How do I know my health information is kept private?
Summary of privacy practices
By law Columbia United Providers (CUP) must protect the privacy of your personal
health information. We may not use or give out your information for any purpose
other than as permitted or required by law. This page tells you some of the ways
we may use and give out (“disclose”) your health information. A full notice of your
privacy rights was included with your new member packet.
We may use or give out your health information to:
- You or someone who has a legal right to act for you,
- Approve treatment your doctor requests for you,
- Pay your doctor,
- Tell you if a service is covered under your policy, and
- Provide customer service, make sure you get quality health care, and help with any complaints you may have.
We are required to give out your health information for:
- Public health reasons (such as reporting disease outbreaks),
- Government health care oversight activities (such as fraud and abuse investigations),
- Legal actions (such as a subpoena or other court order),
- Law enforcement purposes (such as to locate a missing person), and
- Funeral directors or medical examiners (to enable them to carry out their activities).
By law you have a right to see and request a copy of your health information. You
also have a right to:
- Have your information corrected if you believe it is wrong, or information is
missing. If we disagree with you, you have a right to have a statement of your concerns
added to your information,
- Get a listing of individuals or organizations to which we have released your information,
and
- Ask us to communicate with you in a different manner or at a different place for
confidential reasons.
If you believe we have violated your privacy rights set out in this notice,
you may complain to our Privacy Officer at the following address:
Attn: Privacy Complaints
Columbia United Providers
19120 SE 34th Street, #201
Vancouver,
WA 98683
You may also file a complaint with the Secretary of the Department of Health and
Human Services by calling their Office for Civil Rights at 1-800-368-1019.
For more information on filing a complaint or exercising your privacy rights,
call Member Services at (800) 315-7862 or (360) 891-1520, TDD (360) 449-8860 or
Toll Free TDD (866) 287-9960 Monday - Friday 8am. to 5pm.
NOTE: Filing a privacy complaint will not affect your benefits or result
in any penalty to you.
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