We recognize that the privacy of your information is important. This Online Services Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy” or “Policy”) describes our practices in connection with information we collect through the online and mobile websites, platforms, services,and applications that we own or operate and that contain a link to this Privacy Policy (collectively, “Online Services”).
As used in this Policy, terms such as “we,” “us,” “our,” “LHC Group,” and “Company” refer to current and future affiliated entities, subsidiaries, agents, contractors, or vendors of LHC Group, Inc. Our Online Services are intended for a United States audience. Any information you provide, including any personal information, will be transferred to and processed by a computer server located within the United States.
By using the Online Services, you consent to our collection, use, disclosure, and storage of information as described in this Privacy Policy.
Our Privacy Policy explains:
Our Policy applies to Online Services that we own or operate and that contain a link to this Privacy Policy. Our Policy does not apply to information collected through other means such as by telephone, via Online Services that do not link to this Privacy Policy, or in person, although that information may be protected by other privacy policies.
Our Policy does not apply to the practices of other companies or other websites or software applications that may be linked from or made available through our Online Services.
The inclusion of a link on our Online Services or the ability to utilize a third-party website or software application through our Online Services does not imply that we endorse, or otherwise monitor the privacy or security practices of that third-party website or software application or the accuracy of its content, and your use of the third-party website or software application is governed by the third-party’s privacy policy.
Some of our products and services are regulated by certain state and federal laws, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and may have specific privacy practices (“Product Privacy Notices”) such as a HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices or other specific privacy practices that we want you to be aware. This information can be found in the Specific Product Privacy Notices section of this Privacy Policy. When a Product Privacy Notice exists, the content of the Product Privacy Notice applies to your use of the product and service.
This Privacy Policy is not intended to and does not create any contractual or other legal rights in or on behalf of any party.
We may collect two basic types of information through the Online Services: (1)information you provide directly to us, and (2) information that is automatically provided to us or collected through your use of our Online Services (collectively, “Information”).
Such Information may include information that identifies you such as your full name, telephone number, email address, postal address, certain account numbers, your User ID that you create or is assigned to you, health, and medical information, including Protected Health Information, financial information and other information described in this Privacy Policy.
When you use the Online Services, you may provide certain Information directly to us. For example, you may input a telephone number or email address into a webformor enter information into a chat functionality. We also may make certain information available to you on the Online Services that we collect from other sources. For example, we may pre-populate certain demographic information in an online form or make health or medical information viewable on the Online Services that you have provided to us on paper forms or maintained in other information systems.
We also may obtain Information that is automatically collected through the Online Services. The automatically collected Information may include demographic, de-identified, aggregated, or certain information from your device such as technical information about your device, web-browser information, and server log files collected by us or provided by you. See Cookies and Tracking for more information on automatically collected information.
You may limit the Information you provide or make available to us if you want to; however, that may limit your ability to access or use certain functions of the Online Services or to request certain services or information.
In addition to the Information identified above, we may collect the following Information:
We may obtain location data from your device to provide location-related services (e.g., driving directions or distance calculation, via the mobile application). You maywithdraw consent to use precise, real-time, or network location data at any time by turning off the location-based feature on your mobile device or by not using any location-based features. If you withdraw your consent, functionality associated with precise, real-time, or network location (e.g., navigation) will no longer work.
Google has determined that certain applications are subject to their COVID-19 applications requirements (COVID-19 requirements). As a result, we are providing the following information related to our applications that may be deemed in scope for their COVID-19 requirements:
We may use your Information:
We may use Information to contact you through any contact information you provide through our Online Services, including any email address, telephone number, cell phone number, or fax number. We may communicate, electronically or via telephone with you about your benefit plan, programs, products, or services that are or may be available to you in connection with your transactions with us including, but not limited to, Online Services updates, account information, general wellness, prescription or appointment reminders, general health information, newsletters, and surveys. These electronic communications may contain protected health information. You acknowledge and accept that such communications may be sent unencrypted and there is some risk of disclosure or interception of the contents of these communications.
We may, when permitted, combine your Information with other information, whether online or offline, maintained or available to us from you or from other sources, such as from our vendors, and we may use and disclose combined data for the purpose described in this Section or for internal business purposes. We may, when permitted, use, and disclose de-identified and aggregated data for any purpose, which may include, without limitation, disclosures to third parties for analytics purposes such as evaluating the Online Services and providing additional benefits, programs, and services.
