Privacy Policy

Last Updated January 1, 2025

Easter Seals, Inc. (an Ohio not-for-profit company hereinafter referred to as "Easterseals," "we," "our," or "us") understands that data privacy and the protection of personal information is important to you. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and share your personal information, and your rights and choices regarding the personal information we collect about you. 

Please read this Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your personal information and how we will process it. You can also click on the links below to navigate to a specific section. 

  1. Scope of Policy
  2. Personal Information Collection
  3. How We Use Personal Information
  4. How We Disclose Personal Information
  5. Easterseals Affiliate Members
  6. Links to Other Sites
  7. Security of Personal Information
  8. Transmission of Health-Related Information
  9. Retention of Personal Information
  10. Your Rights and Choices Regarding your Personal Information
  11. Cookies
  12. International Transfers of Personal Information
  13. Information from Children
  14. Changes to this Notice
  15. Contact Us

1. Scope of Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all donors, members, website visitors, business partners, employees, job applicants, and individuals who otherwise interact with Easterseals whom we collect personal information from. We often refer to your interactions with us as using our "services" throughout this Notice. 

2. Personal Information Collection

We collect a variety of information as part of our operations, including personal information and other information. "Personal information" is any information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with an identifiable individual. 

a. How We Collect Personal Information

Easterseals collects information, including personal information, from and about its donors, event attendees and program participants, individuals who interact with our affiliate members, employees and job applicants, individuals who visit our website and other individuals who choose to interact with us. We collect information from or about you in the following ways:

  • Directly from You: We collect information directly from you when you make a donation, create a user profile on our website, attend an event or program we are offering, apply for employment or gain employment with us, when you visit our website, and when you otherwise voluntarily submit or provide information to us.
  • Automatically: When you visit and interact with our website, we collect information automatically through cookies. For more information about cookies on our website, please visit the section below titled "Cookies."
  • From Easterseals Affiliate Members: We rely on our affiliate members to provide us with information about the individuals they provide services to and interact with so that we can understand the impact of our and our affiliate members' programs and services, yield actionable insights, and drive future-forward decision making to ensure that our services and programs make the most impact in the communities we serve.
  • From Other Sources: We may collect information about you from other sources and we may combine information from other sources with information we collect through our services or interactions with you. Examples of the other sources we most frequently collect information from include national donor databases and registries and companies that compile mailing lists about individuals.

b. Types of Personal Information We Collect

The types of personal information we collect depend on how you interact with us, including whether the interaction is through one of our affiliate members or directly with us. In many cases, the personal information we collect will be apparent from the context in which you provide the information.

We collect the following types of personal information from you depending on how you interact with us (e.g., donor, employee, etc.).

Categories of Personal Information

Contact Information: This includes your name, mailing address, email address, social media handle, or other similar identifiers. Relevant individuals: Donors, Employees and job applicants, Website visitors, Event attendees, Program participants, Individuals who interact with our affiliate members, Easterseals affiliate member users.

Identification Information: This includes your SSN, driver's license number, passport number, or similar legal identification information. Relevant individuals: Employees and job applicants.

Profile Information: This includes information about your activity and interactions with us, including your donor tendencies and donation history, information you voluntarily provide to us or that we collect from other sources regarding your interests, preferences, and characteristics. We compile this information we collect about you to better understand you. Relevant individuals: Donors, Website visitors, Event attendees, Program participants, Individuals who interact with our affiliate members, Easterseals affiliate member users.

Health Information: This is information about your health, disability, or medical condition which may include "Protected Health Information" (PHI). Relevant individuals: Event attendees, Program participants, Individuals who interact with our affiliate members, Employees and job applicants (if you choose to participate in our group health plan).

Financial Information: This includes information about your wealth and financial status, income, credit card, bank account, or payment information. Relevant individuals: Donors, Employees and job applicants, Individuals who interact with our affiliate members.

Location Information: This includes information about your location. Relevant individuals: Donors, Website visitors, Easterseals affiliate member users.

