NextDaySoma.com
- PRIVACY POLICY
Notice of Privacy Practices
HIPPA The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
of 1996 (HIPAA).
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.
At NextDaySoma.com, we value your relationship, and want you
to know we respect your privacy. We are committed to protecting
your private personal health information, and we will only use and
disclose your personal health information as necessary to provide
you with health care products and services. Protected health information
(PHI) is any information that we possess, use and disclose that
identifies you and relates to your past, current or future physical
and mental health condition or illness and the health care products
and services that have been provided to you.
This purpose of this "Notice of Privacy Practices" (Notice)
is to help you understand our legal duties to protect your PHI and
how we may use and disclose your PHI in relation to your past, present
and future physical or mental health condition or illness and its
treatment. The use and disclosure of your PHI will primarily involve
the health care products and services that we provide you, such
as dispensing your prescriptions. Specifically, we will use and
disclose your PHI as necessary in providing treatment to you, obtaining
payment for health care products and services provided to you and
other health care operations as described later in this Notice.
This Notice also describes your legal rights related to your PHI
that is in our possession. We take the obligations described in
this Notice very serious, because we are legally required to comply
with this notice, and because we respect you and your right to privacy.
Your PHI will only be used and disclosed as described in this Notice.
Should a situation requiring use and disclosure of your PHI that
is not described in this Notice occur, we will obtain your written
authorization before the use and disclosure. At some future date
it may be necessary for us to revise this Notice. If this occurs,
we will post the revised Notice in the pharmacy and, if you request,
provide a written Notice to you.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
(HIPAA), provides you with several rights related to your PHI. These
rights are summarized below. If you would like more information
about your rights, please ask to speak with our Privacy Officer
at the address or telephone number above.
Right to Receive Notice of Privacy Practices: You have the right
to receive this written Notice of Privacy Practices describing how
we will protect your PHI and your rights related to PHI. You are
entitled to request this written Notice at any time.
Right to Request Limitation of Use and Disclosure of PHI: You have
the right to request a limitation on our use and disclosure of your
PHI. But please be aware that we may not be able to agree to your
requested limitation if it results in our not being able to provide
health care products and services to you or if we are required to
use and disclose the PHI under federal or state law. All requests
for limitation on the use and disclosure of your PHI must be submitted
to our Privacy Officer in writing using a form that we will provide
to you.
Right to Review and Receive a Copy of Records: You have the right
to review or receive photocopies of our records that contain your
PHI, to the extent that these records are part of a designated record
set as defined by HIPAA. The most common type of records are your
prescriptions on file with us, our patient profile for you and our
billing records for health care products and services that have
been provided to you. If you wish to review or obtain a copy of
a family member's PHI you may need to complete a "Right to
Access and Consent for Release of PHI to Patient's Authorized Representative".
This is of course subject to any limitations on use and disclosure
of PHI we have on file for that family member. We will be pleased
to allow you to review such records meeting the requirements of
this Notice of Privacy Practices at no charge during normal business
hours. However, we may charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee for
photocopies of the records, together with any expenses for mailing,
special courier, faxing and supplies necessary to complete your
records request.
If we are unable to provide our records to you, we will provide
you a written explanation of why we are not able to provide the
records. Depending on the reason, you may submit a written request
for us to reconsider. All requests to review or receive photocopies
of our records that contain your PHI must be submitted to our Privacy
Officer in writing using a form that we will provide to you.
Right to Request Amendments to Records: You have the right to request
changes in the content of your PHI contained in our records where
you believe the content is incomplete, inaccurate or for some other
reason needs to be changed. We may not be able to agree to your
requested change if we no longer have the records or if the requested
change would cause your PHI to become inaccurate. If we are not
able to agree to your requested change we will notify you in writing
as to why we are not able to agree. You will then have the right
to submit to us a written statement of disagreement, to which we
may elect to further respond in writing to you. All requests for
change to your PHI in our records must be submitted to our Privacy
Officer in writing using a form that we will provide to you.
Right to Request Confidential Communications: You have the right
to request that we communicate with you about your PHI in a confidential
manner and only to locations (such as a post office box) or by means
(such as personal cellular telephone) specified by you. All requests
for confidential communications must be submitted to our Privacy
Officer in writing and using a form that we will provide to you.
