YOUR PRIVACY:
Patterson//Smith Associates values your trust as one of our
most important assets. We are committed to preserving that trust and to
protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy is provided to you so that you
will understand what Patterson//Smith does with the personal information you
provide. This policy applies with respect to our insurance products and
services.
INFORMATION
WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU TO CONDUCT OUR BUSINESS:
We collect nonpublic personal information about you to serve
your insurance needs, conduct our insurance business, provide you with customer
service, and fulfill our legal and regulatory requirements. “Nonpublic personal
information” is information about you that is personally identifiable and that
we obtain in connection with providing you insurance products and
services. The type of information that
we collect includes the following:
and telephone number)
Motor Vehicle Reports)
INFORMATION
WE DISCLOSE ABOUT YOU:
We disclose nonpublic personal information about our
customers or former customers ONLY AS PERMITTED BY LAW and only for the purpose
of securing insurance products on your behalf as requested by you, or to
provide service on these policies such as claim resolution, coverage
additions/deletions or policy remarketing efforts. For example, we may disclose
information about you in response to a subpoena, to prevent fraud, or to comply
with an inquiry by a government agency or regulator. Every insurance carrier we represent has
their own privacy policy that you will receive directly from them. We do not
sell your nonpublic personal information to anyone.
SECURITY
MEASURES:
We restrict our employees’ access to nonpublic personal
information about you to those individuals who may need to know that
information to conduct our business on your behalf. We maintain physical, electronic, and
procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations to guard your
nonpublic personal information.
ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION:
If you cease to be our customer, our Privacy Policy, as
amended from time to time, will continue to apply to the extent that we retain
information about you that we collected while you were our customer.
RESERVATION
OF THE RIGHT TO DISCLOSE INFORMATION IN UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES:
In connection with the potential sale or transfer of its
interest, Patterson//Smith Associates reserves the right to sell or transfer
your information (including, but not limited to, your name, address and other
information that you provide through other communications) to a third party
entity that (1) concentrates its business in a similar practice or service; (2)
agrees to be Patterson//Smith’s successor in interests with regard to the
maintenance and protection of the information collected; and (3) agrees to the obligations of this privacy
statement.
YOUR RIGHT TO OPT OUT OF CERTAIN INFORMATION SHARING:
As we have indicated in this Privacy Policy Notice, we
collect certain nonpublic personal information about you, and we may disclose
that information to certain non-affiliated third parties for purposes other
than those expressly permitted by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley
Act and the federal and state regulations implementing the Act. If you prefer that we not disclose nonpublic
personal information about you to non-affiliated third parties, you may opt out
of these disclosures, that is, you may direct us not to make those disclosures
(other than those disclosures that are expressly permitted by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and its implementing regulations).
If you wish
to opt out of such disclosures to non-affiliated third parties, you may:
OUR
POLICY REGARDING DISPUTE RESOLUTION:
Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to our
privacy policy, or the breach thereof, shall be settled by arbitration in
accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association, and any
judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator(s) may be entered in any
court having jurisdiction thereof.
THE REMAINDER OF 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.
We are required by the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 to maintain the privacy of
your personal health information and to provide you with this notice of our
privacy practices and legal duties. We
are required to abide by the terms of this notice. We reserve the right to change the terms of
this notice and make any new provisions effective to all of the personal health
information that we maintain about you.
If we revise this notice, we will provide you with a revised notice in
writing.
You have
the right to know how we may use or disclose your personal health information.
This notice informs you of those uses and disclosures. There are certain uses
and disclosures of your personal health information that we are permitted or
required to make by law without your permission. For all other uses and
disclosures, we first must obtain your permission. In addition, you have the following rights:
(a) The right
to request that we place additional restrictions on our uses and disclosures of
your personal health information (beyond what the law requires), but we are not
obligated to agree to any such additional restrictions.
(b) The right
to access, inspect and copy the protected information
pertaining to you that we maintain in our files about you, and the right to
have us correct or amend any information that we create in error.
(c) The right
to receive an accounting of the disclosures of your personal health information
that we make for purposes other than activities related to your insurance, or
other health care operations.
(d) The right
to request that you receive communication of personal health information in a
confidential manner.
(e) The right
to obtain a paper copy of this notice from us on request.
3. Permissible Uses and
Disclosure of Protected Health Information
(a) Payment
Functions. We may use or disclose your health information without your
permission to carry out activities relating to reimbursing you for the
provision of health care, obtaining premiums, determining coverage, and
providing benefits under the policy of insurance that you are purchasing. For
example, payment functions may include (but are not limited to)
reviewing health care services with respect to medical necessity, coverage
under the policy, appropriateness of care, or justification of charges.
(b) Health
Care Operations. We also may use or
disclose your protected health information without your permission to carry out
certain insurance-related activities.
These activities include using your protected information for
underwriting, premium rating, or other activities relating to the creation,
renewal or replacement of another contract of health insurance, and ceding,
securing, or placing a contract for reinsurance of risk relating to claims for
health care.
(c) Uses Permitted/Required By Law. We also may use or disclose your protected
health information
without your written permission
for purposes permitted or required by law.
(d) Authorized
Uses. All other uses or disclosures of
your protected health information will be made only with your written
permission, and any permission that you give us may be revoked by you at any
time.
You may
complain either directly to Patterson//Smith Associates or to the Secretary of
Health and Human Services if you believe that your rights with respect to our
protection of your health information have been violated. To file a complaint with us, you may submit a
complaint in writing that includes as many details (such as names and dates) as
possible. You will not be retaliated
against in any way for filing a complaint.
YOUR PRIVACY IS OUR CONCERN:
We will gather nonpublic personal information about you only
in the interest of conducting our business operations. We’re committed to the careful handling of
your personal information. If you have
any questions about our Privacy Policy, please write us at the address below:
Patterson//Smith
Associates
Attn: Privacy Notice