Privacy Policy

Protecting your right to privacy

We want patients to understand that Northstar Doc is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of the information you provide us for safekeeping. In fact, we are required by federal law to have certain safeguards in place for the protection of your privacy.

In 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”), which offers protection for personal health information (“PHI”), which includes standard medical records. HIPAA establishes a series of privacy and security standards for health care providers and provides for stiff penalties for those who do not follow these standards.

HIPAA provides patients protection in three ways:

• The privacy rule protects the privacy of individually identifiable health information.
• The security rule sets national standards for the security of protected health information.
• The patient safety rule protects identifiable information being used to analyze patient safety events and improve patient safety.

Medical information that can personally identify you cannot be disclosed without your consent.

However, there are some exceptions.

First, those providing you with medical care can always disclose your information to other parties if they believe it is required for proper medical care.

Second, those paying for your health care or health insurance, like your employer or your insurance company, can view parts of your medical record that are relevant to making payment decisions.

Third, your prescription drug information can be given to pharmaceutical companies anonymously.

Fourth, debt collectors can access information regarding unpaid medical bills, but not specific treatment information.

Fifth, you and those you authorize, can be provided with a copy of your records when you perform a record request.

Depending on your state’s law, you may have legal rights against someone who has inappropriately obtained or misused your PHI. Additionally, if you think that your medical records privacy rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services.

Northstar Doc privacy statement

Please read this Policy carefully before providing us with any information.

This privacy statement discloses the information collection and usage practices applicable to Northstar Doc with respect to information submitted by you or your medical provider.

This Policy describes the types of information that we gather from you and those who access the website on your behalf, such as your primary care doctor or a specialist, and how we may use that information.

By submitting or downloading any PHI to Northstar Doc, you agree to our use of that information consistent with this Policy.

Types of information we collect

Northstar collects information from its users in various forms. However, the information we collect can be separated into two categories: (1) personal health information (“PHI”) and (2) personally identifiable information.

Personal Health Information

This category of information pertains to the information you or your doctor submits to Northstar Doc regarding your healthcare and medical treatment. As discussed above, your personal health information is protected under federal law from disclosure to anyone without your written consent.

As a receptacle for this information, Northstar Doc maintains strict internal controls to prevent the disclosure of a patient’s PHI without their consent.

Personally Identifiable Information:

The second category of information we collect is commonly referred to as “personally identifiable information,” which is information collected from the user of a website when they visit that site via computer. Often this occurs when the website prompts the user to establish an account before using the website.

All users have the option of providing various types of personally identifiable information to us through Northstar Doc. For example, you may choose to provide us your personally identifiable information, including, but not limited to, your name, mailing address, telephone number, email address, or age. We collect this personally identifiable information when you, at any point, manually enter it into any online form available on Northstar Doc.

We may store a cookie file on your hard drive so that our systems will recognize you each time you visit Northstar Doc. In that way, we can save your preferences from visit to visit and present you with a customized version of the website every time you visit. We may store your personally identifiable information in our systems for use in other ways as described in this Policy.

In order for you to take full advantage of Northstar Doc, we encourage you to provide your personally identifiable information to us. You may choose not to provide us with your personally identifiable information by simply not entering it on the website. While you will still have access to the website even if you do not provide us with your personally identifiable information, you should understand that you will not be able to use certain services or features available through the website that require you to enter your personally identifiable information in order to function.

If you do not input any of your personally identifiable information, then the information we collect from you is limited. For example, we log your IP address in order to help us diagnose problems with our server, administer the website and track usage statistics. Your IP address may vary each time you visit, or it may be the same, depending on whether you access the website through an always-on type of internet connection (such as cable or DSL), or through a dial-up connection. Either way, it would be very difficult for us to personally identify you through your IP address. If you reached the website by clicking on a link or ad from another web site, then we may also log that information. This helps us to maximize our internet exposure and to understand the interests of our users. All of this information is collected and used only in aggregated form; that is, it is entered into our database, where we can use it to generate overall anonymous reports on our users.

Northstar Doc does not review content submitted:

We do not guarantee the accuracy with respect to any health information stored on its website. The information contained on Northstar Doc is solely and exclusively the product of the information input by the patient and his or her doctors, who are the creators of the information.

