ZoomCare Policies

updated March 1, 2010

ZoomCare is recognized for its fair, simple and affordable prices and for its mission of providing Healthcare on Demand 362 days per year in state-of-the-art neighborhood clinics.
In order to provide you with Health Care on Demand we need an honest, clear and direct financial relationship with you. We serve you, not insurance companies. Our promise of service is to you directly. As a result, you are ultimately responsible for paying for this care.
We ask you to fulfill your obligations by acknowledging this financial policy.

Acknowledgment of Financial Responsibility: I acknowledge that I am financially responsible for and agree to pay for all services and products received at ZoomCare.
I acknowledge that payment is required at the time services are rendered unless other arrangements - such as the billing of insurance - have been made. Payment for services includes payment of applicable coinsurance and copayments for participating insurance companies. ZoomCare accepts cash, personal checks (in-state only), VISA, MasterCard, Discover Card and American Express.

Billing Insurance: I understand that as a courtesy to me ZoomCare shall bill health insurers with which ZoomCare has a contract. However, I understand and agree that I (not the insurance company nor any other entity) am ultimately responsible for all fees for services rendered to me at ZoomCare, unless otherwise specified by state or federal law or other billing arrangements have been made.

Assignment of Benefits Statement: If I have health insurance, I authorize my health insurance and health plans to make payments directly to ZoomCare. I agree to pay for any charges I owe which are not paid by insurance.
I understand that if my health insurance or health plan does not pay ZoomCare within 60 days of this visit, ZoomCare may transfer the fees owed directly to my responsibility.
As a courtesy, ZoomCare shall also bill secondary insurance policies. However, if payment is not received from the secondary insurer within 30 days of billing the secondary insurer, the balance will become my responsibility.
Not all services provided at ZoomCare are necessarily covered by my health insurance. I am responsible for knowing my insurance benefits and guidelines regarding what is covered by my insurance. ZoomCare does not know what services my particular insurance plan shall cover or not cover or what the level of coverage will be. I am responsible for paying ZoomCare for all services and products provided that are not covered by my insurance.
I understand that I am responsible for knowing whether I am eligible to use this insurance at the time of service at ZoomCare. It is my responsibility to provide ZoomCare with valid insurance information at every visit. If my insurance is not in effect at the time of service at ZoomCare I shall pay ZoomCare for the full amount of the bill for the services received.
ZoomCare will notify me of any charges I owe that are not paid by insurance. I agree to pay these charges within 30 days of notification.

Outstanding Balance and Collection Policy: I acknowledge that if I have an outstanding balance 60 days overdue, I must make arrangements for payment prior to scheduling appointments at ZoomCare.
If it becomes necessary to effect collections of any amount owed on this or subsequent visits, I agree to pay for all legal costs and expenses, including reasonable attorney fees. I hereby authorize ZoomCare to release information necessary to secure payment.
I understand that any charges I owe to ZoomCare that are unpaid after 60 days shall be assessed a $50 collection fee and transferred to a collection agency.

Self-pay visit Policy: I understand that if I am NOT using health insurance, I will pay for the services received at ZoomCare in full at the time of the visit. ZoomCare accepts cash, in-state personal checks, and bank cards (VISA, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover).

Medicare: If I am a Medicare beneficiary, I understand that ZoomCare will not be able to provide service to me, even if I prefer to pay out-of-pocket and not file a claim. This is in accordance with US federal law. Signing this financial policy is an acknowledgment that I am not a Medicare beneficiary.
I understand that I may ask a ZoomCare employee for more information included in the separate ZoomCare Medicare Policy Statement.

Checks Returned for Non-sufficient Funds: I understand that there is a $50 charge for all personal checks with insufficient funds. This $50 fee is billed in addition to the original amount owed.

Refunds: I understand that overpayments of $5.00 or less shall be credited to subsequent ZoomCare visits. I understand that Overpayments of $5.01 or more shall be refunded to the responsible party within 30 day upon written request.

Laboratory Services: ZoomCare may recommend that you receive laboratory tests at non-ZoomCare facilities or may send laboratory samples from ZoomCare for processing at a non-ZoomCare facility. You will receive a separate bill or bills from the laboratory, imaging center, or radiology practice, depending on the service you receive. If ZoomCare provides you with a price of a laboratory or imaging test, it's only an estimate and other tests may be added based on laboratory testing protocol. ZoomCare is not responsible for the prices or payment of bills incurred for these tests.

Questions or Concerns
Please mail your questions or concerns to:
ZoomCare
Attention: Legal Department
3600 NW John Olsen Place, Suite 250
Hillsboro, OR 97124

I have read, fully understand, and agree to the above terms.

ZoomCare Privacy Policy

updated: March 1, 2010

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. ZoomCare is required by law to protect certain aspects of your health care information known as Protected Health Information or PHI and to provide you with this Notice of Privacy Practices.
If you have any question about ZoomCare's Privacy Policy, please contact ZoomCare.

Purpose of this Notice: This Notice describes your legal rights, advises you of our privacy practices, and lets you know how ZoomCare is permitted to use and disclose Protected Health Information (PHI) about you.
In most situations we may use this information described in this Notice without your permission, but there are some situations where we may use it only after we obtain your written authorization, if we are required by law to do so.
We respect your privacy, and treat all health care information about our patients with care under strict policies of confidentiality that all of our staff are committed to following at all times.

Uses and Disclosures of PHI: ZoomCare may use PHI for the purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations, in most cases without your written permission. Examples of our use of your PHI:

For treatment. This includes such things as verbal and written information that we obtain about you and use pertaining to your medical condition and treatment provided to you by us and other medical personnel (including doctors and nurses who give orders to allow us to provide treatment to you). It also includes information we give to other health care personnel to whom we transfer your care and treatment, and includes transfer of PHI via radio or telephone to the hospital or dispatch center as well as providing the hospital with a copy of the written record we create in the course of providing you with treatment and transport.

For payment. This includes any activities we must undertake in order to get reimbursed for the services we provide to you, including such things as organizing your PHI and submitting bills to insurance companies (either directly or through a third party billing company), management of billed claims for services rendered, medical necessity determinations and reviews, utilization review, and collection of outstanding accounts.

For health care operations. This includes quality assurance activities, licensing, and training programs to ensure that our personnel meet our standards of care and follow established policies and procedures, obtaining legal and financial services, conducting business planning, processing grievances and complaints, creating reports that do not individually identify you for data collection purposes.

Use and Disclosure of PHI Without Your Authorization. ZoomCare is permitted to use PHI without your written authorization, or opportunity to object in certain situations, including:

For ZoomCare's use in treating you or in obtaining payment for services provided to you or in other health care operations;
For the treatment activities of another health care provider;
To another health care provider or entity for the payment activities of the provider or entity that receives the information (such as your hospital or insurance company);
To another health care provider (such as the hospital to which you are transported or First Responder Agencies) for the health care operations activities of the covered entity that receives the information as long as the covered entity receiving the information has or has had a relationship with you and the PHI pertains to that relationship;
For health care fraud and abuse detection or for activities related to compliance with the law;
To a family member, other relative, or close personal friend or other individual involved in your care if we obtain your verbal agreement to do so or if we give you an opportunity to object to such a disclosure and you do not raise an objection.

We may also disclose health information to your family, relatives, or friends if we infer from the circumstances that you would not object. For example, we may assume you agree to our disclosure of your personal health information to your spouse when your spouse has called the ambulance for you.

In situations where you are not capable of objecting (because you are not present or due to your incapacity or medical emergency), we may, in our professional judgment, determine that a disclosure to your family member, relative, or friend is in your best interest. In that situation, we will disclose only health information relevant to that person's involvement in your care. For example, we may inform the person who accompanied you in the ambulance that you have certain symptoms and we may give that person an update on your vital signs and treatment that is being administered by our ambulance crew;

To a public health authority in certain situations (such as reporting a birth, death or disease as required by law, as part of a public health investigation, to report child or adult abuse or neglect or domestic violence, to report adverse events such as product defects, or to notify a person about exposure to a possible communicable disease as required by law. For health oversight activities including audits or government investigations, inspections, disciplinary proceedings, and other administrative or judicial actions undertaken by the government (or their contractors) by law to oversee the health care system. For judicial and administrative proceedings as required by a court or administrative order, or in some cases in response to a subpoena or other legal process. For law enforcement activities in limited situations, such as when there is a warrant for the request, or when the information is needed to locate a suspect or stop a crime. For military, national defense and security and other special government functions. To avert a serious threat to the health and safety of a person or the public at large. For workers' compensation purposes, and in compliance with workers' compensation laws. To coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors for identifying a deceased person, determining cause of death, or carrying on their duties as authorized by law. If you are an organ donor, we may release health information to organizations that handle organ procurement or organ, eye or tissue transplantation or to an organ donation bank, as necessary to facilitate organ donation and transplantation. For research projects, but this will be subject to strict oversight and approvals and health information will be released only when there is a minimal risk to your privacy and adequate safeguards are in place in accordance with the law;. We may use or disclose health information about you in a way that does not personally identify you or reveal who you are.

Any other use or disclosure of PHI, other than those listed above will only be made with your written authorization, (the authorization must specifically identify the information we seek to use or disclose, as well as when and how we seek to use or disclose it). You may revoke your authorization at any time, in writing, except to the extent that we have already used or disclosed medical information based upon that authorization.

