Privacy Policy
Table of Contents
Overview
This Privacy Policy helps you understand how Western Coast Dental & Orthodontics, and Magicland Children’s Dentistry collects, stores, uses, shares, and secures your personal information when you visit our website(s) and otherwise engage with us online. In this Policy, the terms “company,” ”us,” “we,” and “our” refer to Western Coast Dental and its affiliates and subsidiaries.
What We Collect and How We Use It
We collect information from you or your responsible party that identifies, describes, or is reasonably capable of being associated with you (“personal information”). A responsible party is a personal representative who may provide information to us on your behalf when coordinating or managing your care. We collect and use certain types of personal information for various reasons depending on how you interact with our website. The following details the purposes for which we collect personal information and the types of information we collect for each purpose.
Making an Appointment on our Website
When you make an appointment online, we collect the following types of personal information from you or your representative:
Personal identifiers such as name, date of birth, email address, mailing address, and phone number; Geolocation when you search for an office using your current location; Responsible party’s name and contact information; Health insurance information, including your health insurance plan type; and Medical information, including reason for visit. We use this information to book an appointment, provide you with requested services, send you information about requested services, and engage in follow-up communication.
Provide Feedback Online or Contact Us
If you provide feedback using our online form or contact us online, we collect the following categories of personal information from you:
Personal identifiers such as name, date of birth, email address, mailing address, phone number; and Appointment information, including date of service. We use this information to provide customer service, engage in follow-up communication, and improve our website, products, and services.
How We May Share Your Personal Information
We may disclose personal information to our employees, affiliated companies, subsidiaries, agents, and third party vendors to perform our obligations and provide services to our customers. We may also disclose personal information to legal or other regulatory bodies as required by law to fulfill legal, reporting, and regulatory requirements. We do not and will not sell your personal information without first providing you notice and an opportunity to opt-out.
How We Use Cookies
Our website uses cookies, tags, pixels, and similar tracking technologies (“Cookies”) to provide, customize, evaluate, improve, and secure our website and services.
A Cookie is a small piece of text that is placed on your website browser when you visit a website. These include our own first-party Cookies as well as third-party Cookies of our service providers and marketing partners. Some Cookies are only stored temporarily and destroyed each time you close your web browser. Our website also uses persistent Cookies, which do not delete when you close your browser and may collect and store data for a set period of time after you’ve left our website. You can find out more about Cookies in general and how they work at Cookiepedia.
We use Cookies for the following purposes:
Website Operation. Cookies help us run our website securely and enable basic functions like page navigation.
Performance and Analytics. Cookies help us analyze how you interact with our website. This enables us to monitor and improve our website performance, services, and your experience.
Advertisements. Cookies allow us to deliver advertisements that are meaningful to you. Our third party advertising partners may use the Cookies to build a profile of your interests, deliver relevant advertising on other sites, and measure the efficiency of the advertisements.
How to Manage Cookies. If you wish to prevent Cookies from tracking your activity on our website or visits across multiple websites, you can set your browser to block certain Cookies or notify you when a Cookie is set. If you block Cookies, certain features on our website may not work. For more information on how you can customize your browser’s Cookie setting please visit the link to your web browser below:
You may opt-out of interest-based advertising in general by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance’s or Network Advertising Initiative’s websites. We are not responsible for the completeness, effectiveness, or accuracy of any third party opt-out options or programs.
Information Regarding Children
Our website is intended for users who are 13 years or older and we do not knowingly collect information from children under 13 years old. If we become aware that we have collected information from a child under 13 years old, we will delete such information from our records. If you are a parent or legal guardian and believe your child has given us information and you did not provide consent, please call us at +1-833-451-1298 or email us at WCDCustomerService@incontactemail.com for assistance.
California Privacy Rights
We use Cookies for the following purposes:
Request to Review or Make a Correction. You may request to view and correct the personal information we have collected about you on our website. To make a request, you can contact us by telephone at +1-833-451-1298 or email us at WCDCustomerService@incontactemail.com for assistance. You may also submit an online CCPA request here.
Third-party Marketing and Selling. We do not provide your information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.
Do Not Track. We may collect information about your usage and activity through cookies. Some web browsers or smartphones have the ability to set “Do Not Track” requests to block user activity from being tracked across web pages or devices. Our website does not recognize “Do Not Track” browser signals.
How We Secure Your Information
Western Dental uses appropriate and reasonable security measures as required by relevant law. It is important to remember that the Internet is not 100% secure. We cannot promise that your use of our website will be completely safe. We recommend that you help us keep your data safe by taking reasonable steps, such as not disclosing sensitive personal data in places that can be accessed publicly.
Disclaimer
Nothing in this Notice restricts Western Coast Dental’s ability to:
Comply with federal, state, or local laws; Comply with a civil, criminal, or regulatory inquiry, investigation, subpoena, or summons by federal, state, or local authorities; Cooperate with law enforcement agencies concerning conduct or activity that the business, service provider, or third party reasonably and in good faith believes may violate federal, state, or local law; or Exercise or defend legal claims.
