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Privacy and legal

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.

What we mean when we use the words “health information.”

We use the words “health information” when we mean information that identifies you. Examples include your:

Name
Date of birth
Health care you received
Amounts paid for your care

How we use and share your health information

Help take care of you: We may use your health information to help with your health care. We also use it to decide what services your benefits cover. We may tell you about services you can get. This could be checkups or medical tests. We may also remind you of appointments. We may share your health information with other people who give you care. This could be doctors or drug stores. We may use a private internet website to share your health information with the people who give you care. If you are no longer with our plan, with your okay, we will give your health information to your new doctor.

Family and friends: We may share your health information with someone who is helping you. They may be helping with your care or helping pay for your care. For example, if you have an accident, we may need to talk with one of these people. If you do not want us to give out your health information, call us.

If you are under eighteen and don’t want us to give your health information to your parents, call us. We can help in some cases if allowed by state law.

For payment: We may give your health information to others who pay for your care. Your doctor must give us a claim form that includes your health information. We may also use your health information to look at the care your doctor gives you. We can also check your use of health services.

Health care operations: We may use your health information to help us do our job. For example, we may use your health information for:

Health promotion
Case management
Quality improvement                                         
Fraud prevention
Disease prevention
Legal matters

A case manager may work with your doctor. They may tell you about programs or places that can help you with your health problem. When you call us with questions, we need to look at your health information to give you answers.

Race/Ethnicity, Language, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Data

We may get information related to your race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation and gender identity. We protect this information as described in this notice. We use this information to:

Make sure you get the care you need
Create programs to improve health outcomes
Create health education information
Let the doctors know about your language needs
Address health care disparities
Let member facing staff and doctors know about your pronouns

We do not use this information to:

Determine benefits
Pay claims
Determine your cost or eligibility for benefits
Discriminate against members for any reason
Determine health care or administrative service availability or access

Sharing with other businesses

We may share your health information with other businesses. We do this for the reasons we explained above. For example, you may have transportation covered in your plan. We may share your health information with them to help you get to the doctor’s office. We will tell them if you are in a motorized wheelchair so they send a van instead of a car to pick you up.

Other reasons we might share your health information

We also may share your health information for these reasons:

Public safety – To help with things like child abuse. Threats to public health.
Research – To researchers. After care is taken to protect your information.
Business partners – To people that provide services to us. They promise to keep your information safe.
Industry regulation – To state and federal agencies. They check us to make sure we are doing a good job.
Law enforcement – To federal, state and local enforcement people.
Legal actions – To courts for a lawsuit or legal matter.

Reasons that we will need your written okay

Except for what we explained above, we will ask for your okay before using or sharing your health information. For example, we will get your okay:

For marketing reasons that have nothing to do with your health plan.
Before sharing any psychotherapy notes.
For the sale of your health information.
For other reasons as required by law.

You can cancel your okay at any time. To cancel your okay, write to us. We cannot use or share your genetic information when we make the decision to provide you health care insurance.

What are your rights

You have the right to look at your health information.

You can ask us for a copy of it.
You can ask for your medical records. Call your doctor’s office or the place where you were treated.

You have the right to ask us to change your health information.

You can ask us to change your health information if you think it is not right.
If we don’t agree with the change you asked for, ask us to file a written statement of disagreement.

You have the right to get a list of people or groups that we have shared your health information with.

You have the right to ask for a private way to be in touch with you.

If you think the way we keep in touch with you is not private enough, call us.
We will do our best to be in touch with you in a way that is more private.

You have the right to ask for special care in how we use or share your health information.

We may use or share your health information in the ways we describe in this notice.
You can ask us not to use or share your information in these ways. This includes sharing with people involved in your health care.
We don’t have to agree. But we will think about it carefully.

You have the right to know if your health information was shared without your okay.

We will tell you if we do this in a letter.

Call us toll-free at 1-800-624-3879 to:

Ask us to do any of the things above.
Ask us for a paper copy of this notice.
Ask us any questions about the notice.

You also have the right to send us a complaint. If you think your rights were violated, write to us at:

Aetna HIPAA Member Rights Team
P.O. Box 14079
Lexington, KY 40512-4079
FAX: 859-280-1272

You also can file a complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights. Call us to get the address.

