This
privacy statement ("Privacy Statement") explains what information UPMC Health
Plan, Inc. and its affiliates (collectively, "UPMC Health Plan") collect, how
we collect personal information, and why we collect personal information when
you visit or use our websites, applications, and other electronic services
("onlineservices"). It also explains when, why, and with whom we share that
personal information when you use the online services. The term "personal
information" means information about a natural person that identifies or
describes such natural person. UPMC Health Plan's affiliates include, but are
not limited to, UPMC Health Network, Inc., UPMC Health Options, Inc., UPMC
Health Coverage, Inc., UPMC Health Benefits, Inc., UPMC for You,
Inc., Community Care Behavioral Health Organization, UPMC Work Alliance, Inc.,
Workpartners National, Inc., HCMS Group LLC (dba "Workpartners"), and any other
entity affiliated with UPMC's Insurance Services Division.
Your
personal information is private and confidential. We take this pledge
seriously. Whether you are a prospective, current, or former member-living or
deceased-we respect and safeguard the privacy and confidentiality of the
information that we create, collect, and maintain about you.
Privacy is
one of your rights as a consumer as well as a UPMC Health Plan member or
employee of a HCMS Group LLC (dba "Workpartners") client. UPMC Health Plan
members and beneficiaries and "Workpartners' members are collectively referred
to herein as "Members." It also is a right that you retain even when you are no
longer a Member of UPMC Health Plan or Workpartners.
a.
Collection and Use of Personal Information
Generally,
members of the public can access our public online services, such as
UPMCHealthPlan.com, without providing us with your personal information. For
certain services, such when completing a registration form to access the
MyHealthOnline portal, we may ask you to provide us with your personal
information. This information is collected and used for the purposes described
in this Privacy Statement, as indicated where and when the information is
requested or collected, and as permitted by law.
When you
provide us your personal information, you are also doing two important things:
- Verifying the
correctness and truthfulness of the information that you have provided to
us; and
- Acknowledging that
UPMC Health Plan can use the information we collect or receive about you
and your family for the purposes set forth in this Privacy Statement and
without further authorization.
b.
Information We Collect and Why We Collect It
We collect
information you provide directly to us, such as when you create an account or
profile to access your Member account on the UPMC Health Plan's MyHealthOnline
Portal, or to complete and sign an online enrollment or renewal application
form, use the interactive areas and features of the online services, subscribe
to our email list, participate in a survey or events, pay a bill, request
support, or otherwise communicate with us. Depending on the online services,
when you access and use our online services, we may collect the following kinds
of information from you:
- Account
information, such as your name, email address, password, postal address,
phone number, date of birth and any other information you choose to
provide.
- Transaction
information, such as your Member account number and limited payment
information from you, such as payment method and payment card information.
- Information about
others, such as the names and the contact information of your providers,
your representatives, and any dependents in your care.
- Health
information, such as your past and present medical condition, medication
information, and treatment history.
- Other information
you choose to provide, such as when you participate in a survey,
assessment, contest, promotion or interactive area of the online services,
live audio and video visit, or when you request technical or customer
support.
We also
automatically collect the following information from you when you visit or use
some of our online services:
- Membership information,
to arrange for the provision of healthcare treatment and services to you
and your family members that you are enrolling as dependents on your
application.
- Claims and payment
information, to make payments to doctors, hospitals, and other health care
professionals for the treatment and services you and your family receive,
and to process and assess claims we have received and paid for the
services provided to you, or the health care premiums that you or your
company have paid.
- Health care
information, to perform certain health care operations that UPMC Health
Plan uses to monitor the quality of the healthcare coverage and services
that you have purchased for you and your family. These operations include
measurement and review of all our data to see how many of our Members
receive certain services, such as childhood immunizations, mammograms, and
other preventive health services. All these measurements are used so that
we can assess how well we are doing in providing quality health care to
all our Members.
- Login information,
where our servers record certain log file information, such as your
Internet Protocol ("IP") address, operating system, browser type and
language, referring URLs, access times, pages viewed, links clicked and
other information about your activities on the online services.
- Device
information, such as the device used to access or use the online services,
including the hardware model, operating system and version, unique device
identifiers, and mobile network information. If your device settings
permit, we may also collect information about the precise location of your
device and access and collect information from certain native applications
on your device (such as your device's camera, photo album and phonebook
applications) to facilitate your use of certain features of the online
services.
- Online tracking
information, such as through the use of tracking technologies, including
cookies, pixel tags, local stored objects, and web beacons to collect
information about you when you interact with our online services. We may
allow others to provide analytics services on our behalf using these
technologies to collect information about your use of the online services
and other websites. We also place Cookies of third parties in the online
services that track your interactions with that third party's website,
content, advertisements, website links, and/or other online services. For
more information about how and why we use these technologies, and how to
disable them, please see our cookies notice, which is
incorporated here by reference. Some of this information may be used for
re-identification. Re-identification is a process by which anonymized data
collected on our online services are matched with personally identifiable
information. Re-identified data are used, among other ways, to provide
website users with a more relevant and user-friendly online experience.
