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Unum's notice of Privacy Practices
For Long Term Care, Cancer Assistance, certain medical coverages, and other
health plans pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act ("HIPAA"), this notice describes how medical information about you may be
used and disclosed, and how you can get access to this information. Please
review this information carefully.
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Unum Understands the Importance of Your Privacy
This notice describes your rights concerning "protected health information"
(PHI) about you. PHI is information that may identify you and that relates to
(a) your past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition, or
(b) the past, present or future payment for your health care.
Unum is committed to preserving the confidentiality of PHI about its customers
and in accordance with the requirements of the law, we pledge to:
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maintain the privacy of PHI about you
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provide you with a notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with
respect to PHI
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abide by the terms of our current notice of privacy practices
It may be necessary to change the terms of this notice in the future. We reserve
the right to make changes and to make the new notice effective for all PHI that
we maintain about you, including PHI we created or maintained in the past. If
we make material changes to our privacy practices, copies of revised notices
will be mailed to all policyholders then covered by a health plan.
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Uses and Disclosures of PHI for Treatment, Payment or Operations
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For Treatment
— Unum is not a health care provider and does not engage in "treatment" of
individuals as a health care provider (a doctor, for example) would.
Accordingly, although we are permitted to use or disclose PHI about you for
treatment purposes, we do not do so.
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For Payment
— We may use and disclose PHI about you in order to obtain premiums or to
determine or fulfill our responsibility to provide you with insurance coverage
or benefits under your policy. For example, we may use or disclose PHI about
you in order to determine whether you are eligible for coverage or to decide
your claim for benefits under your policy.
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For Health Care Operations — We may use and disclose PHI about
you in order to operate our business. For example, we use PHI about you in
order to underwrite your insurance policy.
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Uses and Disclosures in Special Circumstances
Unum is committed to preserving the confidentiality of PHI about its customers
and in accordance with the requirements of the law. In the event applicable
law, other than HIPAA, prohibits or materially limits our uses and disclosures
of PHI (as described below), we will restrict our uses or disclosure of PHI in
accordance with the more stringent standard.
Public Health Activities — We may disclose PHI about you in
order to notify public health authorities of public health risks, such as
potential exposure to a communicable disease, or to report child abuse or
neglect.
Health Oversight Activities — We may disclose PHI about you to
a health oversight agency for oversight activities, including for
investigations relating to possible insurance fraud.
Judicial and Administrative Proceedings — We may disclose PHI
in the course of a judicial or administrative proceeding, such as in response
to a subpoena, discovery request or other lawful process.
Law Enforcement — We may disclose PHI to law enforcement, for
purposes such as reporting a crime on our premises or in an emergency. We may
also disclose to law enforcement or a correctional facility PHI relating to
inmates as necessary for health, safety and security.
Prevention of Serious Harm — We may use or disclose PHI about
you if we believe it is necessary to prevent or lessen serious harm (abuse,
neglect, or domestic violence) to you or to other potential victims.
Serious Threat to Health/Safety — We may use or disclose PHI
when it is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the
health or safety of a person or the public.
Specialized Government Functions — We may use or disclose PHI
about you for certain government functions, including but not limited to
military and veterans' activities and national security and intelligence
activities.
Workers' Compensation — We may disclose PHI about you in order
to comply with workers' compensation laws.
Research Organizations — We may disclose PHI to research
organizations if the organization has satisfied certain conditions about
protecting the privacy of PHI.
Plan Sponsors — We may disclose PHI to the plan sponsor of a
group health plan for plan administrative functions if the plan documents
contain provisions concerning restrictions on how the plan sponsor may use or
further disclose PHI.
Related Benefits and Services — We may contact you to inform
you of benefits or services related to your policy that may be of interest to
you.
Decedents — We may disclose PHI to a coroner, medical examiner,
or funeral director to permit them to carry out their legal duties.
Donation/Transplantation — We may use or disclose PHI for the
purpose of facilitating organ, eye or tissue donation and transplantation.
Business Associates — We may disclose PHI to our business
associates, such as our third-party administrators, accountants, or attorneys
if those business associates have signed a written agreement concerning
appropriate uses and disclosures of PHI.
Involvement in Individual's Care — We may disclose PHI about
you to a family member, close personal friend or other person identified by you
if directly relevant to that person's involvement with your care or payment
related to your health care.
Notification of Location/Condition — We may use or disclose PHI
to give notice or assist in giving notice of your location, general condition
or death to a family member, personal representative or another person
responsible for your care.
Disclosures Required by Law — We will use and disclose PHI
about you when we are required to do so by federal, state, or local law.
