Notice of Privacy Practices

Effective date: October 22, 2026

This notice applies to 1st Choice Urgent Care and its clinics at 6324 Panama Ln, Bakersfield, CA 93313 and 4420 Coffee Rd Ste A, Bakersfield, CA 93308. We are required by law to protect the privacy of your health information, to give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, to follow the notice currently in effect, and to notify you if a breach affects your unsecured health information.

Your rights

When it comes to your health information, you have the right to:

• Get a copy of your medical record. Ask to see or get an electronic or paper copy of your record and other health information we have about you. We will provide it, usually within 30 days, and may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.
• Ask us to correct your record. If you think information is incorrect or incomplete, you can ask us to amend it. We may say no, but we will tell you why in writing within 60 days.
• Request confidential communications. Ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, a different phone number) or at a different address. We will say yes to all reasonable requests.
• Ask us to limit what we use or share. You can ask us not to use or share certain information for treatment, payment or our operations. We are not required to agree. If you pay for a service in full out of pocket, you can ask us not to share that information with your health insurer, and we will say yes unless the law requires us to share it.
• Get a list of those with whom we have shared information. You can ask for a list (accounting) of the times we shared your information in the six years before the request, who we shared it with and why, excluding disclosures for treatment, payment and operations and certain others. One list a year is free.
• Get a copy of this notice. You can ask for a paper copy at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically.
• Choose someone to act for you. If someone has your medical power of attorney or is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights. We will confirm their authority before we act.
• File a complaint if you feel your rights are violated. See "Questions and complaints" below.

Your choices

For certain information, you can tell us your choices about what we share. In these cases, you have the right and choice to tell us to share information with family, close friends or others involved in your care, or 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 share your information if we believe it is in your best interest, or when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.

We never share your information for marketing or sell your information unless you give us written permission.

How we typically use or share your health information

• Treatment. We use your information and share it with other professionals who are treating you, such as a specialist, hospital, laboratory or pharmacy.
• Running our clinics. We use your information to run our practice, improve your care and contact you when necessary.
• Billing for your services. We use and share your information to bill and get payment from health plans or other entities.

Other ways we may use or share your 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.

• Public health and safety, such as preventing disease, reporting communicable diseases and test results as required by law, 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.
• Research, under the conditions the law sets.
• Complying with the law, including with the Department of Health and Human Services if it wants to see that we are complying with federal privacy law.
• Organ and tissue donation requests, and working with a medical examiner or funeral director.
• Workers' compensation, law enforcement and other government requests, such as workers' compensation claims, law enforcement purposes or with a law enforcement official, health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law, and special government functions such as military, national security and presidential protective services.
• Lawsuits and legal actions, in response to a court or administrative order, or in response to a subpoena.
• Employer-requested services. For DOT, pre-employment, drug-testing and other employer-requested services, we share results with the employer or agency only as the law allows and, where required, with your written authorization.

California law can give some information extra protection, including HIV test results, mental health records, and certain information about minors. We follow the stricter rule when California law gives you more protection than federal law.

Other uses and disclosures not described in this notice will be made only with your written authorization. You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time, except to the extent we have already acted on it.

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 at our clinics, on request, and on this website.

Questions and complaints

To exercise any of these rights, ask a question or file a complaint, contact our Privacy Officer at 1st Choice Urgent Care, 6324 Panama Ln, Bakersfield, CA 93313, phone (661) 735-3041, or speak with the front desk at either clinic.

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 www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/.

We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.