Privacy Policy

Uses and Disclosures of Protected Health Information

Overview

This Privacy Statement applies to Shield HealthCare, Inc. This Privacy Statement describes how Shield HealthCare, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as Shield HealthCare) collects and uses the personal information you provide as a Shield HealthCare customer, as well as other information that may be collected from your use, to obtain payment for medical billings and for other purposes as permitted or required by law. It also specifies your rights to access your protected health information. Protected health information is personal information about you, including demographic information that may identify you. Shield HealthCare is committed to protecting the privacy of our customers and of our website users. We will use and disclose your personal information only as stated in this Privacy Statement.

Payment

Your protected health information will be used, as needed, to obtain payment for your healthcare services. This may include certain activities that your health insurance plan may undertake before it approves or pays for healthcare services for you, such as eligibility and review activities. 

Operations

Your protected health information may be shared with business associates. Whenever an arrangement between our office and a business associate involves the use or disclosure of your protected health information, we will have a written contract that contains terms that will protect the privacy of your protected health information. Your protected health information may be used to provide you with information about other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you. We may also use your protected health information to send you information about products or services that may be beneficial to you. You may request that these materials not be sent to you by writing to our Privacy Contact indicated below.

Your protected health information will be disclosed when Shield HealthCare is required to do so by federal, state, or local law for law enforcement purposes. Information may be disclosed in response to a court or administrative order, a subpoena, a discovery request, or other lawful processes.

Other uses and disclosures of your protected health information will only be made with your written authorization unless otherwise permitted or required by law. You may revoke this authorization, at any time, by writing to our Privacy Contact indicated below.

Individual Rights to Access Your Protected Health Information

  1. You have the right to request restrictions on certain uses and disclosures of protected health information. Your request must state the specific restriction requested. Shield HealthCare is not required to agree to a requested restriction.
  2. You have the right to request and receive confidential communications of protected health information, as applicable.
  3. You have the right to inspect and obtain a copy of your protected health information about you for as long as it maintained. Shield HealthCare will accommodate reasonable requests. Shield HealthCare may condition any accommodation by specifying an alternative address for review of records or a method of contact.
  4. You have a right to request an amendment to your protected health information.
  5. You have the right to request and receive an accounting of disclosures of protected health information for reasons other than payment or operations.
  6. You have the right to obtain a paper copy of this notice from Shield HealthCare upon request.

You may exercise these rights by sending a written request to the Privacy Contact indicated below.

Information Collection and Use

We collect the following personal information from you:

  • Contact information such as name, email address, mailing address, medical history, diagnosis, insurance and phone number and biographical information.

We use this information to:

  • Bill your insurance for payment.
  • Send you requested product or service information.
  • Respond to customer service requests.
  • Send you newsletters, text messages, email, or phone you when business communications are deemed relavent.
  • Respond to your questions and concerns.
  • Improve our Websites and marketing efforts.
  • Conduct internal quality improvement or business analysis.

Except as disclosed in this Privacy Statement, we do not collect any personally identifiable information about visitors to Shield HealthCare websites or applications

Website Privacy Statement

Our use and disclosure of an individual's personal information are limited as required by state and federal law. We do not sell or rent personal information about visitors to our websites.

Website Security

Our use and disclosure of an individual's personal information are limited as required by state and federal law. We do not sell or rent personal information about our customers, about visitors to our websites, or about website users. Shield HealthCare has security measures in place that are intended to help protect against the loss, misuse, unauthorized access, or alteration of the information under our control. These measures may include encryption of data using the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) system. Despite these measures, the confidentiality of any communication or material transmitted to or from us via the websites by the internet cannot be guaranteed. At your discretion, you may contact us at the mailing address or telephone number listed in the "Questions, Complaints, and Contacts" section at the end of this Privacy Statement.

Website Visitor Data

Shield HealthCare routinely gathers data on websites and applications, such as how many people visit the sites, the web pages people visit, where website visitors come from, how long they stay, etc. The data is collected on an aggregate, anonymous basis, which means that no personally identifiable information is associated with the data. This data helps us improve our content and overall usage. The information is not shared with other organizations for their independent use. The websites do not honor a browser's signal or header request not to track the user's activity.