Patient Rights:

As a patient, you have a number of rights with respect to the protection of your PHI, including:

The right to access, copy or inspect your PHI. This means you may come to our offices and inspect and copy most of the medical information about you that we maintain. We will normally provide you with access to this information within 30 days of your request. We may also charge you a fee for you to copy any medical information that you have the right to access. In limited circumstances, we may deny you access to your medical information, and you may appeal certain types of denials.

We have forms available for you to request access to your PHI. We will provide a written response if we deny you access and let you know your appeal rights. If you wish to inspect and copy your medical information, you should contact the Privacy Officer Liaison listed at the end of this Notice.

The right to amend your PHI. The right to request amending your PHI. You have the right to ask us to amend written medical information that we may have about you. If errors are found, we will generally amend your information within 60 days of your request and will notify you when we have amended the information. We are permitted by law to deny your request to amend your medical information, but only in certain circumstances. For example, if we believe the information is correct and no errors exist, your request will be denied. If you wish to request that we amend the medical information that we have about you, you should contact in writing the privacy officer listed at the end of this Notice.

The right to request an accounting of our use and disclosure of your PHI. You may request an accounting from us of certain disclosures of your medical information that we have made in the last six years prior to the date of your request. We are not required to give you an accounting of information we have used or disclosed for purposes of treatment, payment or health care operations, or when we share your health information with our business associates, such as our billing company or a medical facility from/to which we have transported you.

We are also not required to give you an accounting of our uses of protected health information for which you have already given us written authorization. If you wish to request an accounting of the medical information about you that we have used or disclosed that is not exempted from the accounting requirement, you should contact the privacy officer listed at the end of this Notice.

The right to request that we restrict the uses and disclosures of your PHI. You have the right to request that we restrict how we use and disclose your medical information that we have about you for treatment, payment or health care operations, or to restrict the information that is provided to family, friends and other individuals involved in your health care. However, if you request a restriction and the information you asked us to restrict is needed to provide you with emergency treatment, then we may use the PHI or disclose the PHI to a health care provider to provide you with emergency treatment. ZoomCare is not required to agree to any restrictions you request, but any restrictions agreed to by ZoomCare are binding on ZoomCare.

Internet, Electronic Mail, and the Right to Obtain Copy of Paper Notice on Request. We will prominently post a copy of this Notice on our web site and make the Notice available electronically through the web site. If you allow us, we will forward you this Notice by electronic mail instead of on paper and you may always request a paper copy of the Notice.

Revisions to the Notice: ZoomCare reserves the right to change the terms of this Notice at any time, and the changes will be effective immediately and will apply to all protected health information that we maintain. Any material changes to the Notice will be promptly posted in our facilities and posted to our web site. You can get a copy of the latest version of this Notice by contacting the Privacy Officer identified below.

Your Legal Rights and Complaints: You also have the right to complain to us, or to the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services if you believe your privacy rights have been violated. You will not be retaliated against in any way for filing a complaint with us or to the government. Should you have any questions, comments or complaints you may direct all inquiries to the privacy officer listed at the end of this Notice. Individuals will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint.

If you have any questions or if you wish to file a complaint or exercise any rights listed in this Notice, please send a letter to:

ZoomCare
Attention: HIPAA Privacy Officer
3600 NW John Olsen Place, Suite 250
Hillsboro, OR 97124

ZoomCare Medicare Policy

updated March 1, 2010

ZoomCare is recognized for its fair, simple and affordable prices. However, U.S. federal law requires health care providers who provide care for Medicare beneficiaries to accept the Medicare price. Unfortunately, what Medicare pays is less than ZoomCare's real costs of providing care. Further, U.S. federal law even prohibits Medicare beneficiaries the option of simply paying out of pocket for our services. Therefore, U.S. federal law forces ZoomCare and many primary care physicians into the untenable position of denying health care services to Medicare beneficiaries. ZoomCare believes that this aspect of Medicare law is nonsensical and sadly - unjust.

Therefore, ZoomCare, reluctantly and with great disappointment, cannot provide services to Medicare beneficiaries. ZoomCare is continuing to evaluate the highly complicated and evolving federal Medicare law, and hopes to one day be able to care for Medicare beneficiaries.

If you a Medicare beneficiary: If you are a Medicare beneficiary, we regretfully will not be able to provide service to you, even if you prefer to pay out-of-pocket and not file a claim. This is in accordance with US federal law.

If you are Medicare-eligible but have declined Medicare coverage: If you are Medicare-eligible but have declined Medicare coverage (for example, because you continue to be covered by your employer's policy), you will be asked at the time of your visit to verify that you are not a Medicare beneficiary. We will be honored to serve you.