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PHS Notice of Privacy Practices (HIPAA)

This notice describes how medical information about a patient may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review this notice carefully.

What Are PHS Health Information Responsibilities? 

As we provide care and service, PHS collects information that becomes part of a patient’s medical and billing record. This information is called Protected Health Information (PHI). PHI includes information about the patient we receive from

  • The patient or the patient’s legal guardian or principal caregiver.
  • The medical people involved in the patient’s care, such as doctors, hospital or clinic staff, home care or school nurses, and mental health therapists.
  • The patient’s health insurance company.

Federal law and our concern about patient protection require us to keep a patient’s PHI private. We do this in many ways.

  • We have protections for paper and computer records to prevent accidental or intentional change, loss, or misuse of PHI.
  • We have written policies protecting PHI that govern how we do business.
  • We regularly train all of our employees on laws and PHS policies for protecting PHI.
  • We require all non-health care industry companies with which we work when we provide patient services to sign a legal agreement to follow PHI laws.

PHS notifies the patient or legal guardian if a loss of PHI occurs that is likely to cause patient harm. PHS sends this report no more than 60 days after we learn about the loss.

How Does PHS Use and Share Protected Health Information?

Federal law allows PHS to use and share PHI without a patient’s written permission for the following six purposes. For each purpose, we list one of many possible examples.

  1. Patient Care and Treatment We may share PHI with other health care providers as we give, manage or coordinate health care and related services for a PHS patient.
    Example: Speaking with referring health care providers to obtain medical history or determine the best equipment, supplies or medicine for a patient.
  2. Payment for PHS Services We may share PHI with the patient’s health insurance provider as we seek payment for PHS services.
    Example: Sharing PHI to determine whether the patient’s health insurance pays for equipment and supplies ordered by the doctor.
  3. On-Going Health Care Practices We may use PHI for business operations and to check that PHS follows all laws and guidelines for providing safe, high-quality patient care.
    Example: PHS review of medical records to assure we follow proper billing practices.
  4. Public Health We may share PHI with appropriate authorities to prevent a serious threat to individual or public health or safety.
    Example: Sharing a life-threatening patient event involving medical equipment with the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
  5. Suspected Abuse or Neglect We may share PHI with appropriate authorities to address concerns about abuse, neglect, or domestic violence involving a child or Vulnerable Adult.
    Example: Sharing a nurse’s observations with a county Child Protection Service if there is concern about a child’s well-being.
  6. Legal Actions We may share PHI as required for court or law enforcement actions.
    Example: Sharing a patient’s location in response to a court order from the police.

Federal law requires PHS to seek and receive written permission from the patient or the patient’s legal guardian before using or sharing PHI in the following situations. PHS must explain to the patient or the patient’s legal
guardian why and with whom we want to share PHI.

  1. For requests to use or share PHI for purposes other than the six purposes listed on page one of this Notice of HIPAA Privacy Practices.
  2. For most requests to receive or share mental health treatment information contained within the medical record.

The patient or patient’s legal guardian can refuse permission to share PHI. Refusal does not affect the care or service PHS provides the patient. The patient or patient’s legal guardian can withdraw permission in writing at any time.

What Are the Patient’s Privacy Rights?

The patient or patient’s legal guardian has the following PHI rights. The person can

  • Ask that PHS not share PHI for the six purposes listed on page one of this Notice of HIPAA Privacy Practices. The request must be in writing and identify
    • The information PHS should not share,
    • The person or organization with whom PHS should not share the information,
    • Whether the request applies to written or spoken communication or to both.
      NOTE: In some cases, PHS may not be able to honor the request
  • Instruct PHS to not share information about service the patient or patient’s legal guardian paid for out of pocket and in full.
  • Identify how and where to receive PHI. Examples include telling us we should
    • Send PHI by email, surface mail or phone,
    • Mail PHI to an address different than the primary address in the medical record,
    • Not leave health information in voicemails or with family members at phone numbers in the medical record.
  • Receive a copy of the medical record, not including certain types of mental health treatment information. We send a copy of the record within 30 days of receiving a written request. We may charge a small fee for photocopying and mailing the medical record.
  • Ask that we change, add or remove information in the medical record. We respond in writing within 60 days of receiving the written request. If we agree, we forward the changed or new information to persons or organizations that use the medical record for treatment, payment or other health care services. If we do not agree, we explain our reasons in writing. The patient or patient’s legal guardian can follow the process described below to file a complaint about our decision.
  • Receive details about the health information PHS shared for purposes four, five or six listed on page one of this Notice of HIPAA Privacy Practices. The patient or patient’s legal guardian can also request details about any loss of PHI that PHS considered not likely to cause patient harm.
  • The person must send a signed hard copy letter with any of these requests to the Privacy Officer at PHS. See address below.

