NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

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.

Ameda Direct understands the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of your medical and personal information and is dedicated to maintaining the confidentiality of such information in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) and other applicable laws. Ameda Direct is required by law to provide you with and to comply with this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your confidential information.

1. AMEDA DIRECTS’ USE AND DISCLOSURE OF YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION

In its provision of services, Ameda Direct obtains certain medical and other information about you and may share that information with our partner, Medline. This information includes information that enables us to identify and contact you (for example, your name, address, phone number, etc.), information about your medical condition, your needs and information about sources of payment for your medical care and equipment, among other things. Ameda Direct is permitted to use and disclose your medical and other information for the following purposes:

A. Treatment. Ameda Direct may receive, use and disclose medical information about you to determine the type of medical equipment necessary to meet your individual needs, to fit you for the equipment, to order the appropriate equipment and to ensure the equipment is working properly. Our provision of equipment to you is considered “treatment,” and we are allowed by law to use your information for treatment purposes. In addition to provision of medical equipment, “treatment” also means the provision, coordination, or management of health care and related services among health care providers or by a healthcare provider with a third party, consultation between health care providers regarding a patient, or the referral of a patient from one healthcare provider to another. Therefore, we may share medical information in our possession with your physicians and other health care providers who provide treatment services Ameda Direct does not provide.

B. Payment. Ameda Direct uses and discloses information about you to obtain payment for the services and equipment it provides for you. For example, Ameda Direct will provide information about you to your health plan, Medicare, Medi-Cal and other payers to obtain payment. In addition, to the extent necessary, we may provide information about you to your other health care providers to allow them to obtain payment for services they have provided for you.

C. Health Care Operations. Ameda Direct also uses and discloses information about you to enable us to perform the administrative, financial, legal and quality improvement activities necessary to operate our business. For example, we may use your personal information to conduct quality assessment and improvement activities; to conduct population based activities related to reducing healthcare costs; to participate in fraud and abuse detection and compliance programs; for our business planning and development activities; for customer service purposes; and upon sale or transfer of our assets, among other things. In certain circumstances, we may also disclose your information to your other treatment providers or to your health plan to enable them to perform their health care operations activities

D. Scheduling. We may use and disclose information about you to contact you regarding an appointment. We may also contact you in the event of a manufacturer’s recall.

If you are unavailable to take our phone call, we may leave a message for you to call us. If we leave a message for you, we will not disclose your medical condition or any other sensitive information on your answering machine or with the person taking the message.

E. Information About Our Products and Services. Ameda Direct may contact you to give you information about products or services related to your medical condition and new or improved devices which may be of benefit and/or interest to you. We may also encourage you to purchase a particular product or to utilize a particular service. We will not disclose your medical information to third parties for marketing purposes without first obtaining your written authorization.

F. Workers’ Compensation. We may release medical information about you for workers’ compensation or similar programs. These programs provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness.

G. Required By Law. We may use and disclose medical information about you when required to do so by federal, state, or local law, but we will limit our use and disclosure to the amount and type of information required to be disclosed by such law. 

H. To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety. We may use and disclose protected health information about you if we determine such disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a particular person or the general public. Any disclosure, however, would only be to someone able to help eliminate the threat.

I. Health Oversight Activities. Ameda Direct may disclose your health information to health oversight agencies (such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Civil Rights, etc.) during the course of audits, investigations, inspections, licensure, certification and other proceedings, subject to limitations imposed by applicable laws.

J. Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. We may disclose information about you in the course of an administrative or judicial proceeding and in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process if reasonable efforts have been made to notify you of the request and you have not objected, or if a court or administrative order has resolved your objections.

K. Law Enforcement. We may disclose protected health information about you to a law enforcement official for the purpose of identifying or locating a suspect, fugitive, material witness or missing person, or complying with a court order, warrant, grand jury subpoena or for another legitimate law enforcement purpose.

L. Specialized Government Functions. Ameda Direct may disclose your health information for military or national security purposes or to correctional institutions or law enforcement officers that have you in their lawful custody.

M. Change of Ownership. If Ameda Direct is sold or merged with another organization, your health information/record will become the property of the new owner, although you will maintain the right to request that copies of your health information be transferred to another treatment provider or equipment vendor.