Uses and Disclosures of PHI Made Only With Your Written Authorization
— Other uses and disclosure of PHI about you will be made only with your
written authorization, unless otherwise permitted or required by law as
described in this notice. You may revoke your written authorization, at any
time, in writing, except to the extent we have taken action in reliance on that
written authorization before you have revoked it. You may not revoke your
authorization to the extent that other law provides us with the right to
contest a claim under the policy or the policy itself, if the authorization was
obtained as a condition of obtaining insurance coverage.
Your Rights — If you would like to have a paper copy of this
Notice, send a written request to:
Attn: Privacy Officer
Unum Group
2211 Congress Street, C467
Portland, ME 04122
Inspection and Copying — You have the right to access your PHI
information. Requests for access to your PHI must be in writing, should state
that you want access to your PHI and must be signed by you or your
representative (e.g., requests for medical records provided to us directly from
your health care provider). You have the right, upon written notice, to inspect
and copy certain PHI that may be used to make decisions about your insurance
coverage, including medical records and billing records, but not including
psychotherapy notes. We may deny your request to inspect and/or copy in certain
limited circumstances; however, you may request a review of our denial.
Amendment — You may ask us to amend PHI about you (as long as
the information is kept by or for us) if you believe it is incorrect or
incomplete. Such requests must be in writing to the Privacy Officer and must
include a reason for the request. If your request and a reason supporting the
request are not submitted in writing, we may deny your request.
Alternative Contact Information — You have the right to receive
communications of PHI about you from us in a certain manner or at a certain
location, so long as the request is reasonable under the circumstances. For
example, you may prefer to have mail from us sent to your work address rather
than to your home. Submit requests for an alternative method of contact in
writing to:
Attn: Privacy Officer
Unum Group
2211 Congress Street, C467
Portland, ME 04122
Requesting Restrictions — You have the right to request
restrictions on our use or disclosure of PHI about you. We are not required to
agree to your request. If we do agree, however, we are bound by our agreement
except when otherwise required by law, in emergencies, or when the information
is necessary for your treatment. Your request must clearly and concisely
describe (a) the information you wish restricted; (b) whether you are
requesting to limit our use, disclosure or both; and (c) to whom you want the
limits to apply.
Accounting — You have the right to request an "accounting of
disclosures." An "accounting of disclosures" is a list of certain disclosures
we have made of PHI about you other than disclosures you authorized and other
than disclosures made for treatment, payment or operations. The request must be
in writing. The first request for an accounting that you make within a 12-month
period is free; however, we may charge you for additional requests within the
same 12-month period. We will notify you of the costs of the additional
requests, and you may withdraw your request before incurring any costs.
Complaints. If you believe your privacy rights have been
violated, you may file a complaint with us or with the Secretary of Health and
Human Services. All complaints must be submitted in writing. We will not
penalize you for filing such a complaint. In order to exercise any of your
rights as set forth in this Notice, please write to:
Attn: Privacy Officer
Unum Group
2211 Congress Street, M385
Portland, ME 04122
For further information about matters covered by this notice, please contact the
Privacy Office at the above address or call (800) 227-4165 if you are a Long
Term Care customer, or (800) 635-5597 if you are a Cancer Assistance customer.
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Why did Unum send me a Business Associate Addendum to my
contract?
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act requires all covered
entities (such as Unum's insuring subsidiaries) to obtain written agreements
from all business associates that relate to the business associate's uses and
disclosures of protected health information.
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What is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act?
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a 1996
federal law, the primary purpose of which is to help consumers maintain their
insurance coverage. HIPAA also includes a section aimed at improving the
efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system — called "administrative
simplification." The Department of Health and Human Services recently finalized
certain regulations for health plans, health care providers and health care
clearinghouses to comply with the administrative simplification requirements of
HIPAA. One of these regulations relates to the privacy of individually
identifiable health information of individuals. Specifically, the regulation
sets standards for uses and disclosures of protected health information of
individuals. Health insurance issuers and certain insurance plans are
considered "health plans" and must comply with the administrative
simplification requirements of HIPAA.
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What is a business associate?
A business associate is a person, including an entity, which performs certain
functions or activities regulated by HIPAA "on behalf of" a health plan, health
care provider, or health care clearinghouse.
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When is the Business Associate Addendum effective?
The Business Associate Addendum is effective March 1, 2003.
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Am I required to sign the Business Associate Addendum and return
it to Unum?
No. You should carefully review and understand the obligations under the
Business Associate Addendum, but you are not required to sign it or to return
it to Unum.
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What is protected health information?
Protected health information is personally identifiable information about: (a)
an individual's past, present or future physical or mental health or condition,
or (b) the provision of health care to an individual, or (c) the past, present
or future payment for the provision of health care to an individual.
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