Privacy Information
CIGNA Privacy Statement
CIGNA HealthCare:
- Notices of Privacy Practices (07/01/2004)
- Reminder Regarding Access to Notice of Privacy Practices (06/24/07)
- Gramm-Leach-Bliley Privacy Notice (09/01/06)
- Privacy Forms (for requests)
CIGNA International:
- Expatriate Benefits Notice of Privacy Practices
- Expatriate Benefits Privacy Forms (for requests)
CIGNA Group Insurance (Life, Accident & Disability):
- Privacy Notice

Standard Privacy Practices

This Notice is Effective July 1, 2004

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Si desea recibir este Aviso Sobre Prñcticas de Privacidad en español, por favor llame a Servicios a Clientes en el numero que se encuentra en su tarjeta de identificacion de CIGNA HealthCare.

This notice describes how health information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully.

CIGNA HealthCare* is committed to maintaining and protecting the confidentiality of our members' personal information. We are required by federal and state law to protect the privacy of your personal health information and other personal information about you. In this Notice, we will refer to this information as "confidential information." We also are required to send you this Notice about our policies, safeguards and practices. When we use or disclose your confidential information, we are bound by the terms of this Notice or our revised notice, if we revise it.

How We Protect Your Privacy To provide you with health insurance benefits, CIGNA HealthCare receives confidential information from you and from other sources such as your health care providers, insurers and your employer. The information we receive includes personal health information as well as your name and address. CIGNA HealthCare will not disclose confidential information without your authorization unless it is necessary to provide your health benefits, administer your benefit plan, to support CIGNA HealthCare programs or services, or as otherwise required or permitted by law. When we need to disclose your confidential information, we will follow the policies described in this Notice to protect your privacy.

CIGNA HealthCare locations that maintain confidential information have procedures for accessing, labeling and storing confidential records. Access to our facilities is limited to authorized personnel. We restrict internal access to your confidential information to CIGNA HealthCare employees who need to know that information to conduct our business. CIGNA HealthCare trains its employees on policies and procedures designed to protect your privacy. Our Privacy Office monitors how we follow those policies and procedures and educates our organization on this important topic.

How We Use and Disclose Your Confidential Information We will not use your confidential information or disclose it to others without your authorization, except for the following purposes:

Treatment. We may disclose your confidential information to your doctors, hospitals and other health care providers for their provision, coordination or management of your health care and related services - for example, for coordinating your health care with us or for referring you to another provider for care.
Payment. We may use and disclose your confidential information to obtain payment of premiums for your coverage and to determine and fulfill our responsibility to provide your health plan benefits - for example, to make coverage determinations, administer claims and coordinate benefits with other coverage you may have. We also may disclose your confidential information to another health plan or a health care provider for its payment activities - for example, for the other health plan to determine your eligibility or coverage, or for the health care provider to obtain payment for health care services provided to you.
Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose your confidential information for our health care operations - for example, to provide customer service and conduct quality assessment and improvement activities. Other health operations may include providing appointment reminders or sending you information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services. We also may disclose your confidential information to another health plan or a provider who has a relationship with you, so that it can conduct quality assessment and improvement activities - for example, to perform case management.
Disclosure to Persons Involved in Your Care. We may disclose confidential information about you or your child to persons who are involved in your or your child's care or payment for that care. For example, we might disclose confidential information about you to your spouse or confidential information about your child to your former spouse who is the parent of your child. We will disclose only the information that is relevant to the care or payment. Callers will be asked to provide identifying information and, if they are asking about a claim, they will have to show knowledge of that claim before we will answer their questions. You have the right to stop or limit this kind of disclosure by requesting a restriction on the disclosure of your confidential information as described below under "Right to Request Additional Restrictions."
Disclosures to your Employer as Sponsor of Your Health Plan. We may disclose your confidential information to your employer or to a company acting on your employer's behalf, so that it can monitor, audit and otherwise administer the employee health benefit plan in which you participate. Your employer is not permitted to use the confidential information we disclose for any purpose other than administration of your health benefit plan. See your employer's health benefit plan documents for information on whether your employer receives confidential information and the identity of the employees who are authorized to receive your confidential information.
Disclosures to CIGNA HealthCare Vendors and Accreditation Organizations. We may disclose your confidential information to companies with whom we contract if they need it to perform the services we've requested — for example, vendors who help us provide important information and guidance to members with chronic conditions like diabetes and asthma. CIGNA HealthCare also discloses confidential information to accreditation organizations such as the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) when the NCQA auditors collect Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS^®)** data for quality measurement purposes. When we enter into these types of arrangements, we obtain a written agreement to protect your confidential information.
Promotional Gifts. We may use your confidential information or disclose it to a mailing vendor so that we may provide you with a promotional gift of nominal value such as a pen or a calendar. We will not disclose your confidential information to other companies for their marketing purposes.
Public Health Activities. We may disclose your confidential information for the following public health activities and purposes: (1) to report health information to public health authorities that are authorized by law to receive such information for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability; (2) to report child abuse or neglect to a government authority that is authorized by law to receive such reports; (3) to report information about a product or activity that is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to a person responsible for the quality, safety or effectiveness of the product or activity; and (4) to alert a person who may have been exposed to a communicable disease, if we are authorized by law to give this notice.
Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose your confidential information to a government agency that is legally responsible for oversight of the health care system or for ensuring compliance with the rules of government benefit programs, such as Medicare or Medicaid, or other regulatory programs that need health information to determine compliance.
For Research. Under very limited circumstances, your confidential information may be used and disclosed for research without an authorization - for example, an authorization would not be necessary if your name, street address and other identifying information were removed.
To Comply with the Law. We may use and disclose your confidential information to comply with the law.
Judicial and Administrative Proceedings. We may disclose your confidential information in a judicial or administrative proceeding or in response to a legal order.
Law Enforcement Officials. We may disclose your confidential information to the police or other law enforcement officials, as required by law or in compliance with a court order or other processes authorized by law.
Health or Safety. We may disclose your confidential information to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety or the health and safety of the general public.
Government Functions. We may disclose your confidential information to the U.S. military or to authorized federal officials for purposes specified by federal law.
Workers' Compensation. We may disclose your confidential information when necessary to comply with workers' compensation laws.