2. WHEN AMEDA DIRECT WILL NOT USE OR DISCLOSE YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION

Except as described in this notice of privacy practices, Ameda Direct will not use or disclose health information that identifies you without your written authorization. If you authorize Ameda Direct to use or disclose your health information for a purpose other than the purposes listed above, you may revoke your authorization in writing in any time. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclose health information about you for the reasons covered by your written authorization.

3. YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION RIGHTS

A. Right to Receive Written Notice of Privacy Practices. You have the right to receive a paper copy of this notice at any time. We will supply a copy in person, by mail, or you may download a copy at our web site: www.amedadirect.com.

B. Right to Inspect and Copy Your Protected Health Information. You have the right to inspect and copy medical information in our possession or control that may be used to make decisions about your care. To inspect and copy your information, you must make your request to us in writing and inform us whether you would like to inspect your information, copy your information, or both. You may be charged a fee for the cost of copying, mailing or other supplies associated with your request. We may deny your request under certain very limited circumstances.

C. Right to Request an Accounting of Disclosures of Your Protected Health Information. You have the right to request an accounting of certain disclosures of your health information made by Ameda Direct in five years prior to the date of your request. To request an accounting of our disclosures of your health information, you must submit your request in writing. Your request must state a time period, which may not be longer than 5 years, and may not include dates before March 1, 2013. Your request should indicate how you want to receive the list.

D. Right to Request Correction and Amendment of Your Protected Health Information. If you feel the information we have about you is incomplete or incorrect, you may ask us to amend the information. To request an amendment, your request must be submitted to us in writing. You must provide a reason that supports your request. We may deny your request if it is not in writing or does not include a reason for the request.

In addition, we may deny your request if you ask us to amend information that:

  • Was not created by us, unless the person or entity that created the information is no longer available to make the amendment;
  • Is not part of the medical information in our possession.
  • Is not part of the medical information which you would be permitted to inspect and copy; or
  • We determine is accurate and complete in our sole discretion.

If we deny your amendment request, we will inform you about the reasons for the denial and explain how you can respond to our denial. You also have the right to request that we add to your records a statement of up to 250 words concerning any information in your records that you believe is incomplete or incorrect.

E. Right to Request Additional Restrictions on Our Use and Disclosure of Your Protected Health Information. You have the right to request restrictions and limitations in addition to the rights and restrictions identified above on our use and disclosure of your medical information. Your request for additional restrictions must be made in writing and must include the type of information you want us to limit and a description of the way in which you would like us to limit our use of the information, our disclosure of the information or both. We are not required to agree with and may deny your request. If we do agree to comply with your request, we will be bound by and will comply with that agreement.

F. Right to Request Confidential Communication of Protected Health Information. You have the right to request that you receive information about your medical matters in a certain way or at a certain location. For example you can request that we contact you only at work or by mail. To request confidential communications, you must do so in writing. We will not ask you the reason for your request. We will accommodate all reasonable requests. Your request must specify how and/or where you wish to be contacted.

If you would like a more detailed explanation of these rights or if you would like to exercise one or more of these rights, please contact the Privacy Official identified at the bottom of this notice.

4. AMENDMENTS TO NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

We reserve the right to amend this notice at any time without prior notice. Until such amendment is made, Ameda Direct is required by law to comply with this notice. We reserve the right to make the amended notice effective for medical information we already have about you as well as for any information we receive in the future. We will post a copy of the most current notice in our facility and on our web site. You may request a copy of the most current notice at any time.

5. COMPLAINTS

Ameda Direct understands the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of your personal information. If you have any complaints about this notice of privacy practices or if you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with Ameda Direct or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights.

You will not be penalized for filing a complaint with us or with the Department of Health and Human Services. To file a complaint with Ameda Direct, please contact the Privacy Official identified at the bottom of this notice.

6. PRIVACY OFFICIAL/CONTACT PERSON

For further information about our privacy compliance efforts or to file a complaint, please contact:

Ameda Direct Customer Service

support@amedadirect.com

7. EFFECTIVE DATE

This notice shall be effective as of June 6, 2016.

ADDENDUM – Information Collected

A. General

How you use the Ameda Direct website will determine whether or not we need to collect information from you and how much information we collect. For many features, we do not require any information on who you are or ask questions about you. For some of our features, we need to either verify your identity through a login process, or collect sufficient information from you to provide the service of that feature.

C. Use of cookies

A cookie is a small piece of information about an Internet session that may be created when an individual accesses a website.