How Do I File a Complaint?

Contact the Privacy Officer at PHS with questions or concerns about patient privacy rights or PHS privacy policies. The patient or patient’s legal guardian can file a complaint with the PHS Privacy Officer if the person thinks there has been a violation of PHI privacy. Contact the PHS Privacy Officer at 651-642-1825 or send a written complaint to the following address:

PHS Privacy Officer
Pediatric Home Service
2800 Cleveland Avenue North
Roseville, MN 55113

The patient or patient’s legal guardian has the right to file a complaint with the United States Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Civil Rights. We cannot punish the patient in any way for filing such a complaint.

How Does PHS Notify Patients of Changes to Privacy Practices?

This Notice of HIPAA Privacy Practices goes into effect September 1, 2013. PHS has the right to change this Notice and the PHI policies it describes. If we change the Notice of HIPAA Privacy Practices, we put the new Notice on our
website (www.pediatrichomeservice.com) and in a public area of our office. The patient or patient’s legal guardian can request a written copy of the new Notice of HIPAA Privacy Practices.

Website Privacy Policy

  1. Data Stored on Our Servers

Storage Provided by Us. If you opt to store personal data of any kind on our servers, you understand and agree to abide by our general practices and limits concerning use of the Offerings available on our Site, including without limitation the maximum number of days that uploaded content will be retained, the maximum disk space that will be allotted, and the maximum number of times you may access the services in a given period of time. You agree that we have no responsibility or liability for the deletion or failure to store any content maintained or transmitted on or through this Site. You acknowledge that we reserve the right to remove or terminate accounts that remain inactive for longer than 365 days, or in cases where you have violated one or more terms of this Agreement.

 

  1. Privacy & Security

Privacy Policy. Pediatric Home Service (PHS) is aware that the security of your private information from the use of our website is an important concern. We take the protection of your personal data seriously and are committed to online privacy. This Policy discloses the privacy practices for PHS’s family of Websites (collectively, the “Site”), as well as related products and services we may offer to you (collectively referred to as the “Services”). This Policy also covers how personal and other information that we receive or collect about you is treated. Please read the information below to learn the following regarding your use of this Site.

You acknowledge that this Privacy Policy is designed to be read in connection with the HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices, which is available at https://www.pediatrichomeservice.com/, and that by accessing or using our Site, you agree to be bound by the Site’s terms and conditions, as well as this Policy.

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you about significant changes in the way we treat personal information by sending a notice to the primary email address specified in your account, by placing a prominent notice on our site, and by updating any privacy information on this page. Your continued use of the Site and or Services available through this Site after such modifications will constitute your: (a) acknowledgment of the modified Policy; and (b) your agreement to abide and be bound by that Policy.

If you have any questions about this Policy, please feel free to contact us at: compliance@pediatrichomeservice.com.

IMPORTANT: BY USING THE SITE AND/OR OFFERINGS AVAILABLE ON THIS SITE, YOU GIVE YOUR CONSENT THAT ALL PERSONAL DATA THAT YOU SUBMIT MAY BE PROCESSED BY US IN THE MANNER AND FOR THE PURPOSES DESCRIBED BELOW. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, DO NOT USE THE SITE.

Types of Information We Collect. In order to better provide you with the medical supplies and accessories offered, we collect two types of information about our users: Personally Identifiable Information (“PII”) and Aggregate Information.

