GlobalHealth

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. 

GlobalHealth is committed and required to protect the privacy and confidentiality of our Members’ Protected Health Information (“PHI”) in compliance with applicable federal and state laws and regulations, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (“HITECH”) Act. This HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices (the "Notice") contains important information regarding your PHI. Our current Notice is posted at www.globalhealth.com.

How GlobalHealth May Use or Disclose Your Health Information

For Treatment.
We may use and/or disclose your PHI to a healthcare provider, hospital, or other healthcare facility in order to arrange for or facilitate treatment for you.

For Payment.
We may use and/or disclose your PHI for purposes of paying claims from physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers for services delivered to you that are covered by your health plan; to determine your eligibility for benefits; to coordinate benefits; to review for medical necessity; to obtain premiums; to issue explanations of benefits to the individual who subscribes to the health plan in which you participate; and other payment related functions.

For Health Plan Operations.
We may use and/or disclose PHI about you for health plan operational purposes. Some examples include: risk management, patient safety, quality improvement, internal auditing, utilization review, medical or peer review, certification, regulatory compliance, internal training, accreditation, licensing, credentialing, investigation of complaints, performance improvement, etc. We will not use or disclose your genetic information for underwriting purposes.

Health-Related Business and Services.
We may use and disclose your PHI to tell you of health-related products, benefits, or services related to your treatment, care management, or alternate treatments, therapies, providers, or care settings.

Where Permitted or Required by Law.
We may use and/or disclose information about you as permitted or required by law. For example, we may disclose information:

• To a regulatory agency for activities including, but not limited to, licensure, certification, accreditation, audits, investigations, inspections, and medical device reporting; 
• To law enforcement upon receipt of a court order, warrant, summons, or other similar process; 

• In response to a valid court order, subpoena, discovery request, or administrative order related to a lawsuit, dispute or other lawful process; 
• To public health agencies or legal authorities charged with preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability; 
• For health oversight activities conducted by agencies such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”), State Department of Health, Insurance Department, etc.; 
• For national security purposes, such as protecting the President of the United States or the conducting of intelligence operations; 
• In order to comply with laws and regulations related to Workers’ Compensation; 

• For coordination of insurance or Medicare benefits, if applicable; 
• When necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to a person or the public and such disclosure is made to someone that can prevent or lessen the threat (including the target of the threat); and 
• In the course of any administrative or judicial proceeding, where required by law. 

Business Associates.
We may use and/or disclose your PHI to business associates that we contract with to provide services on our behalf. Examples include consultants, accountants, lawyers, auditors, health information organizations, data storage and electronic health record vendors, etc. We will only make these disclosures if we have received satisfactory assurance that the business associate will properly safeguard your PHI. 

Personal/Authorized Representatives.
We may use and/or disclose PHI to your authorized representative. Family, Friends, Caregivers. We may disclose your PHI to a family member, caregiver, or friend who accompanies you or is involved in your medical care or treatment, or who helps pay for your medical care or treatment. If you are unable or unavailable to agree or object, we will use our best judgment in communicating with your family and others. 

Emergencies.
We may use and/or disclose your PHI if necessary in an emergency if the use or disclosure is necessary for your emergency treatment. 

Military/Veterans.
If you are a member or veteran of the armed forces, we may disclose your PHI as required by military command authorities. 

Inmates.
If you are an inmate of a correctional institute or under the custody of law enforcement officer, we may disclosure your PHI to the correctional institute or law enforcement official. 

Appointment Reminders.
We may use and/or disclosure your PHI to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or medical care. This may be done through direct mail, email, or telephone call. If you are not home, we may leave a message on an answering machine or with the person answering the telephone. 

Medication and Refill Reminders.
We may use and/or disclose your PHI to remind you to refill your prescriptions, to communicate about the generic equivalent of a drug, or to encourage you to take your prescribed medications. 

Limited Data Set. If we use your PHI to make a “limited data set,” we may give that information to others for purposes of research, public health action or health care operations. The individuals/entities that receive the limited data set are required to take reasonable steps to protect the privacy of your information. 

Other Uses.
If you are an organ donor, we may release your medical information to organizations that handle organ procurement or organ, eye, or tissue transplantation or to an organ donation bank, as necessary to facilitate organ or tissue donation and transplantation. We may release your medical information to a coroner or medical examiner. 

NOTE:
We will disclose your PHI for purposes not described in this notice only with your written authorization. Most uses and disclosures of psychotherapy notes (where appropriate), uses and disclosures of PHI for marketing or fundraising purposes, and disclosures that constitute a sale of PHI require your written authorization. The information authorized for release may include records which may indicate the presence of a communicable or non-communicable disease required to be reported pursuant to State law. 

Your Health Information Rights 

Right to Inspect and Copy 
You have the right to inspect and copy your PHI as provided by law. This right does not apply to psychotherapy notes. Your request must be made in writing. We have the right to charge you the amounts allowed by State and Federal law for such copies. We may deny your request to inspect and copy your records in certain circumstances. If you are denied access, you may appeal to our Privacy Officer. 

