Privacy Information

Revised June 24, 2022

If you would like to learn more about Health Net Federal Services, LLC and its affiliated companies (collectively "HNFS") privacy policies, please go to the following web links, listed below.

HNFS’ Privacy Policy provides information about privacy over the HNFS’ website by:

• Discussing the information HNFS collects.
• Describing how HNFS uses the information about our members and non-members we collect.
• Providing information about what technology HNFS uses to collect information.
• Identifying specific rights granted to California residents.

California Privacy Rights – Privacy Notice for California Residents regarding information HNFS collects, uses and discloses

• The Privacy Notice for California Residents supplements the information contained in HNFS' Privacy Policy, and applies solely to all visitors, users, and others who reside in the State of California. 
• We adopt this notice to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA).
• The CCPA (see below) provides Consumers (California residents) with specific rights regarding their personal information. 

HNFS' Confidentiality Guideline describes how HNFS:

• Protects, limits access and prohibits unlawful disclosure of protected health information.

Privacy Act Statement

• A Privacy Act Statement must be provided to TRICARE beneficiaries when soliciting or collecting personally identifiable information (PII) for inclusion in a system of records.
• TRICARE Privacy Act Statement

Military Health System Notice of Privacy Practices (NoPP) describes:

• How HNFS uses and discloses protected health information.
• Your rights as a beneficiary to access protected information and to request amendments, restrictions or an accounting of disclosures of protected health information.
• The procedures for filing a complaint.
• The Defense Health Agency is responsible for the maintenance of their Notice of Privacy Practices.

For general Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) information, visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website.

For other privacy concerns, you may contact the HNFS Privacy Compliance Office at hnfs.privacy@hnfs.com.

Privacy Policy
 

1. Scope

This Privacy Policy ("Policy") applies to the collection, use and disclosure of information by Health Net Federal Services, LLC and its affiliated companies (collectively "HNFS") on www.hnfs.com, www.tricare-west.com and through mobile sites or social media (the "website") as well as to information collected through telephone or written communications. This Privacy Statement does not apply to third party web sites that may be accessible through hyperlinks on this website, which have their own privacy policies that we encourage you to review. Linking to a third-party site does not mean that we endorse the site, any products or services described on the site, or any other material contained in a third-party site.

This Policy explains how HNFS collects, uses, and discloses information about individuals who visit the website. HNFS also utilizes the Military Health System Notice of Privacy Practices that describes how we use and disclose protected health information regarding beneficiaries, including individual rights with respect to such information, which is available in the Notice of Privacy Practices section (below).

• Military Health System (MHS) Notice of Privacy Practices (NoPP)

The Notice of Privacy Practices also describes the procedures for filing a complaint. As discussed in the complaint section, you may file a written complaint in accordance with the Notice of Privacy Practices or with the Department of Health and Human Services. 

No retaliation will occur against you for filing a complaint.

By using our website in any way, such as browsing or interacting, you signify that you agree with the terms of our current Policy as posted here. If you do not agree with this Policy, you should not use our website. HNFS may update or modify this Policy from time to time at our sole discretion by posting a new version on this website, with the date of last update noted at the top. We encourage you to visit this area frequently to stay informed because your continued use of our websites following the posting of changes to these terms means that you consent to such changes.

Your use of our website is also subject to the Terms of Use.

• Terms of Use
   

2. Information We Collect

In general, you can visit our website without telling us who you are. You (or your personal representative) can, however, voluntarily provide personal information on the website, which refers to:

• Contact information (such as name, address, email address and telephone number).
• Demographic information (such as age, date of birth, gender, marital status, ZIP code, and household composition).
• Financial information (such as social security number, bank account information, or credit card information).
• Health information (such as information submitted on a health insurance enrollment application).

If you choose to interact on the website, such as by registering, requesting information or services, submitting orders, responding to questionnaires or surveys, or using mobile applications or social media platforms, HNFS will collect the personal information that you (or your personal representative) provide. We may enhance or merge the information that you provide to us directly with information from other sources, including third parties, or merge your personal information with data regarding how you use our site, for the purposes described below.

You can view your data in our system through our customer/member secure portal. To change or correct your information, please contact our Customer Service phone number located on the back of your ID card.
 

