Personal Health Information
Participant Privacy Policies
In 1974, Congress established the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects in Biomedical and Behavioral Research. This committee identified basic ethical principles and guidelines as well as rules for doing human subject research. Axial biotech abides by these guidelines. Axial Biotech's research is approved by an Institutional Review Board and is HIPAA compliant. Click here: For a complete copy of Axial Biotech's HIPAA Policy.
HIPAA Policy of Privacy Practices for Personal Health Information
This notice describes how we protect your personal health information we have about you which relates to your participation in our medical studies, and how we may use and disclose this information. Personal Health Information includes individually identifiable information which relates to your past, present or future health, and/or treatment for health care services. This notice also describes your rights with respect to the Personal Health Information and how you can exercise those rights.
We are required by law to:
- maintain the privacy of your Personal Health Information;
- provide you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your Personal Health Information; and
- follow the terms of this notice.
We protect your Personal Health Information from inappropriate use or disclosure. Our employees, and those of companies that help us in our medical research, are required to comply with our requirements that protect the confidentiality of Personal Health Information. They may look at your Personal Health Information only when there is an appropriate reason to do so.
We will not disclose your Personal Health Information to any other company for their use in marketing their products to you. However, as described below, we will use and disclose Personal Health Information about you for other related medical research purposes. The main reasons for which we may use and may disclose your Personal Health Information are to evaluate and process medical research data. The following describe these and other uses and disclosures, together with some examples.
- To Perform Genetic and Biological Research: We may disclose Personal Health Information in order to perform genetic and biological research. This research is conducted within the scope of standard operating laboratory procedures.
- Where Required by Law or for Public Health Activities: We disclose Personal Health Information when required by federal, state or local law.
- To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety: We may disclose Personal Health Information to avert a serious threat to someone's health or safety. We may also disclose Personal Health Information to federal, state or local agencies engaged in disaster relief as well as to private disaster relief or disaster assistance agencies to allow such entities to carry out their responsibilities in specific disaster situations.
- For Law Enforcement or Specific Government Functions: We may disclose Personal Health Information in response to a request by a law enforcement official made through a court order, subpoena, warrant, summons or similar process. We may disclose Personal Health Information about you to federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities authorized by law.
- When Requested as Part of a Regulatory or Legal Proceeding: If you or your estate are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose Personal Health Information about you in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose Personal Health Information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the Personal Health Information requested. We may disclose Personal Health Information to any governmental agency or regulator with whom you have filed a complaint or as part of a regulatory agency examination.
- Other Uses of Personal Health Information: Other uses and disclosures of Personal Health Information not covered by this notice and permitted by the laws that apply to us will be made only with your written authorization or that of your legal representative. If we are authorized to use or disclose Personal Health Information about you, you or your legally authorized representative may revoke that authorization, in writing, at any time, except to the extent that we have taken action relying on the authorization or if the authorization was obtained as a condition of obtaining your Health Insurance coverage. You should understand that we will not be able to take back any disclosures we have already made with authorization.
Your Rights Regarding Personal Health Information We Maintain About You
- Right to Inspect and Copy Your Personal Health Information: In most cases, you have the right to inspect and obtain a copy of the Personal Health Information that we maintain about you. To inspect and copy Personal Health Information, you must submit your request in writing to our corporate offices. To receive a copy of your Personal Health Information, you may be charged a fee for the costs of copying, mailing or other supplies associated with your request. However, certain types of Personal Health Information will not be made available for inspection and copying. This includes Personal Health Information collected by us in connection with, or in reasonable anticipation of any legal proceeding. In very limited circumstances we may deny your request to inspect and obtain a copy of your Personal Health Information. If we do, you may request that the denial be reviewed. The review will be conducted by an individual chosen by us who was not involved in the original decision to deny your request. We will comply with the outcome of that review.
- Right to Amend Your Personal Health Information: If you believe that your Personal Health Information is incorrect or that an important part of it is missing, you have the right to ask us to amend your Personal Health Information while it is kept by or for us. You must provide your request and your reason for the request in writing, and submit it to the applicable administrator listed above. We may deny your request if it is not in writing or does not include a reason that supports the request. In addition, we may deny your request if you ask us to amend Personal Health Information that: is accurate and complete; was not created by us, unless the person or entity that created the Personal Health Information is no longer available to make the amendment; is not part of the Personal Health Information kept by or for us; or is not part of the Personal Health Information which you would be permitted to inspect and copy.
- Right to Request Confidential Communications: You have the right to request that we communicate with you about Personal Health Information in a certain way or at a certain location if you tell us that communication in another manner may endanger you. For example, you can ask that we only contact you at work or by mail. To request confidential communications, you must make your request in writing to the applicable administrator listed above and specify how or where you wish to be contacted. We will accommodate all reasonable requests.
Additional Information
Changes to This Notice: We reserve the right to change the terms of this notice at any time. We reserve the right to make the revised or changed notice effective for Personal Health Information we already have about you as well as any Personal Health Information we receive in the future.
For more information about HIPAA please review the information at the United States Health and Human Services website located here: www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa
