Privacy Policy

WEB SITE PRIVACY POLICY FOR SPECIALTYSCRIPTS.COM

Effective March 16, 2006

SpecialtyScripts.com is owned and operated by SpecialtyScripts, Inc. ("SpecialtyScripts"). We have provided this notice to describe the online information collection and use practices at SpecialtyScripts.com. This document describes the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used. This privacy policy applies only to the information collected on SpecialtyScripts.com, and does not apply to any other information that SpecialtyScripts collects about you including correspondence, e-mails or telephone conversations.

In some circumstances, SpecialtyScripts' use of your information will also be subject to the requirements of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (frequently referred to as "HIPAA"). In those circumstances, the terms of SpecialtyScripts' HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices, which is set forth below, will apply. If you have questions about which policy applies to information you have submitted, please do not hesitate to contact us.

From time to time, our internal processes may change, or we may offer new features at SpecialtyScripts.com. If appropriate, we will revise this privacy policy. We encourage you to return to this area to read the most recent version of the privacy policy. The information we provide you on SpecialtyScripts.com will be treated in accordance with the privacy policy in effect as of the date you provide information to us. If you do not agree with the privacy practices described in this policy, you should not provide us with information.

Information Collection

SpecialtyScripts collects personally identifiable information at SpecialtyScripts.com from web visitors who are interested in receiving services it offers. SpecialtyScripts may work with third-party providers to provide specific services offered on SpecialtyScripts.com, and may collect personal information as part of the provision of those services.

Information Use

Information you provide is used in order to respond to your request. We may share your information with our subsidiaries, affiliates, or business partners. Occasionally, we may also share your information with a trusted third party in whose products or services we believe you may be interested.

We will disclose your personal information if, in good faith, we believe we are required by law to do so, including but not limited to disclosure to law enforcement or other government officials in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property infringement, or other activity that is illegal or may expose us to legal liability. We may also disclose your information in the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, bankruptcy, or other similar event. If this occurs, your personally identifiable information may be transferred to our successor(s) or assign(s), or may be sold as an asset of our company.

Security

SpecialtyScripts takes reasonable technical and procedural precautions to protect the information provided by users of SpecialtyScripts.com.

Links

SpecialtyScripts.com contains links to other web sites not operated by SpecialtyScripts. These links are provided as a convenience and do not constitute an affiliation with, endorsement or sponsorship of the third parties that operate those Web sites. SpecialtyScripts is not responsible for the availability or reliability of the content of these third party Web sites. Any information you provide to those third parties is not subject to the terms of this privacy policy, and SpecialtyScripts is not responsible for the treatment of the information you provide to those third parties. We recommend that you review the privacy policy of that third party, and of any third party to whom you provide personally identifiable information online.

Contact Information

SpecialtyScripts, Inc.
Attn: Privacy Officer
315 Pleasant Street
Building 1, 6th Floor
Fall River, MA 02721
(800) 833-5002

SPECIALTYSCRIPTS HIPAA NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

Effective March ___, 2006

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU MAY OBTAIN ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

HIPAA; Protected Health Information

This SpecialtyScripts HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices (this "Notice") is being provided to you in accordance with the requirements of the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (the "HIPAA Privacy Rules"). The HIPAA Privacy Rules are federal laws that seek to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of your health information. The HIPAA Privacy Rules require SpecialtyScripts to take certain actions to protect the privacy of your health information. This Notice has been prepared to advise you of the uses and disclosures of your Protected Health Information (as defined below) that may be made by SpecialtyScripts and to advise you of your rights and SpecialtyScripts' legal duties relating to the privacy of your Protected Health Information. Protected Health Information means information related to a past or present health condition that individually identifies you or could reasonably be used to identify you and is transferred to another entity or maintained by SpecialtyScripts in written, electronic or any other form.

Situations when may SpecialtyScripts may use or disclose Protected Health Information

The law permits SpecialtyScripts to use or disclose Protected Health Information to carry out "treatment," "payment," and other "health care operations." SpecialtyScripts is not required to obtain an authorization or notify you each time it uses or discloses your Protected Health Information for treatment, payment or health care operations purposes. The following are examples of the types of uses and disclosures of your Protected Health Information that SpecialtyScripts is permitted to make, but are not meant to be exhaustive.

Treatment: Treatment means the provision, coordination, or management of health care and related services by health care providers, including the coordination or management of health care by a health care provider with a third party (such as an insurer of SpecialtyScripts), consultation between providers with respect to a patient, and the referral of a patient for health care from one provider to another. For example, (i) SpecialtyScripts may disclose your Protected Health Information, as necessary, to a physician that provides care to you, (ii) SpecialtyScripts may disclose Protected Health Information to other physicians who may be treating you, or (iii) your Protected Health Information may be provided to a physician to whom you have been referred to ensure that the physician has the necessary information to diagnose or treat you. SpecialtyScripts may disclose certain information about you to drug companies in order to facilitate your treatment.

Payment: Your Protected Health Information will be used, as needed, to obtain payment for your health care services. This may include certain activities that your health insurance plan may undertake before it approves or pays for the health care services SpecialtyScripts provides for you, such as making a determination of eligibility or coverage for insurance benefits and reviewing prescriptions provided to you for medical necessity. Another example is obtaining approval for health insurance coverage of specific medications, which may require that your relevant Protected Health Information be disclosed to the health plan to obtain approval.

Health Care Operations: The term "health care operations" means those other functions and activities that SpecialtyScripts performs in connection with providing health care. These activities include, but are not limited to, quality assessment activities, employee review activities, training of pharmacists, licensing, underwriting, auditing functions, and conducting or arranging for other business and administrative activities. SpecialtyScripts will share your protected health information with third parties or "business associates" that perform various activities (e.g., billing information technology). Whenever an arrangement between our office and a business associate involves the use or disclosure of your Protected Health Information, SpecialtyScripts will have a written contract that contains terms that will protect the privacy of your Protected Health Information. SpecialtyScripts may use or disclose your Protected Health Information to provide you with appointment reminders or information about your treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.

Authorization: For uses or disclosures of Protected Health Information that are not made for treatment, payment, or health care operations purposes and for which no exception regarding an Authorization applies, the law requires SpecialtyScripts to obtain your Authorization. An Authorization is your approval for SpecialtyScripts' disclosure of your Protected Health Information to a particular person or entity for a particular purpose. You may revoke an Authorization at any time, but a revocation is not effective if SpecialtyScripts has already reasonably relied on your Authorization to make a particular use or disclosure. Additionally, if you request that SpecialtyScripts make a use or disclosure of your Protected Health Information to a third party, SpecialtyScripts may require that you sign an Authorization that permits SpecialtyScripts to honor your request. While SpecialtyScripts does not anticipate using or disclosing your Protected Health Information for marketing purposes, under the HIPAA Privacy Rules, SpecialtyScripts may only make such uses or disclosures with your Authorization, unless SpecialtyScripts communicates with you face-to-face or provides you with some promotional gift of nominal value, in which case your Authorization would not be required.

Other Grounds: As discussed above, SpecialtyScripts is not required to obtain your Authorization to use or disclose your Protected Health Information for treatment, payment or health care operations purposes. Additionally, there are some limited exceptions in which the law allows SpecialtyScripts to use or disclose your Protected Health Information for purposes other than treatment, payment, or health care operations and without your Authorization. Most of these uses or disclosures are permitted to promote the government's need to ensure a safe and healthy society. In some cases, you may be given an opportunity to agree or object before the use or disclosure is made; in other cases, you may not be given this opportunity. The types of uses or disclosures of Protected Health Information that may be made without your Authorization and without giving you the opportunity to object include those: required by law; for public health activities; for FDA-related purposes; to avert communicable or spreading diseases; for public health activities; to an employer to conduct medical surveillance evaluations, to address work-related illness/workplace injuries and for workers' compensation purposes; for health oversight purposes (such as when the government requests certain information from SpecialtyScripts to determine its compliance with applicable laws); when a judge or administrative tribunal orders the release of such Protected Health Information; to properly assist law enforcement to carry out their duties; as required by law for reporting certain types of wounds or other physical injuries; pursuant to a request from a law enforcement official if the individual is a victim of a crime; for purposes of identifying or locating a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person; to a coroner or medical examiner for purposes of identifying a deceased person; to a funeral director as necessary to carry out services; for cadaveric organ, eye and tissue donations (where appropriate); to carry out clinical research that involves treatment where the proper body has determined the importance for doing so and compliance with the research authorization requirements are followed; to prevent serious and imminent threats to the health or safety of a person; to assist armed forces personnel and operations; for military service, veterans affairs separation/discharge matters; for federal intelligence, counter-intelligence and national security purposes; to help determine veterans eligibility status; to protect Presidential and other high-ranking officials; and for reporting to correctional institutions/law enforcement officials acting in a custodian capacity. There are also several types of uses or disclosures of Protected Health Information that SpecialtyScripts may make without your Authorization as long as, whenever possible, you are given an opportunity to agree or object before SpecialtyScripts makes the use or disclosure. These exceptions are very limited and generally involve the release of a limited amount of Protected Health Information, and include, but are not limited to the following purposes: to maintain a directory of individuals; to aid your family members, close personal friends, or persons identified by you to assist in your care, payment of care, or in locating you; or disclosures to disaster relief personnel in order to locating you in the event of an emergency. If you are not available to agree or object to the use or disclosure of Protected Health Information due to your incapacity or an emergency circumstance, then SpecialtyScripts may, in the exercise of its professional judgment, determine whether the disclosure is in your best interests and, if so, disclose only the Protected Health Information that is relevant to your health care.

