HIPAA

HEALTH INSURANCE PORTABILITY & ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 1996

Please review this notice carefully. It describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed. And how you can get access to this information.

All of us at Wellness Pharmacy® value your relationship with us, and we know that respect for your privacy is the foundation of that relationship. We are committed to protecting the privacy of your protected health information (PHI) that is in our possession, and only using and disclosing your PHI as necessary to providing you with health care products and services.

PHI is any information that we possess, use, and disclose that identifies you and relates to your past, current, or future physical and mental health condition or illness and the health care products and services that have been provided to you.

This "Notice of Privacy Practices" (Notice) has been created to help you understand our legal duties to protect your PHI and how we may use and disclose your PHI in relation to your past, present, and future physical or mental health condition or illness and its treatment. We will mainly use and disclose your PHI in relation to the health care products and services that we provide you, such as dispensing your prescriptions. Specifically, we will use and disclose your PHI as necessary to provide treatment to you, obtaining payment for health care products and services provided to you, and other health care operations and activities as described later in this Notice. This Notice also describes the legal rights that you have related to your PHI that is in our possession. We take the matters described in this Notice very seriously because of our relationship with you and the requirement that we comply with this Notice.

Your PHI will only be used and disclosed as described in this Notice. Should a need for use and disclosure of your PHI occur that is not described in this Notice, we will obtain your written authorization before the use and disclosure. At some future time, it may be necessary for us to revise this Notice. If such becomes necessary, we will post the revised Notice in the pharmacy, on our website, and, if you request, provide a written Notice to you.

HIPAA requires that this Notice, at a minimum, cover the following three areas.
1. How we will use and disclose your protected health information.
2. Your rights with respect to your protected health information.
3. Our legal duties to protect the confidentiality of your protected health information.

In preparing this Notice, we made every effort to comply with this HIPAA requirement. Also, we want to advise you that in addition to the privacy and other rights given to you by HIPAA, our state may from time to time enact laws that also provide you privacy and other rights in relation to your health care and your protected health information.

Please consult our Pharmacy Privacy Officer if you have any questions or want more information concerning your health care and privacy rights under HIPAA or the laws of our state, or our privacy practices. Also, you should consult our Pharmacy Privacy Officer if you wish to file a complaint about our privacy practices or if you believe we have violated any of your rights as described in this Notice.

Again, thank you for allowing us the privilege of being your pharmacy, and we look forward to continuing to be of service to you.

Effective Date: 04/14/03