If you are unhappy and tell the Office of Civil Rights, you will not lose plan membership or health care services. We will not use your complaint against you.

Protecting your information

We protect your health information with specific procedures. For example, we protect entry to our computers and buildings. This helps us to block unauthorized entry. We follow all applicable state and federal laws for the protection of your health information.

Will we change this notice

By law, we must keep your health information private. We must follow what we say in this notice. We also have the right to change this notice. If we change this notice, the changes apply to all of your information we have or will get in the future. You can get a copy of the most recent notice.

Web privacy statement

Collecting and using personal information

Welcome to Mercy Care's websites. We appreciate your interest in us. When you visit and navigate our sites and when you communicate with us via our sites, we will not collect personal information about you unless you provide us that information voluntarily. Any non-public personal information that you may provide via our sites will be used solely for the purpose stated on the page where it is collected. (In some cases, and in all cases where required by law or regulation, you will be able to update the information that you provide to us either by sending us an email or, where you have established personal profiles with us, by updating your profile online. Please refer to the specific pages where data is collected for more information.) Mercy Care will not sell, license, transmit or disclose this information outside of Mercy Care and its affiliated companies unless (a) expressly authorized by you, (b) necessary to enable Mercy Care contractors or agents to perform certain functions for us, or (c) required or permitted by law. In all cases, we will disclose the information consistent with applicable laws and regulations and we will require the recipient to protect the information and use it only for the purpose it was provided

By "personal information," we mean data that is unique to an individual, such as a name, address, Social Security number, email address, or telephone number. From time to time, we may request personal information from you at our sites in order to deliver requested materials to you, respond to your questions, or deliver a product or service.

Your email

We welcome your comments or questions about our websites and have provided email boxes for that purpose. We will share your comments and questions with our customer service representatives and those employees most capable of addressing your questions and concerns.

Please note that your email, like most, if not all, non-encrypted internet email communications, may be accessed and viewed by other internet users, without your knowledge and permission, while in transit to us. For that reason, to protect your privacy, please do not use email to communicate information to us that you consider confidential. If you wish, you may contact us instead via non-cellular telephone at the numbers provided at various locations on our sites or, in the case of our health plan members, at the Member Services toll-free number that appears on your ID card.

There are some locations on Mercy Care’s websites where we have made special provisions for a more secure environment in which we can exchange information with you. At each of these locations, we will provide you with appropriate instructions.

Other information: "cookies" and "tags"

You should also be aware that when you visit our websites, we collect certain information that does not identify you personally, but provides us with "usage data," such as the number of visitors we receive or what pages are visited most often. This data helps us to analyze and improve the usefulness of the information we provide at these websites.

Like most commercial website owners, we may use what is known as "cookie" technology. A "cookie" is an element of data that a website can send to your browser when you link to that website. It is not a computer program and has no ability to read data residing on your computer or instruct it to perform any step or function. By assigning a unique data element to each visitor, the website is able to recognize repeat users, track usage patterns and better serve you when you return to that site. The cookie does not extract other personal information about you, such as your name or address.

We may also use what is known as "client-side page tagging", which uses code on each page to write certain information about the page and the visitor to a log when a page is rendered by your web browser. This technique is also commonly used on commercial websites. "Tagging" does result in a JavaScript program running on your computer, but it is limited to providing information about the page that you are requesting and the configuration of your browser. It will not read any of your data files or execute any additional programs. It does not extract any personal information about you, such as your name or address. You can prevent tagging by disabling JavaScript in your browser, but that may prevent you from using all of our website's functions.

Linking to other sites

From time to time, Mercy Care websites may provide links to other websites, not owned or controlled by Mercy Care, that we think might be useful or of interest to you. We cannot, however, be responsible for the privacy practices used by other website owners or the content or accuracy of those other websites. Links to various non-Mercy Care websites do not constitute or imply endorsement by Mercy Care of these websites, any products or services.

Security

Mercy Care has adopted and adheres to stringent security standards designed to protect non-public personal information at https://www.mercycareaz.org/ against accidental or unauthorized access or disclosure. Among the safeguards that Mercy Care has developed for this site are administrative, physical and technical barriers that together form a protective firewall around the information stored at this site. We periodically subject our site to simulated intrusion tests and have developed comprehensive disaster recovery plans.

