HIPAA Notice
Where HIPAA applies to your care, where it does not, and the standard we hold ourselves to either way.
Last updated 30 July 2026
1. Read this first
TakeCare Turkey is not a HIPAA covered entity.
HIPAA is a United States law. It binds US health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and healthcare providers that transmit health information electronically for certain US transactions, along with the business associates who handle that information for them. We are a medical travel coordinator established in Türkiye, and the hospitals we work with are Turkish. That means HIPAA does not, by itself, govern the information you give us.
We publish this notice because most of our patients are American and reasonably expect to know where they stand. Your data is protected — by Turkish and European law, described in ourPrivacy PolicyandKVKK & GDPR notice— and, as set out below, we hold ourselves to HIPAA's safeguards as a matter of practice.
2. When HIPAA does apply to you
If you ask us to obtain records from a US provider, that provider remains bound by HIPAA and will usually ask you to sign an authorisation before releasing them. If your US insurer is involved in paying for care, your dealings with that insurer stay under HIPAA. We will never ask a US provider for your records without your written authorisation.
3. The safeguards we apply
- Minimum necessary.Coordinators see the health information their part of your journey requires, and no more.
- Access control.Named accounts, multi-factor authentication, and access removed when someone leaves.
- Encryption.In transit for everything; at rest with our processors.
- Written agreements.Every processor that touches health data is under a data processing agreement.
- Audit trail.Changes to your record are attributable to a person.
- Breach notification.If your data is exposed we tell you and the competent authority within the deadlines the law sets.
4. Your rights over the information we hold
They are set out in full in thePrivacy Policy: to see it, correct it, have it deleted, restrict its use, take a copy with you, and withdraw consent. In substance these mirror the access and amendment rights a US patient is used to.
5. Records the hospital creates
Your clinical records in Türkiye are held by the treating hospital under Turkish health-records law and its own retention rules. Ask us and we will help you obtain a copy, in English, for your doctor at home.
6. Questions
Write to[email protected].
Questions about this page? Write to[email protected]or call +1 (475) 375-9963.