We will only share your Information with third parties as outlined in this Policy and as otherwise permitted by law or as permitted with your consent.
We may share Information if all or part of the Company is sold, merged, dissolved, acquired, or disbanded to any extent in a similar transaction, or in connection with steps that may need to be taken in anticipation of such events.
We may share Information in response to a court order, subpoena, search warrant, or to comply with law or regulation. We may cooperate with law enforcement authorities in investigating and prosecuting activities that are illegal, violate our rules, or may be harmful to other visitors.
We may also share Information within the Company, including among affiliates, or with our parent company, or subsidiaries.
We may also share Information with other third-party companies with which we have a business relationship or hire to perform services on our behalf. For example, we may hire a third-party company to help us send and manage email, and we might provide that third-party company with your email address and certain other Information for them to send you an email message on our behalf. Similarly, we may hire third-party companies to host or operate some of our Online Services and related computers and software applications.
Our Online Services may permit you to view your profile, if applicable, and access related Information about you and to request changes to such Information. Please remember, however, if we have already disclosed some of this Information to third parties, we may not have access to that disclosed information and may not be able to force the modification of any Information by the third parties to whom we have made those disclosures.
Our Online Services may permit you to select how you would like to receive certain communications.
We may offer mobile applications that enable us to communicate with you through push notifications. Where mobile applications are offered, you may be able to manage push notifications in your mobile phone or tablet settings. You may also be able to control preview settings in your email applications.
If you need additional assistance in opting out of a communication, please Contact Us for assistance. Please be aware that opt-outs may not apply to certain types of communications, such as account status, Online Service updates, or other communications.
We may provide you with Informational Electronic Communications. Informational Electronic Communications include, but are not limited to, information about your benefit plan, programs, products, or services that are or may be available to you in connection with your transactions with us, Online Services updates, general wellness reminders or information, prescription reminders, appointment reminders, general health information, newsletters, and surveys.
Any request to opt-out of receiving Informational Electronic Communications will be effective only after we have a reasonable period of time to process your request. Opt-outs may not apply to certain types of communications, such as account status, Online Service updates, or other communications.
Communications sent electronically may be provided either (1) via email; (2) by access to a website that we will designate in a notice we send to you when the information is available; or (3) by other electronic means. At times, in our sole discretion, we may still send you paper communications in lieu of, or in addition to, sending them electronically.
When you provide us a telephone number, whether landline or mobile, we may contact you, using automated, pre- recorded, or non-automated means, to provide you information about existing benefits, programs, products, services, or tools.
Personal Information collected through our texting programs will not be shared, sold, or disclosed to third parties for their own marketing purposes.
We reserve the right to modify this section at any time. The modified section will be effective immediately upon posting. Your continued receipt of Informational Electronic Communications and Informational Calls and Texts will constitute your acceptance of the modified section.
The Company may use various technologies, including cookies, tokens, tags, web logs, web beacons, scripts, and web server logs to gather automatically collected information and may aggregate this information from visitors of our Online Services or to enable certain features of our Online Services. This information may include demographic data, technical information about the technology (e.g., phone, computer) you use to connect to the Online Services, web browser information, your IP address, and browsing behavior such as pages visited and how often they are visited (collectively, “Activity Information”). We may also use third-party analytics companies to provide these services.
We may also allow third parties to use cookies and other technologies to collect Activity Information and to track browsing activity over time and across third-party websites such as web browsers used to read our Online Services, which websites are referring traffic or linking to our Online Services, and to deliver targeted advertisements to you. We do not control these third-party technologies, and their use of such technologies is governed by their own privacy policies. For more information about third-party advertising networks and similar entities that use these technologies, see youradchoices.com/control, and to opt-out of such ad networks’ and services’ advertising practices, go to optout.aboutads.info and optout.networkadvertising.org. Once you click the links, you may choose to opt out of such advertising from all participating advertising companies or only from advertising provided by specific advertising companies. Please note that, to the extent advertising technology is integrated into the Online Services, you may still receive advertisements even if you opt out of tailored advertising. In that case, the ads will just not be tailored. Also, we do not control any of the above opt-out links and are not responsible for any choices you make using these mechanisms or the continued availability or accuracy of these mechanisms.
