Approved for Public Distribution
April 14, 2003

NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
of Pathology Associates Services and other health care providers which are 
members of our system, including the following:

Carolinas Pathology Group

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY
BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS 
INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

Effective: April 14, 2003

If you have any questions or requests, please contact:
Sherry Rumbough, Privacy Officer at 704-973-2494

Table of Contents:
(Please refer to full document for details)

A. We have a legal duty to protect health information about you.

B. We may use and disclose Protected Health Information (PHI) about you 
    without your authorization in the following circumstances:
   1. We may use and disclose PHI about you to provide health care treatment
       to you.
   2. We may use and disclose PHI about you to obtain payment for services.
   3. We may use and disclose PHI about you for health care operations.
   4. We may use and disclose PHI under other circumstances without your
      authorization or an opportunity to agree or object.
   5. You can object to certain uses and disclosures.

C. You have several rights regarding PHI about you.
   1. You have the right to request restrictions on uses and disclosures of PHI
       about you.
   2. You have the right to request different ways to communicate with you.
   3. You have the right to see and copy PHI about you.
   4. You have the right to request amendment of PHI about you.
   5. You have the right to a listing of disclosures we have made.
   6. You have a right to a copy of this Notice.

D. You may file a complaint about our privacy practices.

E. Effective date of this Notice.

Explanation:
A. We Have a Legal Duty to Protect Health Information About You

We are required by law to protect the privacy of health information about you and
that can be identified with you, which we call “protected health information,” or 
“PHI” for short. We must give you notice of our legal duties and privacy practices
concerning PHI:

- We must protect PHI that we have created or received about: your past,
  present, or future health condition; health care we provide to you; or payment for
  your health care.
- We must notify you about how we protect PHI about you.
- We must explain how, when and why we use and/or disclose PHI about you.
- We may only use and/or disclose PHI as we have described in this Notice.

This Notice describes the types of uses and disclosures that we may make and gives
you some examples. In addition, we may make other uses and disclosures which
occur as a byproduct of the permitted uses and disclosures described in this Notice.
If we participate in an “organized health care arrangement” (defined in subsection
B.3 below), the providers participating in the “organized health care arrangement” will
share PHI with each other, as necessary to carry out treatment, payment or health
care operations (defined below) relating to the “organized health care arrangement”.

We are required to follow the procedures in this Notice. We reserve the right to change
the terms of this Notice and to make new notice provisions effective for all PHI that we
maintain by first:

- Posting the revised notice in our offices;
- Making copies of the revised notice available upon request (either at our offices
  or through the contact person listed in this Notice); and
- Posting the revised notice on our website.

B. We May Use and Disclose PHI About You Without Your Authorization 
    in the Following Circumstances:

   1. We may use and disclose PHI about you to provide health care treatment to you. 

We may use and disclose PHI about you to provide, coordinate or manage your health
care and related services. This may include communicating with other health care
providers regarding your treatment and coordinating and managing your health care with
others. For example, we may use and disclose PHI about you when you need a 
prescription, lab work, an x-ray, or other health care services. In addition, we may use
and disclose PHI about you when referring you to another health care provider.

EXAMPLE: Your doctor may share medical information about you with another health
care provider. For example, if a biopsy specimen is referred to Pathology Associates
Services or Carolinas Pathology Group, we will need to know your pertinent medical 
condition.

   2. We may use and disclose PHI about you to obtain payment for services.

Generally, we may use and give your medical information to others to bill and collect
payment for the treatment and services provided to you by us or by another provider.
Before you receive scheduled services, we may share information about these services
with your health plan(s). Sharing information allows us to ask for coverage under your
plan or policy and for approval of payment before we provide the services. We may also
share portions of medical information about you with the following:

- Billing departments;
- Collection departments or agencies, or attorneys assisting us with collections;
- Insurance companies, health plans and their agents which provide you coverage;
- Hospital departments that review the care you received to check that it and the
  costs associated  with it were appropriate for your illness or injury; and

- Consumer reporting agencies (e.g., credit bureaus).

Let’s say you have a biopsy. We may need to give your health plan(s) information about
your condition to our billing department and your health plan so we can be paid or you 
can be reimbursed. We may also send the same information to our hospital department
which reviews our care of your illness or injury.

   3. We may use and disclose PHI about you for health care operations.

We may use and disclose PHI in performing business activities, which we call “health
care operations”. These “health care operations” allow us to improve the quality of care
we provide and reduce health care costs. We may also disclose PHI for the “health care
operations” of any “organized health care arrangement” in which we participate. An 
example of an “organized health care arrangement” is the care provided by a hospital 
and the physicians who see patients at the hospital. In addition, we may disclose PHI 
about you for the “health care operations” of other providers involved in your care to
improve the quality, efficiency and costs of their care or to evaluate and improve the
performance of their providers. Examples of the way we may use or disclose PHI about
you for “health care operations” include the following:

- Reviewing and improving the quality, efficiency and cost of care that we provide to you
  and our other patients. For example, we may use PHI about you to develop ways to
  assist our health care providers and staff in deciding what medical treatment should
  be provided to others.

