Effective Date: August 31, 2020
1. Legal Context
By using our drug procurement services, you will register to get access to our portal. You will enter PII (Personally identifiable information) like your name, address, etc. You will then have to download your prescription and if asked so by our doctors, sometimes download medical records. These constitute PHI (Personal Health Information) and since it is stored on our website, ePHI (Electronic Personal Health Information). HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) requires us to protect this information at all stages of its processing and storing, and to inform you of your rights regarding the use of this information.
2. Purpose of this Notice
This Notice describes how we may use and disclose your health information to carry out treatment, payment, or healthcare operations and how we fulfill our legal duties for protecting the privacy of your health information. It further explains your rights to have your health information protected and how you can get access to it, modify it or, once the service is delivered, have it deleted.
3. Our Responsibilities
We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your health information and to provide you notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your health information. We are also required to notify you in cas of a breach of your unsecured health information.
4. How We May Use or Disclose Your Health Information
The following categories describe examples of the way we use and disclose health information without your written authorization:
For Treatment: We will disclose your health information to pharmacists with whom we partner for the delivery of the drugs you need, or to a Doctor for the purpose of a consultation, in the country where these pharmacy partners are located.
For Payment: We may use and disclose your health information to others (TPA, insurance company, ...) so they will pay us for your treatment.
For administrative operations: We may use and disclose your health information to third-party “business associates” that perform various services on our behalf, such as auditing, legal, billing and collection services.
5. How we ensure lawful protection of your PHI and ePHI while disclosing it
We achieve it by technical means such as encryption of the data as well while it is transiting through the web, or stored at a company that is also able to assure permanently its integrity..
We obtain it also by organizational means, like Business Associates Agreements(BAA), meaning all our partners involved in the treatment of your PHI are HIPAA compliant. Within the company only authorized individuals within your company are able to gain access to information and protected health documentation input into the website.
6. How and when do we disclose your PHI without your authorization
Notwithstanding HIPAA we will have to disclose your health information without your authorization in following situations:
As Required by Law: We may use and disclose your health information when required to do so by federal, state or local law.
Judicial and Administrative Proceedings: If you are involved in a legal proceeding, we may disclose your health information in response to a court or administrative order. We may also release your health information in response to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.
Health Oversight Activities: We may use and disclose your health information to health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law. These oversight activities are necessary for the government to monitor the healthcare system, government benefit programs, compliance with government regulatory programs and compliance with civil rights laws.
Law Enforcement: We may disclose your health information, within limitations, to law enforcement officials for several different purposes:
Public Health Activities: We may use and disclose your health information for public health activities, including the following:
Serious Threat to Health or Safety: If there is a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person, we may use and disclose your health information to someone able to help prevent the threat or as necessary for law enforcement authorities to identify or apprehend an individual.
Organ/Tissue Donation: If you are an organ donor, we may use and disclose your health information to organizations that handle procurement, transplantation or banking of organs, eyes or tissues.
Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors: We may use and disclose health information to a coroner or medical examiner. This disclosure may be necessary to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We may also disclose health information, as necessary, to funeral directors to assist them in performing their duties.
Workers’ Compensation: We may disclose your health information as authorized by and to the extent necessary to comply with laws related to workers’ compensation or similar programs that provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness.
Victims of Abuse, Neglect or Domestic Violence: We may disclose health information to the appropriate government authority if we believe a patient has been the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. We will only make this disclosure if you agree or when required or authorized by law.
Military and Veterans Activities: If you are a member of the Armed Forces, we may disclose your health information to military command authorities. Health information about foreign military personnel may be disclosed to foreign military authorities.
National Security and Intelligence Activities: We may disclose your health information to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence and other national security activities authorized by law.
Protective Services for the President and Others: We may disclose your health information to authorized federal officials so they may provide protective services for the President and others, including foreign heads of state.