Activity Information is captured using various technologies and may include cookies. “Cookies” are small text files that may be placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit an Online Service or click on a URL using your web browser. Cookies may include “single-session cookies” which generally record information during only a single visit to a website and then are erased, and “persistent” cookies which are generally stored on a computer or mobile device unless or until they are deleted or are set to expire. You may disable cookies and similar items by adjusting your browser preferences at any time; however, this may limit your ability to take advantage of all the features on our Online Services. In addition, you may also have additional means to manage the collection of Activity Information by:
Please note that we do not currently respond to web browser “Do Not Track” signals that provide a method to opt out of the collection of Information about online activities over time and across third-party websites or online services because, among other reasons, there is no common definition of such signals and no industry-accepted standards for how such signals should be interpreted.
We gather Activity Information about you to improve the quality of our services, such as the best method and time to contact you. Without limiting the other ways in which we may use Information as described herein, we may otherwise use and disclose your Activity Information unless restricted by this Policy or by law. Some examples of the ways we use your Activity Information include:
As described above, we may use tracking technologies that allow us to recognize your device when you return to our Online Services within a period of time, as determined by us, and to support automatic login to your Online Services. To maintain your privacy, you should affirmatively log out of your account prior to your session ending (whether you end your session or we end your session, for example if our Online Services has “timed out” – i.e., we have ended your session automatically after a period of inactivity as determined by us in our sole discretion). Unless you affirmatively log out of your account, you may be automatically logged back in the next time you or any user of your devices visits the Online Services.
We will retain your personally identifiable information (PII) and Activity Information for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your PII to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.
Our Online Services may have voluntary collaboration areas, including but not limited to “blogs,” “bulletin boards,” “leader boards,” and “health games,” that permit users to have collaborative discussions and/or share Information. Some of our Online Services may permit you to select a display name or image that will be your “nickname” on the Online Services. Please note, any Information you submit or post to these collaboration areas, including your display name or image, may be visible by other users of the Online Services, and such users may be able to identify you and make information public. Out of respect for the privacy of others, please avoid referring to the full names of others in your response and refrain from sharing other participants’ identities or comments outside of these discussions.
Also see our Social Media Disclaimer to learn about our practices related to posting on our social media accounts.
We maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect the Information that you provide on our Online Services. These safeguards vary based on the sensitivity of the Information that is being collected, used, and stored. We cannot guarantee the security of our Online Services, nor can we guarantee the security of the Information you transmit to us over the Internet, including your use of email. We are not liable for the illegal acts of third parties such as criminal hackers.
It is your responsibility to safeguard the devices you use to access our Online Services (such as laptops, tablets, and mobile devices), and to use appropriate security settings on those devices. If those devices are lost, stolen or misplaced, others may be able to access your account and your personal Information using those devices. You should affirmatively log out of your account (i) prior to ending your session, or (ii) if you will be inactive on the Online Services for more than a few minutes; otherwise, the next user of that computer or device, particularly a public one or one not owned by you, may be able to access your account and the Information in your account if your session has not ended.
You agree that we are not responsible for any harm that may result from someone accessing your account or personal Information on any computer or device where you do not, for any reason, take the necessary steps to log out of your account prior to ending a session on such device or computer.
We retain Information for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it is collected, subject to a longer period if the Information is relevant to a legal challenge.
We will not intentionally collect any personal information (as that term is defined in the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) from children under the age of 13 through our Online Services without receiving parental consent. If you think that we have collected such personal information from a child under the age of 13 through our Online Services, please Contact Us immediately.
California law permits our customers who are California residents to request certain information regarding the disclosure of certain personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.
If we have disclosed any personal information to third parties for direct marketing purposes, we will provide a list of the categories of personal information, along with the names and addresses of these third parties to you at your request. To make such a request, write us at the postal or email address found in the Contact Us section of this Policy.
This request may be made no more than once per calendar year. We reserve our right not to respond to requests submitted other than to the specified email or postal address. You should put “California Privacy Rights-Direct Marketing” in the email subject line and in the body of your request. You must provide us with specific information regarding yourself so that we can accurately respond to the request.
If you are a California resident under the age of 18 and are a registered user of our Online Services, you may request that we remove from our Online Services any content you post to our Online Services that can be accessed by any other user (whether registered or not). Please note that any content that is removed from visibility on our Online Services may still remain on our servers and in our systems. To request removal of content under this provision, please write or email us at the postal or email address found in the Contact Us section of this Policy. When you write to us, please provide us with a description of the content and the location of the content on our Online Services, along with any other information that we may require to consider your request. Please note that removal of content under this provision does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information posted on the Online Services by you.
This State Consumer Privacy Notice applies to residents of California and sets forth their rights under their respective state’s comprehensive privacy laws.
This State Consumer Privacy Notice supplements our Online Services Privacy Policy (OSPP). Our OSPP provides you with additional information under the “How We Use Your Information,” “What Information We Collect About You,” and “How We Share Your Information” sections. It explains what personal information we collect about you, where and from whom we obtain it, why we collect it, and your respective state rights regarding it.
Depending on the online service with which you interact, we may have collected the following personal information and have disclosed/shared it as described in the chart below:
| Category of Personal Information | Collected | Categories of Third Parties to Whom We Disclose Personal Information for Business Purposes | Categories of Third Parties to Whom We May “Sell” or “Share” Personal Information |
| Identifiers, such as your name, postal address, email address, government-issued identifiers, IP address, or similar identifiers. | Yes | Contracted Service Providers, Employers, Vendors, Brokers, Insurance Carriers, Government Agencies, Specifically Authorized Representatives, etc. | Advertising and Analytics Vendors/ Media Networks |
| Protected classification, such as your age, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth and related medical conditions) marital status, racial or ethnic origin, or other classifications protected under applicable federal or state law. | Yes | Contracted Service Providers, Employers, Vendors, Brokers, Insurance Carriers, Government Agencies, Specifically Authorized Representatives, etc. | None |
| Sensitive personal information (“Sensitive Personal Data”), such as Government-issued identification number, financial account information and account login credentials, precise geolocation information, contents of an email or text messages, genetic data, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, biometrics data, health data, mental or physical health condition or diagnosis, data concerning sex life or sexual orientation, status as transgender or nonbinary, status as a victim of a crime, data used for the purpose of inferring characteristics about a consumer, citizenship or immigration status, personal data collected from a child, and as defined under applicable law. | Yes | Contracted Service Providers, Employers, Vendors, Brokers, Insurance Carriers, Government Agencies, Specifically Authorized Representatives, etc. | None |
| Commercial information, such as records of personal property, products, or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies. | No | Contracted Service Providers, Employers, Vendors, Brokers, Insurance Carriers, Government Agencies, Specifically Authorized Representatives, etc. | None |
| Biometric personal information (“Biometric Personal Data”), such as your fingerprints, faceprints, voiceprints, iris or retina scans, genetic information, or other biological or physical patterns that are used to identify an individual. | Yes | Contracted Service Providers, Employers, Vendors, Brokers, Insurance Carriers, Government Agencies, Specifically Authorized Representatives, etc. | |
| Internet or other electronic network activity, such as your browser type and operating systems, browsing history, clickstream data, search history, and information regarding your interaction with a website, application, or advertisement | Yes | Contracted Service Providers, Employers, Vendors, Brokers, Insurance Carriers, Government Agencies, Specifically Authorized Representatives, etc. | None |
| Geolocation data, such as your physical location or movements | No | Contracted Service Providers, Employers, Vendors, Brokers, Insurance Carriers, Government Agencies, Specifically Authorized Representatives, etc. | None |
| Sensory data, such as audio, video, electronic, photographs, or similar information that are used to identify an individual. | No | Contracted Service Providers, Employers, Vendors, Brokers, Insurance Carriers, Government Agencies, Specifically Authorized Representatives, etc. | None |
| Professional or employment-related information, such as your current or past job history, performance, or role or position or title. | Yes | Contracted Service Providers, Employers, Vendors, Brokers, Insurance Carriers, Government Agencies, Specifically Authorized Representatives, etc. | None |
| Education information, such as where you attended school, your academic performance and related information. | Yes | Contracted Service Providers, Employers, Vendors, Brokers, Insurance Carriers, Government Agencies, Specifically Authorized Representatives, etc. | None |
| Inferences, such as inferences drawn to create a profile reflecting your preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, or aptitudes. | Yes | Contracted Service Providers, Employers, Vendors, Brokers, Insurance Carriers, Government Agencies, Specifically Authorized Representatives, etc. | None |
We will retain your information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in our Privacy Policy, consistent with our internal record-retention policies, and in accordance with applicable law. When assessing retention periods, we first examine whether it is necessary to retain information, and if retention is required, work to the retain the information for the shortest period permissible under applicable law.
At times, we may “share” or “sell” your personal information (as defined under applicable law) with third parties to display advertisements to you based on your activities, preferences, or interests. You may opt-out of this activity on your device by using our cookie management tool on our website or by submitting a request via the webform link under the “How to Exercise Your Rights” section below. You may also opt-out of our “sharing” or “selling” of your personal information through privacy preference signals recognized under applicable local law, such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC), but please note that this signal will be linked to your browser only.
We do not knowingly “share” or “sell” the personal information of children under the age of 16.
We only process Sensitive Personal Data to render services or offer products to you.
Depending on the jurisdiction in which you live, you may have the following rights under applicable law:
These rights may be limited or denied in some circumstances. For example, we may retain your personal information where required or permitted under applicable law.
Applicable law may require or permit us to decline your request. If the business declines your request, we will tell you why and you may appeal this decision.
We will review this notice annually and update it from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page and will become effective as of the “Last Revised” date. We encourage you to review this notice periodically to be sure you are aware of those changes.
Last Revised: August 31, 2024
Some of our products and services are regulated by certain laws, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
If you receive healthcare products or services, visit the applicable HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices, available in the Specific Product Privacy Notices section of this Policy, to learn about how we protect, use, and share Protected Health Information (PHI) for your medical treatment, payment for services, our operations, or as permitted by law. The HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices also describes your right to:
Please note, we do not use PHI for activities or secondary purposes not permitted by HIPAA.
You may notify us of a personal representative permitted to act on your behalf by contacting the toll-free member phone number on your health plan ID or other membership card.
If you receive financial products or services, visit the applicable Financial Information Privacy Notice, available in the Specific Product Privacy Notices section of this Policy, to learn about how we protect, use, and share your personal information, and how you can contact us to ask questions about that activity.
The following Product Privacy Notices supplement this Policy and explain specific privacy notices with respect to certain products and services that you may use, including access to more information about health or financial privacy notices.
Are you using social media? So are we! We encourage you to read, share, follow us and provide commentary on Facebook®, Twitter®, Pinterest®, Instagram® and other social media sites (“Social Media Site”). Before you post on our pages or accounts, please make sure you read our social media disclaimer:
We are under no obligation to screen or monitor your posts or any other user content; however, we reserve the right to monitor participation to ensure that you stay on topic, are courteous and avoid making offensive comments. Your posts and user content must adhere to the following requirements and cannot:
We reserve the right to edit comments for content, remove off-topic contributions, delete offensive comments or remarks, block offensive contributors, and delete actual or suspected spam content from any Social Media Site. Please be aware that once you post something online, there is the potential for numerous individuals to read your words, even years from now. Therefore, we suggest that you exercise caution when posting on any Social Media Sites and that you not disclose Information like your location, medical record number, personal medical information, financial information, etc. We are not responsible for the content of any comments or responses posted by others to any Online Service or Social Media Site we manage or monitor. We do not control the placement of any marketing or advertising displayed on our pages by social media or third-party organizations.
Please remember that content posted on any of our social media profiles or platforms is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice and should not replace a consultation with your health care or financial professional. Always consult an appropriate health care or financial professional for your specific needs. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 9-1-1 or your local emergency number. Some treatments mentioned on social media formats may not be covered by your health plan. Please refer to your benefit plan documents for information about coverage.
We reserve the right to respond to any post or user content and may occasionally privately request your contact information to assist you offline, with your consent, by routing the matter to the appropriate persons or department for further handling. Questions about your account can be addressed by calling 1-866-542-4768 or emailing ask.lhc@lhcgroup.com.
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
It is our policy to protect the confidentiality of Social Security numbers (“SSNs”) that we receive or collect in the course of business. We secure the confidentiality of SSNs through various means, including physical, technical, and administrative safeguards that are designed to protect against unauthorized access. It is our policy to limit access to SSNs to that which is lawful and to prohibit unlawful disclosure of SSNs.
We may change this Policy at any time. If we do so, such change will appear on this page. You may always visit this Policy to learn of any updates. Your continued access to or use of the Online Services constitutes your consent to these changes to this Policy.
Contact us regarding this Policy or related privacy practices. If you believe we or any company associated with us has misused your Information, please contact us immediately.
HIPAA Privacy Officer
LHC Group, Inc.
901 Hugh Wallis Road South
Lafayette, LA 70508
1-800-489-1307
Effective Date
August 31, 2024