NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

This Notice of Privacy Practices describes how we may use and disclose your protected health information to carry out treatment, initiate payment, or conduct health care operations and for other purposes permitted or required by law. The medical practice reserves the right to make changes in the Notice of Privacy Practices. The Notice describes your rights to access and control your protected health information. “Protected health information” is information about you, including demographic information, that may identify you and that relates to your past, present or future physical or mental health or condition and related health care services.

For a more complete and detailed version of this Privacy Practice Notice, make your request known at the front desk.

We understand that medical information about you and your health is personal, and we are committed to protecting it. A record of the care and services you receive at this practice is created and maintained at this location.

We are required by law to:

• Make sure that medical information that identifies you is kept private.
• Provide you this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices regarding your medical information.
• Follow the terms of the Notice that is currently in effect.

The following categories describe ways that we use and disclose medical information about you:

• Treatment
• Payment
• Health care operations
• Third-party business associates, such as billing or transcription

We may use or disclose your protected health information, as necessary, to provide you with information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you. Your name, address, and/ or e-mail may be used to send you a newsletter about out practices and the services we offer. You may contact our Privacy Officer to request that these materials not be sent to you.

Other use and disclosures of your protected health information will be made only with your written authorization, unless otherwise permitted or required by law. You may revoke this authorization, at any time, in writing, except to the extent that your physician or the physician’s practice has taken an action in reliance on the use or disclosure indicated in the authorization.

You have the opportunity to agree or object to the use or disclosure of all or part of your protected health information. If you are not present or able to agree or object to the use or disclosure of all of part of your protected health information, then your physician may, using professional judgment, determine whether the disclosure is in your best interest. In this case, only the protected health information that is relevant to your health care will be disclosed.

Unless you object, we may disclose to a member of your family, a relative, a close friend or any other person you identify, your protected health information that directly relates to that person’s involvement in your healthcare. We may use or disclose your protected health information in an emergency treatment situation.  

We may use or disclose your protected health information in the following situations without your consent or authorization:

• Required by Law
• Public Health
• Communicable Diseases
• Health Oversight
• Abuse or Neglect
• Food or Drug Administration
• Legal Processing
• Law Enforcement
• Coroners, Funeral Directors, and Organ Donation
• Worker’s Compensation
• Inmates
• Sale of Closure of the Practice

Your Rights:

• Inspect and copy your protected health information
• Request a restriction of your protected health information
• Request to receive confidential communications from us by alternative means or location
• Have your physician amend your protected health information
• Receive an accounting of certain disclosures we have made, if any
• Receive a paper copy of this Notice from us
• File a complaint

You may file a complaint to our office or to the Secretary of Health Services if you believe your privacy rights have been violated by us. You may file a complaint with us by notifying our privacy officer of your complaint. You will not be penalized or retaliated against for filing a complain

Whitewater Immunology Clinic complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. Whitewater Immunology Clinic does not exclude people or treat them differently because of race, color, national origin, age, disability or sex.

Whitewater Immunology Clinic provides free assistance and services to people with disabilities to communicate effectively with us, such as:

• Qualified sign language interpreters
• Written information in other formats (large print, audio, accessible electronic formats, other formats)

Whitewater Immunology Clinic provides free language services to people whose primary language is not English, such as:

• Qualified interpreters
• Information written in other languages

If you believe that Whitewater Immunology Clinic has failed to provide these services or discriminated in another way on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability or sex, you can file a grievance with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, electronically through the Office for Civil Rights Complaint Portal, or by mail or phone at:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Room 509F, HHH Building
Washington, D.C. 20201
1 (800) 368-1019, 1 (800) 537-7697 (TTD)

Your Rights and Protections Against Surprise Medical Bills

When you get emergency care or get treated by an out-of-network provider at an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center, you are protected from surprise billing or balance billing.

What is “balance billing” (sometimes called “surprise billing”)?

When you see a doctor or other health care provider, you may owe certain out-of-pocket costs, such as a copayment, coinsurance and/or a deductible. You may have other costs or have to pay the entire bill if you see a provider or visit a health care facility that isn’t in your health plan’s network.

“Out-of-network” describes providers and facilities that haven’t signed a contract with your health plan. Out-of-network providers may be permitted to bill you for the difference between what your plan agreed to pay and the full amount charged for a service. This is called “balance billing.” This amount is likely more than in-network costs for the same service and might not count toward your annual out-of-pocket limit.

“Surprise billing” is an unexpected balance bill. This can happen when you can’t control who is involved in your care—like when you have an emergency or when you schedule a visit at an in-network facility but are unexpectedly treated by an out-of-network provider.

You are protected from balance billing for:

Emergency services

If you have an emergency medical condition and get emergency services from an out-of-network provider or facility, the most the provider or facility may bill you is your plan’s in-network cost-sharing amount (such as copayments and coinsurance). You can’t be balance billed for these emergency services.This includes services you may get after you’re in stable condition unless you give written consent and give up your protections not to be balance billed for these post-stabilization services.

Certain services at an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center

When you get services from an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center, certain providers there may be out-of-network. In these cases, the most those providers may bill you is your plan’s in-network cost-sharing amount. This applies to emergency medicine, anesthesia, pathology, radiology, laboratory, neonatology, assistant surgeon, hospitalist or intensivist services. These providers can’t balance bill you and may not ask you to give up your protections not to be balance billed.

If you get other services at these in-network facilities, out-of-network providers can’t balance bill you unless you give written consent and give up your protections.

You’re never required to give up your protections from balance billing. You also aren’t required to get care out-of-network. You can choose a provider or facility in your plan’s network.