3. How We Use Your Information

HNFS may collect, maintain, and use your personal information, for the following purposes:

• To help establish and verify the identity and eligibility of users.
• To open, maintain, administer, and service users’ profiles, accounts, or memberships (including confirming website transactions with you).
• To facilitate benefit plan enrollment, disenrollment, payments, and billing.
• To facilitate the administration of HNFS’ contracts with federal and/or state agencies;
• To provide services and support to users, such as delivering web-based products or services, informing you about health or wellness programs you might be interested in provided by us or other businesses, or providing documents or other information you request (such as Explanations of Benefits (EOBs) or billing and payment information).
• To provide educational or benefit notices to you.
• To analyze and improve our services and website.
• To improve customer satisfaction.
• To provide support, personalize and develop our website, products and services, databases, other technology assets.
• To fulfil or meet the reason you provided the information.
• To contact you when necessary.
• To keep a record of our transactions and communications.
• To maintain the safety, security, and integrity of our systems and business.
• To prevent transactional fraud.
• To protect the health, safety or welfare of others.
• To comply with legal requirements, comply with legal process, or defend our legal rights.
• To evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of the HNFS’ assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by HNFS is among the assets transferred.

4. Technology Logging, Cookies, and Related Techniques

HNFS also collects certain non-personal information and aggregate information about you to help us analyze and improve the usefulness of our website. "Non-personal information" includes information that does not directly identify you personally, but provides us with anonymous "usage data," such as the number of unique visitors we receive, what pages are visited most often, and the navigation preferences and characteristics of our visitors. Examples of such non-personal information include, but are not limited to, cookies, browser information, web beacons and IP addresses.

Cookies: Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to a user's computer for purposes of storing information about a user's preferences, to deliver content specific to your interests, or to maximize the performance of our website and services. Cookies do not personally identify users (such as by collecting your name or address), but they do assign a unique data element to each visitor so that the website can recognize repeat users, track usage patterns, and better serve you when you return to the website. Cookies may be either "persistent" cookies or "session" cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date, unless deleted by the user before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed.

We use cookies for the following purposes:

(a) Authentication. To identify you when you visit our website and as you navigate our website. Cookies used for this purpose are identify cookies.

(b) Status. To help us to determine if you are logged into our website. Cookies used for this purpose are identify cookies.

(c) Personalization. To store information about your preferences and to personalize the website for you. Cookies used for this purpose are identify cookies.

(d) Security. As an element of the security measures used to protect user accounts, including preventing fraudulent use of login credentials, and to protect our website and services generally. Cookies used for this purpose are identify cookies.

(e) Analysis. To help us to analyze the use and performance of our website and services. Cookies used for this purpose are identify cookies.

(f) Cookie consent. To store your preferences in relation to the use of cookies more generally. Cookies used for this purpose are identify cookies.

Managing cookies:

1. Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. You can however obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links:

(a) https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647 (Chrome)

(b) https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/third-party-cookies-firefox-tracking-protection (Firefox)

(c) https://www.opera.com/help/tutorials/security/cookies/ (Opera)

(d) https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies (Internet Explorer)

(e) https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/manage-cookies-sfri11471/mac (Safari)

(f) https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10-microsoft-edge-and-privacy (Edge)

2. If you block cookies, you will not be able to use all the features on our website.

Browser information: Web browsers collect and store information about the type of device and operating system you are using to access our website, as well as your device's MAC address for facilitating network communications. Accessing this information helps us to establish a secure and consistent connection to you during your visits to our website.

Web beacons: We may also place web beacons in our emails to measure the effectiveness of our email campaigns by identifying the individuals who open or act upon an email message, when an email message is opened, how many times an email message is forwarded, the type of software, device, operating system and browser used to deliver the email, and any URL accessed through our email message.

IP address: An Internet Protocol address is a number that automatically identifies the computer or machine you have used to access the Internet. The IP address enables our server identify your geographic location and to send you the webpages that you want to visit, and it may disclose the server owned by your Internet Service Provider.

At this time, we do not honor "do not track" signals from a website browser. However, you may refuse or delete cookies. If you have your browser set to private browsing, or refuse or delete cookies, you may not be able to take full advantage of the website.
 

5. Data Sharing and Storage

HNFS will not sell your personal information to any other third party for monetary or other valuable consideration. We do not currently share your personal information with any outside third parties in order for them to market directly to you.

HNFS may disclose your personal information to third parties for the following reasons:

• We may use unaffiliated companies such as agents or contractors ("third parties") to help us maintain and operate our websites, to provide you with services that you have requested, or for other reasons related to the operation of our business (including the information uses listed above). In the event we provide personal information to these third parties, they are restricted from using this data in any way other than to provide the required services for us.
• We reserve the right to release your personal information if required to do so by law, search warrant, subpoena, court order, upon request of government authorities, or as reasonably necessary to protect HNFS, the individuals that HNFS serves, or the public.
• We may provide your personal information to affiliated entities or third parties in connection with the actual or prospective sale or transfer of some or all of a business to which you submitted your information, or in the event of a corporate change.
• We may also disclose to third parties (or allow third parties to compile) your non-personal information from the cookies, web beacons, or other technologies on our website for purposes including but not limited to measuring site activity and providing a better user experience.

Your personal information and non-personal information may be stored in HNFS databases, affiliated company or subsidiary databases, or databases managed by third-party service providers, which are located within the United States. Your information will be automatically transferred to these databases for storage and maintenance.
 

6. Social Media Platforms

Our websites' web pages may embed plugs-ins, widgets, or other apps of various social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. An example of such a plug-in is Facebook's "Like" button. When you encounter those embedded objects, your internet browser may make a direct connection to the social media platform's service and may share information such as which of our websites you have visited. Our websites may also be made available through third-party social media platforms.

Your participation with the services provided on social media platforms is voluntary. If you choose to sign on using this service, HNFS may collect certain information from your social media account including your public profile, user name, email address, birthday, stated location city, contact lists, and other interactions on that social media platform (such as interests and likes). The information we may have access to will vary by social media platform and is controlled by privacy settings on that platform and your choices on that platform. Your use of services on third-party social media platforms are governed by the privacy statement and other terms of use for that third-party social media platform, until such information is shared with us, and then such information is also subject to this Privacy Policy.
 

7. Mobile Applications Privacy Statement

HNFS has developed certain mobile applications that you may download to your mobile device. You can stop all collection of information by our mobile applications easily by uninstalling the mobile applications. You may use the standard uninstall processes available as part of your mobile device or via the mobile application marketplace or network. You may at any time opt-out from allowing us to have access to your premise location (GPS data) by adjusting the permissions in your mobile device.
 

8. Security

HNFS takes reasonable steps to protect the security of your information, including use of appropriate physical, technical, and administrative safeguards. The nature of the Internet, however, prevents us from guaranteeing the confidentiality of information we receive through the website or via email. Therefore, please do not use email or this website (unless you are logged in to your tricare-west.com account and use the Secure Inbox available to you once logged in) to communicate information to us that you consider to be confidential.
 

9. Children

HNFS does not intentionally collect personal information from children under 13 years of age, and children under age 13 should not submit any personal information to us. If we become aware that a child has provided us with personal information without parental consent, or a parent or guardian of a child contacts us through the contact information provided below, we will use reasonable efforts to delete the child's information from our databases.
 

10. Opt-Out

HNFS may from time to time send electronic communications to you in the form of newsletters, notification of account status, and other communications, such as benefit notices. We may also send email communications regarding topics such as general health benefits, website updates, health conditions, and general health topics. We will offer appropriate consent mechanisms within the specific email communication, such as opt-out/unsubscribe, for these and other communications, or you can contact us as described below.

At certain locations on our website where we request information about the user, our website provides users the opportunity to opt-out of receiving communications from us. If you are logged in to your tricare-west.com site, you may also change your email preferences in your profile.

Please be aware that opting out of benefit notices or other communications will not apply to certain communications such as account status, website updates, or website functionality communications.
 

11. Contact Us

If you believe that HNFS is not following this privacy policy, you can call the toll-free phone number on the back of your ID card or contact HNFS.

Health Net Federal Services, LLC
Privacy Compliance Office
4191 East Commerce Way
Sacramento, CA 95834

Fax: 1-844-813-7788

12. Your California Privacy Rights – Privacy Notice for California Residents 

This Privacy Notice for California Residents supplements the information contained in Health Net Federal Services, LLC’s (and its subsidiaries, collectively “Health Net Federal Services” or “HNFS”) Privacy Policy, and applies solely to all visitors, users, and others who reside in the State of California ("consumers" or "you"). We adopt this notice to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA). Any terms defined in the CCPA have the same meaning when used in this notice.

Information We Collect

HNFS collects information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with particular consumers ("personal information"). In particular, HNFS may have collected the following categories of personal information from its consumers within the last twelve (12) months:
 

For purposes of CCPA, personal information does not include: 

• Publicly available information from federal, state or local government records. 
• De-identified or aggregated consumer information. 
• Information excluded from the CCPA's scope, like: 
  • Health or medical information covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) or clinical trial data. 
  • Personal information covered by certain sector-specific privacy laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) or California Financial Information Privacy Act, and the Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994.

Use of Personal Information 

We may use or disclose the personal information we collect for one or more business purposes as listed in Section 3, How We Use Your Information, as described to you when collecting your personal information, or as otherwise set forth in the CCPA.