  1. Personally Identifiable Information: This refers to information that lets us know the specifics of who you are. When you engage in certain activities on this Site, such as registering for an account, downloading or purchasing a product or service, submitting content and/or posting content in the user forums, or sending us feedback, we may ask you to provide certain information about yourself. Examples of PII may include your first and last name, email address, mailing address (including zip code), telephone and facsimile numbers, medical insurance plan information, ordering prescriber, and other identifying information. When ordering products or services on the Site, you may be asked to provide a credit card number.
  2. Aggregate Information: This refers to information that does not by itself identify a specific individual. We gather certain information about you based upon where you visit on our Site and what other sites may have directed you to us. This information, which is collected in a variety of different ways, is compiled and analyzed on both a personal and an aggregated basis. This information may include the Website’s Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) that points to the site you just came from, which URL you go to after visiting our Site, what browser you are using, and your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address.

How We Collect Information. We do not collect any PII about you unless you voluntarily provide it to us. However, you may be required to provide certain PII to us when you elect to use certain products or services available on the Site. These may include: (a) registering for an account on our Site; (b) sending us an email message; (c) submitting a form or transmitting other information by telephone or letter; or (d) submitting your credit card or other payment information when ordering and purchasing products and services on our Site. When processing certain information, such as payment information with affiliated banking institutions or payment processors, we encrypt the transaction, using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology, to prevent your PII from being stolen or intercepted. Additionally, your credit card information is never stored on our servers. If you provide your email address to PHS you may receive electronic communications from us. PHS adheres to the CAN-SPAM guidelines and will honor users requests to opt out of email communication at any time.

Cookies. Depending on how you use our Site, we may store cookies on your device and browser in order to collect certain aggregate data about our users and to customize certain aspects of your specific user experience. A cookie is a small data text file which is stored on your device or browser that uniquely identifies your browser. Cookies may also include more personalized information, such as your IP address, browser type, the server your computer is logged onto, the area code and zip code associated with your server, and your first name to welcome you back to our Site. We may use cookies to perform tasks such as: monitoring aggregate site usage metrics, storing and remembering your passwords (if you allow us to do so), storing account and advertising preferences that you have set, and personalizing the Services we make available to you. However, we do not use cookies to track your browsing behaviors. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some aspects of the Site may not function properly if you elect to disable cookies.

In addition to cookies, we may also use other similar tracking technologies on our site as such pixel tags. We use these technologies to serve interest-based ads, or to improve our understanding of site traffic, visitor behavior and promotional campaigns. Pixel tags are small blocks of code installed in or on a webpage, mobile app or advertisement and are a method for passing information from your device to an associated third-party website (such as Facebook and/or Instagram).

How We Use Information. The data we collect will only be used with the intent of supplying you with requested products or services, to send you PHS service-related communications or for reasons you have given your consent, except where otherwise provided by law. Additionally, we will also use certain forms of PII to enhance the operation of our Site, improve our internal marketing and promotional efforts, statistically analyze Site use, improve our product and service offerings, and customize our Site’s content, layout, and services. We may use PII to deliver information to you and to contact you regarding administrative notices. Finally, we may use your PII to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems and enforce our agreements with you, including our Site Terms of Use, and this Privacy Policy. We may also collect certain Aggregate Information. For example, we may use your IP address to diagnose problems with our servers, software, to administer our Site and to gather demographic information.

Registration.

  1. Login Required: To access some of the Offerings on this site, or to post User Content, you may be asked to set up an account and password. Our account registration page requests certain personal information from you (“Registration Info”). You will have the ability to maintain and periodically update your Registration Info as you see fit. By registering, you agree that all information provided by you as Registration Info is true and accurate and that you will maintain and update this information as required to keep it current, complete and accurate.
  2. Passwords & Security: If you register for an account on the Site, you agree that you are responsible for maintaining the security and confidentiality of your password and that you are fully responsible for all activities or charges that are incurred under your account. Therefore, you must take reasonable steps to ensure that others do not gain access to your password and account. Our employees will never ask you for your password.
  • Disclosure to Third Party Affiliates: You hereby grant us the right to disclose to third parties certain Registration Info about you. The information we obtain through your use of this site, including your Registration Info, is subject to our Privacy Policy, which is specifically incorporated by reference into these Terms of Use.

Release of Information. We will not sell, trade, or rent your PII to others. We do provide some of our product and service offerings through contractual arrangements made with affiliates, service providers, partners and other third parties (“Service Partners”). We and our Service Partners may need to use some PII to perform tasks between our respective sites, or to deliver products or services to you. For example, we must release your credit card information to the card-issuing bank to confirm payment for products and services purchased on this Site; release your address information to the delivery service to deliver products that you ordered; and provide order information to third parties that help us provide customer service.

