We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this privacy policy (“Policy”). This Policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide (“Personal Information”) on the newenglandmedicalgroup.com website (“Website” or “Service”) and any of its related products and services (collectively, “Services”), and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that Personal Information. It also describes the choices available to you regarding our use of your Personal Information and how you can access and update it.
This Policy is a legally binding agreement between you (“User”, “you” or “your”) and New England Medical Group, LLC (“New England Medical Group, LLC”, “we”, “us” or “our”). If you are entering into this agreement on behalf of a business or other legal entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind such entity to this agreement, in which case the terms “User”, “you” or “your” shall refer to such entity. If you do not have such authority, or if you do not agree with the terms of this agreement, you must not accept this agreement and may not access and use the Website and Services. By accessing and using the Website and Services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the terms of this Policy. This Policy does not apply to the practices of companies that we do not own or control, or to individuals that we do not employ or manage.
Personal Health Information Notice
This describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed at New England Medical Group and how you can obtain access to your information. Please review it carefully.
Your Rights
When it comes to your health information, you have certain rights. This section explains your rights and some of our responsibilities to help you.
Acquire a copy of your health and claims records. You can ask to see or receive a copy of your health records, medical claim records and other health information we have about you. Ask us how to do this. We will provide a copy or a summary of your health and claims records, usually within 30 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.
Ask us to correct your medical records. You can ask us to correct your health and claims records if you think they are incorrect or incomplete. Ask us how to do this. We may say “no” to your request, but we’ll tell you why in writing within 60 days.
Request confidential communications. You can ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, home or office phone) or to send mail to a different address. We will say “yes” to any reasonable requests.
Ask us to limit what we use or share. You can ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment, or our operations. We are not required to agree to your request, and we may say “no” if it would affect your care.
Get a list of those with whom we’ve shared information. You can ask for a list (accounting) of the times we’ve shared your health information for six years prior to the date you ask, who we shared it with, and why. We will include all the disclosures except for those about treatment, payment, and health care operations, and certain other disclosures (such as any you asked us to make). We’ll provide one accounting a year for free but will charge a reasonable, cost-based fee if you ask for another one within 12 months.
Get a copy of this privacy notice. You can ask for a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you have agreed to receive the notice electronically. We will provide you with a paper copy promptly.
Choose someone to act for you. If you have given someone medical power of attorney or if someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights and make choices about your health information. We will make sure the person has this authority and can act for you before we take any action.
File a complaint if you feel your rights are violated. You can complain if you feel we have violated your rights by contacting us. You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by sending a letter to 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, calling 1-877-696-6775, or visiting www.hhs.gov. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.
Your Choices
For certain health information, you can tell us your choices about what we share. If you have a clear preference for how we share your information in the situations described below, talk to us. Tell us what you want us to do, and we will follow your instructions.
In these cases, you have both the right and choice to tell us to:
Share information with your family, close friends, or others involved in payment for your care
Share information in a disaster relief situation
If you are not able to tell us your preference, for example if you are unconscious, we may go ahead and share your information if we believe it is in your best interest. We may also share your information when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.
In these cases, we never share your information unless you give us written permission:
Marketing purposes
Sale of your information
Our Uses and Disclosures
How do we typically use or share your health information? We typically use or share your health information in the following ways.
Assist in managing the health care treatment you receive. We can use your health information and share it with professionals who are treating you.
Run our organization. We can use and share your information to run our organization and contact you when necessary.
Bill for services. We can use and disclose your health information to bill and get payment from health plans or other entities.
How else can we use or share your health information? We are allowed or required to share your information in other ways – usually in ways that contribute to the public good, such as public health and research. However, we have to meet many conditions in the law before we can share your information for these purposes. For more information see: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/index.html
Help with public health and safety issues—We can share health information about you for certain situations such as preventing disease, helping with product recalls, reporting adverse reactions to medication, reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence and/or preventing or reducing serious threat to anyone’s health or safety.
Do research—we can use or share your information for health research.
Comply with the law—We will share information about you if state or federal laws require it, including with the Department of Health and Human Services if it wants to see that we’re complying with federal privacy law.
Address workers’ compensation, law enforcement, and other government requests—We can also use or share health information about you for workers’ compensation claims, law enforcement purposes or with a law enforcement official, with health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law or special government functions such as military, national security, and presidential protective services.
Respond to lawsuits and legal actions—We can share health information about you in response to a court or administrative order, or in response to a subpoena.
Our Responsibilities
We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.
We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.
We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it.
We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us we can in writing. If you tell us we can, you may change your mind at any time. Let us know in writing if you change your mind.
For more information: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/noticepp.html
Automatic collection of information
When you open the Website, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends. This data may include information such as your device’s IP address, browser type, and version, operating system type and version, language preferences or the webpage you were visiting before you came to the Website and Services, pages of the Website and Services that you visit, the time spent on those pages, information you search for on the Website, access times and dates, and other statistics.