Inmates: If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law enforcement official, we may disclose your health information to the correctional institution or law enforcement official to assist them in providing you healthcare, protecting your health and safety or the health and safety of others, or for the safety of the correctional institution.
7. Your Rights Regarding Your Health Information
You have the following rights regarding the health information we maintain about you:
Right to Request Restrictions: You have the right to request restrictions on how we use and disclose your health information for treatment, payment or healthcare operations. In most circumstances, we are not required to agree to your request. If we do agree, we will comply with your request unless the information is needed to provide you emergency treatment. To request restrictions, you must make your request in writing and submit it to the Privacy Officer at the address in this notice. We are required to agree to a request that we restrict a disclosure made to a health plan for payment or healthcare operations purposes that is not otherwise required by law, if you, or someone other than the health plan on your behalf, paid for the service or item in question out-of-pocket in full.
Right to Request Confidential Communications: You have the right to request that we communicate with you in a certain manner or at a certain location regarding the services you receive from us. For example, you may ask that we only contact you at work or only by mail. To request confidential communications, you must make your request in writing and submit it to the Privacy Officer at the address in this notice. We will not ask you the reason for your request. We will attempt to accommodate all reasonable requests.
Right to Inspect and Copy: You have the right to inspect and copy health information that may be used to make decisions about your care. To inspect and copy your health information, you must make your request in writing by filling out the appropriate form provided by us and submitting it to the Privacy Officer at the address in this notice. You may request access to your medical information in a certain electronic form and format if readily producible or, if not readily producible, in a mutually agreeable electronic form and format. Further, you may request in writing that we transmit a copy of your health information to any person or entity you designate. Your written, signed request must clearly identify such designated person or entity and where you would like us to send the copy. If you request a copy of your health information, we may charge a cost-based fee for the labor, supplies and postage required to meet your request.
We may deny your request to inspect and copy in certain very limited circumstances. If you are denied access to your health information, you may request that the denial be reviewed by a licensed healthcare professional chosen by us. The person conducting the review will not be the person who denied your request. We will comply with the outcome of the review.
Right to Amend: If you feel that your health information is incorrect or incomplete, you may request that we amend your information. You have the right to request an amendment for as long as the information is kept by or for us. To request an amendment, you must make your request in writing by filling out the appropriate form provided by us and submitting it to the Privacy Officer at the address below.
We may deny your request for an amendment. If this occurs, you will be notified of the reason for the denial and given the opportunity to file a written statement of disagreement with us that will become part of your medical record.
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to request an accounting of disclosures we make of your health information. Please note that certain disclosures need not be included in the accounting we provide to you.
To request an accounting of disclosures, you must make your request in writing by filling out the appropriate form provided by us and submitting it to the Privacy Officer at the address in this notice. Your request must state a time period which may not be longer than six years and which may not include dates before April 14, 2003. The first accounting you request within a 12-month period will be free. For additional accountings, we may charge you for the costs of providing the accounting. We will notify you of the costs involved and give you an opportunity to withdraw or modify your request before any costs have been incurred.
8. Changes to this Notice
We reserve the right to change the terms of this Notice at any time. We reserve the right to make the new Notice provisions effective for all health information we currently maintain, as well as any health information we receive in the future. If we make material or important changes to our privacy practices, we will promptly revise our Notice. Each version of the Notice will have an effective date listed on the first page. Updates to this Notice are also available at our website, Care2caremedicaltravel.com.
9. Complaints
If you have any questions about this Notice or would like to file a complaint about our privacy practices, please direct your inquiries to the Privacy Officer at the mail address in this notice.
10. Questions
If you have questions about this Notice, please contact the Privacy Officer at the address in this notice:
andre.wencker@care2careinternational.com
11. Acknowledgment of receipt of notice of privacy practices
While registering to benefit our service, you will acknowledge that you have been given the opportunity to receive a copy of the Notice of Privacy Practices of Care2care International. If you have any questions regarding this Notice you may contact: