Member education materials

Accessing your personal health information and provider information through a health app

Our Medicare Advantage and CHIP members can view their Capital Blue Cross health information through a third-party application, or “health app.” Health apps can have different names and are owned by companies other than us. They can be downloaded from an app store to your smart phone, tablet, or computer. Health apps may help you access your health information. Not all health-related apps have this feature.

We can make your information available to a health app, but only if you authorize us to do so. Capital Blue Cross is working with 1upHealth to securely share your health information with certain health apps, but only at your request. The health app you choose must be registered with 1upHealth as an approved third-party application.

Health information sharing: why it’s available

Many people use apps to track health-related activities like exercise and to manage chronic conditions such as diabetes. Now, recent changes in the law allow people to use apps to access their health information.

Capital Blue Cross provides the below information to help you decide if sharing your health information with an app is right for you. The choice remains yours.

How to tell us to share your health information with a health app

  • Review the list of health apps to see if the app you want to download is registered with 1upHealth
  • Download the health app you selected from an app store onto your smart device or computer.
  • Permit the app to access your health information from Capital Blue Cross. This is typically done through the app's settings, although the exact steps may vary by app.
  • You may need to log in to your Capital Blue Cross secure account before being transferred to 1upHealth to complete the process.
  • Read the information about sharing your health information with a third-party app. Then decide if you want to share.
  • If you choose to share your health information with a third-party app and later change your mind, contact the third-party app directly to stop sharing your information.

Information we will share with a health app

  • The information we share with a health app includes information we collect about you while you are or were a Capital Blue Cross Medicare Advantage or CHIP member, going as far back as January 1, 2016. This can include:
  • Your name, address, diagnoses, treatments, and amounts paid to providers.
  • Information about times you visited healthcare providers.
  • Clinical information we collect while providing you with case management, care coordination, or other services.

Capital Blue Cross takes your privacy and the security of your health information as seriously as you do. That's why your data is never shared without your permission. Capital has safeguards in place to verify your identity and ensure that only you and those you've authorized can access or share your data.

It’s important for you to know that the health app you choose will have access to some or all of your health information. Health apps are not subject to the HIPAA rules about privacy and other privacy laws that can protect your health information.

Instead, the health app’s privacy policy sets its own limits on how it will use, disclose, and (possibly) sell information about you. If you decide to view your health information through a health app, you should read the privacy policy to be sure you are comfortable with what the health app will do with your information.

Once you choose to share your health information with a third-party app, Capital can no longer protect or manage the security of that information.

Health apps that want to offer health information sharing to our members must register with 1upHealth.

Things to consider before choosing a health app

  • Will it save my information? What type of information will it save?
  • Will it sell my information?
  • Will it share my health information to others for things such as research or advertising?
  • How will it use my health information? For what reason?
  • Will it allow me to limit how it uses, discloses, or sells my health information?
  • If I want to stop using a health app, or if I don’t want it to have access to my health information, can I stop the health app’s access to that information? How do I stop the access?
  • Will it delete my health information when I stop access? Do I have to do more than just delete the health app from my device?
  • How will it tell me of changes in its privacy practices?
  • Will it collect information from my device other than health information, such as my location?
  • How does it take to protect my health information?
  • What impact could sharing my health information with a health app have on others, such as my family members?
  • Will it allow me to correct mistakes in my health information? Note that correcting mistakes through a health app does not correct them at the place where the information came from. If you see an error, call the member services number on the back of your member ID card (TTY: 711) for help.
  • Does it have a way to collect and answer user complaints?

If you don’t like the answers to these questions, you should consider not using that health app to access your health information. Your health information may include sensitive information. Select a health app with strong privacy and security standards.

HIPAA enforcement and third-party apps

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules. We comply with HIPAA, as do most healthcare providers, such as hospitals, doctors, clinics, and dentists.

You can file a complaint with the OCR if you believe HIPAA was violated.

Health apps and privacy enforcement

The Federal Trade Commission Act protects against deceptive acts (such as a health app that discloses personal information in violation of its privacy notice). A health app that violates the terms of its privacy notice is subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC provides information about mobile app privacy and security for consumers.

If you believe a health app inappropriately used, disclosed, or sold your information, you should contact the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or 877.382.4357.

If you believe the privacy of your health care data has been violated, contact the federal Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights at hhs.gov/ocr/complaints

Provider information

We make in-network provider information available to health apps to make it easy for our Medicare Advantage and CHIP members to access information about providers. Provider information is also available in your secure account.

Questions

If you have questions about this information, call Member Services at the number on the back of your member ID card (TTY: 711). If you have questions about how your health app works or its policies, contact the company that owns the health app.

The information we disclose to a health app may include information about treatment for substance use disorders, mental health treatment, HIV status, or other sensitive information.

1upHealth, an independent company, provides Capital Blue Cross members access to personal healthcare data as required under applicable law.