We also
collect some of the above information to:
- Provide, maintain
and improve our online services and provide you with relevant information;
- Send you technical
notices, updates, and alerts;
- Provide support,
customer service, and administrative messages;
- Respond to your
comments and inquiries, and provide customer services;
- Communicate with
you about products and services offered by us and others, and to
provide news and information about products, services, and events we think
will be of interest to you;
- Plan, administer
and coordinate events, community groups and outreach activities;
- Monitor and
analyze trends, usage and activities in connection with our online
services;
- Detect,
investigate and prevent fraudulent transactions and other illegal
activities and protect the rights and property of UPMC and others;
- Maintain
appropriate records for internal administrative purposes;
- Comply with
applicable laws, regulations, and court orders; and
- Carry out any
other purpose described to you at the time the information was collected.
c. Social
Media Plug-Ins
We may
collect information that you have made public via your social media accounts.
As a convenience to you, some of our public online services may use plug-ins
from social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These plug-ins
are indicated by the social networks' respective logos on the online services
and are used to establish a direct connection with these social networks.
Integration of the plug-in may allow the social media network to receive information
that you have loaded onto the online services. For example, if you are logged
in with Facebook while you visit our online services, the plug-in may be able
to assign your visit of our online service to your Facebook account. This
information exchange takes place automatically. You may prevent this exchange
if you log out of your social network before using the online services, disable
this feature on your social network application or service, and/or disable
cookies as described in our Cookies Notice.
d. How We
Share Your Information
We may
share the information we collect from or about you as follows:
- With our service
providers to maintain, improve, and protect our online services. These
providers may only use your information to accomplish the purposes
described in this Privacy Statement and our Terms and
Conditions.
- With other
entities that are subsidiaries of UPMC.
- With our
advertising partners in order to display advertisements that we think are
relevant to you. While much of the information we share is anonymized, we
may permit selected advertising partners to match and re-identify you.
- With social
network platforms when you access our site while logged into a social
network platform or when you post content from our online services to your
social network platform.
- In the course of
legal proceedings or in response to legal orders or government requests,
and as otherwise required by law.
- As needed to
support compliance and corporate governance functions.
- In connection with
a transfer of ownership or assets, a corporate reorganization, merger, or
acquisition.
- With your
employer, provided we have your authorization. Otherwise, any reports to
employers about the services provided to their employees are based only on
total employee group percentages and totals-and not on any individual
Member data or information that could be used to identify a past, present,
or future health status or condition.
e. How we
handle Protected Health Information under HIPAA
All health
insurance carriers and health care providers may be subject to the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and applicable
regulations that government agencies have issued for HIPAA implementation and
compliance. HIPAA Privacy Regulations require certain employee benefit plans
involved in your health care to have a "Notice of Privacy Practices."
We collect, use and share your protected health information (PHI) as provided
in the applicable UPMC Health Plan's Notice of Privacy Practices listed below.
We also
share PHI as follows:
- In connection with
UPMC Insurance Services Division's participation with ClinicalConnect HIE.
The individual PHI and health information stored within ClinicalConnect
HIE includes data such as test results, medication lists, consultation and
progress notes, and clinical claims information. UPMC Insurance Services
Division data will be shared only if the Member has been to a
ClinicalConnect HIE provider or facility and, while there, did not choose
to opt out of such information sharing. Members must notify their
ClinicalConnect HIE provider if they do not wish to participate in the
HIE.
- In connection with
the Organized Health Care Arrangement (OHCA) between UPMC Insurance
Services Division and UPMC to conduct analysis for quality assessment and
improvement activities, utilization review, payment activities, and
clinical solutions development to facilitate more effective and efficient
delivery of health care services to patients and Members. This includes
participation in various health care quality measures. Individual PHI may
be accessed, used, and/or shared in the course of carrying out such OHCA
activities.
In addition
to this Privacy Statement, UPMC Health Plan's Notice of Privacy Practices will
give you even more specific information and details about how we ensure the
privacy of your health information Is covered by HIPAA. The UPMC Health Plan's
Notice of Privacy Practices will also explain all the HIPAA rights that you
have concerning the privacy of your health information, and how you can
exercise those rights.
We
continually review our policies and procedures to ensure that we are meeting
the needs of privacy laws and our commitment to our Members. As new laws are
passed and new regulations are issued or clarified, we will be providing you
with revised information with any changes or updates.
If you have
any questions concerning your right to the privacy and confidentiality of your
personal information and data that have been entrusted to UPMC Health Plan,
please contact our Member Services Department at the phone number on the back
of your ID Card.
Contact
Information:
Specific inquiries about this statement regarding HIPAA readiness and
compliance should be directed to:
UPMC Health Plan Privacy Officer
U.S. Steel Tower
600 Grant Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Email: HealthPlanCPO@upmc.edu
Click here for general
inquires about UPMC Health Plan