Right to Request Additional Restrictions; Alternative Communications: You have the right to request additional restrictions relating to SpecialtyScripts' use or disclosure of your Protected Health Information beyond those otherwise required under the HIPAA Privacy Rules. Although SpecialtyScripts is not legally required to grant these requests, it is your right to make such a request.

If you believe that SpecialtyScripts' communications to you by the usual means will endanger you or your health care and you would like SpecialtyScripts to make its communications that involve Protected Health Information to you at an alternate location, you may contact SpecialtyScripts to make such a request. SpecialtyScripts will only accommodate reasonable requests and may require information as to how payment, if any, will be handled.

Other Rights

Inspection: Generally, you have the right to request and obtain access to inspect and copy your Protected Health Information maintained by SpecialtyScripts unless an exception applies. SpecialtyScripts may deny you access to your Protected Health Information if the information is not required to be accessible under the HIPAA Privacy Rules or other applicable law. SpecialtyScripts may charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee for copying (including the cost of supplies and labor) any Protected Health Information required to be copied to adequately respond to your access request, as well as any postage costs and costs associated with preparing an explanation or summary of the Protected Health Information necessary to adequately respond to your access request (unless otherwise precluded by applicable State or other law).

Amendment: You have the right to request that SpecialtyScripts amend your Protected Health Information. SpecialtyScripts reserves the right to deny or partially deny requests for amendments that are not required to be granted under the HIPAA Privacy Rules.

Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to request and obtain a proper accounting of disclosures SpecialtyScripts has made of your Protected Health Information in the six years prior to the date on which the accounting is requested. SpecialtyScripts is not required to account for all uses and disclosures of Protected Health Information that SpecialtyScripts makes. SpecialtyScripts will provide you with your first accounting at no charge to you. If you request any additional accountings within a 12-month period, SpecialtyScripts may charge you a reasonable, cost-based fee. At the time that you request a subsequent accounting, SpecialtyScripts will provide you with information regarding the fees, and you will have the opportunity to withdraw or modify your request if you wish to do so.

Complaints: If you believe that SpecialtyScripts has violated your privacy rights or has acted inconsistently with its obligations under the HIPAA Privacy Rules, you may file a complaint by contacting SpecialtyScripts' Privacy Officer by writing a letter addressed to Privacy Officer, SpecialtyScripts, Inc., 315 Pleasant Street, Building 1, 6th Floor, Fall River, MA 02721. SpecialtyScripts requests that you attempt to resolve your complaint with SpecialtyScripts via these complaint procedures since SpecialtyScripts is in the best position to respond to your complaint. However, if you believe SpecialtyScripts has violated your privacy rights, you may also file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights ("OCR") at the United States Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS"). You may contact the HHS OCR at: Medical Privacy, Complaint Division, Office of Civil Rights, United States Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Room 509F, HHH Building, Washington, D.C. 20201, Voice Hotline Number (800) 368-1019, Internet Address www.hhs.gov/ocr. It is against the policies and procedures of SpecialtyScripts to retaliate against any person who has filed a privacy complaint, either with us or with HHS OCR. Should you believe that you are being retaliated against in any way upon your filing a complaint with us or the HHS OCR, please immediately contact SpecialtyScripts' Privacy Officer, so that SpecialtyScripts may properly address the issue.

SpecialtyScripts' Right to Amend this Notice

SpecialtyScripts may change the terms of this Notice, at any time. The new notice will be effective for all Protected Health Information that SpecialtyScripts maintains at that time. Upon your request, SpecialtyScripts will provide you with any revised Notice of Privacy Practices. You have the right to request a paper copy of this Notice.

Questions/Requests

If you have any questions, concerns, or issues relating to the privacy of your Protected Health Information that is not covered in this Notice or you wish to make one of the requests referenced above, please contact SpecialtyScripts:

SpecialtyScripts, Inc.
Attn: Privacy Officer
315 Pleasant Street
Building 1, 6th Floor
Fall River, MA 02721
(800) 833-5002