HIPAA and participant privacy
Communicare Elite handles health information about the people we serve. The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and its Privacy and Security Rules (45 C.F.R. Parts 160 and 164) govern how we may use and disclose it, and give participants rights over it.
This page is a plain-language summary. Our full Notice of Privacy Practices is on the privacy policy page.
What information we hold
- Identifying details — name, address, date of birth, contact information.
- MO HealthNet identifiers and eligibility information.
- Care plan information: which tasks are authorized and how much time is allotted.
- Service records — timesheets, EVV records and visit documentation.
- Correspondence about your services.
How we may use and disclose it
- Treatment — coordinating your services with your attendant and with your case manager.
- Payment — billing MO HealthNet and processing attendant payroll.
- Health care operations — quality assurance, audits, training.
- As required by law — including state and federal audits, mandated reporting, and lawful requests from oversight agencies.
Anything beyond those purposes generally requires your written authorization, and you may revoke that authorization in writing at any time.
Your rights
- Inspect and copy the information we hold about you.
- Request a correction if you believe something is wrong.
- Receive an accounting of certain disclosures we have made.
- Request restrictions on how we use or disclose your information.
- Request confidential communications — for example, only by phone, or only to a particular address.
- Receive a paper copy of our Notice of Privacy Practices on request.
- Be notified if there is a breach of your unsecured protected health information.
- Complain to us or to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, without retaliation.
Privacy inside your own home
Your attendant will see things no filing system holds — your body, your medications, your household, your family. Confidentiality is part of their job and it is covered in orientation. Attendants must not discuss your affairs with neighbors, post about you on social media, or photograph you or your home without permission.
If your attendant has shared your information or posted about you, tell us. That is a violation and we treat it as one. How to raise it →
Do not send health information by text or email
Text and email are not secure. Do not send diagnoses, medications, MO HealthNet numbers or other health details that way. Call (314) 809-6655, or bring it to our office at 4477 Woodson Rd, Suite 106, St. Louis, MO 63134. If you choose to email us anyway, you accept the risk of unsecured transmission.
Making a privacy complaint
Contact us first — call (314) 809-6655 or email info@communicareelite.com. You may also complain directly to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. We will not retaliate against you for making a complaint, and doing so does not affect your services.