Privacy Policy
ADDUS HEALTHCARE, INC.
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES EFFECTIVE DECEMBER 10, 2024
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN
GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION.
PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
Addus HealthCare, Inc. and its affiliates listed at the end of this Notice (collectively, “Addus,”
“the Company,” or “we”) are committed to maintaining the confidentiality of all medical information
we receive. The purpose of this Notice is to inform you of how Addus may use and disclose your
medical information, called Protected Health Information or “PHI,” and to describe your rights with
respect to PHI. Addus is required by law to maintain the privacy of PHI, to provide you and other
individuals with notice of Addus’ legal duties and privacy practices with respect to PHI and to
notify affected individuals following a breach of unsecured PHI. Addus must abide by the terms set
forth in this Notice. Your PHI may be stored electronically and may be disclosed electronically.
HOW WE USE OR DISCLOSE YOUR PHI
The Company is permitted by HIPAA to use and disclose your PHI to other persons or entities without
your authorization as described below. The following include examples of how we may use and
disclose your PHI within each category, but not every use or disclosure within each category will
be listed. When PHI is disclosed pursuant to HIPAA, it is possible that the PHI could be
re-disclosed by the recipient and no longer be protected by HIPAA.
1. Treatment – The Company may use and disclose PHI for treatment, including providing you with
home health, hospice, palliative care, and/or home care services. For example, information may be
shared with members of our staff, your doctors, or health care facilities. We may also contact you
about other health-related benefits, services or treatments that may be available to you.
2. Payment – The Company may use and disclose PHI for payment purposes. For example, the Company
may disclose your PHI to obtain prior approval from an insurer before providing services to you and
to bill and collect payment for the services we provided to you.
3. Health Care Operations – The Company may use or disclose your PHI for health care operations.
For example, the Company may use your PHI for quality improvement, staff evaluation, to arrange for
legal services or other operational purposes. Your name and address may be used to send out satisfaction surveys, or we may call you to remind you that our staff will be visiting you.
4. Business Associates – We have business associates such as accountants, consultants and
attorneys that provide some services for us. We have a written contract with them that requires
them to protect the privacy of your PHI.
5. Individuals Involved in Your Care – Unless you object, the Company may disclose PHI about you
to a family member, other relative, close friend or any other person identified by you if they are
involved in your care or payments related to your care. We may disclose PHI about you if they need
to be notified of your location, general condition or death. If you are not present, you are
incapacitated, or there is an emergency, we may determine that it is in your best interest for us
to disclose PHI that is directly relevant to a person’s involvement with your care.
6. As Required by Law – The Company may use and disclose PHI about you as required by law. For
example, we are required to disclose information about you to the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services if it requests the information to determine how we are complying with federal
privacy law.
7. Public Health Activities – The Company may use and disclose PHI about you for public health
activities, including the collection of vital statistics, preventing disease and helping with
product recalls.
8. Abuse, Neglect or Domestic Violence – The Company may disclose PHI to appropriate agencies if
we believe you have been the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. The Company will only
make this disclosure if you agree or when we are required or authorized to do so by law.
9. Health Oversight Activities – The Company may disclose PHI to a health oversight agency for
activities authorized by law. These oversight activities include audits, investigations,
inspections, and licensure.
10. Judicial and Administrative Proceedings – The Company may disclose PHI about you in response
to a court or administrative order. The Company may also disclose PHI about you in response to a
subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process, but only if reasonable efforts have been made
to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested. If we
receive records from substance use disorder treatment programs subject to federal privacy
restrictions, such records or testimony about their content cannot be used or disclosed in civil,
criminal, administrative, or legislative proceedings against the individual unless based on written
consent or we receive a court order entered after notice and an opportunity to be heard is provided
to the individual or us, as provided by federal privacy rules found at 42 CFR Part 2. A court order
authorizing use or disclosure must be accompanied by a subpoena or other legal requirement
compelling disclosure before the requested record is used or disclosed.
11. Law Enforcement – The Company may disclose PHI to law enforcement for certain law enforcement
purposes.
12. National Security and Intelligence Activities – The Company may disclose PHI about you to
authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, presidential protective services and other national security activities authorized by law. If you are a member of the armed
forces, we may disclose information as required by military command authorities
13. Inmates – If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law
enforcement official, the Company may release PHI about you to the correctional institution or law
enforcement official.
14. Deaths and Organ Donation – The Company may disclose PHI regarding deaths to coroners,
medical examiners and funeral directors. The Company may use and disclose PHI to entities involved
in procuring, banking and transplanting organs, eyes and tissues to assist with donation or
transplantation.
15. Serious Threat to Health and Safety – The Company may use and disclose PHI when necessary to
prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or
another person.
16. Research – The Company may use and disclose PHI for research purposes if you authorize us to
do so or if an institutional review board (IRB) has waived the authorization requirement. We may
also review your health information to assist in the preparation of a research study or for other
research purposes permitted by law.
17. Limited Data and De-Identified Data – The Company may remove most information that identifies
you from a set of data and use and disclose this data set for research, public health and health
care operations, provided the recipients of the data set agree to keep it confidential. We may also
de-identify your PHI consistent with HIPAA and use and disclose the de-identified information for
purposes permitted by law, including selling the de-identified information.
18. Workers’ Compensation – The Company may disclose PHI about you for Workers’ Compensation or
similar programs providing benefits for work-related injuries or illness as required by state law.
