Notice of Privacy Policies

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION.

PLEASE REVIEW CAREFULLY.

Introduction

At Lumira Healthcare, formerly Livingston Community Health (LCH), we are committed to treating and using protected health information about you responsibly. This Notice of Health Information Practices describes the personal information we collect, and how and when we use or disclose that information. It also describes your rights as they relate to your protected health information. This Notice is effective 03/01/03, and applies to all protected health information as defined by federal regulations.

Understanding Your Health Record/Information

Each time you visit LCH, a record of your visit is made. Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment, and a plan for future care or treatment. This information, often referred to as your health or medical record, serves as a:

● Basis for planning your care and treatment,
● Means of communication among the many health professionals who contribute to your care,
● Legal document describing the care you received,
● Means by which you or a third-party payer can verify that services billed were actually provided,
● A tool in educating health professionals,
● A source of date for medical research,
● A source of information for public health officials charged with improving the health of this state and nation,
● A source of date for our planning and marketing,
● A tool with which we can assess and continually work to improve the care we render and the outcomes we achieve.

Understanding what is in your health record and how your health information is used helps you to: ensure its accuracy, better understand who, what, when, where, and why others may access your health information and make more informed decisions when authorizing disclosure to others.

Information disclosed under HIPAA may be subject to redisclosure by the recipient and may no longer be protected under HIPAA.

Your Health Information Rights

Although your health record is the physical property of LCH, the information belongs to you. You have the right to:

● Obtain a paper copy of this notice of information practices upon request,
● Inspect and copy your health record as provided for in 45 CFR 164.524,
● Amend your health record as provided in 45 CFR 164.528,
● Obtain an accounting of disclosures of your health information as provided in 45 CFR 164.528,
● Request communications of your health information by alternative means or at alternative locations,
● Request a restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your information as provided by 45 CFR 164.522, and
● Revoke your authorization to use or disclose health information except to the extent that action has already been taken.

Our Responsibilities

Livingston Community Health (LCH), is required to:

● Maintain the privacy of your health information,
● Provide you with this notice as to our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to information we collect and maintain about you,
● Abide by the terms of this notice,
● Notify you if we are unable to agree to a requested restriction, and
● Accommodate reasonable requests you may have to communicate health information by alternative means or alternative locations.

We reserve the right to change our practices and to make the new provisions effective for all protected health information we maintain. Should our information practices change, we will mail a revise notice to the address you’ve supplied us, or if you agree, we will email the revised notice to you.
We will not use or disclose your health information without your authorization, except as described in this notice. We will also discontinue to use or disclose your health information after we have received a written revocation of the authorization according to the procedures included in the authorization.

We will not use or disclose your protected health information (PHI) for the purpose of investigating, imposing liability for, or identifying any person in connection with seeking, obtaining, providing, or facilitating reproductive health care where such care was lawful or otherwise protected. For example, we will not release records about a patient’s miscarriage treatment in response to a request from law enforcement seeking to determine if the patient violated state law.

Before we disclose PHI related to reproductive health care for health oversight activities, judicial or administrative proceedings, law enforcement purposes, or to coroners and medical examiners, we will first obtain a signed attestation from the requestor confirming the request is not for a prohibited purpose. For example, if a court subpoenas records relating to abortion services, we will require the requestor to attest that the request is not for investigating or imposing liability for the provision of such care.

If we create, receive, or maintain substance use disorder treatment records that are subject to federal law at 42 C.F.R. Part 2, those records are given special protections. We may not use or disclose such records without your written consent except as specifically allowed by law, and any disclosures we make must include a statement that further disclosure is prohibited without your permission.

We will use your health information for regular health operations.

For Example:
Members of the medical staff, the risk or quality improvement manager, or members of the quality improvement team may use information in your health record to assess the care and outcomes in your case and others like it. This information will then be used in an effort to continually improve the quality and effectiveness of the healthcare and service we provide.

Business Associates:
There are some services provided in our organization through contacts with business associates. Examples include physician services in the emergency department and radiology, certain laboratory tests, and a copy service we use when making copies of your health record. When these services are contracted, we may disclose your health information to our business associate so that they can perform the job we’ve asked them to do and bill you or your third-party payer for services rendered. To protect your health information, however, we require the business associate to appropriately safeguard your information.

HIPAA Compliance:
Your personal health information is protected under the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) of 1996. The Office for Civil Rights enforces the HIPAA Privacy Rule, which protects the privacy of individually identifiable health information; the HIPAA Security Rule, which sets national standards for the security of electronic protected health information; the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule, which requires covered entities and business associates to provide notification following a breach of unsecured protected health information; and the confidentiality provisions of the Patient Safety Rule, which protects identifiable information being used to analyze patient safety events and improve patient safety. Therefore, Livingston Community Health shall not use your personal health information without your consent or written approval including for the purposes of: directory listings, notification to family or close friends of the family or other persons responsible for your care, location and general condition. All designations/persons must be made in writing by the patient of representation thereof. All other communications of your personal health information shall be construed as continuity of care as it relates health, welfare, and benefit of the patient.

Research:
We may disclose information to researchers when their research has been approved by an institutional review board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your health information.

Funeral Directors:
We may disclose health information to funeral directors consistent with applicable law to carry out their duties.

Organ Procurement Organizations:
Consistent with applicable law, we may disclose health information to organ procurement organizations or other entities engaged in the procurement, banking, or transplantation of organs for the purpose of tissue donation and transplant.

Marketing:
We may contact you via email, phone or text for appointment reminders, health management messages, or updates, unless you request not to be contacted in these ways.

Fund Raising:
We may contact you as part of a fundraising effort.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA):
We may disclose to the FDA health information relative to adverse events with respect to food, supplements, product and product defects, or post marketing surveillance information to enable product recalls, repairs, or replacement.

Workers Compensation:
We may disclose health information to the extent authorized by and to the extent necessary to comply with laws relating to workers compensation or other similar programs established by law.

Public Health:
As required by law, we may disclose your health information to public health or legal authorities charged with preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability.

Law Enforcement:
We may disclose health information for law enforcement purposes as required by the law or in response to a valid subpoena. Federal law makes provision for your health information to be released to an appropriate health oversight agency, public health authority or attorney, provided that a work force member or business associate believes in good faith that we have engaged in unlawful conduct or have otherwise violated professional or clinical standards and are potentially endangering one or more patients, workers, or the public.

For More Information or to Report a Problem

If you have questions and would like additional information, you may contact LCH’s HR Department, at (209) 850-3500.

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with the practice’s Privacy Officer, or with the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There will be no retaliation for filing a complaint with either the Privacy Officer or the Office for Civil Rights. The address for the OCR is listed below:

Office for Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Room 509F, HHH Building Washington, D.C. 20201

Examples of Disclosure for Treatment, Payment and Health Operations

We will use your health information for treatment.

For example: Information obtained by a nurse, physician, or other member of your health care team will be recorded in your record and used to determine the course of treatment that should work best for you. Your physician will document in your record his or her expectations of the members of your health care team. Members of your health care team will then record the actions they took and their observations. In that way, the physician will know how you are responding to treatment.

We will also provide your physician or a subsequent health care provider with copies of various reports that should assist him or her in treating you once you’re discharged from this health center.

We will use your health information for payment.

For example: A bill may be sent to you or a third-party payer. The information on or accompanying the bill may include information that identifies you, as well as your diagnosis, procedures, and supplies used.

Revised 11.24.2025