LegalZen & HIPAA

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) requires comprehensive federal protections governing the privacy and confidentiality of individually identifiable health information. HIPAA and its implementing regulations specify when and to whom covered entities, such as LegalZen, may disclose the information.

The purpose of this Policy is to comply with the HIPAA Privacy Rule, which requires safeguards to protect the privacy of individuals’ medical records and protected health information.

It is a policy of LegalZen that the Company and every employee, intern/ extern, contractor, and vendor understand and abide by Company and individual obligations under HIPAA, including the below.

Protected Health Information (PHI) is individually identifiable health information that is transmitted or maintained in electronic, written, or oral form. PHI relates to the past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition of a patient, the provision of health care to a patient; or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to a patient; and that identifies the patient or for which there is a reasonable basis to believe the information can be used to identify the patient. Protected health information includes information of persons living or deceased.

The Company may use and disclose PHI for different purposes, including treatment, payment, health care operations, or when required by law.

When PHI is used or disclosed, the amount disclosed generally must be limited to the “minimum necessary” to accomplish the purpose of the use or disclosure. The “minimum necessary” standard does not apply to uses or disclosures made to the individual, uses or disclosures made pursuant to a valid authorization, disclosures required by law, or disclosures required to comply with HIPAA.

PHI may be disclosed for any purpose if an authorization that satisfies all of HIPAA’s requirements for a valid authorization is provided by the participant. All uses and disclosures made pursuant to a signed authorization must be consistent with the terms and conditions of the authorization.