Telehealth & Electronic Signature Consent
THE WEBSITE, THE PLATFORM, AND THE A BETTER LOU SERVICES DO NOT PROVIDE EMERGENCY OR CRISIS CARE. IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY, CALL 911 OR GO TO THE NEAREST EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT IMMEDIATELY. DO NOT USE A QUESTIONNAIRE, THE PATIENT PORTAL, EMAIL, TEXT, OR ANY OTHER MESSAGING CHANNEL TO SEEK EMERGENCY OR CRISIS CARE. THESE CHANNELS ARE NOT MONITORED CONTINUOUSLY.
Please read this Consent before requesting clinical Services. It explains telehealth, the ways care may be provided, the benefits and risks, prescribing rules, recording and artificial intelligence assisted documentation, and how you agree to electronic records and signatures. Ask the Practice any questions before accepting.
1. Purpose and Document Stack
This Consent. This Telehealth and Electronic Signature Consent governs your consent to receive clinical Services through telehealth from ABL Physician Services PLLC and your consent to electronic records and signatures. The Terms and Conditions of Service incorporate this Consent by reference and govern your Plan, fees, billing, cancellation, and dispute terms. The Notice of Privacy Practices is furnished and acknowledged with the enrollment documents and governs how the Practice uses and discloses protected health information. Acknowledging the Notice does not authorize any use or disclosure that requires a separate HIPAA authorization. The Website Privacy Policy separately describes information collected through the Website, checkout, and other nonclinical Platform activities. Medication-specific consents are presented separately when applicable.
How the documents fit together. This Consent does not replace the Terms and Conditions of Service, the Website Terms of Use, the Notice of Privacy Practices, the Website Privacy Policy, the Analytics and Advertising Policy, a Good Faith Estimate, or a medication-specific consent. The Analytics and Advertising Policy governs a separate, optional, unchecked advertising-measurement choice presented at checkout; that choice is not a condition of purchase or care and is not covered by the required checkbox described in Section 14. The Website Terms of Use is an agreement governing general Website use. The Notice of Privacy Practices and Website Privacy Policy are notices, not contracts. A Good Faith Estimate is an estimate, not a contract or acceptance document. If a state-specific supplement conflicts with a general provision in this Consent, the supplement controls for Services furnished in that state. If any provision conflicts with applicable law, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted, and the remainder of this Consent and the incorporated Terms and Conditions remain in full force. Waivers, limitations of liability, arbitration provisions, and other contractual risk allocations remain enforceable unless a court of competent jurisdiction determines they are void or unenforceable under mandatory law.
National core; current availability. This Consent is written as a national core, but clinical Services are offered only in an active Service State. A "Service State" is a state that the Practice has activated for the selected Plan, that checkout expressly shows as available for that Plan, and in which an authorized Provider and every required state workflow are available. Arizona is active as of the Effective Date. Illinois is addressed in this Consent and becomes active for a selected Plan only when checkout expressly shows that Plan as available there. The Website may be viewed throughout the United States, but viewing it does not make a Plan or clinical Service available in another state.
When the Practice activates a new Service State, it will notify enrolled patients through the secure patient portal, account email, or account dashboard. If you have traveled to or relocated to a newly activated Service State and wish to continue care there, you must update your location in the patient portal and confirm that your assigned Provider is authorized in that state. Activation of a new Service State does not automatically extend your existing Plan to that state; you may need to complete a new intake or provide additional information required by that state's law.
2. Who Provides Care
The Practice. ABL Physician Services PLLC (the "Practice") provides all clinical care through physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants who are licensed or otherwise authorized in the state where you are located (each, a "Provider"). The Practice keeps its own medical records and is solely responsible for diagnosis, treatment, prescribing, referrals, clinical staffing, and every other medical decision.
The Platform. A Better Lou MSO, LLC (the "Platform") operates the Website and checkout and provides nonclinical administrative, technology, marketing, scheduling, billing support, and customer service functions. The Platform is not a health care provider, does not practice medicine or any other licensed profession, does not employ or supervise Providers, and does not direct, control, or influence any diagnosis, treatment, prescribing, or other clinical decision, all of which are made solely by the Practice and its Providers. The Platform does not review clinical questionnaires, medical records, or Provider encounter notes. When and to the extent the Platform performs a specific nonclinical administrative function for the Practice that creates, receives, maintains, or transmits protected health information, it performs that function under a written HIPAA Business Associate Agreement and receives only the limited information the function requires, as described in Section 11.
3. Eligibility, Location, and Travel
Adult patient only. You must be at least 18 years old, have capacity to consent, reside in a Service State, and accept this Consent for yourself. No representative, surrogate, parent, guardian, power of attorney, or other person may provide this clinical consent through the online checkout. Patients lacking capacity to consent due to mental disability, intoxication, or other impairment may not enroll or continue Services. Providers will assess capacity during clinical encounters and may terminate Services if capacity concerns arise.
Physical location attestation. You must be physically located in a Service State whenever you submit a clinical intake, send a clinical message for Provider review, participate in a real-time encounter, or receive another clinical Service. You must attest to your current physical location (city and state) at the time of each clinical intake submission, each clinical message sent for Provider review, and each real-time encounter. If you submit information asynchronously, you must log into the patient portal and confirm your location remains unchanged before the Provider issues a treatment decision, prescription, or clinical response. If you leave the Service State after submission and before Provider review, you must immediately update your location through the patient portal or contact the Practice. The Practice will pause clinical review until your location is confirmed or you return to a Service State where the assigned Provider is authorized. Falsely reporting your physical location is a falsification of material information subject to Section 8, including immediate termination of Services and denial of prescriptions.
