ShopRite® Pharmacy Notice of Privacy Practices

Your Information. Your Rights. Our Responsibilities. 

THIS NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES (“NOTICE”) DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION 

ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED BY YOUR SHOPRITE PHARMACY AND HOW YOU 

CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY.

 

You have the right to: 

• Get a copy of your paper or electronic medical record

• Correct your paper or electronic medical records

• Request confidential communication

• Ask us to limit the information we share

• Get a list of those with whom we’ve shared your information

• Get a copy of this privacy notice

• Choose someone to act for you

• File a complaint if you believe your privacy rights have been violated

 

You have some choices in the way that we use and share information as we: 

• Permit family members to pick up your prescription

• Market our services

 

We may use and share your information as we: 

• Treat you

• Run our organization

• Bill for your services

• Help with public health and safety issues

• Do research 

• Comply with the law

• Share with Business Associates

• Provide you with treatment and health-related benefits information

• Respond to organ and tissue donation requests

• Work with a medical examiner or funeral director

• Address workers’ compensation, law enforcement and other government requests

• Respond to lawsuits and legal actions

Protected Health Information (PHI) is information that may identify you and that relates to your past, present or future physical or mental health or condition and related health care services. This Notice of Privacy Practices (Notice) describes your rights and how your ShopRite® Pharmacy and other ShopRite® healthcare providers, including nutritional counselors, may use and disclose PHI to carry out treatment, payment or health care operations and for other purposes permitted or required by law, as well as certain limitations on ShopRite®’s authorization to use and/or disclose PHI.

Your ShopRite® Pharmacy will not use or disclose PHI about you without your prior, written permission, except as described in this Notice. We are required by law to maintain the privacy of PHI and to provide individuals with notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to PHI. We advise individuals when we become aware of a breach of the privacy or security of their PHI in accordance with applicable law. We are also required to abide by the terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices that are currently in effect. We may change our practices and this Notice and make the new Notice effective for the PHI we maintain. Any revised Notice will be posted on the applicable ShopRite website and will include an updated effective date. If you request it, we will provide you with any revised Notice. For more information see: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/noticepp.html. 

 

You may obtain a paper copy of the Notice upon request, and you may request a copy of the Notice at any time.

Even if you agreed to receive the Notice electronically, you are entitled to a paper copy. For a copy, call 1-800-SHOPRITE (746-7748).

You may inspect and obtain a copy of your PHI, which usually includes prescription and billing records, for as long as this ShopRite® Pharmacy maintains the PHI. To inspect or copy PHI about you, send a written request to the Privacy Officer of your ShopRite® Pharmacy. We may charge you for copying, mailing and supplies needed to fulfill your request. We may deny your request in certain circumstances, and you may ask to have the denial reviewed. If we maintain your PHI in an electronic format we will forward it to you in the electronic format you request if doing so is feasible. If you want your PHI to be sent to a third party, this ShopRite® Pharmacy will do so as long as you request that we do so in writing, sign your request and advise us of the name and address (or other contact information, if the PHI is to be sent electronically) of the third party.

You may request a change to your PHI. If you feel that PHI we maintain about you is incomplete or incorrect, you may request an amendment to it for as long as we maintain the PHI. To request a change, send a written request and a reason supporting the request to the Privacy Officer of your ShopRite® Pharmacy. If we deny your request, you may file a statement disagreeing with our decision, and we may give a rebuttal to your statement.

You may request a restriction of your PHI. This means that you may ask us not to use or disclose any part of your PHI for the purposes of treatment, payment or healthcare operations. You may also request that any part of your PHI not be disclosed to family members or friends who may be involved in your care or for notification purposes as described in this Notice of Privacy Practices. To request a restriction, send a written request and the specific reason supporting the request to the Privacy Officer of your ShopRite® Pharmacy. Your request must also list the individuals to whom you want the restriction to apply. We are not required to agree to a requested restriction, except that, unless such disclosure is otherwise required by law, your ShopRite® Pharmacy must honor your request to restrict the disclosure of your PHI to a health plan, if (a) the disclosure is for the purposes of obtaining payment for medical products sold to you or in connection with your ShopRite® Pharmacy health care operations and (b) the PHI relates to medical products or services you acquired from your ShopRite® Pharmacy and you or someone other than the health plan has fully paid your ShopRite® Pharmacy for those products or services.

You may request a list of PHI disclosures we made about you during the past six years for purposes other than treatment, payment, or health care operation. Some disclosures will not be included. Certain other exceptions, restrictions, and limitations may also apply. To request a list, send a written request to the Privacy Officer of your ShopRite® Pharmacy and specify the time period you need. There is no charge for the first list requested within a 12-month period, but you may be charged for the cost of providing additional lists. We will notify you of the cost, and you may then withdraw or modify your request.

You may request communications of PHI by alternative means or at alternative locations. For instance, you may ask that we contact you about medical matters only in writing or at a different residence or post office box. We will not ask the reason for the request. To request confidential communication of PHI about you, send a written request, including how or where you would like to be contacted, to the Privacy Officer of your ShopRite® Pharmacy. We will accommodate all reasonable requests.  Please note if you choose to receive communications from us via email or other electronic means, those may not be a security means of communication and your PHI  in the emails may be intercepted and read by, or disclosed to, unauthorized third parties.

You may request 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.

For treatment. For example, information obtained by your ShopRite® Pharmacy will be used to dispense prescription medications to you. We will include information in your record about the medications and services you received. We may also share your PHI with other parties (such as pharmacies, doctors, hospitals or other health care providers) to help them provide care to you or coordinate your care.

