Notice of Privacy Practices

Your rights

You have the right to:

• Get a copy of your prescription and other health records
• Ask us to correct your records
• Ask us to contact you in a specific way
• Ask us to limit what we use or share
• Get a list of those we have shared your information with
• Get a copy of this notice
• Choose someone to act for you
• File a complaint if you believe your privacy rights have been violated

Your choices

You have some choices in how we use and share information when we:

• Talk with family, friends or caregivers involved in your care, including someone who picks up your prescriptions
• Help with disaster relief
• Market our services or sell your information (we never do either without your written permission)

Our uses and disclosures

We may use and share your information as we:

• Fill your prescriptions and work with your prescribers
• Run our pharmacy
• Bill your health plan
• Help with public health and safety issues
• Do research
• Comply with the law
• Respond to organ and tissue donation requests
• Work with a medical examiner or funeral director
• Address workers’ compensation, law enforcement and other government requests
• Respond to lawsuits and legal actions

To the extent we have your substance use disorder patient records subject to 42 CFR Part 2, we will not share that information for investigations or legal proceedings against you without (1) your written consent or (2) a court order and a subpoena.

Your rights in detail

Get a copy of your records. You can ask to see or get an electronic or paper copy of your prescription records and other health information we have about you. Ask us how to do this. We will provide a copy or a summary, usually within 30 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.

Ask us to correct your records. You can ask us to correct health information about you that you think is incorrect or incomplete. Ask us how to do this. We may say “no,” but we will tell you why in writing within 60 days.

Ask us to contact you in a specific way. You can ask us to reach you a certain way (for example, by cell phone or text instead of a home phone) or to send mail to a different address. We will say “yes” to all reasonable requests. If you ask us to text or email you, keep in mind that regular text messages and email are not encrypted.

Ask us to limit what we use or share. You can ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment or our operations. We are not required to agree, and we may say “no” if it could affect your care. If you pay for a prescription or other item out of pocket in full, you can ask us not to share that information with your health plan for payment or our operations. We will say “yes” unless a law requires us to share it. Please tell us before we fill the prescription, so we don’t bill your plan.

Get a list of those we have shared information with. You can ask for a list (an accounting) of the times we have shared your health information in the six years before your request, who we shared it with, and why. It will include all disclosures except those for treatment, payment and health care operations, and certain others (such as ones you asked us to make). We will provide one list a year for free but may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee if you ask for another within 12 months.

Get a copy of this notice. You can ask for a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically. We will give you one promptly. It is also posted in our pharmacy and on this page.

Choose someone to act for you. If someone is your personal representative, for example because they hold your medical power of attorney or are your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights and make choices about your health information. We will make sure the person has this authority before we act.

File a complaint. If you feel we have violated your rights, contact our Privacy Officer using the information at the end of this notice. You can also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by sending a letter to 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, calling 1-877-696-6775, or visiting hhs.gov/hipaa/filing-a-complaint. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

Your choices in detail

For certain health information, you can tell us your choices about what we share. If you have a clear preference for how we share your information in the situations below, talk to us. Tell us what you want us to do, and we will follow your instructions.

In these cases, you have both the right and the choice to tell us to:

• Share information with your family, close friends or others involved in your care or in paying for it. For example, we may let a family member or caregiver pick up your prescription for you unless you tell us not to.
• Share information in a disaster relief situation.

If you are not able to tell us your preference, for example if you are unconscious, we may go ahead and share your information if we believe it is in your best interest. We may also share your information when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.

In these cases, we never share your information unless you give us written permission:

• Marketing purposes
• Sale of your information
• Most sharing of psychotherapy notes

We do not raise funds, so we will not contact you for fundraising.

How we typically use or share your health information

Fill your prescriptions and work with your prescribers. We use your health information to fill, check and deliver your prescriptions, and we share it with your prescribers and other professionals who are treating you. Example: Our pharmacist calls your doctor to ask about a possible drug interaction or to confirm the strength of a compounded medication.

Run our pharmacy. We can use and share your health information to run our pharmacy, improve your care and contact you when necessary. Example: We send you refill reminders and delivery updates, check that prescriptions were filled correctly, and train our staff.

Bill for your prescriptions. We can use and share your health information to bill and get payment from health plans or other entities. Example: We send information about your prescription to your health plan or its pharmacy benefit manager so it will pay for it.

Work with companies that help us. We share information with business associates that perform services for us, such as our pharmacy software, texting and email providers. They must agree in writing to protect it.

How else we can use or share your health information

We are allowed or required to share your information in other ways, usually in ways that contribute to the public good, such as public health and research. We have to meet many conditions in the law before we can share your information for these purposes.

In all cases, including those listed below, if we have substance use disorder patient records about you subject to 42 CFR Part 2, we cannot use or share information in those records in civil, criminal, administrative or legislative investigations or proceedings against you without (1) your consent or (2) a court order and a subpoena.

Help with public health and safety issues. We can share health information about you for certain situations, such as preventing disease, helping with product recalls, reporting adverse reactions to medications, reporting suspected abuse, neglect or domestic violence, and preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety.

Do research. We can use or share your information for health research.

Comply with the law. We will share information about you if state or federal laws require it, including with the Department of Health and Human Services if it wants to see that we are complying with federal privacy law. Example: We report certain controlled substance prescriptions to California’s CURES prescription monitoring database, as state law requires.

Respond to organ and tissue donation requests. We can share health information about you with organ procurement organizations.

Work with a medical examiner or funeral director. We can share health information with a coroner, medical examiner or funeral director when someone dies.

Address workers’ compensation, law enforcement and other government requests. We can use or share health information about you for workers’ compensation claims; with law enforcement only as California law allows, such as under a court order, search warrant or subpoena, or when a law specifically requires or authorizes it; with health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law, such as inspections by the California State Board of Pharmacy; and for special government functions such as military, national security and presidential protective services.

Respond to lawsuits and legal actions. We can share health information about you in response to a court or administrative order, or in response to a subpoena.

California law

California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (Civil Code section 56 and following) also protects your medical information. Where California law limits our use or sharing of your information more than federal law does, we follow California law.

For example, California law bars us from releasing information about a person seeking or obtaining an abortion, or about gender-affirming care, in response to a subpoena or request based on another state’s law that interferes with rights protected in California (Civil Code sections 56.108 and 56.109).

Our responsibilities

• We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.
• We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.
• We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it.
• We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us we can in writing. If you tell us we can, you may change your mind at any time. Let us know in writing if you change your mind.

Changes to this notice

We can change the terms of this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The new notice will be available on request, in our pharmacy and on our website.