Information collected automatically is used only to identify potential cases of abuse and establish statistical information regarding the usage and traffic of the Website and Services. This statistical information is not otherwise aggregated in such a way that would identify any particular User of the system.
Collection of personal information
You can access and use the Website and Services without telling us who you are or revealing any information by which someone could identify you as a specific, identifiable individual. If, however, you wish to use some of the features offered on the Website, you may be asked to provide certain Personal Information (for example, your name and e-mail address).
We receive and store any information you knowingly provide to us when you fill any forms on the Website. When required, this information may include the following:
– Contact information (such as email address, phone number, etc)
– Basic personal information (such as name, country of residence, etc)
– Sensitive personal information (such as ethnicity, religious beliefs, mental health, etc)
– Geolocation data of your device (such as latitude and longitude)
You can choose not to provide us with your Personal Information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of some of the features on the Website. Users who are uncertain about what information is mandatory are welcome to contact us.
Privacy of children
We do not knowingly collect any Personal Information from children under the age of 18. If you are under the age of 18, please do not submit any Personal Information through the Website and Services. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 18 has provided Personal Information to us through the Website and Services, please contact us to request that we delete that child’s Personal Information from our Services.
We encourage parents and legal guardians to monitor their children’s Internet usage and to help enforce this Policy by instructing their children never to provide Personal Information through the Website and Services without their permission. We also ask that all parents and legal guardians overseeing the care of children take the necessary precautions to ensure that their children are instructed to never give out Personal Information when online without their permission.
Use and processing of collected information
We act as a data controller and a data processor when handling Personal Information, unless we have entered into a data processing agreement with you in which case you would be the data controller and we would be the data processor.
Our role may also differ depending on the specific situation involving Personal Information. We act in the capacity of a data controller when we ask you to submit your Personal Information that is necessary to ensure your access and use of the Website and Services. In such instances, we are a data controller because we determine the purposes and means of the processing of Personal Information.
We act in the capacity of a data processor in situations when you submit Personal Information through the Website and Services. We do not own, control, or make decisions about the submitted Personal Information, and such Personal Information is processed only in accordance with your instructions. In such instances, the User providing Personal Information acts as a data controller.
In order to make the Website and Services available to you, or to meet a legal obligation, we may need to collect and use certain Personal Information. If you do not provide the information that we request, we may not be able to provide you with the requested products or services. Any of the information we collect from you may be used for the following purposes:
– Deliver products or services
– Send marketing and promotional communications
– Respond to inquiries and offer support
– Deliver targeted advertising
– Run and operate the Website and Services
Processing your Personal Information depends on how you interact with the Website and Services, where you are located in the world and if one of the following applies: (i) you have given your consent for one or more specific purposes; (ii) provision of information is necessary for the performance of an agreement with you and/or for any pre-contractual obligations thereof; (iii) processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which you are subject; (iv) processing is related to a task that is carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in us; (v) processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by a third party. We may also combine or aggregate some of your Personal Information in order to better serve you and to improve and update our Website and Services.
Note that under some legislations we may be allowed to process information until you object to such processing by opting out, without having to rely on consent or any other of the legal bases. In any case, we will be happy to clarify the specific legal basis that applies to the processing, and in particular whether the provision of Personal Information is a statutory or contractual requirement, or a requirement necessary to enter into a contract.
Disclosure of information
Depending on the requested Services or as necessary to complete any transaction or provide any Service you have requested, we may share your information with our trusted subsidiaries and joint venture partners, affiliates, contracted companies, and service providers (collectively, “Service Providers”) we rely upon to assist in the operation of the Website and Services available to you and whose privacy policies are consistent with ours or who agree to abide by our policies with respect to Personal Information. We will not share any personally identifiable information with third parties and will not share any information with unaffiliated third parties.
Service Providers are not authorized to use or disclose your information except as necessary to perform services on our behalf or comply with legal requirements. Service Providers are given the information they need only in order to perform their designated functions, and we do not authorize them to use or disclose any of the provided information for their own marketing or other purposes.
We may also disclose any Personal Information we collect, use or receive if required or permitted by law, such as to comply with a subpoena or similar legal process, and when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.
In the event we go through a business transition, such as a merger or acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, your Personal Information will likely be among the assets transferred.
Retention of information
We will retain and use your Personal Information for the period necessary to comply with our legal obligations, to enforce our agreements, resolve disputes, and unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.
We may use any aggregated data derived from or incorporating your Personal Information after you update or delete it, but not in a manner that would identify you personally. Once the retention period expires, Personal Information shall be deleted. Therefore, the right to access, the right to erasure, the right to rectification, and the right to data portability cannot be enforced after the expiration of the retention period.