For payment. For example, we will contact your insurer, Pharmacy benefit manager or workers’ compensation benefit manager to learn if it will pay for your prescription and what your copayment is. We will bill you or a third-party payor for the cost of medications dispensed to you. The information we send on or with the bill may include wording that identifies you and your prescriptions. We may also share your PHI with other health care providers or health plans who may need it for their payment purposes.

For health care operations. For example, we may use information in your health record to monitor the performance of the pharmacists providing treatment to you, so we can improve the quality and effectiveness of the service we provide. As necessary, we may share PHI with other healthcare professionals for circumstances including, but not limited to, multiple prescribers or prescription transfers between pharmacies.

To business associates: Some services are provided by us through contracts with business associates. We may disclose PHI about you to our business associates so they can perform their assigned job. To protect your PHI, we require our business associates to sign legally binding agreements to safeguard it.

To individuals involved in your care or payment for your care: Using their professional judgment, health professionals such as pharmacists may disclose your PHI to a family member, relative, friend, or any person identified by you, if these people need to know about your care, payment related to your care, your location or condition.

For health-related communications: We may send you refill reminders or other communications about a drug or biologic currently being prescribed for you. In those situations, we may receive compensation from a third party, but only the extent necessary to provide you with the reminder or other communication about a currently prescribed medication. We may also provide you information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may interest you. However, we are not permitted to provide you with such information without your prior written authorization if we are receiving compensation from a third party for doing so.

 

To the Food and Drug Administration (FDA): We may disclose PHI about the effects of drugs, foods, supplements, products and product defects, or other data that may show a need for product recalls, repairs or replacement, or to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or that of the public. For example, we may disclose PHI to report adverse reactions to medications.

 

For workers' compensation: We may disclose PHI to comply with workers' compensation or similar programs' laws.

 

For public health, disease control or to avert a serious threat to health or safety: We may disclose PHI about you if needed to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person.

To law enforcement officials and as required by law: We may disclose PHI about you for law enforcement purposes, in response to a subpoena or other legal process, when required to do so by law or to comply with a discovery request or other lawful process related to a lawsuit or dispute.

For health-oversight: We may disclose PHI about you to an oversight agency for legal activities when needed for licensure or to monitor the health care system, government programs and compliance with civil rights laws.

For research: We may disclose PHI about you to researchers if their research has been approved by an institutional board that has reviewed the proposal and set out rules to ensure your privacy.

To coroners, medical examiners and funeral directors: We may release PHI about you to a coroner or medical examiner if needed, for example, to identify a deceased person or determine cause of death, or to funeral directors to fulfill their duties.

To organ or tissue procurement organizations: Consistent with applicable law, we may disclose PHI about you to groups that procure, bank, or transplant organs or tissues for donation and transplants.

For fundraising: Because we are a for-profit organization, we will not contact you as part of a fundraising effort for our own benefit.

To a correctional institution: If you are or become an inmate of a correctional institution, we may disclose PHI to the institution or its agents when necessary for your health or the health and safety of others.

To military authorities: If you are in the armed forces or are a veteran, we may release PHI about you as required by military command authorities. This applies also to foreign military personnel.

For national security, intelligence activities and presidential protection: We may release PHI about you to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, other national security activities authorized by law and to provide protection to the President, other authorized persons or foreign heads of state, or conduct special investigations.

For victims of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence: We may disclose PHI about you to a government agency if we reasonably believe you are a victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence, but only as required by law, if you agree to it, or we believe it necessary to prevent serious harm to you or someone else.

 

ShopRite® Pharmacies will obtain your written authorization before using or disclosing PHI about you for reasons other than those listed in this Notice or as permitted or required by law. Specifically, we must and will seek your approval before using or disclosing your PHI for marketing or in connection with the sale of PHI. We will not disclose any psychotherapy notes that may come into our possession without your prior approval. You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time. When we receive the revocation, we will stop using or disclosing your PHI.

(a) Your prior authorization is not required with respect to either face-to face communications to you by a ShopRite® Pharmacy employee or if we provide you with a promotional gift of nominal value.

(b) In the event that your ShopRite® Pharmacy seeks your authorization to send you marketing-related communications, we will advise you if your ShopRite® Pharmacy is receiving any compensation for sending those communications.

(c) A "sale" of your PHI would not include transfer of your PHI in connection with the sale or merger of your ShopRite® Pharmacy to another entity.

(a) Your ShopRite® Pharmacy may send you prescription refill reminder statements or communications concerning a medication or biologic currently being prescribed for you and may be paid for sending you those communications. As long as the payment your ShopRite® Pharmacy receives is reasonably related to the cost of sending them, those communications do not constitute "marketing." Your ShopRite® Pharmacy is, therefore, not required to obtain your prior written authorization before sending them.

(b) Similarly, your ShopRite® Pharmacy may send you information concerning (i) treatment by a health care provider; (ii) describing a product or service (or payment for such product or service) offered by your ShopRite® Pharmacy; or (iii) treatment alternatives, therapies, health care providers, and settings of care. As long as your ShopRite® Pharmacy is not being paid for providing those communications, they do not constitute "marketing," and your ShopRite® Pharmacy is not required to obtain your prior written authorization before sending them.

(c) However, you are free to opt out of receiving those communications [by either (i) mailing a letter signed by you to your ShopRite® Pharmacy, or (ii) contacting your ShopRite® Pharmacy at 1-800-SHOPRITE (746-7748).]

For More Information or to Report a Problem

For questions or more information, contact the Privacy Officer at your ShopRite® Pharmacy. If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the Privacy Officer or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. There will be no retaliation for filing a complaint.

This Notice is effective as of May 1, 2024