Privacy at Health Payment Systems
Healthcare companies determine how and when they will share your personal information and inform you through their organization’s privacy policy. Federal guidelines protect consumers and give them the right to limit sharing but not all sharing. Please read the following information security and sharing notice so you are aware of and understand how we share your information.
Privacy Policy:
Thank you for visiting this website (or “Site”), one of the online services of HPS. This Privacy Policy describes the type of personal information we collect, how we use the information, with whom we share it and the rights and choices available to you regarding our use of your information. The policy also describes the measures we take to protect your privacy, how you may contact us about our privacy practices and how to exercise your rights. The policy covers the following topics:
- Information We Collect
- How We Use the Information We Collect
- Information We Share
- Your Rights and Choices
- Notice to California Residents
- How We Protect Your Personal Information
- How to Contact Us
- Updates to this Policy
Information We Collect
Personal Information is information that can identify you as a specific individual (“Personal Information”). HPS collects personal information about you and your family in various ways such as through the use of our websites, through benefit enrollment applications and through interaction with our partners who facilitate the delivery of your healthcare. We may collect the following types of personal information (as permitted by applicable law):
- Personal information (name, address, telephone number, email address, Social Security number, date of birth and your response to similar background information)
- User name and password when you register on our site
- Payment information (such as credit card number, expiration date, authorization number or security code)
- Protected Health Information (procedure or services performed, name of care provider, name of facility, date of visit, etc.)
HPS is committed to protecting your personal information and will request to verify your identity when you reach out to HPS to reduce the risk of unauthorized disclosure.
Minors
We do not knowingly collect Personal Information (as defined above) from persons under the age of 18. If you become aware that a minor has provided us with this type of information, please contact us to have the account deactivated by sending us an email at legal@hps.md or by calling at 888.477.7968.
Please note that we collect and store certain limited information related to your visits and interactions with our Site. What we collect and how we use it is set forth below.
What we collect if you only browse our Site: If you do nothing during your visit but browse, read pages or download information, we will gather and store certain limited information about your visit. You should know that this information does not identify you personally. We automatically collect and store the following information about your visit:
- Your IP address, which is an identifier assigned either to your Internet service or directly to your computer. We use the IP address to direct Internet traffic to you;
- Your browsing behavior, which includes your browser and device characteristics;
- The date and time you visited;
- The pages or services you accessed; and
- Any referring URLs, or sites that directed you to our Site.
The information we automatically collect or store is used only for improving the content of our Site services and to help us understand how people are using our services so that we may continually improve the performance, suitability and usefulness of our products and services.
How We Use the Information We Collect
We use the information described above to perform the following activities (as permitted by law):
- Assist in the clarification/explanation of services you have received from your care provider
- Providing an explanation of your benefits
- Communicating with you about our services
- Creating and managing online accounts
- Processing payments
- Responding to your inquiries
- Protecting against, identifying and seeking to prevent fraud and other unlawful activity, and
- Complying with and enforcing applicable legal requirements, relevant industry standards, contractual obligations and our policies
In addition, we use information collected through cookies, web beacons, pixels, web server logs and other automated means for purposes such as (i) customizing our users’ use of our Site; (ii) delivering content tailored to our users’ interests and the manner in which our users use our Site; and (iii) managing our Site and other aspects of our business. To the extent required by applicable law, we will obtain your consent before collecting information using cookies or similar automated means.
We also use third-party analytics services on our Site, such as those of Google Analytics. The analytics providers that administer these services use technologies such as cookies, web server logs and web beacons to help us analyze your use of our Site. The information collected through these means (including IP address) may be disclosed to these analytics providers and other relevant third parties who use the information, for example, to evaluate use of the Site. To learn more about these analytics services and how to opt out, please visit the following site:
Google Analytics: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
We use Hotjar in order to better understand our users’ needs and to optimize this service and experience. Hotjar is a technology service that helps us better understand our users experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.) and this enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behavior and their devices (in particular device’s IP address (captured and stored only in anonymized form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), preferred language used to display our website). Hotjar stores this information in a pseudonymized user profile. Neither Hotjar nor we will ever use this information to identify individual users or to match it with further data on an individual user. For further details, please see Hotjar’s privacy policy by clicking on this link. https://www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/privacy
You can also opt-out to the creation of a user profile, Hotjar’s storing of data about your usage of our site and Hotjar’s use of tracking cookies on other websites by following this opt-out link. https://www.hotjar.com/legal/compliance/opt-out
Information We Share
Healthcare technology companies, including HPS, need to share Personal Information in order to run their everyday business. We disclose your Personal Information to third parties with whom we have a direct or indirect business or contract relationship so that we may provide the products and services you have requested. We do not authorize these vendors to use or disclose your personal information except as necessary to perform services on our behalf or comply with legal requirements. We may also disclose information to third parties that provide administrative or processing services for us, for example, printing, mailing and/or payment processing.
