NEKAAA Notice of Privacy Practices

The Northeast Kansas Area Agency on Aging (NEKAAA) is committed to protecting your health information. This Notice of Privacy describes how NEKAAA will use, share and protect your health information it receives or creates. This Notice explains your rights regarding the privacy of your health information as required by law.

USE, SHARE AND PROTECTION OF HEALTH INFORMATION

NEKAAA will only use your health information when doing their jobs. When your health information is shared with other agencies or organizations that perform business services for us, NEKAAA will limit the disclosure of your information to the amount of information that is the minimum necessary. In addition, we will have a written contract in place with the agency or organization performing a function on our behalf, requiring it to protect and safeguard the privacy of your health information.

THE PURPOSES OF THE USE AND SHARING OF HEALTH INFORMATION ARE:

Operating programs within NEKAAA for:

Treatment – NEKAAA may use and share your health information to approve, deny services and/or to determine if your level of service is appropriate. For example, NEKAAA may review your plan of care, submitted by your Managed Care Organization, for appropriate level of services.

Payment – NEKAAA may use and share your health information with other State Agencies to process claims from health care providers and to determine your eligibility to receive community based or long term care services.

Health Care Operations – NEKAAA may use and share your health information to evaluate a health plan’s performance. For example, NEKAAA may review the care you receive.

Kansas Law: Kansas law provides additional confidentiality protections in some circumstances. For example under K.S.A. 45-221 a public agency generally may not be required to disclose psychiatric, alcoholism or drug dependency treatment records which pertain to identifiable information without your specific authorization for release. For more information on Kansas law related to these and other specially protected records, please refer to the Kansas Statues or contact private counsel of your choice.

OTHER USES, SHARING OF HEALTH INFORMATION OR DISCLOSURES OF HEALTH INFORMATION REQUIRED OR PERMITTED BY LAW:

Other Government Agencies/Organizations Providing Benefits, Services or Disaster Relief – NEKAAA may share information with other government agencies or organizations that are providing benefits or services when the information is necessary for you to receive those benefits or services.

Public Health – NEKAAA may disclose health information to the appropriate agencies for public health activities for disease control and prevention, prescription subsidies, and also reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence as required by law.

Health Oversight Activities – NEKAAA may use or disclose health information to authorized health oversight agencies such as those responsible for the Medicaid program, Health & Human Services and the Office of Civil Rights.

Information Purposes – NEKAAA may use and disclose health information to contact you. For example NEKAAA could mail you information such as a Letter of Determination after a CARE assessment, should you seek long-term care services.

Judicial and Administrative Hearings – NEKAAA may disclose specific health information in judicial proceedings as required by law, to defend or to administer NEKAAA’s programs and services.

Family or Friends Involved in Your Care – NEKAAA may disclose to your family member, close personal friend, or anyone else you identify, health information relevant to that person’s involvement in your care. NEKAAA may also give information to someone who helps pay for your care. If you do not want us to make these disclosures, you must notify us in writing and indicate who you prefer to be notified.

Law Enforcement Purposes, Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors – NEKAAA may disclose specific health information for purposes as required by law.

Disease Registries and Organ Donation – NEKAAA may disclose specific health information to authorized entities involved with organ donation and transplantation, communicable disease registries and cancer registries.

Research Purposes – NEKAAA may disclose specific health information to entities authorized to conduct a research project.

To Avert a Serious Threat to Health, Safety or Emergency Situation – NEKAAA may disclose specific health information to prevent a serious threat to a person’s or the public’s health or safety.

Specialized Government Functions – NEKAAA may disclose health information for national security and intelligence and protective services for the President and others as required by law. Also, NEKAAA may disclose health information to the appropriate military authorities if you are or have been a member of the armed services.

Correctional Institutions – NEKAAA may disclose health information, about an individual in correctional custody or supervision, to a correctional facility or law enforcement official to maintain the health, safety and security of the corrections system.