Changes to This Policy
We will not retroactively use or share data in a manner that is materially different from this policy without first providing you notice. This Notice is reviewed and updated at a minimum annually and we will use reasonable means to inform you of any changes.
Questions
If you have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or the handling of your personal information, please call us at +1-833-451-1298 or email us at WCDCustomerService
@incontactemail.com
Effective Date: September, 26, 2024
Table of Contents
Joint Privacy Policy
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION.
We are required by applicable federal and state law to maintain the privacy of your health information. We are also required to give you this Notice about our privacy practices, our legal duties, and your rights concerning your health information. We must follow the privacy practices that are described in this Notice while it is in effect.
Organizations covered by Joint Notice:
West Coast Dental Services, Inc.
HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
For Treatment
We may use and disclose your health information to provide you with medical treatment or services. We may also disclose your health information to other providers involved in your care.
For example, your doctor may be performing a tooth extraction and may need to know if you have other health problems that could complicate your treatment. The doctor may use your health history to decide what treatment is best for you. The doctor may also tell another doctor about your condition so that doctor can help determine the most appropriate care for you.
For Payment
We may use and disclose health information about you to obtain payment for health care services we or others provide to you. For example, we may need to give your health plan information about a service you received here so your health plan will pay us or reimburse you for the service. We may also tell your health plan about a treatment you are going to receive to obtain prior approval, or to determine whether your plan will cover the treatment.
For Health Care Operations
We may use and disclose health information about you in order to run our West Coast Dental offices and make sure that you and our other patients receive quality care. For example, we may use your health information to evaluate the performance of our staff in caring for you. We may also use health information about all or many of our patients to help us decide what additional services we should offer, how we can become more efficient, or whether certain new treatments are effective.
Appointment and Refill Reminders; Prescription Information
We may contact you by phone, mail, email, or other modes of communication as a reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or medical care at a Western Dental office. We may also provide you with refill reminders or communicate with you about a drug or biologic that is currently prescribed to you so long as any payment we receive for making the communication is reasonably related to our cost of making the communication.
Treatment Alternatives
We may contact you by phone, mail, email, or other modes of communication to inform you about or recommend possible treatment options or alternatives that may be of interest to you.
Health-Related Products and Services
We may contact you by phone, mail, email, or other modes of communication to inform you about health-related products or services that may be of interest to you.
Surveys
We may contact you by phone, mail, email or other modes of communication to ask you to participate in patient satisfaction surveys, or to provide you with other quality assessment and improvement communications.
SPECIAL SITUATIONS
We may use or disclose health information about you without your permission for the following purposes, subject to all applicable legal requirements and limitations:
To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety
We may use and disclose health information about you when necessary to prevent or lessen a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person.
Required By Law
We will disclose health information about you when required to do so by federal, state or local law. For example, Western Dental may disclose information for the following purposes:
- For judicial and administrative proceedings pursuant to legal authority;
- To report information related to victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence; and,
- To assist law enforcement officials in their law enforcement duties.
Research
We may use and disclose health information about you for research projects if we receive special approval from a privacy board or institutional review board. Under certain circumstances, your health information may also be disclosed without your permission to researchers preparing to conduct a research project, for research on decedents or as part of a data set that omits your name and other information that can directly identify you.
Organ and Tissue Donation
Organ and Tissue Donation
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 such donation and transplantation.
Military, Veterans, National Security and Intelligence We may use and disclose your health information to units of the government with special functions, such as the U.S. military or the U.S. Department of State under certain circumstances specified by law.
Workers' Compensation
We may release health information about you to comply with the law and regulations related to workers’ compensation or similar programs. These programs provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness.
Public Health Risks
We may disclose health information about you for public health reasons to prevent or control disease, injury or disability; or report births, deaths, suspected abuse or neglect, non-accidental physical injuries, reactions to medications or problems with products.
Health Oversight Activities
We may disclose health information to a health oversight agency. These disclosures may be necessary for certain state and federal agencies to monitor the health care system, government programs, and compliance with applicable laws.
Lawsuits and Disputes
If you are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose health information about you in response to a court or administrative order. Subject to all applicable legal requirements, we may also disclose health information about you in response to a subpoena or other lawful process.
Law Enforcement
We may release health information if asked to do so by a law enforcement official in response to a court order, subpoena, warrant, summons or similar process, subject to all applicable legal requirements.
Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors
We may release health information to a coroner or medical examiner to enable them to carry out their lawful duties. This may be necessary, for example, to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death.
Information Not Personally Identifiable
We may use or disclose health information about you in a way that does not personally identify you or reveal who you are.
Family and Friends
We may disclose health information about you to your family members or friends 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 or friends if we can infer from the circumstances, based on our professional judgment that you would not object. For example, we may assume you agree to our disclosure of your personal health information to your spouse when you bring your spouse with you into the exam room during treatment or while treatment is discussed. In situations where you are not capable of giving consent (because you are not present or due to your incapacity or medical emergency), we may, using our professional judgment, determine that a disclosure to your family member or friend is in your best interest.