In addition, we may disclose information about you if we are required to do so by law or legal process; to law enforcement authorities or other government officials based on a lawful disclosure request; and when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss, or in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual fraudulent or illegal activity. We also reserve the right to transfer personal information we have about you in the event we sell or transfer all or a portion of our business or assets (including in the event of a reorganization, dissolution or liquidation).
Your Rights and Choices
We offer you certain choices in connection with the personal information that you have voluntarily provided and how we communicate with you. To update your preferences, you may request to remove your information from our mailing lists. To exercise your rights or submit a request, please contact us as indicated in the “How to Contact Us” section of this Privacy Policy.
To the extent provided by the law of your jurisdiction, you may request access to the personal information we maintain about you or request that we correct, amend, delete or block the information by contacting us as indicated below. Where provided by law, you may withdraw any consent you previously provided to us or object at any time on legitimate grounds to the processing of your personal information, and we will apply your preferences going forward.
If you are receiving communications from us, including voice mail or email, but later decide that you would prefer not to receive communications from Health Payment Systems, please contact legal@hps.md . Keep in mind that Health Payment Systems may still continue to send email communications or call you in order to provide a product or service that you request.
Notice to California Residents
Subject to certain limitations, California residents may request to be provided with a list of certain categories of personal information that we have disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the immediately preceding calendar year, and the identity of those third parties. To make this request, California residents may contact us as instructed in the “How to Contact Us” section below.
How We Protect Your Personal Information
We closely safeguard the integrity of our Site with the intent to prevent unauthorized access to information maintained by us. These measures are designed and intended to prevent corruption of data and to block unknown or unauthorized access to our systems and information. We also review our security policies periodically and revise them as needed.
However, it is important to recognize that whatever you transmit or disclose online could be collected and used by others or even unlawfully intercepted by third parties. No data transmission over the Internet can ever be guaranteed to be 100 percent secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot warrant the security of any information that you transmit to us.
If you register for an online account, you will be asked to select a password to help protect your information. These passwords help us verify your identity before granting access or making corrections to any of your Personal Information. You should never disclose your password to anyone. Health Payment Systems will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or email. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and any account information.
When you provide credit card, debit card or bank account information, it is transmitted using SSL technology to help prevent unauthorized access to or misuse of that information.
How to Contact Us
To correct your personal information, to send an “opt-out” message, or if you have questions or concerns about this privacy policy, you may contact HPS Customer Care at:
Health Payment Systems
P.O. Box 1450
Milwaukee, WI 53201-1450
888.477.7968
Enforcement: Health Payment Systems uses a self-assessment approach to assure compliance with this privacy policy and periodically verifies that the policy is accurate, and comprehensive for the information intended to be covered, prominently displayed, completely implemented and accessible. We encourage interested persons to raise any complaints or concerns using the contact information provided in this section and we will investigate and attempt to resolve any concerns regarding use and disclosure of personal information.
Privacy Complaints
Health Payment Systems is committed to resolve complaints about your privacy and our collection or use of your personal information. Please direct your complaint or concern in writing to:
Health Payment Systems
Attn: Privacy Officer
P.O. Box 1450
Milwaukee, WI 53201-1450
Updates to Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy (including any addenda) may be updated periodically to reflect changes in our personal information practices. For significant changes, we will notify you by posting a prominent notice on our Site indicating at the top of the Policy when it was most recently updated.
To contact us regarding this policy and our related privacy practices, please contact us at: customercare@hps.md or call our representatives at: 888.477.7968 Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. CT.
