HIPAA Privacy Practices
Medical Air Services Association, Inc. (MASA)
Notice of HIPAA Privacy Practices
Your Information. Your Rights. Our Responsibilities.
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.
Your Rights
You have the right to:
• Get a copy of your health and claims records
• Correct your health and claims 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
Your Choices
You have some choices in the way that we use and share information as we:
• Answer coverage questions from your family and friends
• Provide disaster relief
• Market our services and sell your information
Our Uses and Disclosures
We may use and share your information as we:
• Help manage the health care treatment you receive pertaining to your ambulance coverages
• Run our organization
• Pay for your health services and associated ambulance coverages
• Administer your health plan
• Help with public health and safety issues
• Do research
• Comply with the law
• Respond to organ and tissue donation requests and work with a medical examiner or funeral
director
• Address workers’ compensation, law enforcement, and other government requests
• Respond to lawsuits and legal actions
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.
Get a copy of health and claims records
• You can ask to see or get a copy of your health and claims 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 health and claims 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 consider all reasonable requests, and must say “yes” if you tell us you would be in
danger if we do not.
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 using the information
on page 1.
• 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/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/.
• 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.
Help manage the health care treatment you receive with regards to your ambulance services.
We can use your health information and share it with professionals who are treating you.
Example: An ambulance provider sends us information about your transportation so we can arrange
additional services.
Run our organization
• We can use and disclose your information to run our organization and contact you when
necessary.
• We are not allowed to use genetic information to decide whether we will give you coverage and
the price of that coverage. This does not apply to long term care plans.
Example: We use health information about you to develop better services for you.
Pay for your health services
We can use and disclose your health information as we pay for your health services.
Example: We share information about you with your ambulance providers to coordinate payment for
your ambulance services.
We can use and disclose your health information as we pay for your health services.
Example: We share information about you with your ambulance providers to coordinate payment for
your ambulance services.
Administer your plan
We may disclose your health information to your health plan sponsor for plan administration.
Example: Your company contracts with us to provide a health plan, and we provide your company
with certain statistics to explain the premiums we charge.
We may disclose your health information to your health plan sponsor for plan administration.
Example: Your company contracts with us to provide a health plan, and we provide your company
with certain statistics to explain the premiums we charge.
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. 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 medications
• Reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence
• Preventing or reducing a 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.
Respond to organ and tissue donation requests and work with a medical examiner or funeral director
• We can share health information about you with organ procurement organizations.
• We can share health information with a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director when an
individual dies.
Address workers’ compensation, law enforcement, and other government requests
We can use or share health information about you:
• For workers’ compensation claims
• For law enforcement purposes or with a law enforcement official
• With health oversight agencies for activities authorized by law
• For 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.
To the extent that any state or other laws require greater limits on our use or disclosure of your health
information, we will comply with such laws.
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 see: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/noticepp.html.
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.
Other Information:
• This Notice is effective July 1, 2023
• Contact Information:
Medical Air Services Association, Inc. (MASA)
1250 S. Pine Island Road, Suite 500, Plantation, FL 33324
compliance@masaglobal.com
800‐643‐9023
• This Notice applies to MASA’s ambulance and other medical transportation services products