Right to an Accounting of Non-Treatment, Payment and Operations
(TPO) Disclosures: You have the right to obtain an accounting of
some of our disclosures of your PHI made after April 14,2003. By
accounting we main a written record of these disclosures. Some of
our disclosures of your PHI are not required by HIPAA to be included
in the accounting. Most notable among these are disclosures for
purposes of TPO. Other disclosures of your PHI that are not required
to be included in the accounting are disclosures make directly to
you or that you have authorized, made to family, friends and others
who assist you with your care (caregivers) and made for other purposes
allowed by HIPAA. Please consult with our Privacy Officer for more
information on the disclosures not required to be included in the
accounting.
We are required to provide an accounting of disclosures for the
six (6) year period immediately prior to the date of your request
for the accounting; however, your request for an accounting can
be for a shorter period of time and cannot precede the HIPAA compliance
date. You may obtain from us, without charge, one accounting during
a twelve-month period. However, if you request additional accountings
during the same twelve month period we may charge you a reasonable,
cost-based fee for printing or photocopying of the accounting, together
with any expenses for mailing, special courier, faxing and supplies
necessary to fulfill your request for the accounting. If it becomes
necessary for us to charge you for an accounting, we will notify
you in advance and allow you to withdraw or modify your request
for the accounting. All requests for an accounting of our disclosures
of your PHI must be submitted to our Privacy Officer in writing.
Right to File a Complaint: You have the right to file a complaint
if you believe that we have violated your rights as described above,
and to not fear retaliation or adverse action by us against you
for exercising your right. You can file the complaint with us directly,
or with the United States Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS). Please be assured that we will work with you to resolve any
complaint including providing you with the address for filing a
complaint with HHS. If you have any concern about our privacy practices
or wish to file a complaint, please contact our Privacy Officer
at the address or telephone number of our pharmacy.
If you have any questions about any of your privacy rights as described,
please contact our Privacy Officer at the address or telephone number
listed at the beginning of this document.
Normal Pharmacy Activities Resulting in Uses and Disclosures of
your PHI.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
(HIPAA), requires that this "Notice" describe how we may
use and disclose your protected health information (PHI). These
uses and disclosures are summarized below, but if you would like
more information about any of these please contact our Privacy Officer
at the address or telephone number of our pharmacy.
Treatment: HIPAA regulations define treatment as "the provision,
coordination, or management of health care and related services
by one or more health care providers, including the coordination
or management of health care by a health care provider with a third
party; consultation between health care providers relating to a
patient; or the referral of a patient for health care from one health
care provider to another". We will maintain records that contain
your PHI and we will use and disclose your PHI as necessary to provide
health care products and services to carry out and support your
treatment. As a pharmacy, we will use and disclose your PHI as necessary
to maintain your patient profile, which includes information about
you, your medical condition, medications and prescription devices
that you use, any allergies that you may have and other information,
such as any health insurance that you may have. We will use and
disclose your PHI in dispensing prescription medicines and related
products and services, including counseling you and your caregivers
about proper use of your medications. We will also use your patient
profile to watch for medication related problems, such a drug interactions
and overuse or under use of your medications that may present a
risk to you. We may discuss such problems with your other health
care professionals, such as your physician or dentist, and through
such discussions, we may use and disclose your PHI. And of course,
we will use and disclose your PHI to you and your caregivers (if
you allow us), in our discussions with you and your caregivers about
your treatment.
Payment: HIPAA regulations define payment, in relation to health
care providers such as pharmacies, as activities to obtain reimbursement
for the health care products and services that we provide to you.
These activities include primarily billing you directly or someone
who pays for your health care, such as a family member or health
insurance company, for health care products and services that we
provide to you. Activities related to billing may include claims
management, collections and related health care data processing.
Depending on who pays for the health care products and services
that we provide you, other activities may include eligibility determination;
drug coverage determination; medical necessity under a health plan;
appropriateness of care, or justification of charges; including
prior authorization of drugs and services; prospective and retrospective
drug utilization review services. Some examples of PHI that may
be used and disclosed to collect payment are:
Name, Address, Birth date, Gender, Social Security Number, Insurance
Member ID Number, Relationship to Insured Health Plan Information
and Health Care Provider Information
We will use and disclose your PHI to carry out the above activities
as necessary or required to obtain payment for the health care products
and services that we provide to you. In relation to this, public
and private health care insurance programs that may provide or pay
for your health care can conduct audits, inspections and investigations
of us in relation to our activities and your activities. We may
be required to disclose your PHI to these programs for purposes
of audits, inspections and investigations. Health care operations:
HIPAA defines health care operations as those activities necessary
and related to our providing of health care products and services
to you. These activities include, but may not be limited to, the
following:
- Conducting quality assessment and improvement activities, case
management, disease management and care coordination, contacting
of health care providers and patients with information about treatment
alternatives and related functions that do not include treatment.
