Privacy Practices
WELLDOC NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED BY WELLDOC, AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
Purpose of this Notice. This Notice of Privacy Practices (“Notice”) describes the privacy practices of Welldoc, Inc (“Welldoc”). Welldoc provides health products and services that require it to collect, use and disclose information about you that identifies you, or can reasonably be used to identify you, such as your name, contact information, and information about your condition and treatment (“Health Information”).
The Use and Disclosure of Health Information for Treatment, Payment and Health Care Operations. We may use your Health Information and disclose it to other parties for certain purposes related to your medical treatment ("Treatment"), the payment for your medical treatment ("Payment"), and our health care operations ("Operations").
Treatment means the health care we provide to you, such as real-time coaching and supporting the coordination of your care between your providers. For instance, we may also contact you to remind you about an appointment. Related to your treatment, Welldoc also analyzes the Health Information that you have given us, such as glucose readings, or that we have obtained from your provider to provide clinical support data to your physician. We may provide you with information regarding health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.
Payment means activities related to obtaining reimbursement for the services provided by Welldoc. For example, we may share your Health Information with your health plan to determine to determine how much your plan will cover and how much you may owe for our products or services.
Operations cover a range of activities that are necessary for our business to operate, such as quality review and improvement activities; training programs; legal and financial services; business planning and development; management activities related to privacy practices; customer services; internal grievances; and data de-identification.
Other Uses and Disclosures of Your Health Information Without Your Permission. In some situations, we are required or permitted to use or disclose your Health Information without obtaining your consent or authorization. Here is a list of some of these situations:
In a form that does not identify you. We may use or disclose information about you if it is in an anonymized statistical or summary form that does not identify you.
To our service providers, known as business associates. We may disclose your Health Information to our business associates, such as those that assist us with Payment and Operations. We have contracts with each of our business associates that require that they protect your information.
As required by law. State, federal and local laws permit or require certain uses and disclosures of Health Information. We will only use or disclose your Health Information to the extent the law requires.
To the government for public health activities, health oversight activities and law enforcement. We may be asked or required by law to disclose Health Information to a public health authority such as to track product usage, respond to product recalls, or report suspected abuse, neglect or domestic violence, or for health oversight activities such as government inspections. Police and other law enforcement may seek Health Information from us. We may release this information to law enforcement under limited circumstances, for example, when the request is accompanied by a court order.
For judicial and administrative proceedings. We may disclose Health Information as required by a court or administrative order, or in some instances pursuant to a subpoena, discovery request or other legal process.
For research purposes. We may be approached by researchers to provide Health Information for research purposes. On some occasions, we may only provide such information with special waivers and permissions from you.
To avert a serious threat to health and safety or for disaster relief efforts. We may use or disclose your Health Information to avert a serious and imminent threat to the health and safety of an individual.
To your family, close friends or others involved in your care when you have identified these persons or, if you are not present or able to do so (e.g., if you are unconscious), we believe it is in your best interests to do so.
To respond to requests for organ and tissue donations by organ procurement organizations, or to a coroner, medical examiner or funeral director upon the death of an individual.
For workers’ compensation purposes.
For special government functions such as military, national security, and presidential protective services.
Authorizations. We will not use or disclose your Health Information for other purposes not described in the Notice unless we first obtain your written permission or authorization. We will never use or disclose your Health Information for marketing purposes (other than a face-to-face communication or in the form of a promotional gift of nominal value) or sell your Health Information without your written authorization. If we hold psychotherapy notes, will obtain your written authorization before using or disclosing these except in limited circumstances. If you provide a written authorization to use or disclose your Health Information for these additional purposes, you may cancel it at any time.
Stricter Privacy Laws. We are required to follow state privacy laws when they are stricter (or more protective of your Health Information than federal privacy law, known as HIPAA). Some types of sensitive Health Information, such as HIV information, genetic information, alcohol and/or substance abuse records and mental health records may be subject to additional confidentiality protections under state or federal law. If you would like additional information about state law protections in your state, or additional use or disclosure restrictions that may apply to sensitive Health Information, please contact our Privacy Officer at the contact information below.
Individual Rights. You have the following rights with respect to your Health Information. To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Privacy Officer at the contact information below.
Restrictions. You have the right to request in writing that we do not disclose certain information about you. We do not have to agree to a restriction that you request except where the disclosure is to a health plan for purposes of carrying out Payment or Operations, is not otherwise required by law, and the Health Information is related to an item or service for which you, or a person on your behalf, has paid out-of-pocket in full.
Confidential Communications. You have the right to request in writing that we communicate with you in a certain way or at a certain location. For example, you may request that we contact you in writing at a specific address or that our Customer Care call you only at certain times. Your request must state how, where or when you would like to be contacted. We will accommodate all reasonable requests.
Access. You have the right to request in writing to inspect and receive a paper or electronic copy of most of your Health Information records maintained by us. Normally, we will provide you with access within 30 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable copying fee. In certain limited instances, we may deny you access.
Amendment. You have the right to request in writing that we amend most of your Health Information records maintained by us if you believe they are incorrect. For instance, you can request that we correct an incorrect delivery date in your records. We will generally amend your information within 60 days of your request, and will notify you when we have amended your information. We can deny your request in certain circumstances, such as when we believe that your information is accurate and complete.
Accounting. You have the right to request in writing an accounting from us of certain disclosures made by us. We will generally provide you with your accounting within 60 days of your request.
Paper Notice. You may obtain a paper copy of this Notice at any time by contacting the Privacy Officer whose contact information is below.
Our Responsibilities.
We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your Health Information. We will let you know promptly if your Health Information is involved in a breach (e.g., a hacking attack or transmission error) that may have compromised the privacy or security of your Health Information. We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this Notice and give you a copy of it.
Complaints. If you believe that any of your rights with respect to your Health Information have been violated by us, you may submit a complaint to the Welldoc Privacy Officer at:
You may also file a complaint with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Under no circumstances will we take any retaliation against you for filing a complaint.
Changes to this Notice.
We can change the terms of this Notice, and the changes will apply to all Health Information we have about you. The new Notice will be available upon request, at our offices, and on our web site.