We will encourage our Service Partners to adopt and promote strong privacy policies. However, the use of your PII by our Service Partners is governed by the respective privacy policies of those providers and is not subject to our control. Except as otherwise discussed in this Privacy Policy, this document only addresses the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. Other Sites accessible through this Site, including our Advertising and Service Partners, have their own privacy policies and data collection, use and disclosure practices. Please consult each Site’s privacy policy. We are not responsible for the policies or practices of third parties.

Occasionally we may be required by law enforcement or judicial authorities to provide PII to the appropriate governmental authorities. In such cases, we will disclose PII upon receipt of a court order, subpoena, or to cooperate with a law enforcement investigation. We fully cooperate with law enforcement agencies in identifying those who use our services for illegal activities. We reserve the right to report to law enforcement agencies any activities that we in good faith believe to be unlawful.

Updating and Correcting Information. We believe you should have the ability to access and edit the PII that you have provided to us. You may change any of your PII in your account online at any time by linking to your account in accordance with instructions posted elsewhere on this Site. You may also access and correct your personal information and privacy preferences by emailing or writing us at:

Pediatric Home Service
2800 Cleveland Avenue North
Roseville, MN 55113
Attn: Privacy Compliance Officer
Email: compliance@pediatrichomeservice.com

Please include your name, address, and/or email address when you contact us.

We encourage you to promptly update your PII if it changes. You may ask to have the information on your account deleted or removed; however, some information, such as past transactions, logs of technical support calls, or other information may not be deleted. In addition, it may be impossible to completely delete your information without some residual information because of backups.

Security of Your PII. At our Site you can be assured that your PII is secure, consistent with current industry standards. We strive to take appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of your PII. For example:

  • We work hard to ensure that the data we collect is reliable, accurate, complete and current. We encrypt all PII in order to prevent unauthorized parties from viewing such information when it is transmitted to us. We also only keep collected information only for as long as reasonably necessary and use it only for the purposes for which it was collected or to comply with any applicable legal or ethical reporting or document retention requirements.
  • We limit access to PII only to specific employees, contractors and agents who have a reasonable need to come into contact with your information. For example, we may provide members of our technical support team with limited access to your account in order to allow them to troubleshoot problems you may be having with the Site.
  • Additionally, we also employ a number of physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect PII. Our secure servers and our data centers are protected by industry-standard encryption, and our servers reside behind firewalls and employ high-level password protection.
  • Finally, access by you to your PII is available through a password and unique customer ID selected by you. This password is encrypted. We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone.

In order to most effectively serve you, credit card transactions and order fulfillment are handled by established third party banking institutions and processing agents (such as PayPal). They receive the information needed to verify and authorize your credit card or other payment information and to process and ship your order.

Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your PII, you acknowledge that: (a) there are security and privacy limitations inherent to the Internet which are beyond our control; and (b) the security, integrity and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and us through this Site cannot be guaranteed.

Children. PHS does not collect, process or use on our website, any information relating to an individual we know to be under 13 years old, without the prior, verifiable consent of his or her legal representative. We do not give children the ability to post or distribute personal information without prior consent. We do not entice children with games or contests that would encourage them to disclose personal information.

Miscellaneous. You must be at least 18 years old to have our permission to use this Site. Our policy is that we do not knowingly collect, use or disclose PII about minor visitors.

You should also be aware that when Personally Identifiable Information is voluntarily disclosed (i.e. your name, email address, etc.) in the discussion forums or other public areas on this Site, that information, along with any information disclosed in your communication, can be collected and used by third parties and may result in unsolicited messages (including unwanted spam messages) from third parties. Such activities are beyond our control and this Policy does not apply to such information. If you have any questions, concerns or inquiries about our Privacy Policy, or our use of your PII, or our privacy practices, please contact us at: compliance@pediatrichomeservice.com. You can also reach our Privacy Officer by sending written correspondence to:

Pediatric Home Service
2800 Cleveland Avenue North
Roseville, MN 55113
Attn: Privacy Officer

Additional Policies