- Conducting or arranging for medical review, legal services and
auditing functions, including fraud and abuse detection and compliance
programs.
- Our pharmacy management and general administrative activities,
including, but not limited to, activities relating to implementation
of and compliance with the requirements of HIPAA.
We will use and disclose your PHI to carry out the above activities
as necessary or required, and especially to monitor and improve
the quality of the health care products and services that are provided
to you by us and other health care professionals.
In addition to treatment, payment and health care operations as
described above, we may use and disclose your PHI for the following
purposes:
Business associates: The health care system is very complex and
as such we may not be able to provide health care products and services
to you without the involvement of other businesses or persons. Depending
on what these other businesses or persons do for us, they may become
"business associates" as defined by HIPAA. In many situations
it will be necessary for us to provide your PHI to these business
associates so that they can carry out the activities that we need
to have performed in order to provide you health care products and
services. For patients that have health insurance that includes
a pharmacy benefit, one of our most common business associates is
a health insurance company or a pharmacy benefits company that processes
claims we submit for payment for health care products and services
on your behalf. We have written contracts with all of our business
associates to whom we provide your PHI so that they can carry out
their activities on our behalf. In an effort to provide you a level
of comfort, you should know, these contracts require our business
associates to give us their assurance that they, like us, will protect
the privacy of your PHI.
Communications with you concerning your health and treatment: We
want to do whatever we can to assist you with maintaining your health
and obtaining the most benefit from your treatment. We routinely
monitor your prescription medications for appropriateness and take
other steps to help you use your medication properly. For example,
if you forget to obtain a refill of your medication, we may contact
you to remind you to obtain the refill. We may also call you or
send you materials regarding products and services that we believe
may be of benefit to you. In the event that a pharmaceutical manufacturer
or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is to issue a medication
recall, we may contact you if you are taking the medication subject
to the recall.
Federal and state government agencies: We may disclose your PHI
to federal and state government agencies for a variety of purposes,
most of which are directed at monitoring health care quality and
safety, government programs related to health care and our compliance
with laws applicable to health care. For example, the United State
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) monitors the distribution
and use of controlled substances, while the FDA monitors adverse
drug events. We may disclose your PHI to such agencies where required
by the agency so that the agency can carry out its required activities.
Related to this, some private businesses, such as the manufacturers
of medications and medical devices, are legally required to conduct
post marketing surveillance in order to ensure the safety of their
products. Disclosing your PHI for such surveillance may be necessary.
A number of state agencies also conduct health care quality and
safety activities, for which we may disclose your PHI. For example,
some states maintain a controlled substance monitoring program and
require that we report to the state the prescriptions for controlled
substances that we dispense to you.
Federal and state government health care insurance programs: If
you apply for and receive benefits from federal and state health
care programs, such as Medicare or Medicaid, your PHI may be disclosed
to the agency granting these benefits. If you are employed by a
business that is required to carry workers' compensation insurance,
and you are injured in such a way that the workers' compensation
plan covers your health care, it may be necessary to disclose you
PHI to the workers' compensation plan. Such plans have a right to
conduct audits, inspections and investigations of our activities
and your activities, and where required, we will disclose your PHI
for these activities.
Public health and safety: There are several federal and state laws
that require health care providers to report to various government
agencies matters related to public health. If your physical or mental
health condition and illness is of a nature that requires that it
be reported, then we will disclose your PHI to the appropriate government
agency in order to comply with these laws. In addition to reporting
about physical and mental health conditions and illnesses, we may
also disclose your PHI to government agencies in other situations
where we are required to submit reports, such as suspected domestic,
child or elder abuse or neglect.
Law enforcement activities: A number of federal, state and local
government agencies are charged with enforcing the health care and
drug laws, and other laws in relations to the health care products
and services that we may provide to you. In addition, as a state
licensed pharmacy, a variety of federal, state and local health
care agencies, such as the state board of pharmacy, regulate our
activities. These agencies may engage in a number of activities
designed to monitor and improve federal and state health care programs
and systems, including conducting of inspections and investigations
of our activities and the health care products and services that
we provide to our patients. At any time we are required by federal
or state laws, or by court order, subpoena of other legal mandate,
to disclose your PHI we will do so as necessary.
Legal disputes: Lawsuits and other legal disputes are common today,
and depending on the issues, may involve your PHI that we possess.