Temporary travel. Travel does not automatically end your relationship with the Practice. Clinical care may continue only while you are located in a state where the Practice offers the relevant Service and a Provider licensed or otherwise authorized there is available. Otherwise, the Practice may postpone or limit clinical Services, decline to issue or refill a prescription, or direct you to local or in-person care. Nonclinical account support may remain available while clinical Services are paused.
4. Nature and Modalities of Telehealth
Asynchronous care. Some Services may be provided asynchronously, sometimes called store-and-forward care. You submit information such as answers to a dynamic health questionnaire, medical records, photographs, laboratory results, medication history, or secure messages, and a Provider reviews that information later without communicating with you in real time. You request and consent to asynchronous care when it is permitted by law and the Provider determines it is clinically appropriate. An internet questionnaire is not by itself a qualifying initial telehealth encounter in a state that excludes questionnaire-only care before a Provider-patient relationship is established.
Secure messaging. The Practice may use secure patient-portal messaging to ask follow-up questions, provide instructions, discuss results, or monitor your response to treatment. Secure messages are not monitored continuously and are not an emergency channel.
Real-time care. The Practice may use live two-way audio-video. Audio-only communication may be used only when permitted by law and clinically appropriate. A Provider may require audio-video or in-person care even when another modality is legally available, and you may request a synchronous encounter.
Testosterone Initial Prescribing. Testosterone is a Schedule III controlled substance under federal law. The Practice will not initiate testosterone treatment based solely on an asynchronous questionnaire. Before a Provider first prescribes testosterone through the Practice using a remote pathway, the Practice will verify your identity through government-issued photo identification and conduct a live, two-way synchronous audio-video encounter. If federal or state law or the Provider's clinical judgment requires an in-person examination before testosterone may be prescribed, the Practice will direct you to obtain an in-person evaluation from a licensed clinician, and the Provider will determine whether documentation of that evaluation satisfies the applicable requirement and supports prescribing. Initial prescribing also requires laboratory testing that the Provider determines is necessary. You may complete this testing through a laboratory order arranged by the Practice, or you may submit recent results from another licensed laboratory; the Provider decides in each case whether outside results are sufficiently recent, complete, and reliable, and may require repeat or additional testing before prescribing. The Practice will query the controlled substances prescription monitoring program of the state where you are located before issuing the initial prescription and periodically during treatment, as required by that state's law. For patients located in Arizona, this is the Arizona Board of Pharmacy Controlled Substances Prescription Monitoring Program (CSPMP), queried pursuant to A.R.S. § 36-2606. Completing these steps does not guarantee that testosterone will be prescribed; the prescribing decision is the Provider's independent clinical judgment, and if any required step cannot be completed, the prescription will not be issued. Escalation. A questionnaire is not automatically sufficient. The Provider may require additional records, photographs, laboratory testing, identity verification, secure messaging, audio-video, permitted audio-only communication, or an in-person examination before making a diagnosis, recommending treatment, or prescribing medication. Audio-only communication is not used to satisfy the initial prescribing requirement for testosterone or another controlled substance. Submission does not guarantee clinical acceptance, treatment, or a prescription.
5. When the Provider-Patient Relationship Begins
Visiting the Website, creating an account, completing checkout, making a payment, receiving administrative enrollment approval, receiving an automated message, or submitting a questionnaire does not by itself create a Provider-patient relationship. Administrative enrollment approval means only that your information may proceed to clinical review. It is not clinical acceptance.
A Provider-patient relationship is intended to begin only when a Provider reviews sufficient patient-specific clinical information, accepts you for the requested clinical Service, and undertakes or communicates a diagnosis, treatment decision, prescription decision, or other clinical care. Nothing in this section limits any duty or relationship created by applicable law based on the Provider's actual conduct.
If the law of the state where you are located requires additional relationship-formation steps, the relationship does not begin until those steps are completed.
6. Benefits, Risks, and Alternatives
Potential benefits. Telehealth may improve access, convenience, continuity, and speed of communication, and may reduce travel and waiting time.
Material risks and limits. Telehealth has limits that may affect your care, including:
1. Purpose and Document Stack
This Consent. This Telehealth and Electronic Signature Consent governs your consent to receive clinical Services through telehealth from ABL Physician Services PLLC and your consent to electronic records and signatures. The Terms and Conditions of Service incorporate this Consent by reference and govern your Plan, fees, billing, cancellation, and dispute terms. The Notice of Privacy Practices is furnished and acknowledged with the enrollment documents and governs how the Practice uses and discloses protected health information. Acknowledging the Notice does not authorize any use or disclosure that requires a separate HIPAA authorization. The Website Privacy Policy separately describes information collected through the Website, checkout, and other nonclinical Platform activities. Medication-specific consents are presented separately when applicable.