Professional or Employment-Related Information: Current or past job history or performance evaluations. Relevant individuals: Employees and job applicants, Affiliate clinical and non-clinical service providers.

Internet or Other Similar Network Activity: Browsing history, search history, information on your interaction with a website, application, or advertisement. Relevant individuals: Website visitors, Donors, Easterseals affiliate member users.

Interaction Information: This includes information about your attendance at events we host or programs we sponsor, as well as information about correspondence with us and other ways you interact with us. Relevant individuals: Donors, Event attendees, Program participants, Website visitors, Individuals who interact with our affiliate members, Easterseals affiliate member users.

Sensitive Personal Information: We may collect certain sensitive personal information including race, gender, and age information. This information is collected in aggregate form. Relevant individuals: Employees and job applicants, Individuals who interact with our affiliate members, Easterseals affiliate member users.

We may not collect all the above categories of information from each category of individual who interacts with us. Please note that if you voluntarily provide us with additional information when you interact with us that does not fit one of these categories of information or individuals set forth above, we will collect the information and use it for the purposes you direct or that we disclose to you.

In certain circumstances, we may also inadvertently receive "Protected Health Information." "Protected Health Information" ("PHI") is individually identifiable health information. While we never intentionally collect PHI from an individual, we sometimes collect aggregated PHI when we gather information about the effectiveness of our programs in order to understand whether a program that we or our affiliate members offered resulted in improved outcomes for the individuals or communities our programs are designed to serve.

3. How We Use Personal Information

We use personal information for our legitimate business purposes to further our mission and for other purposes disclosed to you at the time data is collected. More specifically, we use personal information in the following ways:

  • Provide our services, programs, and events to the communities and individuals we serve.
  • Send you confirmations about event or program registration, or donations.
  • Process donations and gifts made to Easterseals or our Affiliate members.
  • Understand our donor base and potential donors.
  • Measure the effectiveness of our services, programs, and events, including services, programs, and events offered by our Affiliate members.
  • Communicate with you about our services, programs, events, happenings, and news.
  • Respond to your comments, inquiries, and customer service requests.
  • Market our events, services, programs, and potential donor opportunities to you. You may opt-out of marketing communications at any time.
  • Provide you with employment, or consider you for employment with Easterseals.
  • Process payroll and other benefits afforded to our employees.
  • Improve and personalize our content and services.
  • Monitor and analyze trends regarding our services, programs, and events, including services, programs, and events offered by our Affiliate members.
  • Protect against and prevent fraud, unauthorized transactions, and manage risk exposure.
  • Enforce our legal rights and agreements.
  • Comply with applicable legal requirements.
  • Carry out any other purpose you consent to, that we disclose to you at the time your data is collected, or that you direct us to.

We may aggregate and de-identify personal information we collect from you to understand the effectiveness of our programs, services, and offerings, as well as to understand our donor base and donor trends. When we aggregate or de-identify information, it is no longer personally identifiable.

4. How We Disclose Personal Information

Easterseals may share your personal information in the following circumstances, and as otherwise described in this Notice:

  • Affiliate Members: We share information with our Affiliate members in order to understand and improve the impact of our and our affiliate members' programs, services, and offerings. Please see the section below titled "Easterseals Affiliate Members" for more information.
  • Service Providers, Vendors, and Consultants: We rely on third-parties to perform functions on our behalf. Some of these service providers include marketing service providers, payment service providers who help us process donations and pay our employees, cloud storage providers, website hosting platforms, client relationship management providers, HR or employee benefits providers, and content providers. We endeavor to ensure written agreements are in place with all service providers, vendors, and consultants where feasible and appropriate. All service providers, vendors, and consultants are required to use the information we disclose to them at our direction and only for the purpose(s) for which it was disclosed to them, and they are required to adhere to security and confidentiality measures.
  • List Rental and Exchange Program: We may share certain information about our donors with national donor registration and list service providers in order to grow our donor base and more effectively reach current and prospective donors. If you do not wish for your information to be shared with these third parties, you may opt-out by contacting us via a method set forth in the "Contact Us" section below or by visiting our website and contacting us through a means listed on our website. If you would like to know which third parties participate in the list rental and exchange program, you may also contact us via one of the methods listed below.
  • Law Enforcement Agencies, Courts, Regulators, Government Authorities, or Other Third Parties: We may disclose your information: 1) to apply with a legal obligation or court order; 2) when we believe in good faith that the law requires it; 3) at the request of governmental authorities conducting an investigation; 4) to verify or enforce our policies, procedures, terms of service, and other agreements, or to protect the rights, property, safety, and security of Easterseals, our members, vendors, business partners, service providers, affiliate members, website visitors, or the public; 5) to respond to an emergency; or 6) when we believe it is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss, or in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual illegal activity.
  • Successor Entities, Buyers, Transfers and Mergers and Acquisitions: We may disclose your information to a buyer, potential buyer, successor in interest, or to an organization in connection with a bankruptcy, transfer, merger or acquisition, or other transfer of some or all of Easterseals' or an affiliate's assets, which may include your information. If this occurs, we will endeavor to ensure that the successor entity uses your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Notice or provides you with notice and a choice about future use of your personal information.

5. Easterseals Affiliate Members

Easterseals has a number of Affiliate members throughout the United States who interact directly with the populations we serve by bringing Easterseals' mission and work directly into the community in which the affiliate member operates. While our Affiliate member organizations are associated with and use Easterseals branding, they may have their own practices regarding how they collect, use, share, and retain information when you interact with them.

As described above, Affiliate members share information with us, and we share information with our Affiliate members. This information sharing occurs so that we can understand the impact of our and our Affiliate members' programs and services, yield actionable insights, and drive future-forward decision making so that we can continue to further the Easterseals' mission.

6. Links to Other Sites

Easterseals' website may contain links to other sites, including to our Affiliate members, as well as links to non-affiliated third parties, such as social networks or business partners. These linked sites may have personal information collection, use, and disclosure practices that differ from Easterseals' practices. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of websites that you visit before sharing your personal information with them. Please also be aware that if you disclose personal information, PHI, or other sensitive information through public forums, at an event, or on online message boards, this information may be used by others. We take no responsibility for the content, security, or confidentiality of any information posted on or conveyed in these public spaces.

7. Security of Personal Information

Easterseals knows that information security is of the utmost importance to our donors, affiliate members, website visitors, and individuals whose information we collect. We maintain reasonable technical, administrative, physical, and organizational safeguards in proportion to the sensitivity of information we collect that are designed to prevent unauthorized access, use, and disclosure of personal information.

However, no electronic data transmission or processing of personal information is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee the security of personal information. We encourage you to assist us with securing your personal information by using a strong password and not disclosing your login credentials, where applicable, to anyone. If we become aware of an incident that affects your personal information, we will investigate and comply with all reporting obligations.

8. Transmission of Health-Related Information

Easterseals understands the sensitivity of collecting and using health-related data. It is not Easterseals' intent to collect personally identifiable health-related information or PHI. If we do collect personally identifiable health-related information or PHI, it will not be used by or shared with entities other than Easterseals or our affiliate members, unless the information is de-identified. Any transfer of personally identifiable health-related data between Easterseals organizations will take place in a secure environment with access allowed only to certain qualified employees of Easterseals. Easterseals will comply with all regulations set forward by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). To learn more about HIPAA, visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights.

9. Retention of Personal Information

We will retain your information only for as long as necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was collected. This may mean that we will continue to retain certain information even after we stop providing our services directly or indirectly to you, after you delete your user profile, or cease interacting with us, as required by law or for our legitimate business purposes. We may also retain de-identified, aggregated, or anonymous information that does not identify a particular individual. In all cases where we retain data, we do so in accordance with limitation periods and record retention obligations that are imposed by applicable law.

