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UNITED AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY
HEALTH INSURANCE 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.
This Notice gives you information required by the privacy
provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
of 1996 and its implementing regulations (HIPAA Privacy Rules) about
the duties and privacy practices of United American Insurance Company
to protect the privacy of your medical information that we maintain as
an issuer of health insurance policies that provide medical care benefits.
We sent this Notice to you because our records show that we provide health
care benefits to you under an individual or group health insurance policy
that provides medical care benefits.
This Notice applies to the designated health care components of United American
Insurance Company that use and disclose your medical information to provide
medical care benefits to you under health insurance policies. We use the terms
health and health care in this Notice to refer to the medical care benefits
we provide to you. This Notice does not apply to the information that our non-health
care components maintain about you as an issuer of life, disability, accident,
indemnity or any other non-health insurance policy.
THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS NOTICE IS APRIL 14, 2003. We are required to follow
the terms of this Notice until we replace it. We reserve the right to change
the terms of this Notice at any time. If we make changes to this Notice, we
will revise it and send a new Notice to all persons to whom we are required
to give the new Notice. We reserve the right to make the new changes apply
to all your medical information maintained by us before and after the effective
date of the new Notice.
Purposes for which We May Use or Disclose Your Medical
Information Without Your Consent or Authorization
We may use and disclose your medical information for the following
purposes:
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Health Care Providers Treatment Purposes. For
example, we may disclose your medical information to your doctor,
at the doctors request, for your treatment by him.
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Payment. For example, we may use or
disclose your medical information to collect premiums, to pay claims
for covered health care services or to provide eligibility information
to your doctor when you receive treatment. We may also use and
disclose your medical information to another covered entity or
health care provider for the payment activities of the entity that
receives your medical information.
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Health Care Operations. For example,
we may use or disclose your medical information (i) to conduct
quality assessment and improvement activities, (ii) for underwriting,
premium rating, or other activities relating to the creation, renewal
or replacement of a contract of health insurance, (iii) to authorize
business associates to perform data aggregation services, (iv)
to engage in care coordination or case management, and (v) to manage,
plan or develop our business. We may also disclose your medical
information to another covered entity for the limited health care
operations activities and health care fraud and abuse compliance
activities of the entity that receives your medical information.
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Health Services. We may use your medical
information to contact you to give you information about treatment
alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that
may be of interest to you. We may disclose your medical information
to our business associates to assist us in these activities.
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As required by law. For example, we
must allow the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to
audit our records. We may also disclose your medical information
as authorized by and to the extent necessary to comply with workers compensation
or other similar laws.
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To Business Associates. We may disclose
your medical information to business associates we hire to assist
us. Each of our business associates must agree in writing to ensure
the continuing confidentiality and security of your medical information.
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To Plan Sponsor. If we provide health
benefits to you under a group health plan, we may disclose to the
plan sponsor of your group health plan, in summary form, claims
history and other similar information. Such summary information
does not disclose your name or other distinguishing characteristics.
We may also disclose to the plan sponsor the fact that you are
enrolled in, or disenrolled from the group health plan. We may
disclose your medical information to the plan sponsor for administrative
functions that the plan sponsor provides to the group health plan
if the plan sponsor agrees in writing to ensure the continuing
confidentiality and security of your medical information. The plan
sponsor must also agree not to use or disclose your medical information
for employment-related activities or for any other benefit or benefit
plans of the plan sponsor.
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We may also use and disclose your medical information
as follows:
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To comply with legal proceedings, such as a court
or administrative order or subpoena.
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To law enforcement officials for limited law enforcement
purposes.
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To a family member, friend or other person, for
the purpose of helping you with your health care or with payment
for your health care, if you are in a situation such as a medical
emergency and you cannot give your agreement to us to do this.
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To your personal representatives appointed by you
or designated by applicable law.
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For research purposes in limited circumstances.
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To a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director
about a deceased person.
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To an organ procurement organization in limited
circumstances.
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To avert a serious threat to your health or safety
or the health or safety of others.
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To a governmental agency authorized to oversee the
health care system or government programs.
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To federal officials for lawful intelligence, counterintelligence
and other national security purposes.
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To public health authorities for public health purposes.
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To appropriate military authorities, if you are
a member of the armed forces.
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Potential Impact of State Law
In some situations, the HIPAA Privacy Rules do not preempt (or take precedence
over) state privacy laws that give you greater privacy protections. As a
result, the privacy laws of a particular state might impose a privacy standard
under which we will be required to operate (for example, a state privacy
law relating to disclosures of medical information of minors).
Uses and Disclosures with Your Permission
We will not use or disclose your medical information for any
other purposes unless you give us your written authorization to do so.
If you give us written authorization to use or disclose your medical
information for a purpose that is not described in this Notice, then,
in most cases, you may revoke it in writing at any time. Your revocation
will be effective for all your medical information we maintain, unless
we have taken action in reliance on your authorization.
Your Rights
You may make a written request to us to do one or more of the
following concerning your medical information that we maintain:
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To put additional restrictions on our use and disclosure
of your medical information. We do not have to agree to your request.
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To communicate with you in confidence about your
medical information by a different means or at a different location
than we are currently doing. We do not have to agree to your request
unless such confidential communications are necessary to avoid
endangering you and your request continues to allow us to collect
premiums and pay claims. Your request must specify the alternative
means or location. Even though you requested that we communicate
with you in confidence, we may give subscribers cost information.
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To see and get copies of your medical information.
In limited cases, we do not have to agree to your request.
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To correct your medical information. In some cases,
we do not have to agree to your request.
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To receive a list of disclosures of your medical
information that we and our business associates made for certain
purposes for the last 6 years (but not for disclosures before April
14, 2003).
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To send you a paper copy of this Notice if you received
this Notice by email or on the Internet.
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If you want to exercise any of these rights described in
this Notice, please contact the Contact Office (below). We will give
you the necessary information and forms for you to complete and return
to the Contact Office. In some cases, we may charge you a nominal, cost-based
fee to carry out your request.
Complaints
If you believe we have violated your privacy rights, you have the right to
complain to us or to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services. You may file a complaint with us at our Contact Office (below). We
will not retaliate against you if you choose to file a complaint with us or
with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Contact Office
To request additional copies of this Notice or to receive more
information about our privacy practices or your rights, please contact
us at the following Contact Office:
United American Insurance Company
Privacy Office
P. O. Box 8080
McKinney, Texas 75070
Telephone: 1-972-529-5085
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THE SOLUTION