HNFS will not collect additional categories of personal information or use the personal information we collected for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing notice to you.

Sharing Personal Information

HNFS does not sell personal information for monetary or other valuable consideration. However, HNFS may disclose your personal information to third parties for business purposes, or as required by law. 

We may share your personal information with the following categories of third parties: 

• Contracted service providers 
• HNFS’ Government customer(s)

Your Rights and Choices

The CCPA provides Consumers (California residents) with specific rights regarding their personal information. This section describes your CCPA rights and explains how to exercise those rights. CCPA Request Form: California Consumers Privacy Act Request Form

1) Access to Specific Information Rights

You have the right to request that HNFS disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of your personal information over the past 12 months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will disclose to you:

• The categories of personal information we collected about you. 
• The categories of sources from which personal information is collected about you. 
• The business or commercial purpose for collecting or disclosing that personal information. 
• The categories of third parties with whom we share that personal information. 
• The specific pieces of personal information we collected about you. 
• If we disclosed your personal information for a business purpose, we will identify the personal information categories that each category of recipient obtained.

2) Deletion Request Rights

You have the right to request to have HNFS delete any of your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your personal information from our records, unless an exception applies.

HNFS may deny your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service provider(s) to:

a) Complete the transaction for which we collected the personal information, provide a good or service that you requested, take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, or otherwise perform our contract with you. 

b) Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities. 

c) Debug products to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality. 

d) Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise their free speech rights, or exercise another right provided for by law. 

e) Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 et. seq.). 

f) Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the information's deletion may likely render impossible or seriously impair the research's achievement, if you previously provided informed consent. 

g) Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on your relationship with us. 

h) Comply with a legal obligation. 

i) Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that are compatible with the context in which you provided it.
 

3)  Exercising Access and Deletion Rights

To exercise the access, data portability, and deletion rights described above, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by either:

• Contacting us 
• Mailing or faxing the CCPA Request Form to:
  
  Health Net Federal Services LLC
  Privacy Compliance Office
  4191 East Commerce Way
  Sacramento, CA 95834
  
  Fax: 1-844-813-7788

Only you, or a person registered with the California Secretary of State that you authorize to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child. You may only make a verifiable consumer request for access or data portability twice within a 12-month period. 

The verifiable consumer request must: 

• Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected Personal Information or an authorized representative. 
• Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it. We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you. Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us. 

We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor's identity or authority to make the request.

4) Response Timing and Format

We endeavor to acknowledge and respond to the request within 45 days of its receipt. If we require more time, we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing. If you have an account with us, we will deliver our written response to that account. We will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option. 

Any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding the verified consumer request's receipt. The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide your personal information that is readily useable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance. 

5) Sale of Personal Information

HNFS does not sell personal information for money or other valuable consideration. However, as outlined above, HNFS may disclose your personal information to third parties for business purposes or as required by law. 

Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not: 

• Deny you goods or services. 
• Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties. 
• Provide you a different level or quality of goods or services. 
• Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

13. Changes to Our Privacy Notice

HNFS reserves the right to amend this privacy notice at our discretion and at any time. When we make changes to this privacy notice, we will post the updated notice on the Website and update the notice's effective date. Your continued use of our website following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of such changes.

14. Contact Information

If you have any questions or comments about this notice, the ways in which HNFS collects and uses your information described below and in the Privacy Policy, your choices and rights regarding such use, or wish to exercise your rights under California law, please do not hesitate to contact us or submit a CCPA Request Form.

Postal Address: 

Health Net Federal Services, LLC
Privacy Compliance Office
4191 East Commerce Way
Sacramento, CA 95834

Fax: 1-844-813-7788

Website: www.hnfs.com 

Email: HNFS.Privacy@hnfs.com
 

15. Confidentiality Guideline

HNFS, LLC and all of its subsidiaries/affiliates (collectively, "HNFS") have adopted a strict guideline regarding the confidentiality of certain information provided to HNFS employees. This guideline applies to all HNFS employees as described below:

Employees are prohibited from any unauthorized access to, use or disclosure of individual or health care provider information, HNFS’ proprietary information, including, but not limited to, medical records, claims, benefits, or other administrative data that is personally identifiable, in addition to, HNFS’ quality improvement programs, reports, and disease management information (hereinafter, collectively referred to as "Confidential Information").  

Employees must hold in strict confidence, and not copy, disclose or permit the disclosure to any person, other than as stated in HNFS privacy policies or contractual requirements, any confidential information. Employees must comply with HNFS policies and procedures concerning the safeguarding of all confidential information. Employees must comply with applicable state and federal laws and regulations regarding confidential information.