Workers’ Compensation – NEKAAA may disclose health information to worker compensation programs that provide benefits for work-related injuries or illnesses without regard to fault.

YOUR RIGHTS TO PRIVACY

Your health information will not be shared without your authorization except as described in this notice or required by law. You may authorize other disclosures by completing a NEKAAA Authorization form. You may revoke such authorization in writing at any time. NEKAAA has procedures to assist you in understanding your rights regarding your health information. You may ask NEKAAA for a paper copy of this notice at any time.

INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS

Right to Request Restrictions – You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the health information NEKAAA uses or discloses about you. NEKAAA will accommodate your request if possible, but may not be legally required to agree to the requested restriction.

Right to Receive Confidential Communications – You have the right to request that NEKAAA communicates with you about health matters in a certain way or at a certain location; for example, a different mailing address or calling you at a different phone number. NEKAAA will accommodate any reasonable request you may have to communicate health information by alternative means or at alternative locations.

Right to Inspect and Copy – You have a right to inspect and obtain a copy (for a standard fee) of your health information. Exceptions are psychotherapy notes and information that is needed for a civil, criminal or administrative action or proceeding.

Right to Request Amendment – If you believe that the health information NEKAAA has about you is incorrect or incomplete; you may ask NEKAAA to amend the information. NEKAAA may deny your request if you ask to amend information that:

• Was not created by NEKAAA, unless the person or entity that created the information is no longer available to make the amendment;
• Is not part of the health information kept by or for NEKAAA;
• In not part of the information which you would be permitted to inspect and copy; or is accurate and complete.

Right to Receive an Accounting of Disclosures – You may request an accounting of disclosures of your health information except for information that has been disclosed for purposes of treatment, payment, health care operations and disclosures required by law for purposes of national security or law enforcement

WEBSITE/ELECTRONIC MAIL PRIVACY POLICY

NEKAAA is committed to the protection and privacy of website users and electronic communications. This policy explains what type of information is collected by the NEKAAA website, www.NEKAAA.org, and how information is used. NEKAAA does not provide, sell, or rent email addresses to anyone outside the organization.

INFORMATION COLLECTED

Two types of information are collected, “Personally Identifiable Information” and “Non-Personally Identifiable Information.”

PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION

We only collect personally identifiable information that you knowingly and voluntarily provide. This information may include your name, mailing address, telephone number or email address. We may use this information for specific, limited purposes such as updated Information about events, programs and services. NEKAAA does not share personal information about you with any third parties for their own marketing purposes.

NON-PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION

When you visit the NEKAAA website, we may collect basic non-personally identifiable information about you (such as, date, time, address of the website from which you entered, IP address) which is stored as anonymous, aggregate data. This information is collected in order to improve our website and track the needs of our site visitors.

USAGE OF IP ADDRESSES

NEKAAA uses your IP address to help diagnose problems with its web servers, to administer www.NEKAAA.org, and for statistical metrics used to track website visitor traffic.

COOKIES

The website www.NEKAAA.org uses cookies to provide better service, analyze user trends, and administer the site. The NEKAAA website may use both session cookies (which expire once you close your web browser) and persistent cookies (which stay on your computer until you delete them) to enhance your experience using the website.

SOCIAL MEDIA/EXTERNAL LINKS

This website may include social media features, which are either hosted by a third party or directly on our site. These features may collect your IP Address and the URL for the page you are visiting on our site. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the company that provides them.

POLICY MODIFICATIONS

We may amend, add to, change, or modify the terms and conditions of this privacy policy.
If you believe that NEKAAA has disclosed information about you that it should not have, you may file a complaint with NEKAAA Privacy Officer.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

NEKAAA Privacy Officer
1803 Oregon Street
Hiawatha, Kansas 66434

You may also file a complaint with the U.S. Office of Civil Rights by calling 866-OCR-PRIV (627-7748) or 866-788-4989. There will be no retaliation against you for filing a complaint.

Updated 4/15/ 2020