PEP, March 2003: Health and Security Plan is protecting your privacy

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

The DC 37 Health and Security Plan will implement new federally required privacy protections by early April. The plan will soon mail a brochure detailing these new guidelines for members and retirees receiving union welfare fund benefits, like prescription drugs and dental, vision, hearing and podiatry care.

Members and retirees who call the plan’s Inquiry Unit at (212) 815-1234 will notice a change. They will be asked more comprehensive questions than before so benefits workers can verify their identify before discussing personal information.

“We have always been careful about safeguarding sensitive personal information,” said Rosaria R. Esperon, administrator of the DC 37 Health and Security Plan. “But the new federal rules provide us with formal, specific guidelines for protecting people’s privacy.” The plan is adopting the guidelines to conform to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The act requires health insurance plans and union welfare programs to restrict the disclosure of subscribers’ medical histories. Covered plans must implement the guidelines by April 14.

To meet HIPAA guidelines, members will be asked to sign a release form when they ask reps and local leaders to help with health-related inquiries and claims. Generally, HIPAA guarantees subscribers the right to look at and copy their protected health information on file at the DC 37 Health and Security Plan. Subscribers may restrict disclosure to people involved in the provision of their health care and payment for services.

Subscribers may also request confidential communication regarding their protected health information and request a history of the plan’s disclosure of information as far back as six years.

Under HIPAA, plans generally may release personal medical information only when it is needed for treatment, payment and other health-care operations, such as medical reviews, audits and patient grievances. Other disclosure requires the permission of the affected individual. Under HIPAA, the plan may also disclose protected medical information in certain other circumstances, such as to meet local, state or federal law. The plan may be required to make unauthorized disclosures for law enforcement, organ and tissue donation, public health activities, such as reporting births and controlling diseases, reporting abuse, neglect or domestic violence, judicial and administrative proceedings, national security and intelligence activities and Workers’ Compensation.

When the new regulations take effect April 15, members of the DC 37 Health and Security Plan who feel their privacy is violated may file a complaint by writing HIPAA Privacy Officer, DC 37, 125 Barclay St., Room 525, New York, NY 10007 or by calling (212) 815-1500. You may send an e-mail message to HIPAA-Privacy@DC37.net. A written complaint can also be sent to: Secretary, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201.