NOTE ABOUT PHI RELATED TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHCARE: When we
disclose PHI potentially related to reproductive healthcare for health oversight activities,
judicial and administrative proceedings (such as court orders or subpoenas), law enforcement
purposes, and to coroners or medical examiners, HIPAA requires that we obtain an attestation from
the recipient verifying that the information will not be further used or disclosed for a prohibited
purpose. HIPAA prohibits the use and disclosure of PHI to: (1) conduct criminal, civil, or
administrative investigation into any person for the mere act of seeking, obtaining, providing, or
facilitating reproductive healthcare; (2) impose criminal, civil, or administrative liability on
any person for the mere act of seeking, obtaining, providing, or facilitating reproductive
healthcare; or
(3) identify any person for one of these purposes (such as using PHI to identify whether a person
sought reproductive healthcare legally).
USES OR DISCLOSURES THAT REQUIRE YOUR AUTHORIZATION
Other uses and disclosures of PHI that are not listed above will be made only with your written
authorization, which you may revoke at any time by notifying our Privacy Officer in writing. If you
revoke your authorization, the Company will no longer use or disclose PHI about you for the reasons
covered by your written authorization. You understand that we are unable to take back any disclosures we have already made with your authorization, and that we are required to retain our
records of the care that we provided to you. Subject to compliance with limited exceptions, we will
not use or disclose psychotherapy notes, use or disclose your PHI for marketing purposes, or sell
your PHI unless we obtain an authorization from you.
YOUR RIGHTS
You have the following rights with respect to your PHI:
Right to Request Restrictions - You have the right to ask us not to use/disclose your PHI for a
particular reason related to treatment, payment or our operations. You may ask that family members
or other individuals not be informed of specific PHI. Requests must be made in writing to our
Privacy Officer. We do not have to agree to your request, unless the disclosure is to a health plan
for a payment or health care operations purpose and is not otherwise required by law, and the PHI
relates solely to a health care item or service for which we have been paid out-of-pocket in full.
Right to Receive Confidential Communications - You have the right to ask that we communicate with
you by alternative means or at an alternative location. A request for confidential communications
must be made in writing to our Privacy Officer and must state how or when you would like to be
contacted. We will comply with reasonable requests.
Right to Inspect and Copy Your PHI - You have the right to request, inspect, and obtain a copy of
your PHI or to direct us to send a copy of your PHI to another person designated by you. You must
submit a request in writing to our Privacy Officer. We may charge a reasonable fee for the costs of
copying, summarizing and/or mailing information to you. In most cases we will provide this access
to you, or the person you designate, within 30 days of your request. We may deny your request under
certain limited circumstances, and we will let you know in writing, if your request is denied. You
may be able to request a review of our denial.
Right to Request Amendments to Your PHI - You have the right to request that we correct your PHI.
You must submit your request for an amendment in writing to our Privacy Officer, if you believe
that any PHI in your record is incorrect or that important information is missing. We do not have
to agree to your request. If we deny your request, we will tell you why within 60 days of receiving
your request. You have the right to submit a statement disagreeing with our decision. We may deny a
request if we determine that the information: (1) Was not created by us, unless you provide a
reasonable basis to believe that the originator of the PHI is no longer available to act on the
requested amendment; (2) Is not part of the medical information that we maintain about you; (3) Is
in records that you are not allowed to inspect and copy; or (4) Is already accurate and complete.
Right To An Accounting of Disclosures of Health Information - You have a right to an accounting
(i.e., a list) of disclosures we have made of your PHI for the 6 years prior to your request. We
are not required to include disclosures for treatment, payment or health care operations or certain other exceptions (such as disclosures you authorize). You are entitled to 1 free
accounting in any 12 month period and must submit a written request to our Privacy Officer. We may
charge you for the reasonable cost of providing additional accountings within the same 12 month
period. We will notify you in advance if there is an additional charge.
Right To Obtain a Copy of the Notice - You have the right to request and get a paper copy of this
notice, even if you have agreed to receive the notice electronically.
If you have given another individual a medical power of attorney, or if another individual is
appointed as your legal guardian or is authorized by law to act on your behalf, that individual may
exercise any of the rights listed above for you. We will confirm this individual has the authority
to act on your behalf before we take any action.
CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE
The Company is required to abide by the terms of our notices that are currently in effect. The
Company reserves the right to change this notice. The revised or changed notice will be in effect
for PHI we already have about you as well as any information we create or receive about you in the
future. If we change our notice, the Company will provide a copy of the revised notice to you upon
request. The Company will post a copy of the current notice on our website and have it on file at
our offices.
COMPLAINTS
If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, you may contact our Privacy Officer at
Addus HealthCare, Inc. directly using the contact information below or the Secretary of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. You will not be retaliated against for reporting a
violation of your privacy rights.
CONTACT PERSON
If you have any questions, want more information, or wish to file a complaint with us, please
contact by phone, or by mail:
Addus Privacy Officer Addus HealthCare, Inc.
6303 Cowboys Way, Suite 600
Frisco, TX 75034
Tel: 469.535.8200
AFFILIATES
Please note that this list may be periodically updated to reflect additional entities we acquire.
• Addus HomeCare
• A-Plus HealthCare
• Alamo Hospice
• Alamo Supportive Care
• Ambercare
• Arcadia Home Care and Staffing
• Capital City Hospice
• Day City Hospice
• Girling Personal Care
• Harrison's Hope Hospice
• Hospice of Virginia
• Hospice of Virginia Supportive Care
• House Calls of New Mexico
• JourneyCare Home Health
• JourneyCare Home Health – Chicago
• JourneyCare Hospice
• JourneyCare Palliative Care
• LifeStyle Options
• Miracle City Hospice
• Queen City Hospice
• Serenity Hospice
• Serenity Supportive Care
• Tennessee Quality Care Home Health
• Tennessee Quality Care Private Duty
• Tennessee Quality Care Hospice
• Tennessee Quality Care Palliative Care
• The Home Option