In that situation, we will disclose only health information relevant to the person’s involvement in your care. For example, we may inform the person who accompanied you to the emergency room that you suffered a heart attack and provide updates on your progress and prognosis. We may also use our professional judgment and experience to make reasonable inferences that it is in your best interest to allow another person to act on your behalf to pick up, for example, filled prescriptions, medical supplies, or X-rays.
Table of Contents
OTHER USES AND DISCLOSURES OF HEALTH INFORMATION
Marketing
Except for marketing information given in a face-to-face encounter or promotional gifts of nominal value, we must obtain your written authorization prior to using your health information for marketing purposes. For example, we will not accept any payments from other organizations or individuals in exchange for making communications to you about treatment, therapies, health care providers, settings of care, case management, care coordination, products or services unless you have given us your authorization to do so or the communication is permitted by law.
Sale of Health Information
We will not sell your health information to a third party without your written authorization.
Sensitive Health Information
There are special privacy protections under federal and state laws for certain sensitive health information, such as alcohol and drug abuse treatment information, HIV status, and mental health information (such as psychotherapy notes). We will not disclose your sensitive health information without your written authorization unless permitted or required by law. In addition, the Western Dental dental HMO will not use your genetic information for underwriting purposes.
Your Written Authorization
We will not use or disclose your health information for any purpose other than those identified in the previous sections without your specific, written authorization. If you give us authorization to use or disclose health information about you, you may revoke that authorization, in writing, at any time. If you revoke your authorization, we will no longer use or disclose information about you for the reasons covered by your written authorization, but we cannot take back any uses or disclosures already made with your permission.
YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
You have the following rights regarding health information we maintain about you:
Right to Inspect and Copy
You have the right to inspect and copy your health information, such as medical and billing records, that we use to make decisions about your care. You must submit a written request to Western’s Privacy Officer to inspect and/or copy your health information. If you request a copy of the information, we may charge a fee for the costs of copying, mailing or other associated supplies
Right to Amend
If you believe health information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to amend the information. You have the right to request an amendment as long as the information is kept by this office. To request an amendment, complete and submit a Dental Record Amendment/Correction Form to Western’s Privacy Officer. We may deny your request for an amendment if it is not in writing or does not include a reason to support the request. In addition, we may deny your request if you ask us to amend information that:
- We did not create, unless the person or entity that created the information is no longer available to make the amendment.
- Is not part of the health information that we keep.
- You would not be permitted to inspect and copy.
- Is accurate and complete.
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures
You have the right to request an “accounting of disclosures.” This is a list of the disclosures we made of medical information about you for purposes other than treatment, payment and health care operations. To obtain this list, you must submit your request in writing to Western’s Privacy Officer. It must state a time period, which may not be longer than six years and may not include dates before April 14, 2003. Your request should indicate in what form you want the list (for example, on paper or electronically). We may charge you for the costs of providing the list. We will notify you of the cost involved and you may choose to withdraw or modify your request at that time before any costs are incurred.
Right to Request Restrictions
You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the health information we use or disclose about you for treatment, payment or health care operations. You also have the right to request a limit on the health information we disclose about you to someone who is involved in your care or the payment for it, like a family member or friend. For example, you could ask that we not use or disclose information about a surgery you had.
We are Not Required to Agree to Your Request
We are Not Required to Agree to Your Request
While we will consider all requests for additional restrictions carefully, we are not required to agree to a requested restriction unless the requested restriction is to a health plan for payment or health care operations purposes and the information you would like to restrict to the health plan pertains solely to a health care item or service you paid out of pocket. If we do agree, we will comply with your request unless the information is needed to provide you emergency treatment. To request restrictions, you may complete and submit the Request For Restriction On Use/Disclosure Of Medical Information to Western’s Privacy Officer.
Right to Request Confidential Communications
You have the right to request that we communicate with you about medical matters in a certain way or at a certain location. For example, you can ask that we only contact you at work or by mail.
To request confidential communications, you may complete and submit the Request For Restriction On Use/Disclosure Of Medical Information And/Or Confidential Communication to Western’s Privacy Officer. We will not ask you the reason for your request. We will accommodate all reasonable requests. Your request must specify how or where you wish to be contacted.
Right to be Notified of Breach
You have the right to be notified by us if we discover a breach of your unsecured protected health information.
Right to a Paper Copy of This Notice
You have the right to a paper copy of this Notice. You may ask us to give you a copy of this Notice at any time. Even if you have agreed to receive this Notice electronically, you are still entitled to a paper copy of this Notice.
Copies of this Notice are available at Western’s offices, or you may obtain a copy at our website at www.westerndental.com.
CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE
You have the right to a paper copy of this Notice. You may ask us to give you a copy of this Notice at any time. Even if you have agreed to receive this Notice electronically, you are still entitled to a paper copy of this Notice.
Copies of this Notice are available at Western’s offices, or you may obtain a copy at our website at www.westerndental.com.
COMPLAINTS
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with our office or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. To file a complaint with our office, contact Western’s Privacy Officer. You will not be penalized for filing a complaint.
