Privacy Notice

National Government Services, Inc. (NGS) contracts with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and is a CMS contractor under the authority granted in Sections 1842, 1862(b) and 1874 of Title XVIII of the Social Security Act (the act) (42 United States Code (U.S.C) §§1395u, 1395y(b), and 1395kk).

Protecting your privacy is very important to us. We understand that visitors to our websites need to be in control of their personal information, which is why we actively protect the privacy of everyone who uses our website. We are telling you about the privacy policy, so you know what information we collect, why we collect it, and what we do with it. This notice also describes your rights to access and amend your protected health information.

Data Collection, Use and Disclosure

NGS will not gather personally identifiable information about you unless you specifically and knowingly provide this information to us. Personally identifiable information (PII) means any information that, alone or in combination with other data elements, could be used to distinguish an individual’s identify (e.g., name, address, telephone number, Social Security Number), including any other personal information linked or linkable to an individual.

NGS is committed to ensuring that all information is properly collected, used and maintained. We will not disclose, give, sell, or transfer any PHI/PII that you provide through our website to third parties except in response to a valid subpoena, warrant, or court order or as otherwise required by law.

NGS does, however, use cookies to track specific information about your visit while you are connected.

Personal Information

NGS websites may include web pages that give you the opportunity to provide us with personal information about yourself. You do not have to provide us with personal information if you do not want to; however, that may limit your ability to use certain functions of our websites or to request certain services or information.

You may choose to give us personal information in a variety of situations. For example, you may give us information, such as your name, address, telephone number and email address, to correspond with you, register for education events or our List Serve Email newsletter.

NGS uses an online survey to collect opinions and feedback. This online survey will appear at random to users. Survey respondents have the option of not including PII in their comments. NGS analyzes and uses this information to improve our website’s operation and content. If you provide us with PII, including your name and contact information, we may use this information to contact you directly.

Additionally, NGS may collect specific PII from you when you enroll in our provider portal to establish your account and to properly authenticate you for access to the portal. Any Protected Health Information (PHI) collected in our provider portal will be from a provider about the beneficiary they are treating and will we will use it only for its intended purpose.

How long NGS keeps data & how it’s accessed

If you chose to provide us with PII, we will maintain the information you provide only to the extent needed to respond to your question, grant access, or to fulfill the stated purpose of the communication. Records that contain PHI/PII about an individual and are designed to be retrieved by the individual’s name or other personal identifier linked to the individual will be safeguarded in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1966 (HIPAA), CMS’ Information Security Acceptable Risks Safeguards (ARS) and other CMS contract requirements.

PHI/PII collected by the NGS website is kept on secure servers and is accessed only by staff members with a business need to use it. When no longer needed, this information is disposed of in accordance with NGS Records Retention policies. On occasion, PHI/PII collected is requested by, and shared with, the CMS for use in contract activities. NGS will ensure the data is encrypted according to CMS standards if NGS transmits your protected data to CMS or any CMS-contracted entities.

Information which is automatically collected when you browse

When you visit a website, its server may generate a piece of text - known as a “cookie” - to place on your computer. The cookie allows the server to “remember” specific information about your visit while you are connected. The cookie makes it easier for you to use the features of the web pages. Requests to send cookies from NGS’ web pages are designed to collect information about your browser session only; they do not collect personal information about you. Regardless of the use for cookies on our website, we will not share any cookie information with any third parties.

There are two types of cookies: “Temporary session cookies” (single session) and “persistent cookies” (multi-session). Temporary session cookies will last only if your browser is open. Once you close your browser, the temporary session cookie will disappear. Persistent cookies are stored on your computer for longer periods.

How NGS uses temporary session cookies

NGS uses temporary session cookies for technical purposes such as improving navigation through our site. These cookies let NGS servers know that you are continuing to visit its site. The temporary cookie is not permanently stored on your computer. The cookie and the information about your visit are automatically deleted shortly after you close your browser to end the session.

How NGS uses persistent cookies

NGS uses persistent cookies to help recognize new and returning visitors to NGS’ provider websites. Persistent cookies remain on your computer between visits to the provider websites until they expire. NGS does not use this technology to identify you or any other individual site visitor.

NGS’ feedback survey tool uses persistent cookies to block repeated invitations to take the survey. NGS uses persistent cookies to enable its web analytics program to measure how new and returning visitors use its provider websites over time.

How to “opt out” or disable cookies

If you do not wish to have temporary or persistent cookies placed on your computer, you may disable them using your browser. If you decide to “opt out” of cookies, you will still have access to all information and resources the NGS provider websites provide.

You can remove any cookies that have been created in the cookie folder of the most popular Internet browsers. Simply click the “Help” function on your browser and enter “cookies” to search for information on how to remove all or individual cookies.

If you use the features on these websites you are “opting in” and agree to our collection of information as described above. You can “opt out” or prevent us from collecting PHI or PII anytime by not accessing this website or editing your subscription preferences.

Your right to request amendment

If you believe that the information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may request an amendment to your protected health information as long as we maintain this information.

Email and Fax

We may provide email and fax links to further facilitate communication. Electronic mail is not necessarily secure, so we do not recommend sending confidential or personal information via email. If you send us an email with questions or comments, we may use your PII to respond to your questions or comments, and we may save your questions or comments for future reference.

Also, if you request that we email or fax information about you to someone using email and fax capabilities in our websites, that email or fax may not be completely secure. Please verify email addresses and fax numbers before submitting such a request.

External links

NGS may provide links to websites not owned or controlled by NGS. We do this because we think the information might be of interest or use to you. A link to a third-party website does not constitute or imply endorsement by us. We cannot guarantee the quality, accuracy, security, and/or privacy of any information submitted to or received from third party websites. You should be sure to review and understand the privacy practices of any website you visit.

Privacy policy changes

If NGS decides to change this privacy policy, NGS will post those changes here so that you will always know what information we collect, how we may use that information and whether we will disclose that information to anyone.

For questions or concerns you may contact our privacy office in writing at:

Privacy Office National Government Services
Attention NGS Privacy Officer
220 Virginia Ave
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Or email to: NGSethicsandcompliance@elevancehealth.com

Last Updated: 02/28/2024