Keeping your information Private and Safe

It is the policy of Johns Hopkins US Family Health Plan (USFHP) to protect the privacy and security rights of all of its health plan members; to maintain the confidentiality of Health Plan information (oral, written, and electronic); and to comply with all applicable federal and state privacy and security laws and regulations, including those under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Information provided to the Plan is kept confidential and will only be used by the Plan for such purposes as but not limited to:

  • Care Coordination
  • Claims processing
  • Coordination of benefits with other plans
  • Subrogation of claims, review of a disputed claim
  • Program integrity activities (examples: investigation of fraud, waste, abuse, or privacy theft)
  • Quality improvement activities
  • Other health care operations and/or payment purposes

Information collected on race, ethnicity, language, gender identity, and sexual orientation is considered confidential and protected health information. We treat this data with the same level of privacy as all other medical records. We will use this information to enhance our services and better understand the needs of our members. This data is only shared with our health care provider partners in an effort to improve your health. This data will not be used to determine your eligibility for benefits or the cost of your health care.

To ensure responsible maintenance of your Protected Health Information (PHI), the Plan has implemented internal policies and procedures to address how we further protect, secure and limit use and disclosure of your oral, written, and electronic health Plan information. USFHP verifies the identities of both the member and requestor prior to responding to a request for a member’s PHI. Examples of such contact include but are not limited to:

  1. Questions about your care management or payment activities
  2. Requests to look at, copy, obtain or amend your plan records
  3. Requests to obtain a list of plan disclosures of your health information

The Plan secures and limits access to hardcopy and electronic files. Electronic data is password protected. Internal controls are in place to ensure that only those workforce members with a “need to know” have access to information required to perform their specific job functions. All workforce members are required to only utilize and/or access the “minimum necessary” information to perform their assigned tasks.
For additional information regarding your privacy rights, please see your notice of privacy practices. If you don’t have one you may obtain a copy by calling Customer Service at 800-808-7347 or 410-424-4528.