10. Your Rights & Choices Regarding Your Personal Information

Easterseals offers various rights that are consistent with state consumer privacy laws. Easterseals offers the option to access, correct, and delete your personal information. If you are a registered user of our website, access your Easterseals profile and update your contact information and user preferences. Upon your request, we will delete, aggregate, or de-identify personal information related to you that is retained in our organizational databases, unless we are required to continue to retain the information in an identifiable format. To exercise your right to deletion, or to modify or correct your information other than through the link above, please contact us via a method set forth in the below "Contact Us" section.

You can also change your communication preferences and opt-in or opt-out of marketing communications from Easterseals. To opt-out of receiving email communications, postal mail or from participating in the list rental and exchange program, or to request a disclosure of list rental and exchange information, please follow the directions below.

We will endeavor to fulfill all requests within a reasonable timeframe.

11. Cookies

Our website uses or may use cookies, web beacons, pixel tags, and similar technologies (collectively, "cookies"). Cookies are small text files stored directly on a website visitor's computer or mobile device that automatically collect certain information from users such as browser type, IP address, time spent online, pages visited, referring URL, and additional aggregated website traffic data. We also rely on partners to provide features of our services, which may involve using cookies.

We use cookies for the following purposes:

  • Functionality: These cookies are necessary for us to ensure that the website functions properly.
  • Security: These cookies are necessary for us to mitigate the risk of data breaches and similar attacks by ensuring that requests are submitted to our website from proper domains.
  • Authentication: These cookies allow us to authenticate user requests and to maintain session information related to users.
  • Preference. These cookies allow our website to remember which events you have signed up or registered for, the products you place in your shopping cart, and to recognize your device.
  • Advertising: These cookies allow us to provide you with more relevant advertisements.
  • Analytics: These cookies enable us to learn more about how users and visitors interact with our website, including pages visited, how much time is spent on each pages, and similar information. We use this information in aggregate.
  • Third-Party: These cookies are placed by third parties such as Google and social media networks. These cookies track and monitor how you interact with our services and other websites, provide us insight into how you interact with our website (such as analytics), facilitate account registration and login, and also enable the sharing of content from our services to these third parties. We do not control the data use or sharing practices of these third parties. If you do not wish to accept third party cookies, we encourage you to update your browser settings accordingly.

The use of cookies has become standard among website operators. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. You can usually set your browser to refuse cookies that are not necessary or to indicate when a cookie is being set. To understand your options regarding cookies, you can visit the help section of your web browser.

If you refuse cookies, you may not be able to use certain functions on our website and our website may not function as smoothly as it does when cookies are enabled.

12. International Transfers of Personal Information

Easterseals and all of its Affiliate members are located in the United States, and all programming offered by Easterseals and its Affiliate members occurs in the United States. Because of the global nature of the internet, the Easterseals website may be accessible from jurisdictions other than the United States, even though Easterseals does not operate, provide, or market its services outside of the United States. If you access the Easterseals website outside of the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States. Since the data protection laws of various countries differ, information transferred to the United States may not be subject to the same level of protection as the jurisdiction in which you reside. If you choose to access our website from a jurisdiction outside the United States, we rely on your consent to transfer the data to the United States. To the extent you do not consent to data transfers to the United States, please do not provide us with your personal information or visit our website.

13. Information from Children

Our website is not directed towards children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 13 through our website without parental consent. If you become aware that we have collected personal information from an individual under the age of 13 through our website without parental consent, please let us know so that we can take appropriate action.

14. Changes to this Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. If we make material updates to this Notice, we will endeavor to provide you notice by placing a prominent notice on this website and/or sending an email notification of the change. We will also update the "last updated" date at the top of this policy. Any changes will be effective immediately on posting unless otherwise indicated. Continued use of our services after updates to our Notice will be deemed consent to the changes.

15. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Notice or our information practices, please contact us or write to us at:

ATTN: Privacy Manager

Easter Seals, Inc.
141 W. Jackson Blvd
Suite 1400A
Chicago, IL 60604

Notice of Privacy Practices

What is the purpose of this Notice?
We respect the privacy of your health information and pledge to protect that information. This Notice describes your rights and our duties on the subject of your health information. It tells you about how we may use and give out ("disclose") your personal medical information. This Notice applies to all information and records about your care that we have received or created. It also applies to information received or created by our employees, staff, contractors, volunteers and or other health care business associates of the agency.

Our promise to you about our duties and responsibilities:
The law says we must protect the privacy of your information. The law also says that we need to give you this notice about what we do with the information we collect and maintain about you. We must follow the practices described in this notice. The Notice will be posted in the reception areas of our facilities. We agree to consider any reasonable privacy requests and to notify you if we are unable to meet those requests. We will not use or give out your information without your permission, except as described in this notice.

Who will follow this Notice?
Easter Seal Rehabilitation Center provides care to patients and clients together with clinicians and other health care professionals. This Notice will be followed by:

  • All employees/contractors of the Audiology Department;
  • All employees/contractors Family and Children Services
  • All administrative staff, to include, finance, human resources, marketing, and development

What are your rights as a patient?
You have the following rights regarding your Personal Health Information:

  • You have the right to ask us to limit how your personal medical information is used and given out for your care, for billing, and for our business reasons. If you write to us and ask us to limit this information, we will consider your request. Please understand that under the law, we do not have to accept it.
  • You may also ask us to limit your medical information that we use and give out to a family member, friend or other person who is involved in your care or the payment for your care.
  • You have the right to see and get a copy of your medical or billing records or other written information that we may use to make decisions about your care, with some exceptions. In most cases, we may charge a reasonable fee for our costs in copying and mailing the information you have asked for.
  • There are certain circumstances where we cannot agree to your request. In these cases, you will have the right to review the reasons why we did not agree with your request. The Privacy Officer of the agency and/or his/her designee will perform the review.
  • You have the right to request that we add to ("amend") your health record if you believe that the information is wrong or if you believe that important information is missing. Your request must be made in writing and must list the reason for your request. If we disagree with your request, you may ask us to include your written statement asking for the change as part of your record. We will also provide you a written statement that lists the reasons why we disagreed with your request.
  • You have the right to get a listing or ""accounting" of those people or organizations that received your medical information from us. This list includes disclosures made by Easter Seal Rehabilitation Center or by others on our behalf. It does not include disclosures for treatment, payment and our business operations or certain other exceptions. To request an accounting of disclosures, you must send us a request in writing. The first list provided within a 12- month period will be free. After that, we may charge you our costs.
  • You have the right to have a paper copy of this Notice at any time you ask for it from any of our service or treatment areas.
  • You have the right to ask that we communicate with you about your health matters in a different way or at a different place. For example, you can ask that we contact you only at a certain phone number or address that may be different from your home address. We will agree to reasonable requests.

Who do you contact for more information or to report a problem?
If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint in writing with the Easter Seal Rehabilitation Center by contacting the person listed below:
Privacy Officer Loraine Shea  203-754-5141 ext. 241
22 Tompkins Street
Waterbury, CT 06708

You may also file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There are no penalties if you file a complaint.

What happens if Easter Seal Rehabilitation Center changes this Notice?
We have the right to change this notice. We will post a copy of the current notice in our facilities. The notice will contain on the first page, in the top right-hand comer, the effective date. Also, each time you register at or are admitted to Easter Seal Rehabilitation Center for treatment or health care services, you may ask for a copy of the current notice in effect. If we change this notice, you will be notified the next time you come to the center and you may request a new copy.