In the event that you are involved in a lawsuit or other legal proceeding,
whether as a plaintiff or a defendant, and without regard to the
basis for the lawsuit, such as medical malpractice or divorce, we
will disclose your PHI when required to comply with a court order,
subpoena, discovery proceeding, such as a deposition, or other legal
mandate served upon us. We will attempt to notify you prior to the
disclosure if you are not the party to the legal dispute requesting
your PHI so that you and your attorney can determine whether you
want to take legal actions to prevent disclosure of your PHI.
Disclosures for the benefit of you and others: Events can occur
where we would use and disclosure your PHI for your benefit and
to prevent or reduce the risk of harm to you. For example, if you
are in a car accident and are unconscious in a hospital emergency
room and the emergency room medical staff calls us with a request
for your PHI, we may disclose it for the purpose of assisting in
your prompt medical treatment. The same is true if a family member,
friend or caregiver contacts us in an emergency situation, or where
an emergency situation is not present, but we have reason to believe
you are at risk of harm or serious injury and we believe that disclosing
your PHI will assist them in caring for you. We may also disclose
your PHI upon your death to a funeral director, embalmer, medical
examiner or coroner's office to assist them in carrying out their
legal responsibilities related to your death. Finally, we may disclose
your PHI where necessary to protect the health and safety of others.
Disclosures for national security and intelligence: We are legally
required to disclose your PHI when necessary to national security
and intelligence and counter-intelligence activities. Any disclosure
for these purposes would be made only to authorized government officials.
Disclosures if you are in the military or a veteran: We may disclose
your PHI, if you are a member of any branch of the armed services,
whether on active or reserve status. If you are a veteran, we may
release your PHI. Particularly if you are receiving health care
products and services from the Veterans Services. Any disclosure
for these purposes would be made only to authorized government officials.
Disclosures of a miscellaneous nature: We may be required to disclose
your PHI if you are placed into custody of a federal or state correctional
system if necessary to protect the health and safety of you and
others. Health care is an area where much research is being conducted,
and we may disclose your PHI for purposes of a research project,
but only if we are satisfied that the research project has been
approved by a responsible institutional review board and the research
project has established adequate methods to protect your privacy.
Much health care research is sponsored through organizations that
conduct fundraising activities, and we may inquire with you using
your PHI to determine your interest in participating in or otherwise
supporting a fundraising activity. Finally, given the national need
for organ donations, we may disclose your PHI to organizations that
manage organ transplantation programs.
If you have any questions about any of the uses and disclosures
of your PHI as described above, Please contact our Privacy Officer
at the address or telephone number listed at the beginning of this
document.
Uses and Disclosures not Contained in this Notice
If a use and disclosure of your PHI is not contained in this Notice,
we will obtain your written authorization before the use and disclosure.
You may have the right to refuse to authorize the use and disclosure,
or if you grant the authorization, to revoke the authorization at
any time. If such authorization is requested, we will provide you
with a form that describes the proposed use and disclosure and your
rights related to the requested authorization.
HIPAA requires that we give you this "Notice of Privacy Practices"
and make a good faith effort to obtain your written acknowledgment
that you were given this notice. Upon giving you this Notice, you
will be asked to sign a document acknowledging that you received
this notice. We appreciate your cooperation in reviewing this notice
and in giving us your written acknowledgment.
HIPAA also requires that this Notice, at a minimum, cover the following
three areas.
- How we will use and disclose your personally identifiable health
information.
- Your rights with respect to your personally identifiable health
information.
- Our legal duties to protect the confidentiality of your personally
identifiable health information.
In preparing this Notice, we made every effort to comply with this
HIPAA requirement. In addition, you should be aware that the Federal
regulation HIPAA does not take precedence over State Law when the
State Law is stricter. You may have additional protections under
State Law.
Please consult our Privacy Officer if you have any questions or
want more information concerning your health care and privacy rights
under HIPAA or the laws of our state, or our privacy practices.
Also, you should consult our Privacy Officer if you wish to file
a complaint about our privacy practices or if you believe we have
violated any of your rights as described in this Notice.
Thank you for allowing us the privilege of being your pharmacy,
we look forward to providing you with high quality health care products
and services that will help to keep you healthy.
Customer Service
E-mail: info@NextDaySoma.com
Our Customer Care Specialists are available during hours of operation:
Monday - Friday 9am to 5 PM (EST). However, our toll free
number is available, to leave a voice message, which we will promptly
respond to.
Telephone
Toll-Free at 1-888-881-7457
Send Us Feedback
We are committed to your complete satisfaction. If you have comments
or believe that we can improve our service in any way, please e-mail
us info@NextDaySoma.com
Hours of operation and availability of customer service is from
9 am to 5 PM Monday-Friday (EST).
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