Changes to this statement

Mercy Care may change this statement from time to time; when updates are made, the Privacy Policy version date will also be updated to reflect that a revision occurred. We encourage you to periodically reread this policy to see if there have been any changes that may affect you. This statement is not intended to and does not create any contractual or other legal rights in or on behalf of any party.

Legal

Disclaimer 

Information on this website is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so the above exclusion may not apply to you. The data set forth herein is for informational purposes only, and no warranty is made that the information is error-free. Please note that once you leave this site, either by using a link we may have provided for your convenience or by specifying your own destination, Mercy Care accepts no responsibility for the content, products and/or services provided at these non-Mercy Care locations. Mercy Care does not control, endorse, promote or have any affiliation with any other website unless expressly stated herein.

Limitation of liability 

IN NO EVENT WILL MERCY CARE BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR OTHER CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY USE OF THIS WEBSITE, OR ANY OTHER HYPER-LINKED WEBSITE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF PROGRAMS OR DATA ON YOUR EQUIPMENT, OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF WE ARE EXPRESSLY ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OR LIKELIHOOD OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Changes to this site 

Information may be changed or updated without notice. Mercy Care has no obligation to update information presented on this website, so information contained herein may be out of date at any given time. Mercy Care may also make improvements and/or changes in the products and/or programs described in this information at any time without notice.

Covered services 

Covered services and preferred benefits are provided under the terms of the Medicaid contract, including limitations and exclusions. 

Trademarks 

The Mercy Care logo and all other trademarks, service marks, trade names, logos, domain names, URLs and icons ("Marks") appearing on this website, registered or not, are the property of Mercy Care or their respective owners. Nothing on this website grants you any right or license to use any of the Marks on this site without the express written permission of Mercy Care or the third-party owners of the Marks. Unauthorized use may violate trademark and other laws.

Not a solicitation 

Nothing in this site should be construed as a solicitation or offer to purchase coverage from Mercy Care, its subcontractors or any of their affiliated companies.

Not a substitute for professional health care or advice 

The health information contained in this website is general in nature and should not replace care you get from your provider. This information is not meant to replace advice you get from your provider. The plan does not provide health care services; you must receive health care services from your provider. Always ask your provider for information about your own health care needs.

Texting terms of service

You can cancel this service at any time. Just text "STOP". After you send the message "STOP" to us, we will send you a reply message to confirm that you have been unsubscribed. After this, you will no longer receive messages from us.
If at any time you forget what keywords are supported, just text "HELP" to 41368. After you send the message "HELP" to us, we will respond with instructions on how to use our service as well as how to unsubscribe.
Participating carriers: AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Boost Mobile, MetroPCS, Virgin Mobile, Alaska Communications Systems (ACS), Appalachian Wireless (EKN), Bluegrass Cellular, Cellular One of East Central, IL (ECIT), Cellular One of Northeast Pennsylvania, Cricket, Coral Wireless (Mobi PCS), COX, Cross, Element Mobile (Flat Wireless), Epic Touch (Elkhart Telephone), GCI, Golden State, Hawkeye (Chat Mobility), Hawkeye (NW Missouri), Illinois Valley Cellular, Inland Cellular, iWireless (Iowa Wireless), Keystone Wireless (Immix Wireless/PC Man), Mosaic (Consolidated or CTC Telecom), Nex-Tech Wireless, NTelos, Panhandle Communications, Pioneer, Plateau (Texas RSA 3 Ltd), Revol, RINA, Simmetry (TMP Corporation), Thumb Cellular, Union Wireless, United Wireless, Viaero Wireless, and West Central (WCC or 5 Star Wireless).
T-Mobile is not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
As always, message and data rates may apply for any messages sent to you from us and to us from you. If you have any questions about your text plan or data plan, it is best to contact your wireless provider. For all questions about services provided by this short code, you can send an email: https://www.mercycareaz.org/members/completecare-formembers/contact
If you have any questions regarding privacy, please read more about privacy. Just click on the other privacy tabs on this page.

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