Notice of Privacy Information
Rutgers University Health Services Pharmacy wants you to know that we value you as a customer and take your privacy seriously. We recognize our obligation to keep personal information about you secure and confidential.
It's important for you to know that, unlike many other financial and health institutions, we do not sell information about you; and we do not share your information except to conduct our business or to allow others to conduct their business for your benefit - Making Healthcare Work for you.
This Notice summarizes our policies and practices regarding our disclosure of your personal health information. We refer to this individually identifiable personal, financial, health, and other information, from which a judgment could possibly be made about your personal characteristics, as "Customer Information".
Please read this Notice carefully to understand how we protect and use Customer Information and to under-stand your privacy rights relative to that information.
In the process of serving your health coverage needs, we collect personally identifiable Customer Information about you. We collect Customer Information from the following sources:
- Information we receive from you or your policyholders on applications or other forms;
- Information we obtain from your transactions with us, our affiliates or others, such as health care providers;
- Information we receive from consumer reporting agencies or others, such as state regulators and law enforcement agencies.
We believe that the best protection we can provide you regarding Customer Information that we collect and maintain about you is, simply, to keep it to ourselves. That is why, except as explained below, we do not disclose information about our customers to anyone. At RHS Pharmacy, you do not need to take any action to prevent unlawful disclosure of your Customer Information we do that for you.
Our employees understand the need to maintain your Customer Information with the strictest confidence. They agree to be bound by that promise of privacy of your Customer Information; and are subject to disciplinary action if they violate that promise. We also maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to guard our Customer Information about you.
Finally, in those situations where we rely on a third party to perform business, professional or insurance services or functions for us, those third parties are obligated to abide by our privacy policies and all applicable privacy laws. In that way, RHS Pharmacy remains committed to protecting the privacy of your information.
There may be circumstances where RHS Pharmacy will seek your authorization before we make a disclosure of your Customer Information to someone other than you to be sure we have your permission to make that disclosure. You are permitted to revoke any authorization you give us at any time in writing. We will honor your revocation once processed, except to the extent that we may have taken action in reliance upon your original authorization.
Most of the disclosures we make of your Customer Information, however, are made because they are reasonably necessary to administer your coverage either so we can conduct our business or enable another to perform a valid business, professional or insurance function for us. In those instances, we are not required to seek your authorization in order to make the disclosure. But our business associates must agree to protect the privacy of your information, since any report produced by them that contains your Customer Information could be saved and further disclosed. Their agreement to protect your Customer Information helps ensure that your information is protected in the hands of our business associates.
There are a number of other situations where authorization is not required before a reasonable disclosure can be made of your Customer Information. They are as follows:
- To an insurer, agent or self-funded health plan sponsor, to detect or prevent fraud, criminal activity or a material misrepresentation or omission relating to your health coverage;
- To a law enforcement or other governmental authority, either to help us in preventing or prosecuting fraud or because we believe illegal activities may have occurred;
- To respond to an administrative or judicial order, search warrant, or subpoena;
- To an insurance regulatory authority;
- To a medical care institution or professional, in order to verify your coverage or benefits, to advise you of a medical problem about which you may be unaware, or conduct an audit;
- To a group policyholder, for purposes of reporting claims experience or conducting an audit of the operations or services of the group health policy;
- To a certificate holder or policyholder to inform him/her of the status of an insurance transaction;
- To conduct a professional peer review of the services or conduct of a medical care institution or professional;
- To conduct actuarial or research studies, under certain circumstances and conditions;
- To a limited extent, for marketing purposes, under certain circumstances and conditions;
- To an affiliate, for audit and product/service marketing purposes; and
- As otherwise permitted or required by law.
In order to properly carry out the duties and responsibilities of administering a group health benefits plan, whether self-funded or insured, the plan administrator may require data, including Customer Information. If you are covered by a group health benefits plan, RHS Pharmacy is permitted, without your authorization, to share with the plan administrator for your plan and with others, as agreed-to or directed by the plan administrator the Customer Information we receive or create on behalf of your plan.
The law provides you with several rights with respect to your Customer Information. You have a right to request, in writing, to inspect and obtain a copy of Customer Information about you. This does not include information that relates to, and is collected in connection with or in anticipation of, a claim or civil or criminal proceeding involving you, or information the release of which is prohibited by law. You must reasonably describe in your written request the information you seek; and the information must be reasonably available and retrievable by us. When permitted, we may charge you a fee to cover the cost of providing this Customer Information.
You also have the right to request, in writing, that we amend or delete Customer Information about you that we have in our records if you believe that the information is incorrect or incomplete. You must include the reason that you are making this request; and we may deny your request. However, if we do so, we must advise you of the reasons for the denial and advise you of your right to file a statement of rebuttal.
You may file a complaint with RHS Pharmacy if you feel that your privacy rights have been violated. All complaints must be submitted in writing. You will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint it is against the law for us to retaliate against you for complaining.
If you have any questions or comments about this Notice, want to learn more about your rights under the law as described above, or wish to exercise any of them, please contact:
Bonnie Abedini
Director of Quality and Compliance
Rutgers University Health Services
HIPAA Compliance Officer
(732) 932-1796 x275
health@rci.rutgers.edu
RHS Pharmacy will provide you with notice of our privacy practices annually, as long as you maintain an ongoing customer relationship with us. Our policies may change as we periodically review and revise them and we will advise you if the changes are significant. But you can rest assured that we will not revise our Privacy Policy to permit the sharing of Customer Information other than as described in this Notice and permitted or required by law unless we first notify you and provide you with an opportunity to object.
Pharmacy Services
Rutgers Health Center Pharmacy
Hurtado Health Center
11 Bishop Place
College Avenue Campus
(732) 932-7402 x 219
FAX: (732) 932-8641
Busch-Livingston
Health Center Pharmacy
Busch/Livingston Health Center
110 Hospital Road
Livingston Campus
(732) 445-3606
FAX: (732) 445-3725
Newark Campus Pharmacy
249 University Avenue
Room 104
(973) 353-5201
FAX: (973) 353-1390
Willets Pharmacy Hotline
(732) 445-3606
Camden Pharmacy Hotline
(732) 445-3606
Last Modified 03/05/2008