- Improving health care and lowering costs for groups of people who have similar health
  problems and to help manage and coordinate the care for these groups of people. We
  may use PHI to identify groups of people with similar health problems to give them
  information, for instance, about treatment alternatives, classes, or new procedures.

- Reviewing and evaluating the skills, qualifications, and performance of health care
  providers taking care of you.

- Providing training programs for students, trainees, health care providers or
  non-health care professionals (for example, billing clerks or assistants, etc.) 
  to help them practice or improve their skills.

- Cooperating with outside organizations that assess the quality of the care we and
  others provide. These organizations might include government agencies or accrediting
  bodies such as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
  and The College of American Pathologists.

- Cooperating with outside organizations that evaluate, certify or license health care
  providers, staff or facilities in a particular field or specialty. For example, we may use
  or disclose PHI so that one of our physicians may become certified as having
  expertise in a specific field of pathology, such as cytopathology.

- Assisting various people who review our activities. For example, PHI may be seen by
  doctors reviewing the services provided to you, and by accountants, lawyers, and 
  others who assist us in complying with applicable laws.

- Planning for our organization’s future operations.

- Conducting business management and general administrative activities related to our
  organization and the services it provides.

- Resolving grievances within our organization.

- Reviewing activities and using or disclosing PHI in the event that we sell our business,
  property or give control of our business or property to someone else.

- Complying with this Notice and with applicable laws.

4. We may use and disclose PHI under other circumstances without your authorization
   or an opportunity to agree or object.

We may use and/or disclose PHI about you for a number of circumstances in which you
do not have to consent, give authorization or otherwise have an opportunity to agree or 
object. Those circumstances include:

- When the use and/or disclosure is required by law—for example, when a disclosure is
  required by federal, state or local law or other judicial or administrative proceeding.

- When the use and/or disclosure is necessary for public health activities. For example, 
  we may disclose PHI about you if you have been exposed to a communicable disease
  or may otherwise be at risk of contracting or spreading a disease or condition.

- When the disclosure relates to victims of abuse, neglect or domestic violence.

- When the use and/or disclosure is for health oversight activities. For example, we may
  disclose PHI about you to a state or federal health oversight agency which is authorized
  by law to oversee our operations.

- When the disclosure is for judicial and administrative proceedings. For example, we
  may disclose PHI about you in response to an order of a court or administrative tribunal.

- When the disclosure is for law enforcement purposes. For example, we may disclose
  PHI about you in order to comply with laws that require the reporting of certain types of
  wounds or other physical injuries.

- When the use and/or disclosure relates to decedents. For example, we may disclose
  PHI about you to a coroner or medical examiner for the purposes of identifying you 
  should you die.

- When the use and/or disclosure relates to organ, eye or tissue donation purposes.

- When the use and/or disclosure relates to medical research. Under certain
  circumstances, we may disclose PHI about you for medical research.

- When the use and/or disclosure is to avert a serious threat to health or safety. For
  example, we may disclose PHI about you to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent
  threat to the health or safety of a person or the public.

- When the use and/or disclosure relates to specialized government functions. For
  example, we may disclose PHI about you if it relates to military and veterans’ activities,
  national security and intelligence activities, protective services for the President, and
  medical suitability or determinations of the Department of State.

- When the use and/or disclosure relates to correctional institutions and in other law
  enforcement custodial situations. For example, in certain circumstances, we may 
  disclose PHI about you to a correctional institution having lawful custody of you.

5. You can object to certain uses and disclosures.

Unless you object, we may use or disclose PHI about you in the following
circumstances:

- We may share with a public or private agency (for example, American Red Cross)
  PHI about you for disaster relief purposes. Even if you object, we may still share
  the PHI about you, if necessary for the emergency circumstances.

If you would like to object to our use or disclosure of PHI about you in the above
circumstances, please call or write to our contact person listed on the cover page
of this Notice.

** ANY OTHER USE OR DISCLOSURE OF PHI ABOUT YOU REQUIRES
YOUR WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION **

Under any circumstances other than those listed above, we will ask for your written
authorization before we use or disclose PHI about you. If you sign a written authorization
allowing us to disclose PHI about you in a specific situation, you can later cancel your
authorization in writing by contacting Sherry Rumbough, Privacy Officer at 704-973-2494.
If you cancel your authorization in writing, we will not disclose PHI about you after we
receive your cancellation, except for disclosures which were being processed before we
received your cancellation.