Cookies
Our Website and Services use “cookies” to help personalize your online experience. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you. Click here to learn more about cookies and how they work.
We may use cookies to collect, store, and track information for security and personalization, and for statistical purposes. Please note that you have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies by default, but you can modify your browser settings to decline cookies if you prefer.
Data analytics
Our Website and Services may use third-party analytics tools that use cookies, web beacons, or other similar information-gathering technologies to collect standard internet activity and usage information. The information gathered is used to compile statistical reports on User activity such as how often Users visit our Website and Services, what pages they visit and for how long, etc. We use the information obtained from these analytics tools to monitor the performance and improve our Website and Services.
Do Not Track signals
Some browsers incorporate a Do Not Track feature that signals to websites you visit that you do not want to have your online activity tracked. Tracking is not the same as using or collecting information in connection with a website. For these purposes, tracking refers to collecting personally identifiable information from consumers who use or visit a website or online service as they move across different websites over time. How browsers communicate the Do Not Track signal is not yet uniform. As a result, the Website and Services are not yet set up to interpret or respond to Do Not Track signals communicated by your browser. Even so, as described in more detail throughout this Policy, we limit our use and collection of your Personal Information.
Advertisements
We may permit certain third-party companies to help us tailor advertising that we think may be of interest to Users and to collect and use other data about User activities on the Website. These companies may deliver ads that might place cookies and otherwise track User behavior.
Social media features
Our Website and Services may include social media features, such as the Facebook and Twitter buttons, Share This buttons, etc (collectively, “Social Media Features”). These Social Media Features may collect your IP address, what page you are visiting on our Website and Services and may set a cookie to enable Social Media Features to function properly. Social Media Features are hosted either by their respective providers or directly on our Website and Services. Your interactions with these Social Media Features are governed by the privacy policy of their respective providers.
Email marketing
We offer electronic newsletters to which you may voluntarily subscribe at any time. We are committed to keeping your e-mail address confidential and will not disclose your email address to any third parties except as allowed in the information use and processing section or for the purposes of utilizing a third-party provider to send such emails. We will maintain the information sent via e-mail in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.
In compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act, all e-mails sent from us will clearly state who the e-mail is from and provide clear information on how to contact the sender. You may choose to stop receiving our newsletter or marketing emails by following the unsubscribe instructions included in these emails or by contacting us.
Links to other resources
The Website and Services contain links to other resources that are not owned or controlled by us. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other resources or third parties. We encourage you to be aware when you leave the Website and Services and to read the privacy statements of each resource that may collect Personal Information.
Complaints
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you have the right to file a complaint by contacting New England Medical Group at the address and/or phone number indicated below. You also have the right to file a complaint with the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. New England Medical Group will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may make a complaint by contacting New England Medical Group’s HIPAA Privacy Officer at 781-987-3490 or the secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services. No individual will be retaliated against for filing a complaint.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Toll Free: 1-877-696-6775
Information security
We secure information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards in an effort to protect against unauthorized access, use, modification, and disclosure of Personal Information in our control and custody. However, no data transmission over the Internet or wireless network can be guaranteed.
Therefore, while we strive to protect your Personal Information, you acknowledge that (i) there are security and privacy limitations of the Internet which are beyond our control; (ii) the security, integrity, and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and the Website and Services cannot be guaranteed; and (iii) any such information and data may be viewed or tampered with in transit by a third party, despite best efforts.
Data breach
In the event we become aware that the security of the Website and Services has been compromised or Users’ Personal Information has been disclosed to unrelated third parties as a result of external activity, including, but not limited to, security attacks or fraud, we reserve the right to take reasonably appropriate measures, including, but not limited to, investigation and reporting, as well as notification to and cooperation with law enforcement authorities. In the event of a data breach, we will make reasonable efforts to notify affected individuals if we believe that there is a reasonable risk of harm to the User as a result of the breach or if notice is otherwise required by law. When we do, we will post a notice on the Website, send you an email, get in touch with you over the phone.
Acceptance of this policy
You acknowledge that you have read this Policy and agree to all its terms and conditions. By accessing and using the Website and Services and submitting your information you agree to be bound by this Policy. If you do not agree to abide by the terms of this Policy, you are not authorized to access or use the Website and Services.
Changes to the Terms of This Notice
We can change the terms of this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The new notice will be available upon request, on our web site, and we will mail a copy to you.
Contacting us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this site, please contact us at:
New England Medical Group
210 Whiting Street, Suite 7
Hingham, MA 02043
info@nemgp.com
www.newenglandmedicalgroup.com
We will attempt to resolve complaints and disputes and make every reasonable effort to honor your wish to exercise your rights as quickly as possible and, in any event, within the timescales provided by applicable data protection laws.
This document was last updated on December 6, 2021
