eAppeals Statement of Privacy Practices
This document was last updated November 3, 2003.

eAppeals LLC is very sensitive to the privacy concerns of the visitors to its site and has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our commitment to handle your information in a responsible manner. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for this website: eAppeals.

As we continue to develop our website and utilize available technologies to improve the services we may provide, this policy may change. Since eAppeals reserves the right in its sole discretion to modify this policy at anytime, we encourage you to refer to this policy on an ongoing basis so that you understand the current privacy policy in effect.

Your Rights

Although your health record is eAppeals' property, the information in your file belongs to you. You have the right to:

• Request that eAppeals restrict its use or disclosure of your medical appeal information to the appropriate insurance company. Please note that eAppeals does not have to agree to the requested restrictions but if it does agree, eAppeals must abide by the restrictions.
• Request that eAppeals use an alternative means to communicate with you on a confidential basis about your medical appeal information. You may also request that we send such communications to you at an alternative location.
• Inspect and copy your medical appeal information for as long as eAppeals maintains your medical appeal. Under certain specific circumstances, eAppeals may deny your request but this denial is, in most cases, reviewable.
• Request in writing that eAppeals amend your medical appeal, unless the appeal is already accurate and complete or eAppeals did not create the information you wish to amend. eAppeals will act on your written request within 60 days after receiving it and either make the amendment or provide you with a written denial.
• Except for certain disclosures, request an accounting of disclosures of your medical information by eAppeals.
• Receive a paper copy of this Notice.

eAppeals' Obligations

We are required to do the following:

• Maintain the privacy of your health care information and provide you with this Notice.
• Abide by the terms of this Notice and post it on eAppeals' web site where you can easily access and see it.
• Notify you if we cannot agree to a use or disclosure restriction you request.
• Accommodate your reasonable request to communicate with you via alternative means or at an alternative location.

Please note that eAppeals reserves the right to change its privacy practices and apply the changes to your medical information. If we do change our privacy practices, we will either mail you a revised Notice to the street address you have provided to us or send you an electronic copy and post the revised Notice on our web site.

Collection of Information

We will request information that personally identifies you (personal information) when you submit an appeal on eAppeals' website. This is for the sole purpose of transmitting your data to the insurance company. Your information can also be used to contact you, when necessary, via email, in reference to your appeal.

This site contains links to other sites. eAppeals is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such web sites.

Our site uses an online order form for you to request and order our services. We collect your contact information (i.e. email address), unique identifiers (i.e. health insurance number), financial information (i.e. account or credit card numbers), and demographic information (i.e. zip code, age or income level). Because of the nature of our services, we also collect health care information (e.g. name of health care provider, types of services/treatments received and dates of service). Information from the online order form is used to process appeals on behalf of our customers.

eAppeals may disclose to a family member, close personal friend or any other person you identify, your health care information relevant to that person's involvement in your appeal or in payment related to your care.

eAppeals may also disclose your health care information as required by law, including worker's compensation regulations, by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or other regulatory agency, as required by a valid subpoena or for public health purposes.

If eAppeals wishes to use or disclose your health care information outside the company for purposes that are not directly related to processing your appeal, it will do so only with your prior written authorization. eAppeals will contact you before making any such use or disclosure of your health care information and will request that give you sign an Authorization to allow eAppeals to use or disclose your health care information as you specify in the Authorization. You do not have to agree to sign the Authorization in order to continue to receive services from eAppeals. If you do sign the Authorization, you may revoke it at any time by providing eAppeals with written notice of your desire to revoke the Authorization.

In addition, we may gather non-health care related information from you to improve content and services available through our website or for certain marketing and promotional purposes. Such information also may include information gathered in response to surveys or other requests for information. The information gathered may be shared with affiliates of eAppeals, as well as other organizations that offer products or services that we believe may be of interest to eAppeals, its customers or affiliates.

Personal financial information that is collected is only used to bill you for our services. Unique identifiers (such as password) are collected from Web site visitors to verify the user's identity and for use as account numbers in our record system. Demographic and profile data is also collected at our site. Demographic information is only shared with advertisers and our partners on an aggregate basis without identifying any one particular individual. Please Note: Credit Card numbers are NOT stored in our system.

Our online surveys ask you for contact information (like your email address). Your contact information is used to contact you when necessary.

We or our outside advertising company display banners, links and advertisements on our site. These advertisements may contain cookies. Cookie technology allows us to recognize you as a user and to tailor our website to your interests based on the items you review within the site. A cookie is a data element that a website may send to your browser, which then may store it on your computer or computer system. That information, in turn, may be used by a website to serve you more effectively. For example, based on a cookie, the website would know that you are interested in certain information and could take the opportunity to let you know of new services or products being offered during a future website visit. On most commercial web browsers, you can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, which provides you with the opportunity to decide whether you want to accept or reject the cookie. While we use cookies in other parts of our Web site, we do not necessarily have access to information from cookies received with banner ads, which are collected by our ad company.

We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server, and to administer our Web site. Your IP address is used to gather broad demographic information.

Our site uses cookies to keep track of your shopping cart and to make sure you don't see the same advertisement repeatedly. We use cookies to save your password so you don't have to re-enter it each time you visit our site.

Security

eAppeals strictly protects the security of your personal information and honors your choices for its intended use. We carefully protect your data from loss, misuse, unauthorized access or disclosure, alteration, or destruction. Your personal information is never shared outside the company without your permission, except under conditions explained above. Inside the company, data is stored in password-controlled servers with limited access. You also have a significant role in protecting your information. No one can see or edit your personal information without knowing your User ID and password, so do not share these with others.

Changes to this Statement

eAppeals will occasionally update this Statement of Privacy Practices. When we do, we will also revise the “last updated” date at the top of the Statement.

Complaints

If you think your privacy rights have been violated, you may complain to response@eAppeals.com and/or to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. In order to file a complaint with eAppeals, please contact response@eAppeals.com and a written complaint form will be constructed, and we will follow up on your complaint. eAppeals will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

Access

You have the right to inspect and copy your own health information, as well as the right to request correction of protected health information that is inaccurate or incomplete by contacting us via email.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about this Statement of Privacy Practices, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this Web site, you can contact response@eAppeals.com.

Last Updated: Monday, November 3, 2003 - 4:20 p.m. Eastern Time