Please note that should your coverage with CIGNA HealthCare terminate, we will continue to protect your confidential information. It will be used and disclosed only for the purposes described above and in accordance with the policies and procedures described in this Notice.

Uses and Disclosures with Your Written Authorization We will not use or disclose your confidential information for any purpose other than the purposes described in this Notice without your written authorization. For example, we will not supply confidential information to another company for its marketing purposes or to a potential employer with whom you are seeking employment without your signed authorization. You may revoke an authorization that you previously have given by sending a written request to our Privacy Office, but not with respect to any actions we already have taken.

CIGNA HealthCare complies with state laws that place further restrictions on the disclosure of your personal health information without your authorization. For example, many states have laws that do not permit us to disclose a diagnosis of AIDS or mental illness. These laws have some limited exceptions.

Your Individual Rights

Right to Request Additional Restrictions. You may request restrictions on our use and disclosure of your confidential information for the treatment, payment and health care operations purposes explained in this Notice. While we will consider all requests for restrictions carefully, we are not required to agree to a requested restriction.
Right to Receive Confidential Communications. You may ask to receive communications of your confidential information from us by alternative means of communication or at alternative locations. While we will consider reasonable requests carefully, we are not required to agree to all requests.
Right to Inspect and Copy your Confidential Information. You may ask to inspect or to obtain a copy of your confidential information that is included in certain records we maintain. Under limited circumstances, we may deny you access to all or a portion of your records. If you request copies, we may charge you copying and mailing costs.
Right to Amend your Records. You have the right to ask us to amend your confidential information that is contained in certain records we maintain. If we determine that the record is inaccurate, and the law permits us to amend it, we will correct it. If your doctor or another person created the information that you want to change, you should ask that person to amend the information.
Right to Receive an Accounting of Disclosures. Upon request, you may obtain an accounting of disclosures we have made of your confidential information. The accounting that we provide will not include disclosures made before April 14, 2003, disclosures made for treatment, payment or health care operations, disclosures made earlier than six years before the date of your request, and certain other disclosures that are excepted by law. If you request an accounting more than once during any 12-month period, we will charge you a reasonable fee for each accounting statement after the first one.
Right to Receive Paper Copy of this Notice. You may call Member Services at the toll-free number on your CIGNA HealthCare ID card to obtain a paper copy of this Notice, even if you previously agreed to receive this Notice electronically.

If you wish to make any of the requests listed above under "Individual Rights," you must complete and mail us the appropriate form. To obtain the form please visit our Web site at http://www.cigna.com/privacy/ and print the appropriate form. Or you can call Member Services at the toll-free number on your CIGNA HealthCare ID card to request the appropriate form. Forms should be mailed to the address printed on the forms. After we receive your signed, completed form, we will respond to your request.

For More Information or Complaints. If you want more information about your privacy rights, do not understand your privacy rights, are concerned that we have violated your privacy rights or disagree with a decision that we made about access to your confidential information, you may contact our Privacy Office. You may also file written complaints with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Please call our Privacy Office to obtain the correct address for the Secretary. We will not take any action against you if you file a complaint with the Secretary or us.

Privacy Office You may contact our Privacy Office at:
Privacy Office
CIGNA HealthCare
PO Box 5400
Scranton PA 18505
Telephone Number: 800.762.9940
Fax Number: 860.226.9513

We may change the terms of this Notice at any time. If we change this Notice, we may make the new notice terms effective for all of your confidential information that we maintain, including any information we created or received before we issued the new notice. If we change this Notice, we will send you the new notice if you are enrolled in a CIGNA HealthCare benefit plan at that time. In addition, we will post any new notice on our Web site at http://www.cigna.com/privacy/ You also may obtain any new notice by calling Member Services at the toll-free number on your CIGNA HealthCare ID card.

*"CIGNA HealthCare" refers to various operating subsidiaries of CIGNA Corporation. Products and services are provided by these subsidiaries and not by CIGNA Corporation. These subsidiaries include Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Tel-Drug, Inc. and its affiliates, CIGNA Behavioral Health, Inc., Intracorp, and HMO or service company subsidiaries of CIGNA Health Corporation and CIGNA Dental Health, Inc. In Arizona, HMO Plans are offered by CIGNA HealthCare of Arizona, Inc. In California, HMO plans are offered by CIGNA HealthCare of California, Inc. In Virginia, HMO plans are offered by CIGNA HealthCare of Virginia, Inc. and CIGNA HealthCare Mid-Atlantic, Inc. In North Carolina, HMO plans are offered by CIGNA HealthCare of North Carolina, Inc. All other medical plans in these states are insured or administered by Connecticut General Life Insurance Company.

** "HEDIS" is a registered trademark of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).