Wellness Express, LLC is committed to protecting the privacy of your health information. We have policies and safeguards in place to protect your privacy. Wellness Express, LLC is also required by state and federal laws to protect the confidentiality of your health information, to provide you with this Notice of Privacy Practices (“Notice”), and to notify affected individuals following a breach of unsecured protected health information     This notice is effective as of July 1, 2015 and shall remain in effect until revised. Why should I read this? This notice describes how we use the information that we collect about you during a wellness or immunization event. It tells you about your rights.

How is my information used? The confidential health information that we collect as we provide our wellness or immunization services is called “protected health information” or “PHI.” The most common reason why we may use or disclose your PHI is for treatment, payment or health care operations. For example, we may provide you with your health screening results, use your PHI to collect payment or verify your insurance. Finally we could use your PHI for our health care operations; to evaluate and improve the quality of our services, to evaluate employee performance or to store your records. We routinely use your health information for these purposes without any special permission. In addition to the use of your PHI for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations, you may give us written authorization to use or disclose your PHI for any purpose.     If you give us an authorization, you may revoke it in writing at any time. Your revocation will not affect any use or disclosures permitted by your authorization while it was in effect. We do not use or disclosure your PHI for marketing purposes and we do not sell your PHI. What can you do without my authorization? We can only share your PHI without your authorization when:

• It is Required by Law – including, but not limited to court orders, warrants, subpoenas, discovery requests, or other lawful process;
• Public Health Activities – we may use or disclose your PHI to a public health authority for public health activities, such as preventing the spread of communicable disease.
• To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety – We may disclose your PHI to the extent necessary to avert a serious threat to health or safety.
• Abuse or Neglect – We may disclose your PHI to a government authority if we reasonably believe that you are a possible victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence, or the possible victim of other crimes.

 What are my rights? Except in the situations described above, we will not use or disclose your PHI without your written authorization. You do not have to sign the authorization and you may revoke your authorization in writing at any time unless we have already acted in reliance upon it. You also have the following rights regarding the use and disclosure of your PHI:

• You may request that we restrict the use or disclose of your PHI by doing so in writing. Although we are not always required to grant a restriction, those granted will be upheld. You can also decide to end a restriction at any time.
• You may ask to review your PHI by requesting to do so in writing. We may charge a fee for copying and require payment in advance.
• You may request that we amend your records if you think they are incorrect or incomplete. If the amendment is valid under 45 C.F.R. § 164.526, we will amend the record.
• If you have paid out of pocket, in full, for your screenings or immunizations, you may request that we restrict certain PHI from disclosure to health plans.
• If a breach of your unsecured PHI occurs, you will receive a written notification of the details of the breach at the address we have on file for you.
• You may receive an accounting of the disclosures we have made of your PHI, other than those for treatment, payment, or health care operations, disclosures required by law, or disclosures for which we have your authorization.
• You have the right to request that communication containing PHI be conducted in an alternate way or at an alternate location.
• If you received this notice by electronic means, you are entitled to request a paper copy.

How do I contact you in the future? If you wish to see or obtain a copy of your PHI, see an accounting of any disclosures we have made of your PHI or ask to amend your PHI or revoke your authorization, please contact Wellness Express, LLC at (337) 988-1138 for directions on how to make these requests. What if I think my privacy has not been protected? If you believe that your privacy has not been protected, you believe there has been a breach of the security of your PHI, or you wish to have additional information, please contact Wellness Express, LLC at (337) 988-1138 or you can contact the Secretary of Health and Human Services. You will not be retaliated against if you file a complaint. The privacy of your PHI is important to us. Wellness Express, LLC welcomes your questions and input for our continuous improvement process.

Wellness Express, LLC is required to abide by the terms of this notice; however, it reserves the right to change the terms of this Notice at any time. If we change the Notice, a revised Notice will be available at our service sites and on our website atwww.wellnessexpress.org. The changes will apply to all of your PHI, even if we received the PHI before the change.