Web Logs

When you visit our web pages or online stores, we automatically record information from your device, software, and activity using the service ("Log Data"). This may include the device's Internet Protocol ("IP") address, browser type, the web page visited before you came to our website, the information you search for on our website, locale preferences, identification numbers associated with your devices, your mobile carrier, date and time stamps associated with transactions, system configuration information, metadata concerning your files, and other interactions with the service. We may use your IP address to identify the general geographic area from which you are accessing the website. While an IP address may reveal your ISP or geographic area, we cannot determine your identity solely based upon your IP address. Shield HealthCare uses web log information to help us design our websites; to identify popular features; to resolve user, hardware, and software problems, and; to make the websites more useful to visitors.

Internet Cookies

We may place internet "cookies" on your device to collect information and improve our interactions with you. We use session cookies to help customize your experience on our site, maintain your signed-on status as you navigate our features, and track your "click path" through our web pages. A cookie is a small data file that we transfer to your device. We may use "persistent cookies" to save your registration ID and login password for future logins to our website, such as registering for webinars or checking out on an online store. We may use "session ID cookies" to enable certain features of the service, better understand your interactions with us, and monitor aggregate usage and web traffic routing on our websites. The cookie consists of a unique identifier that does not contain information about you or your health history. 

Web Beacons & Re-Targeting

We may partner with a third-party ad network like Google to manage our advertising on other sites. Our ad network partner uses cookies and web beacons to collect non-personally identifiable information about your activities on the websites. Web beacons are tiny, clear images or "1-pixel gifs," that are placed on a web page or email, which can tell us if you've gone to a particular area on our Website, and for other purposes. We may also place a persistent third-party cookie (provided by Google) on your hard drive if you sign on to the website. Shield HealthCare is not responsible for the content or policies of external internet sites or mobile apps. You may continue to receive generic non-targeted ads. If you set your browser to decline or deactivate cookies, web beacons cannot function or use the Google opt-out tool.

Emails and SMS Text Messaging

Shield HealthCare uses third-party vendors to help us manage some of our email and text messaging communications. While we do supply these vendors with the email addresses or mobile telephone numbers of those we wish them to contact, your email address or mobile telephone number will never be used for any purpose other than to communicate with you on our behalf. When you click on a link in an email, you may temporarily be redirected through one of the vendor's servers (although this process will be invisible to you) which will register that you've clicked on that link and have visited our website. We will never share or sell any of your information with any additional third parties. You may opt-out from these messages by following the "unsubscribe" information at the bottom of the email or replying "Stop" to any text message you receive from us. Please note that message and data rates may apply.

Quality Improvement and Evaluation

We may periodically ask users to complete surveys asking about their experiences with our websites and services. Our surveys may ask visitors for demographic information such as age, gender, and education, but will not request that users provide specific information about any medical condition. We use survey information for evaluation and quality improvement purposes, including helping Shield HealthCare improve the information and services offered through our websites. In addition, users giving feedback may be individually contacted for follow-up due to concerns raised during the course of such feedback. Demographic information and web log data may be stored for future evaluation and quality improvement activities.

Messages You Send Us

We collect information that you provide directly to us, such as when you create or modify your account or user preferences, contact us by email or by webform, sign up for a newsletter, respond to a survey, download online content, or communicate with us through another means. This information may include your name, email address, phone number, postal address, insurance information, or personal health information. To the extent that it is considered Protected Health Information under HIPAA, it shall be subject to the full protections of this Privacy Policy. This includes survey responses, user content stored or entered into the forms found in our online platforms, and other information you choose to provide through the use of our online platforms.

The information you provide to us will be used to:

  1. Set up your account (if applicable).
  2. Provide you with information from Shield HealthCare, should you have elected us to do so.
  3. Respond to your inquiries.
  4. Improve the websites and online platforms.
  5. Facilitate a job application.
  6. Fulfill any other purpose for which you provided it.

We will not use your information for any purposes other than as described in this privacy statement and will handle your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy.