When and how will Easter Seal Rehabilitation Center use and/or give out your personal medical information?
We may use and disclose your health information for purposes of treatment, payment and health care operations (our business operations) without written permission. There are times when we must use your personal medical information. The center must use and give out your personal medical information to provide information:

  • To you or someone who has the legal right to act for you (your personal representative),
  • To the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, if necessary, to make sure your privacy is protected,
  • Where required by law, and in certain emergency circumstances.

What are treatment, payment, and health care operations and what are some examples?

Treatment: Treatment is when we provide care to you. It includes many pieces, including when doctors and clinicians consult on your case or when referrals are needed. We will use and disclose your health information when we provide you with treatment and services, and to coordinate your care. Your health information may be used by the therapists, educators, and other clinicians/staff involved in your care. For example, our staff may need certain information to recommend a hearing aid for you. We also may give health information to individuals or facilities that will be involved in your care after you leave Easter Seals.

Payment: Payment is billing for services we provided. It also involves receiving payment from individuals or insurance companies. We will give out some of your health information so that we can bill and receive payment for the treatment and services you receive. For billing and payment purposes, we may give out your health information to your representative, insurance or managed care company, Medicare, Medicaid or another payer. For example, we may contact Medicare or your health plan to confirm your coverage or to request prior approval for a proposed treatment or service. Payment information may include things that identify you, your diagnosis, procedures performed on you, and supplies we used.

Health Care Operations: Health care operations involves many things that Easter Seal Rehabilitation Center must do to operate its' business side. We may give out your health information as necessary for clinic operations or business reasons. These may include management purposes or reviewing our treatment and services for quality of care. We may also use your information to evaluate the performance of our staff in caring for you by using surveys. For example, health information of many patients may be grouped and studied for purposes such as evaluating and improving quality of care and planning for services. Health information is used in evaluating our employees and in reviewing the qualifications and practices of the clinicians and other licensed health care staff at the Center. We also may use and disclose health information for education and training purposes. We may use a sign-in sheet at the registration desk where you may be asked to sign your name. We may also call you by name in the waiting room when your therapist is ready to see you. We may use or disclose your protected health information, as necessary, to contact you to remind you of your appointment.

How else does Easter Seal Rehabilitation Center use and disclose medical information?
We may also use and disclose health information about you for specific purposes. Below is a list of the various ways in which we may use or give out your health information:

  • Center Directory - Unless you say no, or are a Behavioral Health Patient, we will include certain limited information about you in our directory while you are a patient. Our directory does not include specific medical information about you other than your general condition. If people ask for you by name, we will share that you are a patient here and where you are located.
  • Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care - Unless you say no, we may disclose health information about you to a family member, close personal friend or other person you identify, including clergy, who is involved in your care. We will only share the information needed for that person to help with your care or in arranging payment for your care.
  • Business Associates -There may be some services provided by our business associates, such as transportation services or legal consultants. We may give out your health information to our business associates so they can perform the jobs we have asked them to do. To protect your health information, we have our business associates sign written contracts that require them to keep your information safe and confidential.
  • Disaster Relief - We may disclose health information about you to an organization assisting in a disaster relief effort.
  • Emergencies - We may use or disclose your health information in emergency treatment situations.
  • Communication Barriers - We may use and disclose your protected health information if your clinician or another therapist in the center tries to get permission from you but can't because of language barriers. In this case, the therapist will use reasonable judgment that you intend to give permission to use or disclosure information under the circumstances.
  • As Required By Law - We may disclose your health information when required by law to do so. Reporting Victims of Abuse, Neglect or Domestic Violence. If we believe that you have been a victim of abuse or neglect, we may use and disclose your health information to notify a government authority. This will happen if we are authorized or required by law or if you agree to the report. For child / elder abuse or neglect, we will disclose your health information to government authorities.
  • Legal Proceedings - We may disclose your health information in response to a court or administrative order. We also may disclose information in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process.
  • Appointment Reminders - We may use or disclose health information to remind you about appointments.
  • Public Health Activities - We may disclose your health information for public health activities. These activities may include, for example:
  • reporting to a public health or other government authority for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability, reporting child abuse or neglect, reporting births and deaths;
  • reporting to the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issues concerning problems with products and product recalls, etc., or
  • to notify a person who may have been exposed to or is at risk of spreading a communicable disease, if authorized by law.
  • Health Oversight Activities - We may disclose your health information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law. These may include, for example, Medicare audits, investigations, State Health Department inspections and licensure actions or other legal proceedings.
  • Law Enforcement - We may disclose your health information for certain law enforcement purposes. These include, for example, following reporting requirements for emergencies or suspicious deaths; to follow a court order, warrant, or similar legal procedure; to identify or locate a suspect or missing person; or to answer certain requests for information about crimes.
  • Research -Your health information may be used for research purposes without authorization, but only if there has been review and approval by our Privacy Committee.
  • Coroners, Medical Examiners, Funeral Directors, and for Organ Donation - We may release your health information to a coroner, medical examiner or funeral director. If you are an organ donor, we may disclose your information to an organization involved in the donation of organs and tissue.
  • To Avoid a Serious Threat to Health or Safety - Should it be necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health or safety or the health or safety of others, we may use or disclose health information. This type of disclosure will be limited to someone able to help decrease or stop the threatened harm.
  • Military Activity and National Security - Under certain conditions, we may use or disclose protected health information of individuals who are Armed Forces personnel:
  • for activities believed necessary by appropriate military command authorities
  • for the purpose of determining your eligibility for benefits by the Department of Veterans Affairs, or (3) to
  • foreign military authority if you are a member of that foreign military service. We may also disclose your protected health information to authorized federal officials for conducting national security and intelligence activities, including for the provision of protective services to the President or others legally authorized.
  • Workers' Compensation - We may use or disclose your health information to comply with laws relating to workers' compensation or similar programs.
  • Inmates/Law Enforcement Custody - If you are an inmate of a prison or jail, or under the custody of a law enforcement official, we may disclose your health information to the institution or official for certain purposes including the health and safety of you and others.
  • Treatment Alternatives and Health-Related Benefits and Services - We may use or disclose your health information to inform you about treatment alternatives and health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you. For example, your name and address may be used to send you a newsletter about products or services that we believe may be beneficial to you.
  • Minors - We will follow Connecticut law when using or disclosing protected health information of minors. For example, if you are an un-emancipated minor agreeing to health care services related to HIV / AIDS, venereal disease, abortion, reproductive issues, behavioral health or alcohol/drug dependence, and you have not requested that another person be treated as a personal representative, you may have the authority to agree to the use and disclosure of your health information.

Is information about Behavioral Health, substance abuse treatment, and HIV treated differently?
For disclosures concerning health information relating to care for Behavioral Health (psychiatric) conditions, substance abuse or HIV-related testing and treatment, special rules may apply. For example, we usually are not able to disclose this specially protected information in response to a subpoena, warrant or other legal process unless you sign a special authorization or a court orders the disclosure. We will follow state and/or federal law and obtain a special authorization to release this type of information about you in cases other than what is listed here.

  • Psychiatric (Behavioral Health) information - If needed for your diagnosis or treatment in a mental health program, psychiatric information may be disclosed based on your general agreement, and very limited information may be disclosed for payment purposes.
  • HIV-related information - HIV-related information may be disclosed based on your general agreement for purposes of treatment or payment.
  • Substance abuse treatment - If you are treated in a special substance (drug and/or alcohol) abuse program, your authorization will be needed for most disclosures, except for emergencies, certain reporting requirements and other disclosures specifically allowed under federal law.
    Your authorization or permission is required for other uses of your medical information.

For other reasons that are not listed in this Notice, we will use or give out your information only with your written permission ("authorization"). A written authorization must list other particular uses or disclosures that you may allow. You may cancel an authorization to use or disclose health information, in writing, at any time. If you cancel an authorization, we will no longer use or disclose your health information for the purposes covered by that authorization, except in cases where we followed your original request.

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