How the documents fit together. This Consent does not replace the Terms and Conditions of Service, the Website Terms of Use, the Notice of Privacy Practices, the Website Privacy Policy, the Analytics and Advertising Policy, a Good Faith Estimate, or a medication-specific consent. The Analytics and Advertising Policy governs a separate, optional, unchecked advertising-measurement choice presented at checkout; that choice is not a condition of purchase or care and is not covered by the required checkbox described in Section 14. The Website Terms of Use is an agreement governing general Website use. The Notice of Privacy Practices and Website Privacy Policy are notices, not contracts. A Good Faith Estimate is an estimate, not a contract or acceptance document. If a state-specific supplement conflicts with a general provision in this Consent, the supplement controls for Services furnished in that state. If any provision conflicts with applicable law, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted, and the remainder of this Consent and the incorporated Terms and Conditions remain in full force. Waivers, limitations of liability, arbitration provisions, and other contractual risk allocations remain enforceable unless a court of competent jurisdiction determines they are void or unenforceable under mandatory law.
National core; current availability. This Consent is written as a national core, but clinical Services are offered only in an active Service State. A "Service State" is a state that the Practice has activated for the selected Plan, that checkout expressly shows as available for that Plan, and in which an authorized Provider and every required state workflow are available. Arizona is active as of the Effective Date. Illinois is addressed in this Consent and becomes active for a selected Plan only when checkout expressly shows that Plan as available there. The Website may be viewed throughout the United States, but viewing it does not make a Plan or clinical Service available in another state.
When the Practice activates a new Service State, it will notify enrolled patients through the secure patient portal, account email, or account dashboard. If you have traveled to or relocated to a newly activated Service State and wish to continue care there, you must update your location in the patient portal and confirm that your assigned Provider is authorized in that state. Activation of a new Service State does not automatically extend your existing Plan to that state; you may need to complete a new intake or provide additional information required by that state's law.
2. Who Provides Care
The Practice. ABL Physician Services PLLC (the "Practice") provides all clinical care through physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants who are licensed or otherwise authorized in the state where you are located (each, a "Provider"). The Practice keeps its own medical records and is solely responsible for diagnosis, treatment, prescribing, referrals, clinical staffing, and every other medical decision.
The Platform. A Better Lou MSO, LLC (the "Platform") operates the Website and checkout and provides nonclinical administrative, technology, marketing, scheduling, billing support, and customer service functions. The Platform is not a health care provider, does not practice medicine or any other licensed profession, does not employ or supervise Providers, and does not direct, control, or influence any diagnosis, treatment, prescribing, or other clinical decision, all of which are made solely by the Practice and its Providers. The Platform does not review clinical questionnaires, medical records, or Provider encounter notes. When and to the extent the Platform performs a specific nonclinical administrative function for the Practice that creates, receives, maintains, or transmits protected health information, it performs that function under a written HIPAA Business Associate Agreement and receives only the limited information the function requires, as described in Section 11.
3. Eligibility, Location, and Travel
Adult patient only. You must be at least 18 years old, have capacity to consent, reside in a Service State, and accept this Consent for yourself. No representative, surrogate, parent, guardian, power of attorney, or other person may provide this clinical consent through the online checkout. Patients lacking capacity to consent due to mental disability, intoxication, or other impairment may not enroll or continue Services. Providers will assess capacity during clinical encounters and may terminate Services if capacity concerns arise.
Physical location attestation. You must be physically located in a Service State whenever you submit a clinical intake, send a clinical message for Provider review, participate in a real-time encounter, or receive another clinical Service. You must attest to your current physical location (city and state) at the time of each clinical intake submission, each clinical message sent for Provider review, and each real-time encounter. If you submit information asynchronously, you must log into the patient portal and confirm your location remains unchanged before the Provider issues a treatment decision, prescription, or clinical response. If you leave the Service State after submission and before Provider review, you must immediately update your location through the patient portal or contact the Practice. The Practice will pause clinical review until your location is confirmed or you return to a Service State where the assigned Provider is authorized. Falsely reporting your physical location is a falsification of material information subject to Section 8, including immediate termination of Services and denial of prescriptions.
Temporary travel. Travel does not automatically end your relationship with the Practice. Clinical care may continue only while you are located in a state where the Practice offers the relevant Service and a Provider licensed or otherwise authorized there is available. Otherwise, the Practice may postpone or limit clinical Services, decline to issue or refill a prescription, or direct you to local or in-person care. Nonclinical account support may remain available while clinical Services are paused.
4. Nature and Modalities of Telehealth
Asynchronous care. Some Services may be provided asynchronously, sometimes called store-and-forward care. You submit information such as answers to a dynamic health questionnaire, medical records, photographs, laboratory results, medication history, or secure messages, and a Provider reviews that information later without communicating with you in real time. You request and consent to asynchronous care when it is permitted by law and the Provider determines it is clinically appropriate. An internet questionnaire is not by itself a qualifying initial telehealth encounter in a state that excludes questionnaire-only care before a Provider-patient relationship is established.
Secure messaging. The Practice may use secure patient-portal messaging to ask follow-up questions, provide instructions, discuss results, or monitor your response to treatment. Secure messages are not monitored continuously and are not an emergency channel.
Real-time care. The Practice may use live two-way audio-video. Audio-only communication may be used only when permitted by law and clinically appropriate. A Provider may require audio-video or in-person care even when another modality is legally available, and you may request a synchronous encounter.
Testosterone Initial Prescribing. Testosterone is a Schedule III controlled substance under federal law. The Practice will not initiate testosterone treatment based solely on an asynchronous questionnaire. Before a Provider first prescribes testosterone through the Practice using a remote pathway, the Practice will verify your identity through government-issued photo identification and conduct a live, two-way synchronous audio-video encounter. If federal or state law or the Provider's clinical judgment requires an in-person examination before testosterone may be prescribed, the Practice will direct you to obtain an in-person evaluation from a licensed clinician, and the Provider will determine whether documentation of that evaluation satisfies the applicable requirement and supports prescribing. Initial prescribing also requires laboratory testing that the Provider determines is necessary. You may complete this testing through a laboratory order arranged by the Practice, or you may submit recent results from another licensed laboratory; the Provider decides in each case whether outside results are sufficiently recent, complete, and reliable, and may require repeat or additional testing before prescribing. The Practice will query the controlled substances prescription monitoring program of the state where you are located before issuing the initial prescription and periodically during treatment, as required by that state's law. For patients located in Arizona, this is the Arizona Board of Pharmacy Controlled Substances Prescription Monitoring Program (CSPMP), queried pursuant to A.R.S. § 36-2606. Completing these steps does not guarantee that testosterone will be prescribed; the prescribing decision is the Provider's independent clinical judgment, and if any required step cannot be completed, the prescription will not be issued. Escalation. A questionnaire is not automatically sufficient. The Provider may require additional records, photographs, laboratory testing, identity verification, secure messaging, audio-video, permitted audio-only communication, or an in-person examination before making a diagnosis, recommending treatment, or prescribing medication. Audio-only communication is not used to satisfy the initial prescribing requirement for testosterone or another controlled substance. Submission does not guarantee clinical acceptance, treatment, or a prescription.
5. When the Provider-Patient Relationship Begins
Visiting the Website, creating an account, completing checkout, making a payment, receiving administrative enrollment approval, receiving an automated message, or submitting a questionnaire does not by itself create a Provider-patient relationship. Administrative enrollment approval means only that your information may proceed to clinical review. It is not clinical acceptance.
A Provider-patient relationship is intended to begin only when a Provider reviews sufficient patient-specific clinical information, accepts you for the requested clinical Service, and undertakes or communicates a diagnosis, treatment decision, prescription decision, or other clinical care. Nothing in this section limits any duty or relationship created by applicable law based on the Provider's actual conduct.
If the law of the state where you are located requires additional relationship-formation steps, the relationship does not begin until those steps are completed.
6. Benefits, Risks, and Alternatives
Potential benefits. Telehealth may improve access, convenience, continuity, and speed of communication, and may reduce travel and waiting time.
Material risks and limits. Telehealth has limits that may affect your care, including:
- The Provider may be unable to perform a hands-on physical examination or observe information that would be available in person.
- Information you submit may be incomplete, inaccurate, delayed, corrupted, or misunderstood, which can affect clinical decisions.
- Technology, internet, device, camera, microphone, portal, or transmission failures may interrupt or delay care.
- Electronic communications can carry privacy and security risks despite reasonable safeguards.
- Asynchronous communication can delay clarification, diagnosis, treatment, prescriptions, or referral to a higher level of care.
- Some conditions cannot be safely evaluated or treated remotely, and a Provider may require laboratory testing, audio-video, an in-person examination, urgent care, emergency care, or another clinician.
- No particular diagnosis, medication, prescription, treatment, or outcome is promised.
- Technology failures, internet outages, or portal downtime may prevent you from submitting information, receiving timely responses, or attending scheduled encounters. The Practice and Platform are not liable for delays or harm resulting from third-party technology failures, force majeure events, or your own internet or device issues. If a scheduled synchronous encounter cannot occur due to a technology failure, the Practice will reschedule it at no additional charge. If the Practice ultimately cannot deliver a Service you have paid for, it will not charge for that Service and will refund the prepaid unearned amount as provided in the Terms and Conditions of Service. You remain responsible for maintaining compatible devices, internet access, and current contact information.
- Telehealth may result in missed, delayed, or incorrect diagnoses compared to in-person care due to the absence of hands-on physical examination, limited visual or sensory information, and reliance on your self-reported symptoms. Certain conditions (e.g., acute abdominal pain, chest pain, neurological symptoms) cannot be safely evaluated remotely and require in-person assessment.
Alternatives. The Practice does not currently offer in-person care, although it may do so in the future. You may seek in-person care from another local clinician or from an urgent care or emergency department when appropriate. You may ask whether a different telehealth modality is available. Declining telehealth does not prevent you from seeking other care.
7. Emergencies and In-Person Care
The Services are not emergency care, crisis care, or continuous monitoring. If you think you may have an emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department immediately. Do not wait for a questionnaire review, portal reply, email, text, or scheduled encounter. If a Provider determines that telehealth is not sufficient or safe, the Provider may direct you to in-person, urgent, specialty, or emergency care.
If you experience a serious medication side effect, rapidly worsening symptoms, or another urgent medical concern that does not require immediate 911 response, contact your primary care provider, an urgent care clinic, or the nearest emergency department. Do not rely on the patient portal or email for urgent issues, as these channels are not monitored continuously and responses may be delayed. If you are uncertain whether your situation is an emergency, err on the side of caution and seek in-person evaluation or call 911.
8. Your Responsibilities
7. Emergencies and In-Person Care
The Services are not emergency care, crisis care, or continuous monitoring. If you think you may have an emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department immediately. Do not wait for a questionnaire review, portal reply, email, text, or scheduled encounter. If a Provider determines that telehealth is not sufficient or safe, the Provider may direct you to in-person, urgent, specialty, or emergency care.
If you experience a serious medication side effect, rapidly worsening symptoms, or another urgent medical concern that does not require immediate 911 response, contact your primary care provider, an urgent care clinic, or the nearest emergency department. Do not rely on the patient portal or email for urgent issues, as these channels are not monitored continuously and responses may be delayed. If you are uncertain whether your situation is an emergency, err on the side of caution and seek in-person evaluation or call 911.
8. Your Responsibilities
- Provide complete, current, and accurate identity, age, residence, physical location, health history, medication, allergy, symptom, laboratory, and pharmacy information. Intentionally falsifying location, identity, medical history, or other material information is grounds for immediate termination of Services, denial of prescriptions, and referral to law enforcement or regulatory authorities. You assume all liability for harm resulting from your misrepresentation.
- Update the Practice promptly when information changes, including if you travel before an asynchronous review is completed.
- Use the secure patient portal for medical details and protect your password and device from unauthorized access.
- Participate from a reasonably private and safe location, do not drive during a synchronous encounter, and tell the Provider if another person can hear or see the encounter.
- Complete requested testing, monitoring, follow-up, referrals, and in-person care, and follow medication instructions.
- Do not share, transfer, sell, misuse, or obtain early replacement of medication, and promptly report adverse effects or safety concerns.
- Use emergency services, not the Website or messaging channels, for emergencies or crisis care.
9. Provider Responsibilities and Clinical Judgment
Providers apply the same professional standard of care that applies to in-person care in the state where you are located. Telehealth does not lower the applicable standard, but the modality and available information may limit the Provider's ability to meet that standard in certain clinical situations. When telehealth is insufficient to meet the standard of care, the Provider will require additional information, a different modality, or in-person evaluation.
10. Prescribing and Controlled Substances
Non-controlled medications. A Provider may prescribe a non-controlled medication after asynchronous review when permitted by the law of the state where you are located and when the Provider determines the available information and modality meet the applicable standard of care. A questionnaire alone is not automatically sufficient. Medication-specific information and consent may be required separately.
Testosterone. Testosterone is a Schedule III controlled substance under federal law. The Practice will not initiate testosterone treatment based solely on an asynchronous questionnaire. Before a Provider first prescribes testosterone through the Practice using a remote pathway, the Practice will verify your identity and conduct a live, two-way synchronous audio-video encounter. As a matter of Practice policy, an audio-only encounter is not used to satisfy the initial testosterone prescribing requirement, even if federal or state law would permit audio-only for that prescription. After treatment is initiated, a follow-up, refill, or dose-change encounter may be conducted by audio-only communication when then-current federal and state law permits that modality for the specific patient and prescription and the Provider determines it is clinically appropriate; the Provider may require audio-video or in-person care even when audio-only is legally available. If federal or state law or the Provider's clinical judgment requires an in-person examination before testosterone may be prescribed or continued, the Practice will direct you to obtain an in-person evaluation from a licensed clinician, and the Provider will determine whether documentation of that evaluation satisfies the applicable requirement and supports prescribing.
The Practice will complete all identity-verification, examination, laboratory, prescription-monitoring-program, medical-record, registration, and other federal or state prerequisites that apply to the prescribing decision, and may require additional follow-up or monitoring based on clinical judgment. Completing these steps does not guarantee that testosterone will be prescribed or continued. If federal or state law is more restrictive or changes, the stricter or then-current requirement controls, and the Practice may change its process, require in-person care, pause prescribing, or discontinue remote controlled-substance prescribing.
Refills and Ongoing Monitoring. Testosterone refills require periodic follow-up encounters, laboratory monitoring, and CSPMP queries as determined by the Provider and applicable law. The Practice will not authorize early refills except in documented cases of loss, theft, or travel, and may require a police report or other verification. Requesting early refills, transferring prescriptions between pharmacies without clinical justification, or exhibiting other diversion behaviors may result in denial of refills and termination of Services. You must submit to periodic urine drug testing or other monitoring if requested by the Provider. Refusal to comply may result in discontinuation of controlled-substance prescribing.
Pharmacy Selection and Restrictions. Testosterone prescriptions will be transmitted only to DEA-registered, state-licensed pharmacies that the Practice has verified. Testosterone may be prescribed as a commercially available, FDA-approved product or, when the prescribing Provider independently determines that a compounded formulation is medically appropriate for you, as a compounded preparation. That determination is an independent clinical decision of the Provider, and nothing in this Consent or any Plan entitles you to a compounded product. Compounded testosterone will be dispensed only through a compounding pharmacy that is licensed or permitted to dispense into the state where you are located, DEA-registered, and meets the Practice's safety and quality standards. As described in the Terms and Conditions of Service, you may request that a prescription be sent instead to a licensed pharmacy of your choice that is able and willing to fill it; you may make that request through the secure patient portal or by emailing support@abetterlou.com. The Provider may decline to transmit a controlled-substance prescription to a pharmacy the Practice cannot verify or that is not authorized to dispense the medication, and choosing a pharmacy outside an included fulfillment arrangement may change your Plan arrangement as described in the Terms and Conditions of Service. You are responsible for providing accurate pharmacy contact information.
11. Privacy, Security, Medical Records, and Additional Participants
Practice records and HIPAA. The Practice is a HIPAA covered health care provider. The Notice of Privacy Practices governs protected health information the Practice creates, receives, maintains, or transmits in connection with care, including questionnaires, encounters, secure messages, laboratory and prescription information, recordings, transcripts, and clinical notes. Telehealth records are part of the Practice's medical record and receive the same protection as comparable in-person records, plus any stricter state protection.
Platform Separation and Business Associate Role. The Platform is a separate nonclinical entity and does not access the Practice-controlled clinical questionnaires, encounter content, medical records, clinical encounter recordings, transcripts, AI-generated clinical summaries, clinical notes, laboratory results, or prescription records. When and to the extent the Platform performs a specific nonclinical administrative function for the Practice that creates, receives, maintains, or transmits protected health information, it performs that function under a written HIPAA Business Associate Agreement and receives only the limited information the function requires. Those functions currently consist of checkout and consent-record administration; payment administration, receipts, and refunds; billing support limited to transaction and account information; and customer-service ticket resolution requiring verification of account status. The Platform does not use PHI for its own purposes and must comply with HIPAA safeguard, breach-notification, and subcontractor-management requirements. If the scope of the Platform's PHI access changes, the Practice will update the Business Associate Agreement and provide notice through the patient portal or the Notice of Privacy Practices.
Channels and participants. Use the secure patient portal for medical details. Standard email, SMS, and social media are not secure channels for medical information. A Provider may involve another Provider, nurse, medical assistant, interpreter, scribe, trainee, or approved service provider when appropriate for treatment or operations. You may ask who is present, request a private moment with the Provider, or object when the law gives you that choice.
Your record rights. You may request access to or amendment of your medical record through the procedures in the Notice of Privacy Practices. The Practice usually provides access within 30 days unless a shorter period applies, may use additional time when law permits, and may charge only a reasonable, cost-based fee allowed by law.
12. Recording and AI-Assisted Documentation
Session-specific recording consent. The Practice may propose recording a synchronous clinical encounter for clinical documentation, quality assurance, compliance, or patient-safety purposes. Signing this Consent gives you advance notice of that possibility but does not authorize recording of a particular encounter. Before recording begins, the Practice will tell you whether audio, video, or both will be recorded, the purpose, and whether an artificial intelligence tool will assist with documentation. Recording will begin only after you and every other person who will be recorded affirmatively consent. If someone joins after recording begins, recording will be paused until that person receives notice and consents.
This session-specific process applies to synchronous clinical encounters with a Provider. Coordinator-administered intake calls are addressed separately below.
Coordinator-administered intake calls. In some states, a membership care coordinator, a nonclinical member of the care team, may administer your initial intake questionnaire through a synchronous audio-only or audio-video call. These calls may be recorded for quality assurance, training, intake accuracy, and compliance purposes. Where the law of the state where you are located requires notice to or consent from all parties before a call is recorded, you will receive notice or be asked for consent before recording begins, and you may decline; declining will not prevent you from completing your intake, which may proceed unrecorded or through a written questionnaire. Recordings of coordinator-administered intake calls are stored in a HIPAA-compliant system operated for the Practice under a written business associate agreement and are protected as described in the Notice of Privacy Practices.
Refusal and withdrawal. You may decline recording or AI-assisted documentation or withdraw that consent before or during the encounter. Recording or AI processing will not begin, or will stop, as applicable. Declining does not by itself withdraw your general telehealth consent. The Practice may offer manual documentation or another lawful workflow when available. If the Practice does not offer an unrecorded or non-AI workflow for the proposed encounter, the encounter may be paused, rescheduled, moved to another lawful modality or setting, or discontinued. If the required Service then cannot be furnished lawfully or clinically, the affected Plan may be ended and prepaid unearned amounts will be handled under the Terms and Conditions of Service. The Practice will explain the available options before requesting session-specific consent.
AI-assisted documentation. If the Practice uses an approved artificial intelligence assisted documentation tool, it will provide session-specific notice and obtain your affirmative consent before activating the tool for the encounter. The tool may create a draft transcript, summary, or clinical note. It does not independently diagnose you, select treatment, prescribe medication, or replace the Provider's judgment. The Provider reviews and may correct the output and remains responsible for the final clinical record.
Protection and permitted use. A recording, transcript, summary, or clinical note containing your health information is maintained by or for the Practice and protected under the Notice of Privacy Practices. The Platform does not receive access to this content. The Practice does not use a clinical recording for marketing. It will not use an identifiable recording for research, education, or training a general-purpose artificial intelligence model without a separate written authorization. Clinical recordings, transcripts, and AI-generated summaries are retained as part of your medical record for the period required by the law of the state where the Service was furnished and the Practice's record-retention policy; for Services furnished in Arizona, that period is at least six years from the date of the last service. Raw audio or video recordings may be destroyed after the transcript and clinical summary have been verified and incorporated into the medical record, typically within 90 days of the encounter, unless retention is required for quality assurance, legal proceedings, or regulatory investigation.
13. Your Choices and Withdrawal
You may ask questions, request a different available modality, refuse a recommended Service, or withdraw telehealth consent at any time by notifying the Practice through the secure patient portal or the contact information below. Withdrawal applies prospectively and does not invalidate care already provided, records already created, or agreements already signed. Because the Plans are designed for remote care, withdrawing telehealth consent may delay or prevent the Practice from continuing a Plan. The Practice will address any continuity-of-care duties and may direct you to another clinician or in-person care. If no lawful and clinically feasible nontelehealth alternative is available for an affected Plan, the Practice will end that Plan and address prepaid or unearned amounts under the Terms and Conditions of Service and applicable law. Withdrawal of electronic-delivery consent is separate and is addressed below. You may withdraw consent for telehealth entirely or request to exclude specific modalities (e.g., audio-only encounters, AI-assisted documentation, or asynchronous questionnaires). The Practice will accommodate modality-specific requests when a clinically and legally acceptable alternative is available. If no alternative modality is feasible for your condition or Plan, the Practice may need to terminate that Plan as described above.
14. Electronic Records and Signature Consent
Scope. You consent to conduct enrollment and receive required records and disclosures electronically. This covers the Terms and Conditions of Service, the Website Terms of Use, this Consent, the Notice of Privacy Practices, the Website Privacy Policy, Good Faith Estimates, medication-specific consents, Plan and account notices, receipts, statements, and later records or disclosures relating to your Services that are delivered electronically. Electronic delivery does not mean that every delivered record is signed or accepted. A Notice of Privacy Practices, Website Privacy Policy, or Good Faith Estimate is delivered or acknowledged only and is not signed, accepted, incorporated, or converted into a contract.
Checkout presentation and access confirmation. At checkout, required documents are presented through conspicuous direct links next to an unchecked required checkbox. The required checkbox states: "I agree to the Terms and Conditions of Service, including the billing terms above, and the Website Terms of Use, consent to the Telehealth and Electronic Signature Consent, acknowledge receipt of the Website Privacy Policy and Notice of Privacy Practices, and confirm that I can access, save, or print the linked electronic records." Selecting that unchecked box is your electronic confirmation that you can access and retain records in the format being used.
Hardware and software. To access, save, and retain electronic records, you need a current internet browser, internet access, an email account, the ability to view and save PDF files, and storage or a printer to retain copies, as also stated in the Terms and Conditions of Service. If the Practice changes the technical requirements for accessing electronic records in a way that affects your ability to access, save, or print records in the current format, the Practice will notify you at least 30 days in advance through your registered email address and the patient portal. You may withdraw electronic-delivery consent and request paper delivery without penalty during that notice period. If you do not withdraw consent, your continued use of the Services constitutes acceptance of the updated requirements.
Intent to sign and audit record. Your typed name, selection of the required checkbox, and activation of the acceptance control show your intent to sign and constitute your electronic signature, with the same legal effect as a handwritten signature, only for agreements and affirmative consents that expressly call for acceptance. The action does not sign the Notice of Privacy Practices, Website Privacy Policy, or a Good Faith Estimate. The acceptance audit record will capture the exact document version or cryptographic hash, your typed name, date and time, IP address, browser or user-agent information, checkbox event, transaction or verification identifier, and other tamper-evident signature data maintained by the signing system.
Electronic records and signatures are recognized under the federal E-SIGN Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 7001 et seq., and applicable state electronic-transactions law, including A.R.S. Sections 44-7007 and 44-7009 and 815 ILCS 333/7.
15. Delivery, Copies, Access, and Retention
Delivery and copies. You may request a paper copy of any electronically provided enrollment document, disclosure, treatment summary, test result, prescription record, or billing statement at any time at https://abetterlou.canvasmedical.com/app/login. The Practice will provide paper copies of enrollment documents without charge. Paper copies of medical records, test results, and other clinical information are subject to the reasonable, cost-based fees permitted under HIPAA and the law of the state where the Service was furnished, as described in the Notice of Privacy Practices.
Withdrawing electronic delivery. You may withdraw consent to receive future records electronically at any time, without penalty, through the secure patient portal or by contacting support@abetterlou.com. Withdrawal applies only going forward and does not affect the validity of records or signatures created before withdrawal. Future records that law requires in writing will be provided on paper without charge. Paper delivery may delay receipt, and a Service that depends on electronic communication may be delayed or unavailable. Withdrawal does not itself cancel a Plan or change payment duties under the Terms and Conditions of Service.
Contact updates. Update your email address, mailing address, telephone number, and other contact information through the patient portal or by contacting support. You are responsible for keeping those details current.
Retention. The exact accepted version of this Consent and its audit record are retained for the periods required by applicable law and the Practice's record-retention policy. Because this document includes clinical consent, the signed Consent is maintained in the Practice's medical record. The Notice of Privacy Practices describes retention of each issued Notice version and acknowledgment documentation. Your medical-record access rights and any legally permitted cost-based fee are separate from your right to free copies of electronically delivered enrollment documents.
16. Contact Information
Practice clinical care, records, privacy, and patient rights. ABL Physician Services PLLC, 333 N Wilmot Rd Ste 340-18, Tucson, AZ 85711; support@abetterlou.com; privacy@abetterlou.com; (480) 944-3221; secure portal: https://abetterlou.canvasmedical.com/app/login.
Platform Website, checkout, program support, and technology. A Better Lou MSO, LLC, 333 N Wilmot Rd Ste 340-16, Tucson, AZ 85711; support@abetterlou.com; privacy@abetterlou.com; (520) 524-3202.
Do not include detailed medical information in ordinary email. Use the secure patient portal for medical details. These contacts and channels are not monitored continuously, are not for emergency or crisis care, and may not be secure for urgent medical information.
17. State-Specific Supplements
Only the supplement for the state where you are physically located when a clinical Service is furnished applies to that Service. If a supplement conflicts with a general provision, the supplement controls only to the extent required by that state's law. A supplement does not mean the Practice offers Services in that state unless it is also an active Service State.
Arizona
Before providing telehealth care in Arizona, the Provider will obtain your informed consent; Arizona permits verbal, written, or electronic consent, and verbal consent must be documented in the medical record. Telehealth reports become part of your medical record, and existing confidentiality protections apply. Audio-only care is used only when Arizona law permits it and the Provider determines it is clinically appropriate, and audio-only care is not used to satisfy the initial prescribing requirement for testosterone or another controlled substance. Authority: A.R.S. Section 36-3602; electronic records and signatures: A.R.S. Sections 44-7007 and 44-7009.
Illinois
An Illinois Provider must be licensed or otherwise authorized in Illinois and meet the same standard of care that applies in person. Illinois telehealth may include live audio-video, permitted audio-only communication, asynchronous store-and-forward technology, remote patient monitoring, e-visits, or virtual check-ins when legally and clinically appropriate. Illinois does not impose a general physician-specific telehealth consent formality, but the Practice uses this written electronic Consent and requires every participant's prior affirmative consent before recording a private clinical conversation. Authority: 225 ILCS 150/5, 150/10, and 150/15; recording: 720 ILCS 5/14-2; electronic records and signatures: 815 ILCS 333/7. Illinois law requires all parties to a private conversation to consent before it is recorded (720 ILCS 5/14-2). Before recording any clinical encounter, the Practice will obtain affirmative consent from you and every other person who will be present or able to hear the conversation, including family members, caregivers, nurses, interpreters, or other participants. If any person declines consent, recording will not occur or will be paused until that person leaves or consents.
18. Patient Acknowledgments and Electronic Signature
By typing your name, selecting the required unchecked checkbox, and activating the acceptance control, you adopt your typed name as your electronic signature and acknowledge, represent, and consent as follows:
1. I am the patient, I am at least 18 years old, I have capacity to consent, and I am accepting for myself. I am not signing as a representative for another person.
2. I received and had an opportunity to read this entire Consent. I understand its material benefits, risks, alternatives, and limits and may ask the Practice questions before accepting.
3. I reside in a Service State and will attest to my current physical location at each clinical intake submission, each clinical message sent for Provider review, and each real-time encounter, as described in Section 3. I will promptly update my location through the patient portal or contact the Practice if I travel before a delayed clinical review, decision, or prescription is completed.
4. I request and consent to telehealth care. This includes asynchronous review, secure portal messaging, live audio-video, and permitted audio-only care when lawful and clinically appropriate.
5. I understand that A Better Lou MSO, LLC (the Platform) is a separate nonclinical technology and administrative services entity. The Platform does not employ Providers in their clinical capacity, does not diagnose or treat medical conditions, does not prescribe medication, and does not direct clinical judgment. ABL Physician Services PLLC (the Practice) is solely responsible for all clinical decisions. My recourse for concerns about clinical outcomes, diagnosis, treatment decisions, or prescribing is with the Practice and its Providers, not with the Platform. This acknowledgment does not waive any claim that the Terms and Conditions of Service preserve, including claims based on gross negligence, willful misconduct, fraud, or intentional misrepresentation, claims for personal injury, bodily harm, or wrongful death, or rights that cannot be waived under the law of my state of residence.
6. I understand when the Provider-patient relationship is intended to begin. Checkout, payment, administrative approval, or questionnaire submission alone is not clinical acceptance.
7. I understand the prescribing rules. Non-controlled medications may be prescribed asynchronously when lawful and clinically appropriate. Initial remote testosterone prescribing is not based only on an asynchronous questionnaire and requires a live, two-way synchronous audio-video encounter, or an in-person evaluation when law or the Provider's clinical judgment requires one; audio-only encounters are not used for initial testosterone prescribing. I understand that after treatment is initiated, a follow-up, refill, or dose-change encounter may be audio-only when law permits that modality and the Provider determines it is clinically appropriate.
8. I understand the recording and AI process. This signature alone does not authorize recording or AI processing of a particular encounter. Session-specific notice and affirmative consent are required before activation.
9. I acknowledge receipt of the Notice of Privacy Practices. That acknowledgment is not a separate authorization for optional marketing, recording, research, or disclosure.
10. I consent to electronic records and signatures. I can access, save, or print the linked electronic records, I meet the stated technical requirements, and I intend my typed name and affirmative acceptance to be legally binding. I understand that the Website Privacy Policy and Notice of Privacy Practices are notices, not contracts.
11. My consent is voluntary. I know how to withdraw telehealth consent or electronic-delivery consent prospectively and how to request free paper copies of enrollment documents.
12. I acknowledge that the Terms and Conditions of Service contain dispute-resolution provisions, including binding individual arbitration, a jury-trial waiver, and a class-action waiver for most claims arising out of or relating to the Services, such as breach-of-contract and billing claims. I understand that Article 15 of the Terms and Conditions of Service excludes certain claims from mandatory arbitration, including claims for professional negligence, medical malpractice, wrongful death, or breach of the applicable clinical standard of care, claims under state consumer-protection or adult-protective-services statutes that prohibit mandatory arbitration or give me a choice of forum, and any other claim that applicable law makes non-arbitrable. I also understand that I may opt out of arbitration within 30 days after first accepting the Terms and Conditions of Service, without penalty and without any effect on my eligibility, pricing, or care. I have read and understand those provisions and agree to be bound by them.
13. I understand that the Practice does not guarantee any particular diagnosis, treatment, prescription, or medical outcome. Results vary based on individual health status, adherence to treatment, and factors outside the Practice's control. I will not hold the Practice liable for failure to achieve a desired outcome if the Provider exercises appropriate clinical judgment and meets the applicable standard of care.