Accordingly, we take no responsibility for the creation, updating or disposition of a patient’s healthcare information.

Disclosure of your information

As discussed above, werepresent and warrant that we will not share or disclose any of your personal health information to any third party without your written consent.

We must, however, cooperate with legal authorities, and may in some circumstances, be required to disclose information (including personally identifiable Information) in response to requests from law enforcement authorities, or in response to a subpoena or other legal process.

We don’t expect this to happen, but if it does, we will provide only the information required. We can also turn over information about you if we believe we must in order to prevent a violation of the law, and by accepting this Policy, you consent to our right to do so, in our sole discretion.

Changes to the website

Northstar Doc reserves the right to make changes or revisions to the website, without notice to you or your doctor. In most instances, Northstar Doc attempts to perform administrative maintenance on its website after normal business hours. You agree to hold Northstar Doc harmless for any such modification, suspension or discontinuance.

Disruption of service

Prohibited Uses

In addition to any other prohibitions contained herein, you are prohibited from using the website or its content: (a) for any unlawful purpose; (b) to solicit others to perform or participate in any unlawful acts; (c) to violate any international, federal, provincial or state regulations, rules, laws, or local ordinances; (d) to infringe upon or violate our intellectual property rights or the intellectual property rights of others; (e) to harass, abuse, insult, harm, defame, slander, disparage, intimidate, or discriminate based on gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, race, age, national origin, or disability; (f) to submit false or misleading information; (g) to upload or transmit viruses or any other type of malicious code that will or may be used in any way that will affect the functionality or operation of the website, other websites, or the internet; (h) to collect or track the personal information of others; (i) to spam, phish, pharm, pretext, spider, crawl, or scrape; (j) for any obscene or immoral purpose; or (k) to interfere with or circumvent the security features of Northstar Doc.

We reserve the right to terminate your use of Northstar Doc for violating any of the prohibited uses.

Disclaimer of warranties; limitation of liability

We do not guarantee, represent or warrant that your use of our website will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free.

We do not warrant the accuracy or correctness of any information submitted by you or your medical provider to Northstar Doc. Northstar Doc does not review any of the information it receives from you or on your behalf.

You expressly agree that your use of, or inability to use, Northstar Doc, is at your sole risk. NorthstarDoc and all products and services delivered to you through the website are (except as expressly stated by us) provided “as is” and “as available” for your use, without any representation, warranties or conditions of any kind, either express or implied, including all implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, merchantable quality, fitness for a particular purpose, durability, title, and non-infringement.

In no case shall Northstar Doc PCP Network, LLC, our directors, officers, employees, affiliates, agents, contractors, interns, suppliers, service providers or licensors be liable for any injury, loss, claim, or any direct, indirect, incidental, punitive, special, or consequential damages of any kind including, without limitation, lost profits, lost revenue, lost savings, loss of data, replacement costs, or any similar damages, whether based in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability or otherwise, arising from your use of any of the website or any products procured using the website, or for any other claim related in any way to your use of the website, including, but not limited to any errors or omissions in any content, or any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of the website or any content (or product) posted, transmitted, or otherwise made available via the website, even if advised of their possibility. Because some states or jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or the limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, in such states or jurisdictions our liability shall be limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Northstar PCP Network, LLC, and our parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners, officers, directors, agents, contractors, licensors, service providers, subcontractors, suppliers, interns and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising from or relating to your use of the website, your submissions to the website, or any violation of these Terms of Service, or applicable law, by you or by someone accessing the website via your account. We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, in which event you agree to cooperate with us in defending such claims. This indemnification, defense, and hold harmless obligation will survive these Terms of Service and the termination of your use of the website.

Copyright and trademarks

Northstar PCP Network, LLC owns the rights, title, and interest in and to our website and services, including the intellectual property rights. Intellectual property rights are all worldwide patent, patent applications, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, service marks, trade names and any other intellectual property, proprietary, and database protection rights. Furthermore, the names “Medical Scheduling Hub” and “NorthstarDoc” and logos are our trademarks, and no right or license is granted to you herein to use such trademarks.