Children Under 13

The site is not directed at or intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under 13 years of age. If you are under 13 years of age, you should not register or provide personal information to us unless your parent or guardian expressly gives us permission. If you are a parent or guardian of a child under 13 years of age whom you believe has disclosed personal information to us or on our websites, please contact us to delete the child's information.

Disclosures

We only disclose your personal data to those who legitimately need access to perform their tasks, and to third parties who have a legitimate purpose for accessing it. We may share personal data with third parties in the following situations:

  • with your insurance provider(s) for billing purposes.
  • as required by law, such as to comply with a subpoena or similar legal process.
  • when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect you or others from threats of imminent harm, investigate fraud or other activity in violation of the law, or respond to a government request.
  • if Shield HealthCare is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of its assets. You will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our websites of any change in ownership or uses of your personal information, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal information.
  • to any other third party with your prior consent to do so, or to protect the security and reliability of the websites.

Opt-out

You may receive streamlined reorder requests/information, marketing or informational announcements from us; such emails, texts, or phone calls will include the capability to opt-out of receiving such in the future. Marketing, reorder notices and informational announcements include any communications to you that are only based on communicating information and services. Transactional communications about an interaction or our services, such as order tracking information, are not considered "marketing" or "informational" communications. You can opt-out of receiving individual messages and marketing communications from us by following the unsubscribe instructions included in our marketing communications for email newsletters, or responding with STOP to text messages. You can also remove yourself from email or texting by calling in and speaking to a customer service agent.

Data Retention

In order to provide you with the products and services we offer, it is necessary to store and process personal Information on our servers and the servers of third parties we hire to provide our services. We will retain and use your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected, including any legal, resolve dispute, professional, accounting, or reporting requirements and agreements.

Social Media

Our websites also use social media features (such as the Facebook "Like" button) to enable you to easily share information with others. These features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media features are either hosted by a third party or are hosted directly on our site but are governed by a third party. For further details about the information shared via a social media plugin, you should refer to that social media website's privacy statement.

Links to Third-Party Websites

Our websites contains links to other websites that are not managed or controlled by us. These links are provided for your convenience only. We do not endorse the products of the companies associated with these third-party websites. We do not control, review, endorse, or take responsibility for the content or links that appear on these websites. If you choose to access such sites, you are subject to the privacy policies of those sites. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy statement of any website you visit. Our websites may include links to other websites whose privacy practices may differ from those of Shield HealthCare. If you submit personal information to any of those sites, your information is governed by their privacy statements.

California Privacy Rights

A business subject to California Civil Code section 1798.83 is required to disclose to its California customers, upon request, the identity of any third parties to whom the business has disclosed personal data information within the previous calendar year, along with the type of personal data disclosed, for the third parties' direct marketing purposes. Please note that businesses are only required to respond to a customer request under California law once during any calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make either type of request described above, please contact us by writing to our Privacy Contact indicated below.

International Users

We maintain information in the United States of America and in accordance with the laws therein. These may not provide the same level of protection as the laws in your jurisdiction. By using our services and providing us with information, you understand and agree that your information may be transferred to and stored on servers located outside your resident jurisdiction and, to the extent you are a resident of a country other than the United States, that you consent to the transfer of such data to the United States for processing by us in accordance with this Privacy Statement.

Revisions to the Privacy Statement

We may revise this Privacy Statement periodically as laws change, as we modify the way we manage information, or when new features are added that may affect our services. This helps you to always be aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, it is disclosed. Your continued use of the service and/or continued provision of personal Information to us will be subject to the terms of the then-current Privacy Policy.

Questions, Complaints, and Contacts

Complaints

If you have any questions about this Privacy Statement, our policies and practices concerning our websites or applications, your rights under this statement, and your dealings with Shield HealthCare, you can contact Shield HealthCare by telephone or by U.S. mail at the address below:

Compliance Officer

Shield HealthCare, Inc.
27911 Franklin Parkway
Valencia, CA 91355

661.294.4200

www.shieldhealthcare.com

This notice was published and becomes effective on August 1, 2020.