C. You Have Several Rights Regarding PHI About You

   1. You have the right to request restrictions on uses and disclosures of PHI about you. 

      EXAMPLE: You have the right to request restrictions on uses and disclosures of
      PHI about you. We are not required to agree to your requested restrictions. 
      However, even if we agree to your request, in certain situations your restrictions
      may not be followed. These situations include emergency treatment, disclosures
      to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and uses and
      disclosures described in subsection B.4 of the previous section of this Notice. You
      may request a restriction by Sherry Rumbough, Privacy Officer at 704-973-2494.

   2. You have the right to request different ways to communicate with you. 

You have the right to request how and where we contact you about PHI. For example,
you may request that we contact you at your work address or phone number or by
email. Your request must be in writing. We must accommodate reasonable requests, 
but, when appropriate, may condition that accommodation on your providing us with
information regarding how payment, if any, will be handled and your specification of an
alternative address or other method of contact. You may request alternative
communications by Sherry Rumbough Privacy Officer at 704-973-2494.

   3. You have the right to see and copy PHI about you.

You have the right to request to see and receive a copy of PHI contained in clinical, 
billing and other records used to make decisions about you. Your request must be
in writing. We may charge you related fees. Instead of providing you with a full copy
of the PHI, we may give you a summary or explanation of the PHI about you, if you 
agree in advance to the form and cost of the summary or explanation. There are
certain situations in which we are not required to comply with your request. Under 
these circumstances, we will respond to you in writing, stating why we will not grant
your request and describing any rights you may have to request a review of our denial. 
You may request to see and receive a copy of PHI by Sherry Rumbough, Privacy 
Officer at 704-973-2494.

   4. You have the right to request amendment of PHI about you.

You have the right to request that we make amendments to clinical, billing and other
records used to make decisions about you. Your request must be in writing and must
explain your reason(s) for the amendment. We may deny your request if:
   a)  The information was not created by us (unless you prove the creator of the
        information is no longer available to amend the record); 
   b)  The information is not part of the records used to make decisions about you;
   c)  We believe the information is correct and complete; or
   d)  You would not have the right to see and copy the record as described in
        paragraph 3 above.
We will tell you in writing the reasons for the denial and describe your rights to give us
a written statement disagreeing with the denial. If we accept your request to amend the 
information, we will make reasonable efforts to inform others of the amendment,
including persons you name who have received PHI about you and who need the
amendment. 

You may request an amendment of PHI about you by contacting Sherry Rumbough, 
Privacy Officer at 704-973-2494.

   5. You have the right to a listing of disclosures we have made.

If you ask our contact person in writing, you have the right to receive a written list of 
certain of our disclosures of PHI about you. You may ask for disclosures made up to
six (6) years before your request (not including disclosures made prior to April 14, 2003).
We are required to provide a listing of all disclosures except the following:

- For your treatment
- For billing and collection of payment for your treatment
- For health care operations
- Made to or requested by you, or that you authorized
- Occurring as a byproduct of permitted uses and disclosures
- Made to individuals involved in your care, for directory or notification
  purposes, or for other purposes.
- Allowed by law when the use and/or disclosure relates to certain specialized
  government functions or relates to correctional institutions and in other law
  enforcement custodial situations (please see subsection B.4 above) and
- As part of a limited set of information which does not contain certain information
  which would identify you

The list will include the date of the disclosure, the name (and address, if available)
of the person or organization receiving the information, a brief description of the
information disclosed, and the purpose of the disclosure. If, under permitted 
circumstances, PHI about you has been disclosed for certain types of research
projects, the list may include different types of information.

If you request a list of disclosures more than once in 12 months, we can charge you
a reasonable fee. You may request a listing of disclosures by Sherry Rumbough,
Privacy Officer at 704-973-2494.

   6. You have the right to a copy of this Notice.

You have the right to request a paper copy of this Notice at any time by contacting
Sherry Rumbough, Privacy Officer at 704-973-2494. We will provide a copy of this 
Notice no later than the date you first receive service from us (except for emergency
services, and then we will provide the Notice to you as soon as possible).

D. You May File a Complaint about Our Privacy Practices

If you think we have violated your privacy rights, or you want to complain to us about
our privacy practices, you can contact the person listed below:

Sherry Rumbough, Privacy Officer at 704-973-2494.

You may also send a written complaint to the United States Secretary of the
Department of Health and Human Services.

If you file a complaint, we will not take any action against you or change our treatment
of you in any way.

E. Effective Date of this Notice

This Notice of Privacy Practices is effective on April 14, 2003.

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Please visit our new website: www.celligent.net