Cookies can contain a variety of information, including the name of the website that issued them, where on the site the User visited, passwords, and even User names and credit card numbers that have been supplied via forms. Note that most Web browsers can be modified by the User to prevent cookies from being attached to the User.

Ameda Direct’s website, and certain sites it provides links to, use cookies to facilitate easier navigation within the sites and to provide a higher level of convenience for Users, and for internal reporting and statistical purposes. The use of cookies by the linked site is subject to the company’s own privacy policies and in some circumstances is subject to contractual obligations between Ameda Direct and the company.

Use of Information Collected

Ameda Direct does not sell your non-public personal information to anyone.

All information submitted by any individual to Ameda Direct may be retained to provide a record of such communications and to comply with any applicable legal and/or regulatory requirements and may be verified for accuracy. In addition:

Ameda Direct reserves the right to use and share information submitted by you on the Ameda Direct sites.

Your e-mail address and other contact information will be used only for Ameda Direct-related mailings and will not be given, sold or rented to any other party for any other use without your prior approval.

Information may also be “cleansed” by Ameda Direct (stripped of any information which could identify you personally, such as your name or e-mail address), aggregated with other data, and used for general research, classification purposes, marketing, or other purposes without permission, but only in non-individually identifiable forms.

Access to Information

A. Employees

Certain Ameda Direct employees may be provided with information regarding Users in order to respond to the individual’s needs and provide requested information regarding specific products or services. Certain employees will also be provided with information regarding Users in order to administer their or their group’s benefit programs and to monitor the effectiveness of the online services. Ameda Direct employees are required, by written confidentiality statements, corporate policies, and state or federal laws or regulations to maintain the confidentiality of personal information and to use strict standards of care in handling the information. Employees who do not conform to these confidentiality requirements are subject to disciplinary sanctions that may include dismissal.

B. Ameda Direct diversified businesses

Ameda Direct may disclose personal information of its Users collected through its websites as permitted by law to diversified businesses along with non-related service providers that assist Ameda Direct in meeting the needs of its customers.

Information collected by diversified businesses may also be shared with Ameda Direct as permitted by law. All such information will be disclosed to respond to the individual’s needs and to provide information about products or services offered by or through Ameda Direct, Ameda Direct’s diversified businesses, and the non-related service providers. Personal information is treated with the same standards of confidentiality that Ameda Direct applies to other confidential information. Ameda Direct’s diversified businesses are subject to Ameda Direct’s corporate policies regarding privacy and confidentiality and Ameda Direct’s non-related service providers and Business Associates are legally bound by contract to employ at least the same strict standards of confidentiality as employed by Ameda Direct.

C. Third parties

Other than as set forth above, Ameda Direct does not transmit any personal information collected through its websites to any third party without the permission of the individual. Personal information may be transmitted, however, if there is a specific need to complete a transaction requested by the individual. Health plan administrators will have access to online enrollment applications, but not to other personal information collected online by Ameda Direct.

D. Online communication services

Ameda Direct has access to messages sent by or to members who choose to use any online communications services. Ameda Direct will not release the content of specific messages to any third party without the member’s consent, unless permissible or required under applicable state or federal law.

Compliance

A. Security

Ameda Direct uses commercially reasonable computer security technology selected and implemented to provide adherence to the security and privacy policies described in this online posting. Although we make reasonable efforts to protect your information from unauthorized use or alteration, you should be aware there is always some risk in sending information over the Internet.

B. Account access

Consistent with the requirements set forth under certain state and federal laws, Ameda Direct grants access to personal information only to those employees, diversified businesses and third parties as required to provide healthcare products and services, or as you permit. All such employees, diversified businesses and third parties are subject to privacy policies, at least as restrictive as the policy described in this online document.

C. Internal compliance program

Ameda Direct maintains an internal privacy compliance program to ensure compliance with this privacy policy. This program includes oversight of the compliance program. Additionally, our compliance programs include on-going employee training, on-going maintenance and updating of security systems and practices and maintenance of customer feedback and complaint resolution process. Ameda Direct reserves the right to amend this policy at any time.

D. Questions and concerns

If you have questions about this online privacy policy, or concerns regarding your personal information, please send us your question by clicking Contact Us for any of our Web pages.

Changes

Ameda Direct reserves the right to change, modify or update this online privacy policy at any time without notice. Ameda Direct will post changes, modifications and updates to this location. Please review this online privacy policy on a periodic basis at https://insured.amedadirect.com/hipaa-privacy-policy

Share
Tweet