When balance billing isn’t allowed, you also have the following protections:

You are only responsible for paying your share of the cost (like the copayments, coinsurance and deductibles that you would pay if the provider or facility was in-network). Your health plan will pay out-of-network providers and facilities directly.

Your health plan generally must:

Cover emergency services without requiring you to get approval for services in advance (prior authorization).

Cover emergency services by out-of-network providers.

Base what you owe the provider or facility (cost-sharing) on what it would pay an in‑network provider or facility and show that amount in your explanation of benefits.

Count any amount you pay for emergency services or out-of-network services toward your deductible and out-of-pocket limit.

If you believe you’ve been wrongly billed, you may contact the following:

Federal: Call the No Surprises Help Desk at 1 (800) 985-3059, file a complaint online at www.cms.gov/nosurprises/consumers/complaints-about-medical-billing or start a dispute online at www.cms.gov/nosurprises/consumers/medical-bill-disagreements-if-you-are-uninsured.

Visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises/consumers for more information about your rights under federal law.

This privacy policy has been compiled to better serve those who are concerned with how their ‘Personally Identifiable Information’ (PII) is being used online. PII, as described in US privacy law and information security, is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context. Please read our privacy policy carefully to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website.

What personal information do we collect from the people that visit our website?

When ordering or registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your name, email address, mailing address, phone number or other details to help you with your experience.

When do we collect information?

We collect information from you when you register on our site, subscribe to a newsletter, fill out a form or enter information on our site.

How do we use your information?

We may use the information we collect from you when you register, make a purchase, sign up for our newsletter, respond to a survey or marketing communication, surf the website, or use certain other site features in the following ways:

• To send periodic emails regarding your order or other products and services.
• To follow up with you after correspondence (live chat, email or phone inquiries).

How do we protect your information?

Our website is scanned on a regular basis for security holes and known vulnerabilities in order to make your visit to our site as safe as possible. We use regular Malware Scanning.

Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all sensitive/credit information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.

We implement a variety of security measures when a user enters, submits or accesses their information to maintain the safety of your personal information.

All transactions are processed through a gateway provider and are not stored or processed on our servers.

Do we use ‘cookies’?

We do not use cookies for tracking purposes.

You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser settings. Since each browser is a little different, look at your browser’s Help Menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.

If you turn cookies off, some of the features that make your site experience more efficient may not function properly.

Third-party disclosure

We do not sell, trade or otherwise transfer to outside parties your Personally Identifiable Information.

Third-party links

Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third-party products or services on our website. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.

We have implemented the following:

Demographics and Interests Reporting:

We, along with third-party vendors such as Google use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookies) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) or other third-party identifiers together to compile data regarding user interactions with ad impressions and other ad service functions as they relate to our website.

Opting out

Users can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Settings page. Alternatively, you can opt out by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative Opt Out page or by using the Google Analytics Opt Out Browser add on.

California Online Privacy Protection Act:

CalOPPA is the first state law in the nation to require commercial websites and online services to post a privacy policy. The law’s reach stretches well beyond California to require any person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world) that operates websites collecting Personally Identifiable Information from California consumers to post a conspicuous privacy policy on its website stating exactly the information being collected and those individuals or companies with whom it is being shared. – See more at: https://consumercal.org/about-cfc/cfc-education-foundation/california-online-privacy-protection-act-caloppa-3/#sthash.0FdRbT51.dpuf

According to CalOPPA, we agree to the following:

Users can visit our site anonymously.

Once this privacy policy is created, we will add a link to it on our home page or as a minimum, on the first significant page after entering our website.

Our Privacy Policy link includes the word ‘Privacy’ and can easily be found on the page specified above.

You will be notified of any Privacy Policy changes:

• On our Privacy Policy Page

Can change your personal information:

• By calling us

How does our site handle Do Not Track signals?

We honor Do Not Track signals and do not track, plant cookies, or use advertising when a Do Not Track (DNT) browser mechanism is in place.

Does our site allow third-party behavioral tracking?

It’s also important to note that we do not allow third-party behavioral tracking.

COPPA (Children Online Privacy Protection Act)

When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under the age of 13 years old, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, United States’ consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children’s privacy and safety online.

We do not specifically market to children under the age of 13 years old.

Fair Information Practices

The Fair Information Practices Principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe. Understanding the Fair Information Practice Principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal information.

In order to be in line with Fair Information Practices we will take the following responsive action, should a data breach occur:

We will notify you via email

• Within 7 business days

We will notify you via letter

• Within 7 business days

We also agree to the Individual Redress Principle which requires that individuals have the right to legally pursue enforceable rights against data collectors and processors who fail to adhere to the law. This principle requires not only that individuals have enforceable rights against data users, but also that individuals have recourse to courts or government agencies to investigate and/or prosecute non-compliance by data processors.

Links to Other Web Sites

Our Service may contain links to third party web sites or services that are not owned or controlled by Whitewater Immunology.

Whitewater Immunology Clinic has no control over, and assumes no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party web sites or services. We do not warrant the offerings of any of these entities/individuals or their websites.

You acknowledge and agree that Whitewater Immunology Clinic shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, goods or services available on or through any such third party web sites or services.

We strongly advise you to read the terms and conditions and privacy policies of any third party web sites or services that you visit.

Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of Montana, United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of those rights. If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable by a court, the remaining provisions of these Terms will remain in effect. These Terms constitute the entire agreement between us regarding our Service, and supersede and replace any prior agreements we might have had between us regarding the Service.

Changes

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify or replace these Terms at any time. If a revision is material we will provide at least 30-day notice prior to any new terms taking effect. What constitutes a material change will be determined at our sole discretion.

By continuing to access or use our Service after any revisions become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised terms. If you do not agree to the new terms, you are no longer authorized to use the Service.