or information about other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you. Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose your PHI for our health care operations, which include internal administration and planning and various activities that improve the quality and cost effectiveness of the care that we deliver to you. For example, we may use PHI to evaluate the quality and competence of our physicians, nurses and other health care workers. We may disclose PHI to our Privacy Officer or our Patient Relations Coordinator in order to resolve any complaints you may have and ensure that you have a confidential interaction with us. In addition, with your consent, we may share PHI with our business associates who per form treatment, payment and health care operations services on our behalf. Disclosure to Relatives, Close Friends and Other Caregivers. We may use or disclose your PHI to a family member, other relative, a close personal friend or any other person identified by you, or otherwise available prior to, the disclosure, if we (1) obtain your agreement; (2) provide you with the opportunity to object to the disclosure and you do not object; or (3) reasonably infer that you do not object to the disclosure. If you are not present, or the opportunity to agree or object to a use or disclosure cannot practicably be provided because of your incapacity or an emergency circumstance, we may exercise our professional judgment to determine whether a disclosure is in your best interests. If we disclose information to a family member, other relative or a close personal friend, we would disclose only information that we believe is directly relevant to the person’s involvement with your health care or payment related to your health care. We may also disclose your PHI in order to notify (or assist in notifying) such persons of your location or general condition. Public Health Activities. We may disclose your PHI for the following public health activities: (1) to report health information to the Arkansas Department of Health, State Board of Health or other public health authorities for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability; (2) to report information about products and services under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; (3) to alert a person who may have been exposed to a communicable disease or may otherwise be at risk of contracting or spreading a disease or condition; and (4) to report information to your employer as required under laws addressing work-related illnesses and injuries or workplace medical surveillance. Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. We may disclose your PHI in the course of a judicial or administrative proceeding in response to a legal order or other lawful process so long as the court order or process complies with applicable federal and state law. Law Enforcement Officials. We may disclose your PHI to the police or other law enforcement officials as required or permitted by law or in compliance with a court order or a grand jury or administrative subpoena so long as the court order or subpoena complies with applicable federal and state law. Decedents. We may disclose your PHI to a coroner or medical examiner as authorized by law. Research. We may use or disclose your PHI without your consent or authorization if our Institutional Review Board approves a waiver of authorization for disclosure and other requirements of state law are satisfied. Health or Safety. We may use or disclose your PHI to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to a person’s or the public’s health or safety. Specialized Government Functions. We may use and disclose your PHI to units of the government with special functions, such as the U.S. military or the U.S. Department of State under certain circumstances. Workers’ Compensation. We may disclose your PHI as authorized by and to the extent necessary to comply with state law relating to workers' compensation or other similar programs. As Required by Law. We may use and disclose your PHI when required to do so by any other law not already referred to in the preceding categories. IV. Uses and Disclosures Requiring Your Written Authorization Use or Disclosure with Your Authorization. For any purpose other than the ones described above in Section III, we only may use or disclose your PHI when you grant us your written authorization on our Authorization Form ("Your Authorization"). For instance, you will need to execute an authorization form before we can send your PHI to your life insurance company or to the attorney representing the other party in litigation in which you are involved. Marketing. We must obtain Your Authorization before using, disclosing, selling or coercing an individual to consent to the disclosure, use or sale of your PHI for marketing purposes. Uses and Disclosures of Your Highly Confidential Information. In addition, federal and state laws require special privacy protections for certain highly confidential information about you ("Highly Confidential Information"), including the subset of your PHI that: (1) is about HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted disease testing, diagnosis or treatment or in genetic research studies. We must also obtain your written authorization as satisfied by and indicated by and agreed to by the submission of the order form for the procurement of all metabolic and nutritional laboratory studies, as well as other studies developed by the company for the signed individual, prior to using your PHI to send you marketing materials. We may, however, provide you with marketing materials in a face-to-face encounter without obtaining Your Marketing Authorization. We are also permitted to give you a promotional gift of nominal value, if we so choose, without obtaining Your Marketing Authorization. In addition, we may communicate with you about products or services relating to your metabolic and nutritional status, results of all laboratory testing or alternative treatments, therapies, providers or care settings without Your Marketing Authorization. In order for us to disclose your Highly Confidential Information for a purpose other than those permitted by law, we must obtain your written authorization. V. Your Rights Regarding Your Protected Health Information For Further Information; Complaints. If you desire further information about your privacy rights, are concerned that we have violated your privacy rights or disagree with a decision that we made about access to your PHI, you may contact the Biomed Privacy Office Contact Us. You may also file written complaints with the Director, Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Following this link will provide you with contact information for the Director, Office for Civil Rights. We will not retaliate against you if you file a complaint with us or the Director. Right to Request Additional Restrictions. You may request restrictions on our use and disclosure of your PHI (1) for payment and health care operations, (2) to individuals (such as a family member, other relative, close personal friend or any other person identified by you) involved with your care. While we will consider all requests for additional restrictions carefully, we are not required to agree to a requested restriction. If you wish to request additional restrictions, please obtain a request form Additional Privacy Restriction Request and submit it to the Biomed Privacy Office Contact Us. We will send you a written response of our decision. Right to Receive Confidential Communications. You may request, and we will accommodate, any reasonable written request for you to receive your PHI by alternative means of communication or at alternative locations; however, you must submit a self-addressed, appropriately stamped envelop for all such requests. Right to Revoke Your Authorization. You may revoke Your Authorization, except to the extent that we have taken action in reliance upon it, by delivering a written revocation statement to the Biomed Privacy Office identified below. A Revocation Form is available online or upon request from the Biomed Privacy Office Contact Us. Right to Inspect and Copy Your Health Information. You may request access to your medical record file and billing records maintained by us in order to inspect and request copies of the records. Under limited circumstances, we may deny you access to a portion of your records: in such a case, we will provide you with a written determination that such information would be detrimental to your health and well-being. Furthermore, you should take note that, if you are a parent or legal guardian of a minor, certain portions of the minor’s medical record will not be accessible to you. If you desire access to your records, please obtain a Record Request online or from the Biomed Privacy Office Contact Us and submit the completed form to the Biomed Privacy Office Contact Us. If you request copies, we will charge you a fee for research and printing. We will also charge you for our postage costs, if you request that we mail the copies to you. Right to Amend Your Records. You have the right to request that we amend Protected Health Information maintained in your medical record file or billing records. If you desire to amend your records, please obtain an Amendment Request online or from the Biomed Privacy Office Contact Us and submit the completed form to the Biomed Privacy Office Contact Us. We will comply with your request unless we believe that the information that would be amended is accurate and complete or other special circumstances apply. Right to Receive An Accounting of Disclosures. Under HIPAA, you may request and obtain an accounting of certain disclosures of your PHI made by us during any period of time prior to the date of your request provided such period does not exceed six years and does not apply to disclosures that occurred prior to September 16, 2003 Request for Accounting of Disclosures. In order to reduce the cost to you of our products and services, we will charge you for this written request. Right to Receive Paper Copy of this Notice. You may print out a copy of this Notice or upon our receipt of a written Request for Copy of HIPAA Notice, you may obtain a paper copy of this Notice, even if you have agreed to receive such notice electronically. VI. Effective Date and Duration of This Notice Effective Date. This Notice is effective on September 16, 2003. Right to Change Terms of this Notice. We may change the terms of this Notice at any time. If we change this Notice, we may make the new notice terms effective for all Protected Health Information that we maintain, including any information created or received prior to issuing the new notice. If we change this Notice, we will post the new notice in waiting room of Biomed Corporate Offices Contact Us. You also may obtain any new notice by contacting the Biomed Privacy Office Contact Us. VII. Biomed Privacy Office Contact Us