Right to Confidential Communication 
You have the right to receive confidential communication of your PHI by alternate means or at alternative locations. For example, you may request to receive communication from us at an alternate address or telephone number. Your request must be in writing and identify how or where you wish to be contacted. We reserve the right to refuse to honor your request if it is unreasonable or not possible to comply with.

Right to Accounting of Disclosures 
You have the right to request an accounting of certain disclosures of your PHI to third parties, except those disclosures made for treatment, payment, or health care or health plan operations and disclosures made to you, authorized by you, or pursuant to this Notice. To receive an accounting, you must submit your request in writing and provide the specific time period requested. You may request an accounting for up to six (6) years prior to the date of your request (three years if PHI is an electronic health record). If you request more than one (1) accounting in a 12-month period, we may charge you for the costs of providing the list. We will notify you of the cost and you may withdraw your request before any costs are incurred. 

Right to Request Restrictions on Uses or Disclosures 
You have the right to request restrictions or limitations on certain uses and disclosures of your PHI to third parties unless the disclosure is required or permitted by law. Your request must be made in writing and specify (1) what information you want to limit; (2) whether you want to limit use, disclosure, or both; and (3) to whom you want the limits to apply. We are not required to honor your request. If do we agree, we will make all reasonable efforts to comply with your request unless the information is needed to provide emergency treatment to you or the disclosure has already occurred or the disclosure is required by law. Any agreement to restrictions must be signed by a person authorized to make such an agreement on our behalf.

Right to Request Amendment of PHI 
You have the right to request an amendment of your PHI if you believe the record is incorrect or incomplete. You must submit your request in writing and state the reason(s) for the amendment. We will deny your request if: (1) it is not in writing or does not include a reason to support the request; (2) the information was not created by us or is not part of the medical record that we maintain; (3) the information is not a part of the record that you would be permitted to inspect and copy, or (4) the information in the record is accurate and complete. If we deny your amendment request, you have a right to file a statement of disagreement with our Privacy Officer. 

Right to Be Notified of a Breach
You have the right to receive notification of any breaches of your unsecured PHI.

Right to Revoke Authorization
You may revoke an authorization at any time, in writing, but only as to future uses or disclosures and not disclosures that we have made already, acting on reliance on the authorization you have given us or where authorization was not required. 

Right to Receive a Copy of this Notice
You have the right to receive a paper copy of this Notice upon request. 

Changes to this Notice
GlobalHealth is required to comply with the requirements of this Notice currently in effect. We reserve the right to change this Notice and make the new provisions effective for all PHI that we maintain. The revised Notice will be made available to you on our website at www.globalhealth.com. 

To Report a Privacy Violation

If you have a question concerning your privacy rights or believe your rights have been violated, you may contact our Privacy Officer at: 

ATTN: Privacy Officer 
210 Park Avenue 
Suite 2900
Oklahoma City, OK 73102 
Toll-free 1-877-627-0004  
Email [email protected] 

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

GlobalHealth: 

• Provides free aids 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) 

• Provides free language services to people whose primary language is not English, such as: 
  
  • Qualified interpreters 
  • Information written in other languages 

If you need these services, contact GlobalHealth’s Customer Care at 1 (844) 280-5555 (toll-free) (TTY:711). 

If you believe that GlobalHealth 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: 

ATTN: Medicare Compliance Officer 
210 Park Ave 
Suite 2900 
Oklahoma City, OK 73102-5621 
Email: [email protected] 

You can file a grievance in person or by mail, fax or email. If you need help filing a grievance, Customer Care is available to help you. 

You can also file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights electronically through the Office for Civil Rights Complaint Portal, available at https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/portal/lobby.jsf, or by mail or phone at: 

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

Complaint forms are available at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/office/file/index.html. 

Please be advised that most Third-Party App’s will not be covered by HIPAA. Most apps will instead fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the protections provided by the FTC Act. The FTC Act, among other things, protects against deceptive acts (e.g., if an app shares personal data without permission, despite having a privacy policy that says it will not do so). If you have any concerns regarding the use of Third-Party App’s and your information you may contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and file a complaint at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/. 

ATENCIÓN: Si habla español, tiene a su disposición servicios gratuitos de asistencia lingüística. Llame al 1-844-280-5555 (TTY: 711) 

CHÚ Ý: Nếu bạn nói Tiếng Việt, có các dịch vụ hỗ trợ ngôn ngữ miễn phí dành cho bạn.  Gọi số 1-844-280-5555 (TTY: 711). 

注意：如果您使用繁體中文，您可以免費獲得語言援助服務。請致電 1-844-280-5555 (TTY: 711). 

Effective Date: 10/01/2023 

Original Notice:
04/01/2003 Revised:
04/01/2011  
04/01/2013
08/01/2021 
10/01/2023