Notice of Privacy Practices

Effective Date: May 29, 2025
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.

Our Commitment to Your Privacy

At LifeCare Partners, we understand that your health information is personal. We are committed to protecting the privacy of your Protected Health Information (PHI) while providing you with quality care and services. This Notice describes our privacy practices and how we may use and disclose your PHI. It also describes your rights regarding your health information.

We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your PHI, provide you with this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, and follow the terms of the Notice currently in effect.

Who is Covered by This Notice

This Notice describes the privacy practices of LifeCare Partners and applies to all of our employees, volunteers, trainees, and other personnel who provide services on our behalf. It covers all PHI created or maintained by us, whether electronically, on paper, or orally.

How We May Use and Disclose Your Protected Health Information (PHI)

We may use and disclose your PHI for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations without your written authorization. We may also use and disclose your PHI for other purposes permitted or required by law.

• For Treatment: We may use and disclose your PHI to provide, coordinate, or manage your healthcare and related services. This includes disclosing your PHI to other healthcare providers involved in your care, such as labs for testing, or to doctors you are referred to.
  • Example: We may share your test results with a referral physician to ensure you receive appropriate follow-up care.
• For Payment: We may use and disclose your PHI to obtain payment for the services we provide. This may include sharing information with your health insurance plan (if applicable) or other third-party payers to determine eligibility, benefits, or for billing purposes.
  • Example: We may send a bill to your insurance company that includes information about the services you received.
• For Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose your PHI for activities necessary for LifeCare Partners to operate and maintain quality services. These activities include, but are not limited to, quality assessment and improvement activities, training programs, business planning, and general administrative activities.
  • Example: We may use information about your services to review the quality and effectiveness of the care we provide.

Other Permitted or Required Uses and Disclosures Without Your Authorization

We may use or disclose your PHI in the following situations without your authorization, provided we comply with applicable legal requirements:

• Public Health Activities: We may disclose your PHI for public health activities, such as:
  • Preventing or controlling disease (including STIs/STDs and HIV), injury, or disability.
  • Reporting births and deaths.
  • Reporting reactions to medications or problems with products.
  • Notifying people who may have been exposed to a disease or are at risk of spreading a disease or condition.
  • Reporting child abuse or neglect.
  • Note on STI/HIV Reporting: We are legally required to report certain communicable diseases, including many STIs and HIV, to public health authorities. These reports typically include limited identifying information (e.g., demographics and test results) as required by state and federal law and are done to protect public health and prevent the spread of disease.
• Health Oversight Activities: We may disclose PHI to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law, such as audits, investigations, inspections, and licensure.
• Judicial and Administrative Proceedings: We may disclose PHI in response to a court or administrative order, subpoena, discovery request, or other legal process, if certain conditions are met.
• Law Enforcement: We may disclose PHI to a law enforcement official for specific purposes permitted or required by law, such as in response to a court order or subpoena, or to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person.
• Decedents: We may disclose PHI to a coroner or medical examiner for identification purposes or to determine cause of death, or to funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties.
• Organ and Tissue Donation: We may disclose PHI to organizations involved in procuring organs, eyes, or tissue for donation and transplantation.
• Research: We may disclose PHI for research purposes when the research has been approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or a Privacy Board, and safeguards are in place to protect your privacy.
• Serious Threat to Health or Safety: We may use and disclose PHI when necessary to prevent a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety, or the health or safety of the public or another person.
• Specialized Government Functions: We may disclose PHI for military and veterans’ affairs, national security and intelligence activities, protective services for the President and others, and correctional institutions or law enforcement custodial situations.
• Workers’ Compensation: We may disclose PHI as authorized by workers’ compensation laws or other similar programs.

Uses and Disclosures Requiring Your Written Authorization

For any purpose other than those described above, we will obtain your written authorization before using or disclosing your PHI. This includes:

• Marketing Communications: We will not use or disclose your PHI for marketing purposes without your written authorization.
• Sale of PHI: We will not sell your PHI without your written authorization.
• Psychotherapy Notes: Most uses and disclosures of psychotherapy notes require your authorization.

You may revoke your authorization in writing at any time. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclose PHI for the reasons covered by your written revocation, except to the extent we have already relied on your authorization.

Your Rights Regarding Your Protected Health Information (PHI)
You have the following rights regarding your PHI:

1. Right to Inspect and Copy: You have the right to inspect and obtain a copy of your PHI that we maintain, which may include medical records, billing records, and other records used to make decisions about your care. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for copies.
2. Right to Amend: If you believe that the PHI we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may request that we amend it. We may deny your request for an amendment if it is not in writing or does not include a reason to support the request, or if we determine whether the information is accurate and complete.
3. Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to request an “accounting of disclosures,” which is a list of certain non-routine disclosures of your PHI that we have made for purposes other than treatment, payment, or healthcare operations within the last six years.
4. Right to Request Restrictions: You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the PHI we use or disclose for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations. You also have the right to request a limit on the PHI we disclose to someone involved in your care or the payment for your care. We are not required to agree to your request, except in one specific instance: if you pay for a service or health care item out-of-pocket in full, you can request that we not disclose PHI related to that service to your health plan, and we must agree to that restriction unless otherwise required by law.
5. Right to Request Confidential Communications: You have the right to request that we communicate with you about medical matters in a certain way or at a certain location. For example, you can ask if we only contact you by mail at a specific address or only by phone at work. We will accommodate all reasonable requests.
6. Right to a Paper Copy of This Notice: You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this Notice, even if you have agreed to receive it electronically. You may ask for a copy at any time.
7. To exercise any of these rights, please submit a written request to our Privacy Officer at the contact information provided below.

Our Duties Regarding Your Protected Health Information

• We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your PHI.
• We are required to provide you with this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your PHI.
• We are required to abide by the terms of the Notice currently in effect.
• We are required to notify you if we discover a breach of your unsecured PHI.